State Language Commission

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The State Language Commission of China (simplified Chinese: 国家语言文字工作委员会; traditional Chinese: 國家語言文字工作委員會; short form: 国家语委; 國家語委), formerly known as the Chinese Character Reform Committee (中国文字改革委员会; 中國文字改革委員會), is a national bureau under the management of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. It is mainly responsible for the standardization of national languages, and for implementing the policies and laws of the State Council on languages. [1] [2]

The important contributions of the State Language Commission include the development and implementation of the Pinyin scheme, the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme and the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters.[3]

History[edit]

In August of 1949, when the People's Republic of China was about to be founded, Wu Yuzhang wrote a letter to Mao Zedong, proposing that in order to effectively eliminate illiteracy, it was necessary to quickly carry out language reform. Mao replied with support to the proposal in the same month. In October 1949, the Chinese Language Reform Association was established. In December, Wu Yuzhang was appointed the chairman of the standing council of the association. [3]

In October 1954, the Chinese Character Reform Association was reorganized into the Chinese Character Reform Committee directly under the State Council. Wu Yuzhang was the chairman, Hu Yuzhi was the vice chairman. [4]: 63 

On January 7, 1955, the Chinese Character Reform Committee issued the "Draft Scheme for the Simplification of Chinese Characters".

In February 1955, the Pinyin Scheme Committee of the Chinese Character Reform Committee was established, with Wu Yuzhang and Hu Yuzhi as the chairman and vice-chairmen. The members included Wei Que, Ding Xilin, Lin Handa, Luo Changpei, Lu Zhiwei, Li Jinxi, Wang Li, Ni Haishu, Ye Laishi, and Zhou Youguang. [5]

In September of 1955, the Chinese Character Reform Committee proposed a revised draft for simplifying Chinese characters, which was reviewed by the State Council Chinese Character Simplification Scheme Review Committee and passed by the State Council plenary meeting on January 28, 1956. On January 31, 1956, the "Chinese Character Simplification Scheme" was officially announced by the "People's Daily".

On November 1, 1957, the Pinyin scheme, or the Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet (汉语拼音方案) was approved by the State Council, and on February 11, 1958, approved and officially adopted at the Fifth Session of the 1st National People's Congress. [6] [7]

In May 1964, the "General Table of Simplified Characters" (簡化字總表) was released by the Chinese Character Reform Committee.

In December 1977, the Chinese Character Reform Committee issued the "Second Chinese Character Simplification Scheme (Draft)", which was rescinded in 1986.

On December 16, 1985, the Chinese Character Reform Committee was renamed the State Language Commission ( or National Language and Script Working Committee). It is a national bureau (vice-ministerial level) directly under the management of the Ministry of Education. [8] [9]

On October 31, 2000, the Law on the Standard Spoken and Written Language of the People’s Republic of China was adopted at the 18th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress, and came into effect on January 1, 2001. [10]

In June 4, 2013, the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters (通用规范汉字表) was issued by the State Language Commission and the Ministry of Education. [11]

Responsibilities[edit]

The State Language Commission is responsible to: [1] [12]

  • Formulate the principles and policies for national language and writing work,
  • Formulate medium- and long-term plans for language and writing work,
  • Formulate norms and standards for Chinese and minority languages ​​and writing and organize and coordinate supervision and inspection,
  • Guide the promotion of Putonghua and the training of Putonghua teachers.

Organizational structure[edit]

The State Language Commission has the following organizations:[1]

  • Language Application Management Department (语言文字应用管理司)
  • Language Information Management Department (语言文字信息管理司)
  • Institute of Language Applications
  • Language Press
  • National Language Commission Advisory Committee
  • National Language Commission Language and Writing Standards Review Committee
  • National Language Commission Scientific Research Planning Leading Group
  • National Promotion of Putonghua Propaganda Week Leading Group
  • Inter-ministerial Joint Conference System for Foreign Language Translation and Writing Standards and Chinese Ideological and Cultural Terminology Dissemination

Successive leaders[edit]

  • Liu Daosheng (刘导生)
  • Chen Yuan (陈原)
  • Liu Bin (柳斌)
  • Xu Jialu (许嘉璐)
  • Lin Yanzhi (林炎志)
  • Zhu Xinjun (朱新均)
  • Wang Zhan (王湛)
  • Yuan Guiren (袁贵仁)
  • Li Weihong (李卫红, May 2010-May 2015)
  • Tian Xuejun (田学军, May 2019-January 2023)
  • Chen Jie (陈杰, August 2023-)[1]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "State Language Commission (国家语言文字工作委员会)" (in Chinese). the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China.
  2. ^ "Chinese Language Net (中国语言文字网)". "State Language Commission".
  3. ^ a b "Major events in language and characters (语言文字大事记)".
  4. ^ Hu Jun (王均 主编) (1995). Writing system reform in contemporary China (当代中国的文字改革) (in Chinese). Beijing: Contemporary China Press (当代中国出版社). ISBN 7-80092-297-9.
  5. ^ "The Development of the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet Scheme (汉语拼音方案的制订经过)". Humanities and Society (人文与社会) (in Chinese). 2006-12-05. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
  6. ^ http://www.china-language.edu.cn/#/languageResources/languageStandardLibrary/typeListDetail?id=1369
  7. ^ Chinese Character Reform Committee. "Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet (汉语拼音方案)" (Document). National People's Congress.
  8. ^ "Notice of the State Council on the Establishment of the State Council Institutions" (Document). State Council. August 13, 1988.
  9. ^ https://www.gov.cn/gwyzzjg/zuzhi/ Departments of the State Council (国务院组成部门)
  10. ^ "Law on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language of the People's Republic of China". en.moe.gov.cn. - Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China.
  11. ^ "Table of General Standard Chinese Characters (通用规范汉字表)" (Document). the State Language Commission and the Ministry of Education.
  12. ^ "Regulations on the Function Allocation, Internal Organizations and Staffing of the Ministry of Education" (Document). State Council.

External links[edit]

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