Xiao Jialin (1897-1968)

Also known by his courtesy name Xiaocun and his pseudonym Dicheng, Xiao Jialin was from Jiulong Xiao Village, Taoshu Administrative Village, Chitian Township, Fengxin County, Jiangxi Province. He graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Beijing Normal University, specializing in phonology. Xiao Jialin was a major promoter of the “National Language Movement” in 20th-century China, a linguist, lexicographer, and grassroots educator.

In September 1919, he was a member of the National Language Unification Preparatory Committee and served on the editorial board of the “National Language Weekly.”

From September 3 to October 29, 1926, he participated in the word-by-word phonetic examination of the “Supplemented and Revised National Pronunciation Dictionary” with Qian Xuantong, Li Jinxian, Wang Yi, and Bai Dizhou.

In 1928, he was a member of the reorganized National Language Unification Preparatory Committee’s standing committee.

In September 1928, the Compilation Office of the Great Chinese Dictionary was officially established, and he was appointed as the director of the “People’s Dictionary” section in the Compilation Department.

Xiao Jialin made significant contributions to the promotion of the National Language Romanization, and his hard work was crucial to the notable success of the National Language in Shandong:

In 1927, Xiao Jialin published an article titled “National Language Romanization and Chinese Characters.”

In 1928, after the promulgation of the National Language Romanization, he served as the editor of the “National Language Romanization Weekly,” which began publication on September 4, 1929. Due to printing difficulties, it ceased publication in September 1930, with a total of 52 issues. It resumed publication on June 4, 1932, initially as a weekly, and changed to a biweekly format after issue 37.

In July 1930, the “National Language Romanization Promotion Association” was established, and Xiao Jialin presided over it. At that time, the association had only a dozen members, including Du Zijin, Wang Faqing, Wang Yuchuan, and Li Zhonghao. The “National Language Romanization Weekly” and summer training sessions were organized by this association. In September 1931, Xiao Jialin reported on the situation of the National Language Romanization training sessions at the thirteenth standing committee meeting of the National Language Unification Preparatory Committee. In 1932, while serving as the editor of Shandong’s “People’s Weekly,” he published a special issue on National Language Romanization in volume 4, issue 38; in volume 5, issue 3 of the “People’s Education Monthly,” he published “How to Write Compound Words in Connection,” setting rules for word classification; he also published an article titled “Tools for Popular Education.”

From September 24 to 26, 1934, he attended the National Language Romanization Representative Conference held in Jinan as a representative from Shandong.

During the promotion of the National Language, Xiao Jialin was also an active advocate and practitioner of popular education:

In 1928, he served as the director of the library at Donghai Middle School, Jiangsu Province, Sun Yat-sen University.

In 1933, he organized and taught a Zhuyin Fuhao (Bopomofo) training session at the Shandong Provincial Popular Education Institute.

During his time in Shandong, he participated in the editorial work of the “Zhuyin Shandong Farmer’s News,” a small newspaper using phonetic Chinese characters, hosted by Dong Weichuan, aimed at promoting phonetic symbols and popular education.

For the “Shandong Folk Legends (Volume 1)” published in August 1933 (edited and distributed by the Shandong Provincial Popular Education Institute), he wrote a preface titled “After Organizing Shandong Folk Legends,” affirming the role of “folk legends” in the study of folklore, customs, and ideas.

In July 1935, he became a member and vice-chairman of the National Language Promotion Committee. During the Anti-Japanese War, he continued to teach at the National Language Training Classes. On July 26, 1940, he attended the second plenary meeting of the National Language Promotion Committee held in Chongqing.

In 1944, at the National Social Education Institute established in Bishan, Chongqing, utilizing three old sites, a specialized course in National Language was set up. After He Rong, Xiao Jialin became the second director. The main aim of this institution was to “train high-level National Language teachers, unify the National Language, popularize phonetic literacy among the masses, and swiftly eliminate illiteracy in society.” Although the number of graduates from the specialized course was small and most of them went on to work in southern provinces and cities in mainland China and Taiwan, the institute made significant contributions to experimental work in social education, phonetic literacy education in Nanjing, and the research on air-based National Language teaching conducted by the National Social Education Institute’s radio station. In May 1946, the institute gradually relocated to Suzhou.

In April 1946, the Ministry of Education established the “Taiwan Provincial National Language Promotion Committee,” and Xiao Jialin was appointed as a member, making significant preparatory efforts for the promotion of the National Language in Taiwan.

In December 1950, he began working at the People’s Education Publishing House and also served as a member of the editorial board of the New China Dictionary Society. He assisted the president, Wei Jiankong, with the daily operations of the dictionary society and began working on the compilation of the “New China Dictionary,” personally participating in the design of the dictionary’s main framework. This version of the “New China Dictionary” was successfully published in November 1954.

On December 1, 1954, the Dictionary Editing Office (New China Dictionary Society) was placed under the jurisdiction of the Ancient Books Publishing House of the Ministry of Culture.

On July 1, 1956, the Dictionary Editing Office (New China Dictionary Society) was merged into the Language Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (now the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences). Together with the editorial staff from the Chinese Great Dictionary Compilation Office and some members from the Language Institute, they formed the Dictionary Editing Office and began work on compiling the “Modern Chinese Dictionary.” Subsequently, he served as an associate researcher at the Language Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (now the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences).

Major Works and Publications:

“Introduction to National Language Romanization”: Published in 1931 by the National Language Romanization Promotion Association. This work was compiled entirely using the National Language Romanization system.

“Research on Retroflex Rhymes”: Published in issue 51 of “National Language Weekly.”

“National Pronunciation Commonly Used Word Collection” (1932): Edited by Qian Xuantong, Li Jinxian, Bai Dizhou, and Xiao Jialin, with contributions from Zhao Yuanren and Wang Yi.

“People’s Dictionary” (July 1932): Edited by Xiao Jialin. This dictionary extensively covers commonly used terms in daily life, using the Beiping (Beijing) dialect as the standard, intended for the general public with some level of education.

“New Rhymes of China” (1941): Edited by Wei Jiankong, Li Jinxian, Lu Qian, and Xiao Jialin, published as a “National Rhyming Book.”

“New China Dictionary” (First Edition) (1954): Xiao Jialin was a principal editor of this edition.

“Modern Chinese Dictionary” (Trial Edition) (1956): Xiao Jialin was a principal editor of this trial version.