Zhang Binglin

Zhang Binglin

Zhang Binglin ( Chinese  章炳麟 , Pinyin Zhāng Bǐnglín , W.-G. Chang Ping-lin ) (born December 25, 1868 in Yuhang , Chinese Empire , † June 14, 1936 in Suzhou , Republic of China ), also Zhang Taiyan , was a Chinese philologist and revolutionary .

His most important philological work was Wen Shi (文 始 "The Origins of Writing"), the first systematic work on the etymology of Chinese. He also contributed to the study of historical Chinese phonology and developed a shorthand system based on the seal script , the Jiyin Zimu (記 音 字母), which later became the basis of the Zhuyin . Although Zhang was innovative in many ways, he was skeptical about new archaeological finds and thought the oracle bones and their inscriptions discovered were forgeries.

In addition to his scholarly existence, Zhang was also politically active as a member of the Tongmenghui and Guangfuhui and wrote a number of political writings. These took him to prison during the Qing Dynasty and he was again placed under house arrest for three years under the government of Yuan Shikai .

Zhang had five children from two different wives.

Individual evidence

• He Jiuying 何九盈 (1995). Zhongguo xiandai yuyanxue shi (中囯 现代 语言学 史 "A history of modern Chinese linguistics"). Guangzhou: Guangdong jiaoyu chubanshe.
• Laitinen, Kauko (1990). Chinese Nationalism in the Late Qing Dynasty: Zhang Binglin as an Anti-Manchu Propagandist . London: Curzon Press.
• Tang Zhijun 湯志鈞 (1996). Zhang Taiyan zhuan (章太炎 傳 "A biography of Zhang Taiyan"). Taipei: Taiwan Commercial Press.
• Xu Shoushang 许寿裳 (2004). Zhang Taiyan zhuan (章太炎 傳 "A biography of Zhang Taiyan"). Tianjin: Baihua wenyi chubanshe.
• Zhongguo da baike quanshu (1980-1993). 1st edition. Beijing; Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe.

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Zhang is the family name here, Binglin is the first name.