Author: Yun Wang

To say that the Movement for Mandarin Chinese is even more difficult than the 1911 Revolution, is by no means an exaggeration. In November 1918, after the Ministry of Education announced the phonetic alphabet (later called “phonetic symbols”), the National Language Unification Preparation Committee (hereinafter referred to as the “National Language Committee”) regarded the promotion of the phonetic alphabet as a major task. Apart from academic disputes over Beijing pronunciation and national pronunciation, over a dozen years of back-and-forth discussions, the issue ultimately got stuck on a small bronze printing mold.

In 1930, the Ministry of Education issued the “Methods for the Promotion of Phonetic Symbols in All Provinces, Cities, and Counties,” Article 13 of which stated, “All provinces, cities, and counties shall change the lead type molds in all bookstores and printing businesses, and add national phonetic symbols to the sides of characters.” However, the delay led to no results, and businesses were more inclined to “enjoy success but were reluctant to start.” In 1932, the Standing Committee of the National Language Committee decided to first create alphabetical bronze molds, as the project of adding phonetic symbols to Chinese characters was too extensive. Shanghai Commercial Press had cast one version in 1923, but it only contained characters of a limited size and did not indicate the four tones, and it was later destroyed.

In 1933, a conference of the National Association for the Promotion of National Language Education resolved to “request the Ministry of Education to order all bookstores in the country to assist in promoting the national language.” The main points were as follows: 1. Stop the publication of non-standard national pronunciation publications; 2. Add phonetic symbols to all primary school textbooks; 3. Edit children’s books and popular books in the national language and include phonetic symbols; 4. All printed materials, magazines, and other printed products must include phonetic symbols in their titles to a minimum extent. From the date of implementation, publications that do not meet the standard will cease to be printed. This order caused a significant uproar, especially in the publishing industry in Shanghai, which protested mainly on the grounds that adding phonetic symbols character by character took up too much space and increased costs. It was meaningless for those who did not understand phonetic symbols, and for those who did, it was considered redundant. In fact, not only booksellers but also newspapers and public institutions were affected by this.

The National Language Committee believed that Phonetic Chinese Characters were a powerful tool for literacy campaigns and children’s education. Its role was not only in unifying pronunciation but also in eradicating illiteracy. If this statement is correct, then how many characters should be cast? There are suggestions for a thousand characters, three thousand characters, and even suggestions to include all Chinese characters. After deliberation, the National Language Committee decided to adopt the three thousand characters plan, and thus, a massive character selection project began. Those who participated in this work included members of the National Language Committee: Li Jinxi, Qian Xuantong, Wang Yi, Chen Maozhi, Wei Jianggong, Zhao Yuanren, Xiao Jialin, Shen Yi, Lu Ji, Li Buqing, Sun Shiqing, and editors from the Compilation Department of the Great Dictionary: Xu Yishi, Peng Wangqun, Sun Chongyi, Zhang Weiyu, Wang Shuda, and Lu Xiuru, a total of 17 people. The following sources were referenced for character selection:

“Yutiwen Yingyong Zihui” (Chen Heqin, 1928, Commercial Press): This character dictionary was compiled from a total of 554,498 characters, along with the frequencies of each character.

“Yutiwen Yingyong Zihui Yanjiu de Baogao” (Aohongde, 1929, Education Magazine Vol. 20, No. 2 and 3): This character dictionary was compiled from materials consisting of 46,847 characters.

“Xiaoxue Fenji Zihui Yanjiu” (Wang Wenxin, 1930, National Sun Yat-sen University Institute of Education Research, Series No. 14, Minzhi Bookstore): The “composition words” in this dictionary were obtained from a total of 207,246 characters found in children’s composition papers, among other sources. The “textbook words” were derived from a total of 303,941 characters.

“Jiben Zihui” (Zhuang Zexuan, 1930, National Sun Yat-sen University Institute of Education Research, Series No. 12, Minzhi Bookstore): This dictionary obtained commonly used characters (2,827 characters), backup characters (1,241 characters), and rarely used characters (1,191 characters) from six different character lists.

“Minzhong Shiyong Zihui de Yanjiu” (Chen Renzhe, Shanghai Second Period of Civilian Education): This dictionary was compiled based on the statistical analysis of 70,061 characters found in everyday letters written by the public.

“Er Tong Ji Chengren Changyong Zihui Yanjiu” (Du Zuozhou, Jiang Chengkun, “Education and the Masses,” Volume 4, Issue 8): This research produced the “commonly used by the masses” list, compiled from 70,968 characters, the “used by merchants” list compiled from 31,528 characters, and the “used by children” list compiled from 118,840 characters, totaling 220,000 characters.

“Tongyong Zibiao” (Self-published by the Chinese People’s Education Promotion Association): This dictionary was compiled from 103 kinds of civilian publications, 25 kinds of application documents, a total of 505,609 characters, and derived 8,691 characters, including those that were frequently used.

“Xiaoxue Chujiji Zanyong Zihui” (Published by the Ministry of Education in 1935): This dictionary selected and arranged new characters used in primary school textbooks recently published, including 566 characters for the first grade, 644 for the second grade, 737 for the third grade, and 764 for the fourth grade.

“Huawen Changyong Siquan Zilu” (Germany Kramz R. Kramz): This list includes the most commonly used, second most commonly used, third most commonly used, and fourth most commonly used 500 characters each, totaling 3,000 characters.

“Huawen Dazijiqi Ziweibiao” (Commercial Press): This list includes 2,401 characters for the commonly used character disk and 2,971 characters for the backup character disk.

“Huawen Dazijiqi Lei Paixiangbiao” (Tianjin American Typing School): This list includes 766 characters for the commonly used character category and 1,347 characters for the intermediate character category, and 119 characters for the special character category.

“Xinshizipan Biaoben” (Shanghai Huafeng Printing and Casting Plant, 1935): This is the character disk used for lead type printing, with 24 plates of commonly used characters, totaling 704 characters, and 64 plates of backup characters, totaling 6,153 characters.

After compiling data from the various sources mentioned above, totaling over 52,000 characters, and aligning them with national pronunciation, the task was entrusted to the aforementioned 17 individuals for a vote. Characters receiving ten or more votes were classified as the most commonly used, those receiving five or more votes as the second most commonly used, and those receiving fewer than five votes as backup characters. Characters with no votes were not selected. This method combined objective facts (reference materials) with subjective expertise (expert voting) and utilized statistical methods. In the end, 5,787 characters were chosen, along with homophones and variant characters, totaling 6,788 characters, which were categorized into three levels: most commonly used, second most commonly used, and backup.

This work took four months to complete, and its results became the version of phonetic Chinese character molds for casting. The experts from the National Language Committee also provided specific guidelines for the form of casting, such as ensuring that the phonetic symbol fonts were equivalent to regular script, with vertical characters forming rectangles and phonetic symbols placed to the right of the characters, while horizontal characters formed squares with phonetic symbols above the characters. This ensured aesthetic appeal while maintaining the overall character spacing, guaranteeing that no additional space was required for printing.

With this, the critical issue of character casting was resolved. In 1948, to promote Mandarin in Taiwan, Mr. Wang Shoukang, a professor at North China Normal University, brought a set of these molds to Taiwan. This enabled the publication and distribution of the Mandarin Chinese version of the “National Language Newspaper” in Taiwan. The character molds, which have since become obsolete in today’s printing technology, played a crucial role in promoting written communication during the Mandarin movement of the last century in China. The challenges faced in promoting Mandarin are evident from this historical perspective.

References:

“Xin Zhong Xue Wen Ku: Zhu Yin Han Zi” (Li Jinxi, Commercial Press, First Edition, 1936).

“Guo Yu Yun Dong Shi Gang” (Li Jinxi, Commercial Press, Reprinted Edition, 2021).

“Shi Nian Dian Pei Yi Wan Tong” (Wang Zhengfang, Beijing Publishing Group, Beijing October Art and Literature Publishing House, 2018).

November 16, 2023, in Beijing.