Father of Chinese Pinyin dies at 112

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Renowned Chinese linguist Zhou Youguang, the creator of the Pinyin writing system, died on January 14, one day after his 112th birthday.

The Hinabook publishing house, which published several of Zhou's books in recent years, confirmed his death.

Zhou Youguang. /CRI Photo

Born in Changzhou of east China's Jiangsu Province on January 13, 1906, Zhou worked on Wall Street as an economist before becoming a linguist. In the 1950s, he chaired the committee which came up with Pinyin, a system to make it easier to transcribe Chinese characters using the Western alphabet.

Zhou Youguang in New York, 1947. /CFP Photo

He said the speed of the popularization of Pinyin was amazing, used not only in education but also in industry and commerce. It became a key to understanding Chinese culture, and has evolved into a bridge linking China to the whole world.

Zhou enjoyed watching English-language TV news. He noted that English news is often equipped with captions, making it easier to understand the main idea of every news item.

(Story by CRI)