Chronicle of a Hundred Years of Modernization of Chinese Language

Author: Fei Jinchang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1997-07-01
Features:
1. The "modernization of Chinese language and literature" reflected in this book is limited to the modernization of Chinese language and literature. The academic community has different interpretations of China's "modernization of language and literature." We adopt Mr. Zhou Youguang's definition, where China's "modernization of language and literature" refers to the commonization of language, colloquialization of style, simplification of writing, and alphabeticization of phonetic symbols. We add one more "ization"—computerization of language and writing information processing. These "five modernizations" refer not only to the evolution of language and writing as a means of communication but also to the progress of social language life.
2. In the early 1980s, we compiled Chronicles of Text Reform Work Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China (published by the Language and Literature Press in 1985). Since its publication, the Chronicles has been well-received by readers both at home and abroad. The book is now out of print. Based on the Chronicles, we extended the timeline forward and backward and broadened the content to the left and right, compiling this Chronicles of a Century.
3. The timeline for this book starts from the publication of Lu Wangzhang's A Glance at the Chinese Phonetic New Script for Xiamen in 1892 and ends with the completion of this book in December 1995.
4. Within this scope, all significant figures, works, conferences, activities, documents, and other matters related to the modernization of language and literature are the subjects of this book's records. Over this century, important developments in fundamental research and theoretical studies of language and writing are also included to some extent. We regard these achievements as a significant foundation for the progress of language and literature modernization.
5. The title is Chronicles of a Century rather than Chronicles of Major Events because we dare not claim that all major events in the field of language and literature over the past century are fully covered in this book, nor can we claim that everything recorded here is a major event. However, we can confidently say that the major events related to China's language and literature modernization over the past century are largely documented in this book.
6. Since the title includes "China," we have included major events related to the modernization of language and literature in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. However, due to limited resources, many omissions are inevitable. We can only leave this regret to be addressed in future revisions. When dealing with materials before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the focus is primarily on the post-founding period.