| Zhou Youguang 周有光 |
|
|---|---|
| Born | January 13, 1906 |
| Spouse | Zhang Yunhe, married on 30 April 1933, died on 14 August 2002 (69 years, 106 days) |
| Children | Zhou Xiaoping (b.1934) Zhou Xiaohe (1935-1941) |
| Relatives | Granddaughter: Zhou Hexin (b.1959) Great grandson: Andy Zhou (b.1993) |
Zhou Youguang (Chinese: 周有光; pinyin: Zhōu Yǒuguāng; born 13 January 1906) is a Chinese linguist who is often credited as the "father of Hanyu Pinyin",[1][2][3] the official romanization for Mandarin in the People's Republic of China. He was born in Changzhou.[1][4]
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Zhou enrolled in Saint John's University, Shanghai, in 1923, where he majored in economics and took supplementary coursework in linguistics.[4] He left during the May 30 Movement of 1925 and transferred to the short-lived Guanghua University, from which he graduated in 1927.[4] Zhou spent time as an exchange student in Japan,[4] and spent his early career working as a banker and economist overseas (mainly in New York City), but returned to Shanghai[4] in 1949 when the People's Republic was established.[1][2]
In 1955, the government placed Zhou at the head of a committee to reform the Chinese language in order to increase literacy. While other committees oversaw the tasks of promulgating Mandarin as the national language and creating simplified Chinese characters, Zhou's committee was charged with developing a romanization to represent the pronunciation of Chinese characters.[1] Zhou says the task took about three years, and was a full-time job.[1] Pinyin was made the official romanization in 1958, although then (as now) it was only a pronunciation guide, not a substitute writing system.[5]
During the Cultural Revolution Zhou was sent to live in the countryside and be "re-educated", like many intellectuals at that time.[1][2] He spent two years in a labour camp.[6]
After 1980, Zhou worked with Liu Zunqi and Chien Wei-zang on translating the Encyclopædia Britannica into Chinese, earning him the nickname "Encyclopedia Zhou".[4] Zhou has continued writing and publishing since the creation of Pinyin; for example, his book Zhongguo Yuwen de Shidai Yanjin 中国语文的时代演进, translated into English by Zhang Liqing, was published in 2003 as The Historical Evolution of Chinese Languages and Scripts.[7] In total he wrote ten books since 2000, some of which have been banned in China. In his old age he has become an advocate for political reform, and increasingly critical of the Communist Party of China's attacks on traditional Chinese culture.[6]
Zhou married Zhang Yunhe in 1933; she died in 2002. The couple had two children: a daughter who died at age 6, and a son.[1]