Described as "the father of Pinyin", or Chinese phonetic language, and hailed as the man who simplified Chinese, Zhou Youguang would have been 112 this Saturday.
In his honour, Google is changing its logo in 12 countries to a doodle, or illustration, of him and his contribution to Chinese language.
This is his story:
Love for China "Bring light to the world". Born in Changzhou in 1906, Zhou Youguang showed interest in linguistics at the early age of 12; he graduated from high-school with honours.
Named Zhou Yaoping, he adopted the pen name "Yougang" because he wanted to "bring light" to the world.
Hard road to university. In 1923, Zhou enrolled the university of St. John's University, Shanghai. He was not able to attend because of financial woes, but friends and relatives raised the admission fee and helped him pay for tuition.
He graduated in 1927, majored in economics and took supplementary coursework in linguistics.
Sino-Japanese war. In 1933, he married Zhang Yunhe. He moved to Japan to continue his studies, but returned in 1937, at the start of the Sino-Japanese war.
After the Japanese were defeated in 1945 at the end of World War Two, Zhou worked in Sin Hua bank where he was stationed overseas, first in New York City and then in London.
"Modern, resurgent China". In 1949, he returned after the establishment of Communist China, excited to take part in a resurgent country. "We all thought that China had a very good opportunity to develop; we didn't expect the later turmoil. History misled us," Zhou told the Guardian.
Back in China, he taught economics at Fudan University in Shanghai. However, his path did not lead him to remain as an economist. History misled us ZHOU YOUGUANG
Romanization of the language Reforming the Chinese language. In 1955, the government placed Zhou at the head of a committee to reform the Chinese language.
He was called by Zhou Enlai, a person he met in his bank job who was now the second leader in China. "Linguistics was just a hobby". Zhou initially declined, saying that linguistics was only his hobby, but he was not allowed to refuse the offer. He moved to Beijing, where he began a three-year effort, and developed the invention of Pinyin.
A pronunciation guide. Pinyin was made the official romanization in 1958. It is only a pronunciation guide, and not a substitute writing system.
"Mao disliked greatly the economists". His job protected him from Mao's policies. "Mao disliked greatly the economists - especially economic professors from America," Zhou said in an in interview. "By that time, I had shifted to the line of language and writing ... If I had remained in Shanghai teaching economics, I think I certainly could have been imprisoned for 20 years."
Chinese labour camp. But in 1969. accused of being a reactionary academic, he was sent to work in a labour camp where he worked in the rice fields. He spent more than two years there.
Once he was released, he went back home and continued writing about language.
Encyclopedia Zhou. In the 1980s, he helped oversee the translation into Chinese of the Encyclopedia Britannica, earning him the nickname of "Encyclopedia Zhou".
Critical of the government. Zhou was the author of more than 40 books, many of which were banned for being critical of the government. Around 10 of them were published after he turned 100. He started a blog on Sina and continued blogging until he was 105 years old.
Regarding the government, the linguist told AFP: "In all honesty I haven’t got anything good to say about Mao Zedong."
Chinese people becoming rich isn't important, human progress is ultimately progress towards democracy. ZHOU YOUGUANG
Google这是在向中国示好吗？
本来是学经济的 五十岁才换语言方向 就成拼音之父了
长寿也很牛，不乱吃，不生气，简单生活。。。特别朴实的生活哲学。。。
年纪大了也很敢说。Google不见得示好，说不定是示威
言论观点[编辑]
2012年，家中写作的周有光
2012年3月，周有光在接受英国广播公司采访时表示由于自己参加了1955年的全国文字改革会议而因此逃过一劫：“反右运动，美国回来的大学教授都是‘右派’，有的就自杀了；我的好朋友都自杀了……我逃过了一个上海反右运动。”针对毛泽东和中国共产党，他表示：“我们都相信他，都相信毛泽东这话，要搞民主的，不知道他上台以后搞了最最坏的专制。” “中国将来必须放弃共产主义，只要中国一天离不开共产主义，中国的前途就无法摆脱黑暗。” 同时他并没有为自己回国而感到后悔。[14]
2013年3月，周有光表示中国须弃专制走民主路：“中国不适合民主？这等于说中国人不适合吃西餐一样荒谬。” “贪官当然要抓，但抓了贪官不等于政府就好了，问题在于专制，不是贪官。专制下必然有贪官，民主制度下贪官少，因为人民可以讲话，你做坏事我下次不选举你，专制就不行。 ” “我们的宪法规定得很清楚，人民有很多自由，但现在一样都没有；宪法上有民主条文，但是空的，没有真的东西。大家希望它能够慢慢开明。”[15]
2014年2月《德国之声》转载德国新闻周刊《明镜》引述周有光的话说：“我一生中只对一件事情感到遗憾，共产党没有遵守承诺，中国始终没有民主。毛泽东搞得一塌糊涂。”[16]
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%9D%92%E6%9E%9C%E5%B7%B7/16553214
敬仰
怪不得耳熟得紧，原来是他
是，去欧洲发现没有人会把我的名字念错
看来他老婆比他出名， LOL
合肥四姐妹也都是高寿， 都活到了90几岁，沈从文和老三张兆和的故事是令人唏嘘，追到了女神又出轨。。。 当年沈从文死命追求的时候，老二就是这个周有光的太太还是很喜欢沈从文的投了支持票的。
老婆比他出名是因为他两个连襟太有名了 ---发自Huaren 官方 iOS APP
文坛最悲惨的婚姻之一…感觉四姐妹中老三最弱，换了其他三个恐怕都是会离婚的
哎，老毛家族基本体现了恶有恶报，他的子孙死的死傻的傻疯的疯。。。。。。。
Described as "the father of Pinyin", or Chinese phonetic language, and hailed as the man who simplified Chinese, Zhou Youguang would have been 112 this Saturday.
In his honour, Google is changing its logo in 12 countries to a doodle, or illustration, of him and his contribution to Chinese language.
This is his story:
Love for China
"Bring light to the world". Born in Changzhou in 1906, Zhou Youguang showed interest in linguistics at the early age of 12; he graduated from high-school with honours.
Named Zhou Yaoping, he adopted the pen name "Yougang" because he wanted to "bring light" to the world.
Hard road to university. In 1923, Zhou enrolled the university of St. John's University, Shanghai. He was not able to attend because of financial woes, but friends and relatives raised the admission fee and helped him pay for tuition.
He graduated in 1927, majored in economics and took supplementary coursework in linguistics.
Sino-Japanese war. In 1933, he married Zhang Yunhe. He moved to Japan to continue his studies, but returned in 1937, at the start of the Sino-Japanese war.
After the Japanese were defeated in 1945 at the end of World War Two, Zhou worked in Sin Hua bank where he was stationed overseas, first in New York City and then in London.
"Modern, resurgent China". In 1949, he returned after the establishment of Communist China, excited to take part in a resurgent country. "We all thought that China had a very good opportunity to develop; we didn't expect the later turmoil. History misled us," Zhou told the Guardian.
Back in China, he taught economics at Fudan University in Shanghai. However, his path did not lead him to remain as an economist.
History misled us
ZHOU YOUGUANG
Romanization of the language
Reforming the Chinese language. In 1955, the government placed Zhou at the head of a committee to reform the Chinese language.
He was called by Zhou Enlai, a person he met in his bank job who was now the second leader in China.
"Linguistics was just a hobby". Zhou initially declined, saying that linguistics was only his hobby, but he was not allowed to refuse the offer. He moved to Beijing, where he began a three-year effort, and developed the invention of Pinyin.
A pronunciation guide. Pinyin was made the official romanization in 1958. It is only a pronunciation guide, and not a substitute writing system.
"Mao disliked greatly the economists". His job protected him from Mao's policies. "Mao disliked greatly the economists - especially economic professors from America," Zhou said in an in interview. "By that time, I had shifted to the line of language and writing ... If I had remained in Shanghai teaching economics, I think I certainly could have been imprisoned for 20 years."
Chinese labour camp. But in 1969. accused of being a reactionary academic, he was sent to work in a labour camp where he worked in the rice fields. He spent more than two years there.
Once he was released, he went back home and continued writing about language.
Encyclopedia Zhou. In the 1980s, he helped oversee the translation into Chinese of the Encyclopedia Britannica, earning him the nickname of "Encyclopedia Zhou".
Critical of the government. Zhou was the author of more than 40 books, many of which were banned for being critical of the government. Around 10 of them were published after he turned 100.
He started a blog on Sina and continued blogging until he was 105 years old.
Regarding the government, the linguist told AFP: "In all honesty I haven’t got anything good to say about Mao Zedong."
Chinese people becoming rich isn't important, human progress is ultimately progress towards democracy.
ZHOU YOUGUANG
看看这篇文章最后的点睛之笔
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/01/zhou-youguang-google-honours-today-180112133907283.html
Chinese people becoming rich isn't important, human progress is ultimately progress towards democracy. ZHOU YOUGUANG
沈从文是凤凰男的鼻祖，虽然他名气最大，但一生没给老三温暖的生活，相比较其他三个姐妹，老三明显嫁错人了。
老二嫁周有光嫁得最好，周家算然不算大富但好坏也是书香门第，所以一生幸福，夫唱妇随。
老大嫁了个戏子算个明星吧，老三这么早居然外F了，不过这两家生活还算安逸。
还有个编外连襟，看风景的卞之琳同学
的确是连襟们太有名了
兆和和沈先生确实磨合了很多年，两人也是相濡以沫的相伴一生。四姐妹里充和最有才气，最聪明。非常喜欢充和，可以看看这篇文章
“张充和 一曲微茫度此生”http://www.nfpeople.com/story_view.php?id=1880
连襟都能搞得这么亚历山大，不容易啊
赞编外连襟，连个编外的都这么强，简直了