MCLC: Zhou Youguang as critic

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Zhou Youguang as critic
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This is a little old, but I don't believe it was ever posted on the list.

Kirk 

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Source: NPR (10/19/11):
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/19/141503738/at-105-celebrated-chinese-linguist-
now-a-dissident

At 105, Chinese Linguist Now A Government Critic
by LOUISA LIM <http://www.npr.org/people/5383747/louisa-lim>

Zhou Youguang should be a Chinese hero after making what some call the
world's most important linguistic innovation: He invented Pinyin, a system
of romanizing Chinese characters using the Western alphabet.

But instead, this 105-year-old has become a thorn in the government's
side. Zhou has published an amazing 10 books since he turned 100, some of
which have been banned in China. These, along with outspoken views on the
Communist Party and the need for democracy in China, have made him a
"sensitive person" ‹ a euphemism for a political dissident.

When Zhou was born in 1906, Chinese men still wore their hair in a long
pigtail, the Qing dynasty still ruled China, and Theodore Roosevelt was in
the White House. That someone from that era is alive ‹ and blogging as the
"Centenarian Scholar <http://blog.sina.com.cn/zhouyouguang>" ‹ seems
unbelievable.

Pinyin, The 'Open Sesame' Of Chinese

But despite his age, Zhou still lives in a modest third-floor walk-up.
He's frail but chipper, as he receives guests in his book-lined study. He
laughs cheerfully as he reminisces, despite his complaints that "after
100, the memory starts to fail a bit."

Zhou was educated at China's first Western-style university, St. John's in
Shanghai, studying economics with a minor in linguistics. As a young man,
he moved to the United States and worked as a Wall Street banker ‹ during
which time he even befriended Albert Einstein, although Zhou says their
conversations are now lost in the mists of time.

Zhou decided to return to China after the 1949 revolution to build the
country. Originally, he intended to teach economics in Shanghai, but he
was called to head a committee to reform the Chinese language.

"I said I was an amateur, a layman, I couldn't do the job," he says,
laughing. "But they said, it's a new job, everybody is an amateur.
Everybody urged me to change professions, so I did. So from 1955, I
abandoned economics and started studying writing systems."

It took Zhou and his colleagues three years to come up with the system now
known as Pinyin, which was introduced in schools in 1958. Recently, Pinyin
has become even more widely used to type Chinese characters into mobile
phones and computers ‹ a development that delights Zhou.

"In the era of mobile phones and globalization, we use Pinyin to
communicate with the world. Pinyin is like a kind of 'Open sesame,'
opening up the doors," he says.

Political Progress Is 'Too Slow'

Although official documentaries by the state broadcaster have celebrated
his life, Zhou's actual position is more precarious. In the late 1960s, he
was branded a reactionary and sent to a labor camp for two years. In 1985,
he translated the Encyclopaedia Britannica into Chinese and then worked on
the second edition ‹ placing him in a position to notice the U-turns in
China's official line.

At the time of the original translation, China's position was that the
U.S. started the Korean War ‹ but the encyclopedia said North Korea was to
blame, Zhou recalls.

"That was troublesome, so we didn't include that bit. Later, the Chinese
view changed. So we got permission from above to include it. That shows
there's progress in China," he says, adding, "But it's too slow."

At 105, Zhou calls it as he sees it without fear or favor. He's outspoken
about what he believes is the need for democracy in China. And he says he
hopes to live long enough to see China change its position on the
Tiananmen Square killings in 1989.

"June 4th made Deng Xiaoping ruin his own reputation," he says. "Because
of reform and opening up, he was a truly outstanding politician. But June
4th ruined his political reputation."

Far from shying from controversy, Zhou appears to relish it, chuckling as
he admits, "I really like people cursing me."

Bold And Outspoken Criticism

That fortitude is fortunate, since his son, Zhou Xiaoping, who monitors
online reaction to his father's blog posts, has noted that censors quickly
delete any praise, leaving only criticism. The elder Zhou believes China
needs political reform, and soon.

"Ordinary people no longer believe in the Communist Party any more," he
says. "The vast majority of Chinese intellectuals advocate democracy. Look
at the Arab Spring. People ask me if there's hope for China. I'm an
optimist. I didn't even lose hope during the Japanese occupation and World
War II. China cannot not get closer to the rest of the world."

The elderly economist is scathing about China's economic miracle, denying
that it is a miracle at all: "If you talk about GDP per capita, ours is
one-tenth of Taiwan's. We're very poor."

Instead, he points out that decades of high-speed growth have exacted a
high price from China's people: "Wages couldn't be lower, the environment
is also ruined, so the cost is very high."

Zhou's century as a witness to China's changes, and a participant in them,
has led him to believe that China has become "a cultural wasteland." He's
critical of the Communist Party for attacking traditional Chinese culture
when it came into power in 1949, but leaving nothing in the void.

Still A Force To Be Reckoned With

He becomes animated as talk turns to a statue of Confucius that was first
placed near Tiananmen Square earlier this year, then removed.

"Why aren't they bringing out statues of Marx and Chairman Mao? Marx and
Mao can't hold their ground, so they brought out Confucius. Why did they
take it away? This shows the battles over Chinese culture. Mao was 100
percent opposed to Confucius, but nowadays Confucius' influence is much
stronger than Marx's," he says.

One final story illustrates Zhou's unusual position. A couple of years
ago, he was invited to an important reception. At the last minute, he was
told to stay away. The reason he was given was the weather.

But his family believes another explanation: One of the nine men who run
China, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, was at the event. And
that leader did not want to have to acknowledge Zhou, and so give currency
to his political views.

That a Chinese leader should refuse to meet Zhou is telling, both of his
influence and of the political establishment's fear of one old man.