Chinese characters have been passed down for thousands of years and are cultural treasures in the minds of countless Chinese, but in modern history, the issue of Chinese characters has been discussed, no matter how everyone expresses their opinions, the starting point is to take into account "practicality" and "convenience", and it is difficult to use simple "right" and "wrong" to describe.
Zhao Yuanren is a master in modern Chinese history, and his understanding of Chinese characters is more in-depth than that of ordinary literati and inkers.
At that time, experts demanded the abolition of Chinese characters for thousands of years, and he wrote 2 odd texts to refute them, the whole text pronounced the same.
"Popular Discourse War"
For a long time before 1934, there were only sporadic news of the "Latinization" of the Soviet script, which showed that the Reform of Chinese Characters in the Far East had not yet attracted the attention of the mainstream media.
October revolution
It was an important revolution in human history that profoundly affected all areas of Russian society, including the historical change of writing.
Among them, the Latinization of the script, which Lenin called the "Great Revolution of the East", was an unprecedented large-scale cultural movement, with the goal of creating a unified writing symbol for some ethnic minorities.
The impact of this cultural movement is also very large, profoundly affecting a group of Cultural People of the Communist Party of China, such as Qu Qiubai and Xiao San of Yusu, and from 1928, with the assistance of the Soviet sinologist Shi Qingping and others, Qu Qiubai and others began the initial attempt at the Latinization of Chinese characters.
The Latinized Alphabet of China
Pamphlets were published in the Soviet Union, which was also the earliest scheme for the Latinization of Chinese characters.
In the eyes of the supporters of The Latinization of Chinese characters in China at that time, in addition to the Soviet Union, Vietnam and other Eastern countries have also shown through practice that Latinization is an inevitable worldwide wave, and China that is moving towards globalization will certainly not be outside this trend.
However, at that time, these issues could have a greater impact on society, and I am afraid that a large part of it was attributed to Lu Xun.
It is a conclusive fact that Lu Xun was particularly supportive of the revolutionary attitude and Latinization of Chinese characters, and he once wrote a long article entitled "Talks on Foreign Languages", systematically expounding the origin of chinese characters and the relationship between Chinese characters and popular languages.
In addition, in the "Trend" and "Xinsheng Weekly" also expounded the support for Latinization of short texts, Lu Xun's approval of Chinese characters latinization may also be related to his early study in Japan to witness the wave of de-Chinese characterization cultural experience.
Lu Xun's basic views can probably be summarized from his open letter published in the Social Monthly: first, because romaji pinyin is too cumbersome to use; second, to make a plain vernacular text and adopt a relatively ordinary dialect; third, to support European grammar as a backup.
In addition, there were many Latin chemists who "abolished Chinese characters" and promoted Chinese characters, and many of them had important academic status.
These are also discussions in the literary world combined with the practicality of words, no matter what the content of their expositions is, the starting point is good, just a discussion, and future generations cannot distinguish between "right" and "wrong".
And there was one guy who came out during this time, who was said to be proficient in seven Chinese and could recite my German and Shakespeare.
He is Zhao Yuanren, who was commented by Hu Shi as "the first person to stay in the United States", and was also called the "four great mentors" of Tsinghua together with Liang Qichao, Wang Guowei and Chen Yinke.
In 1910, 18-year-old Zhao Yuanren registered for the examination for studying in the United States, and among the people who took the same examination was Hu Shi.
This time, Hu Shicai only took the exam 55, and Zhao Yuanren ranked second, fortunately, the number of recruited students was relatively large, otherwise it was estimated that Hu Shi would not be able to get on the ship.
Interestingly, both of them had a tendency to be "problem teenagers" before they set out, Zhao Yuanren was proficient in smoking and drinking, and Hu Shi was drunk with flower wine every day, and drunk all day long.
The two took a boat together and went to Cornell University.
In the field of university, Zhao Yuanren has achieved a lot of achievements in all the disciplines he majored, and he is simply a genius.
In his senior year, he applied for both mathematics and philosophy graduate students, and since graduating from Harvard University in 1919, Zhao Yuanren has returned to Cornell University to teach.
After ten years in the United States, Zhao Yuanren decided to return to China, and his reason for returning to China was also very interesting: to withdraw from marriage.
Because at the age of 15, Zhao Yuanren was arranged to marry a woman he had never met, but in the social environment at that time, he had no way to resist, but only expressed his dissatisfaction in his diary.
Years of experience in the United States have also made him more determined in his innermost thoughts: to return his own freedom and his wife a freedom.
Knowing this news, many universities in China are very happy, if they can teach at a university in China, then the popularity of that university will be raised by a grade.
Qinghua finally accepted this ghost talent, and felt that it could be arranged any way, because he went to teach six majors alone.
From 1921, shortly after Zhao Yuanren's free love, he returned to Harvard University with his wife to teach philosophy and Chinese, and was soon promoted to professor, but his main interests had shifted from this time to linguistics.
However, only 4 years later, Tsinghua University wants to set up the Institute of Chinese Studies and wants to hire the "four great mentors", and Zhao Yuanren does not seem to have any resistance to Tsinghua University, as long as Tsinghua is calling, Zhao Yuanren will immediately go back.
After returning to Tsinghua, Zhao Yuanren was responsible for teaching phonology and music, and began to engage in research on dialects, which also established his unparalleled status, and was known as the "father of Chinese Chinese dialectology." ”
It was during this period that the great debate about whether Chinese should be Latinized began.
If the "New Latinization Script" is born, this script is simpler than the traditional Chinese characters in terms of learning and cognition, and correspondingly, the illiteracy rate will plummet, which will promote the enthusiasm of all Chinese people to learn.
However, Zhao Yuanren feels that such an approach can promote the promotion and application of new-style writing in the short term, but in the long run, it will inevitably cause a huge negative impact.
People may not be alarmed by these statements today, but in the environment of the high illiteracy rate at that time, this argument was indeed very appropriate.
And
Mr. Zhao Yuanren advocates Hanyu Pinyin, and is also very confident in Chinese Roman characters, he is a very rational scholar, and he also has a very profound understanding of the difficulty of Hanyu Pinyin, and the most powerful proof is that the two strange texts.
Two strange texts reflect Zhao Yuanren's concept
Zhao Yuanren once wrote an article
History of Shi's Lion Eater
From the name point of view, this article is already very strange, the pronunciation of the five words is almost the same, but it expresses the meaning of the expression, but throughout the text, it is also a strong proof.
The full text is as follows:
Shi Shi, a poet of the stone chamber, loves lions and swears to eat ten lions. The clan is always suitable for the city to see the lion. At ten o'clock, suitable for ten lions suitable for the city. It is time to adapt to the city of Shi Shi. The clan sees the ten lions, and the bully is that the ten lions die. The clan is a corpse of ten lions, a suitable stone chamber. The stone chamber is wet, and the clan makes the stone chamber. Stone chamber swab, the first trial food, is the corpse of ten lions. When eating, the first consciousness is the corpse of ten lions, and the corpse of ten stones of lions. Trial release is a thing.
The reputation of this article is even directly included in the Encyclopædia Britannica on chinese and Chinese.
In "Language Problems", Zhao Yuanren also put forward some points: not long ago, "Today's World" published a conversation of mine, most of which was correct, and the last few sentences said that my use of Roman characters in pinyin is very limited, but what I really mean is that in a limited number of occasions where characters are used, it is not possible to use Chinese characters.
This sentence also expresses the central idea of Mr. Zhao Yuanren, although the learning of Chinese characters is somewhat complicated, but in the future, everyone's education situation becomes more and more common, and many problems can be solved and cannot be rushed.
The article "Shi's History of Eating Lions" has a complete context and expression, although it is very difficult to read, but what it wants to express is also everything.
The original work is only 100 words, but it can vividly express the story of this nerd whose surname Shi eats a lion in homophones, although it belongs to the word game, but the characteristics it expresses are already simple and clear.
Soon after, Zhao Yuanren created it in order to prove that this was not accidental
"Ji Ji Hit the Chicken"
The same style also tells a story, once again telling the world the exquisiteness of Chinese characters, absolutely can not let the wisdom of the ancients be lost in vain, that way, it is difficult for future generations to feel these precious treasures except for researchers.
Nowadays, people all over the country can use different accents, but they can use the same writing system, which is also one of the core factors that have been able to govern the vast territory of successive dynasties, and the power of writing dissemination is no longer needed.
After surviving the "dangerous period" of Chinese characters, it can also be proved that Zhao Yuanren's persistence is indeed correct.
Today, in the process of the rise of civilization, the rise of culture is particularly important, culture is the foundation of standing in the forest of nations, which is enough to reflect the important characteristics of Chinese characters.
Through "looking forward", it is to a certain extent that it can make up for the losses of the past, but at that time, there were still some people who knew Chinese characters who felt afraid and sad, and many dynasties in the past created brilliant prosperity, which was also inseparable from Chinese characters.
Many people remember and thank Zhao Yuanren, mention "language", many people think of Zhao Yuanren is a serious teaching gentleman, but in fact, Zhao Yuanren is not like this.
After being exposed to linguistics, Zhao Yuanren once again showed amazing talent, and he also learned Hokkien dialect.
By 1959, he had learned the dialects of the whole country, and it was interesting to see from his point of view that "different systems of language can write the same type of Chinese characters".
The academic community also recognized that Zhao Yuanren was the first person to fully use the theoretical methods of modern linguistics to study Chinese and gain a worldwide reputation.
Hu Shi knew him well, saying that he was a "funny by nature", even when he was doing research.
In order to illustrate the relative independence of words and language, he has done a lot of explanations, and the famous "Shi's Lion Eating History" is the best example, and this original text, which is estimated to be read aloud by the most professional host, will soon become stuttering.
Zhao Yuanren always likes to give examples to illustrate, which is also a big reason why he is widely respected by the academic community.
In the process of teaching at many first-class universities at home and abroad, whether it is morality, style, or knowledge and articles, they have been recognized by the school, and there is a saying in the Field of Aesthetic Chinese Dialects: "Mr. Zhao will never make a mistake." ”
Many people admire Zhao Yuanren, in addition to his many earth-shattering contributions, there is another thing, that is, the "nature of a scholar".
Before the free marriage, he made a pact with his wife: in the future, you can do anything according to you, that is, one thing cannot be better than me, and I am a person who is not willing to be an official all my life and does not like to ask politics.
This decision, Zhao Yuanren has indeed been practicing all his life, during which, in the face of the temptation of fame, he has all given up, and he has rejected the position of principal of a famous school 4 times.
For example, in 1947, Zhu Jiahua, then minister of education of the National Government, sent many telegrams to Zhao Yuanren, who was still in the United States, asking him to become the president of the Central University.
But in this way, Zhu Jiahua also took out the spirit of "three Gu Maolu" and even took the "lady route", as a result, Mrs. Zhao respected her husband's choice very much, and called back: I know that he is not an administrative talent, please choose another Gao Ming.
They remained in the United States for more than two decades, only to return to their homeland in 1973.
During the Years in the United States, Zhao Yuanren has also become a symbol of the "Chinese master", and now, there will be many scholars who sigh: almost no one can integrate the two disciplines of natural sciences and humanities so skillfully as Zhao Yuanren.
People don't even know what kind of adjective to use in the face of such an all-round ghost talent, but many Chinese character lovers admire him, and in the process of preventing the Latinization of Chinese characters, Zhao Yuanren has indeed made a great contribution.
When Zhao Yuanren returned to China, Premier Zhou also talked to him about the "Tongzi Plan", and there were many well-known people in the cultural circles present.
In 1982, Zhao Yuanren died of illness in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the age of 90, a rising master of philology and linguistics, and fell.
reference
Goldenrod. Zhao Yuanren and Qu Qiubai meet in language and writing reform[J].Journal of Jiangsu University of Technology
FENG Shouzhong. Zhao Yuanren,"History of Shi's Eating Lions" and the Problem of Hanyu Pinyin[J].Journal of Jiangsu Normal University of Technology
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