The Washington herald., 1921-07-03
A B C'S FOR THE 4OO,OOO,OOO

Korea who had made with great Of a simple
phonetic system instituted there by the progressivs
Korean Emperor Sa Jong in the Fifteenth century
In the far-away Chinese province OF Szechuen q
little gray haired American woman, Miss S. J. Garland
worked out remarkable phonetic alphabet and soon
had thousands OF cooie farmers reading her printed
tracts and tranSatons of the Gospels Other less sue
ccSstu attempts made in Shantung and elsewhere
ChlneSe scholars were also at work the problem.
Finally came the great European war with the re-
sutng foreign and particularly Japanese demands upon
China The students and foreign educated Chinese
were aroused. They thought Chinese sovereignty and
independence threatened and they about to awaken
their countrymen They called for a nation wide pro-
test and boycott against Japanese made goods Their
efforts promptly encountered the same overwhelming
d'ficulty OF ignorance and ieracy that had met the
missionaries At once 1t became apparent that China
must have national language one that could be read
by the masses Without it national unity and national
defense were impossible
THE ministry of education was prevailed u,or 70
call national language conference The great
conclave met and was attended by Chinese
scholars from every section They carried on their ses
SonS Tor the most part in Mandarin the court or Off
ciai d'aect, common for substantially IS of the I8
provinces II was necessary also, to employ in
terpreers at the meetings. The delegates made COM
pason OF every suggested system. They sub stitutcd
certain symbols and pen strokes very dear to the
Chinese classical scholar for certain others not so dear
AND eventually the conference turned out national
alphabet distinctly Chinese. 1t bore no earmarks Of
foreign influence suggestion 1t was entirely salts
factory to the Chinese.
BY government decree November "a, 1918 the re-
suits OF the conference promulgated as the ma
tonal language of China" Immediately it came in for
general acceptance. The missionaries discarded all of
their own successful local systems and substituted tb.
new Miss Garland was called to Shanghai to head
the bureau of national language formed in that great
nterdenomnatonal Office the China Continuation
Committee.
Governor Yen, reform head Of the province of
ShansI' issued mandate to his 100000 peopIe COM
mandng every man under 40 years and every woman
under rs to learn to read within one wear To n,k.
the order effective he had printed some 100000 copies
OF phonetic primer and sent lecturers with them on,
into the villages
Still more recently the typewriter has been ADAPTED
10 tne new phonetic script the machine being none
other than OF standard American manufacture with the
Ehlnese characters placed their sides Chinese !,
properly read from top to bottom BEGINNING AZ m.
right side OF the page Writing on the Chinese tvpe
writer is done from left to right as in any American
business office But when finished the sheet s t,ker
from the machine turned "on edge" and read as anx
other chinese is read Perhaps the typewriter in
cnineSe-an utterly unmaginable thing five years ago
Dest ypies the spirit of daring and advance that !.
'noicated by China's revolutionary phonetic script,
The payment June 28 of the eou;v,I.rt of !.