Li Jinxi

Lí Jǐnxī (Chinese 黎锦熙; born February 2, 1890 in Xiāngtán ; died March 27, 1978 in Běijīng ) was a Chinese linguist and educator .

biography

youth

The eight Lí brothers in Běijīng in 1930. From right to left: Lí Jǐnxī 黎錦熙, Lí Jǐnhuī 黎錦暉, Lí Jǐnyào 黎錦耀, Lí Jǐnshū 黎 錦 紓, Lí Jǐnjiǒng 黎錦炯, Lí Jǐnmíng 黎錦明, Lí Jǐnguāng 黎錦光 and Lí Jǐnyáng 黎錦揚 (Chin Yang Lee).

Lí was born as the oldest of eight brothers in a literary family . At the age of fifteen he achieved the rank of Xiùcái in the Imperial Civil Service Examination in 1905 . A year later, under the influence of the uprising of Píngxiāng , Liúyáng and Lǐlíng (in Húnán and Jiāngxī ), he went to Chángshā , where together with Zhāng Zǐpíng 張子平 he initiated a society for moral education ( Dé yù huì德育 會). An arrest warrant was issued for him and he fled back to his hometown. In 1907 he was admitted to training as a railway engineer in Běijīng. The following year the school was destroyed by fire and Lí went back to Húnán. He began a teacher training course, which he completed three years later as the best of his class.

republic

From 1912 Lí Jǐnxī published a series of textbooks for primary schools. He took u. a. added the novel The Journey to the West to the curriculum and advocated educational reform, including the abolition of the eight-part essay that had been at the center of traditional education.

In 1914 Lí became a lecturer in history at the First Pedagogical Institute of Hunan Province ( Húnán Shěnglì Dì-yī Shīfàn Xuéxiào湖南省 立 第一 師範學校). Among his students was Máo Zédong .

In 1915, Lí went to Běijīng at the invitation of the Ministry of Education and worked as an editor and editor of textbooks. In the following year he was one of the co-founders of the Research Society of the Republic of China and at its founding meeting represented the unification of the national language ( guóyǔ tǒngyī 國語統一, i.e. the creation of a uniform standard pronunciation of Chinese) as well as the unification of colloquial and written language ( yán-wén yīzhì言文一致, ie the replacement of classical Chinese by a written language oriented towards colloquial language). In 1918, he and others proposed the introduction of the phonetic script ( zhùyīn zìmù注音字母) for Chinese. In 1920, together with others, he obtained a decree according to which elementary and secondary schools were no longer taught in classical Chinese, but in modern colloquial language.

In 1920 Lí became a professor at the Institute for the National Language of the Běijīng Pedagogical College ( Běijīng Gāoděng Shīfàn Xuéxiào北京 高等 師範學校). He gave series of lectures in numerous cities. In 1923 he also became a professor at the University of Běijīng , at the Women's Pedagogical University of Běijīng ( Běijīng Nǚzǐ Shīfàn Dàxué北京 女子 師範大學) and at the Yànjīng University and together with Qián Xuántóng 錢玄同, Zhào Yuánrèn and others, founded the study society for a Latin script for the national language ( Guóyǔ Luómǎzì Pīnyīn Yánjiūhuì國語 羅馬 字 拼音 研究 會). In the same year he became head of the newly founded editorial office of the dictionary of the national language ( Guóyǔ cídiǎn 國語辭典).

"New grammar of the national language"

In 1924 Lí published his "New Grammar of the National Language " ( Xīnzhù guóyǔ jiàoxuéfǎ《新 著 國語 教學法》), the first monograph on colloquial language as a written medium. Lís presentation was based on the English grammar of John Nesfield and the sentence diagrams of Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg. Lís grammar was to remain the standard work on the grammar of modern Chinese until the publication of the "Provisional Grammar System for Chinese Lessons " ( Zànnǐ Hànyǔ jiàoxué yǔfǎ xìtǒng《暂 拟 汉语 教学 语法 werk》) in 1956.

In 1926, Lí published together with Zhào Yuánrèn and Qián Xuántóng a new system for transcribing Chinese into Latin, Gwoyeu Romatzyh ( Guóyǔ Luómǎzì 國語羅馬 字, " Latin script for the national language"). 1928 Lí was dean of the First Pedagogical Institute of the State University Běipíng ( Guólì Běipíng Dàxué國立 北平 大學).

war

The War of Resistance against Japan began in 1937 , and several universities were relocated from Běijīng to Xī'ān and merged there to form the Provisional State University of Xī'ān ( Guólì Xī'ān Línshí Dàxué國立 西安 臨時 大學); Lí Jǐnxī became professor and dean of the faculty of Chinese language and literature at that university. With the advance of the Japanese troops, the university was moved to Hànzhōng in 1938 and renamed the United State University of the Northwest ( Guólì Xīběi Liánhé Dàxué國立 西北 聯合 大學). In 1939, part of this university was spun off and relocated further inland, to Lánzhōu , as the State Pedagogical Institute of the Northwest ( Guólì Xīběi Shīfàn Xuéyuàn國立 西北 師範 學院) ; Lí became the educational director of the institute. After the defeat of Japan in 1945, Lí became rector of the institute. Shortly before the VI. At the Guómíndǎng Congress , Lí was accepted into the party as part of a list of "outstanding professors" proposed by Zhū Jiāhuá 朱家 驊 and Chén Lìfū 陳立夫 by Jiǎng Jièshí . In 1946 the State Pedagogical Institute was moved back to Běijīng.

People's Republic

In 1949 Lí Jǐnxī founded together with Wú Yùzhāng , Mǎ Xùlún 馬叙倫, Fàn Wénlán 範文瀾, Chéng Fǎngwú 成仿吾, Guō Mòruò and Máo Dùn on the instructions of Máo Zédōng the Chinese Society for Writing Reform ( Zhōngguó Wénzì 改革huì中國Xiéngguó Wénzì文字igé ). 1950 Lí was next to his professorship and his activity as dean of the faculty of Chinese at the Pedagogical College Běijīng ( Běijīng Shīfàn Dàxué北京 師範大學) head of the editorial office for the "Great Chinese Dictionary" ( Zhōngguó dàcídiǎn中國 大 辭典). In 1955 he became a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences .

At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, Lí was exposed to criticism and persecution. His home was ransacked, his library and archives confiscated, his accounts frozen and his salary withheld. At that time he was able to secretly write more than thirty writings, which were later to appear in eight volumes under the title Zhōngguó wénzì gǎigé yùndòng zǒng píngjiàn hé xīn jìnchéng《中国 文字 改革 运动 总 评鉴 和 新 进程》. In 1972, after personal intervention by Máo Zédōng and Zhōu Ēnlái , he was able to move into a traditional courtyard ( sìhéyuàn ) and thus had favorable living and working conditions again. He was also reassigned staff. In 1976 he met the first delegation of American linguists to visit China.

In the years 1949–1978 Lí was elected as a member of the I, II and V National Political Consultative Conference of the Chinese People and as a member of the I, II and III. National People's Congress elected.

On the day of his death, March 27, 1978, Lí was working on a transcript of a speech on the standardization of Chinese teaching.

Works (selection)

• Xīnzhù guóyǔ jiàoxuéfǎ《新 著 國語 教學法》. Shāngwù yìnshūguǎn商務印書館 1924.
• Xīnzhù guóyǔ wénfǎ《新 著 國語 文法》. Shāngwù yìnshūguǎn 商務印書館 1924; 21st edition 1955.
• Zhùyīn Hànzì《注音 漢字》. Shāngwù yìnshūguǎn 商務印書館 1933, 1937.
• Bǐjiào wénfǎ (cíwèi yǔ jùshì)《比較 文法 （詞 位 與 句式）》. Běipíng zhùzhě shūdiàn 北平 著者 書店 1933.
• Guóyǔ yùndòng shǐgāng《國語運動 史綱》. Shāngwù yìnshūguǎn 商務印書館 1934.
• Jiànshè de “dàzhòngyǔ” wénxué《建設 的 “大衆 語” 文學》. Shāngwù yìnshūguǎn 商務印書館 1936.
• Fāngzhì jīn yì《方志 今 議》. Shāngwù yìnshūguǎn 商務印書館 1940.
• Xīn guówén jiàoxuéfǎ《新 國文 教學法》. Běijīng Shīfàn Dàxué chūbǎnshè 北京 師範大學 出版社 1950.
• Zhōnghuá xīn yùn《中華 新 韵》. Shāngwù yìnshūguǎn 商務印書館 1950.
• Zěnyàng jiàoxué Zhōngguó yǔfǎ《怎樣 教學 中國 語法》. Shāngwù yìnshūguǎn 商務印書館 1953.
• Hànyǔ yǔfǎ jiàocái《汉语 语法 教材》. Shāngwù yìnshūguǎn 商务印书馆 1957, 1959, 1962; with Liú Shìrú 刘世儒.
• Wénzì gǎigé lùncóng《文字 改革 论丛》. Wénzì gǎigé chūbǎnshè 文字 改革 出版社 1957.
• Hànyǔ guīfànhuà de jīběn gōngjù - cóng zhùyīn zìmǔ dào pīnyīn zìmǔ《汉语 规范化 的 基本 工具 —— 从 注音字母 到 拼音 字母》. Jiāngsū rénmín chūbǎnshè 江苏 人民出版社 1957.
• Hànyǔ guīfànhuà lùncóng《汉语 规范化 论丛》. Wénzì gǎigé chūbǎnshè 文字 改革 出版社 1957.
• Wénzì gǎigé lùncóng《文字 改革 论丛》. Wénzì gǎigé chūbǎnshè 文字 改革 出版社 1957.
• Fāngzhì jīn yì《方志 今 议》. Zhōngguó zhǎnwàng chūbǎnshè 中国 展望 出版社 1982.

literature

• Lí Jǐnxī xiānsheng niánpǔ 黎锦熙 先生 年谱. In: Lí Jǐnxī yǔ “Guóyǔ sìqiān nián lái biànhuà cháoliú tú”黎锦熙 与 《国语 四 千年 来 变化 潮流 图》. Běijīng: Běijīng Liánhé chūbǎn gōngsī 北京 联合 出版 公司 2019; ISBN 978-7-5596-3153-4 .