I don't think Ji Lao will generally object to the simplification of Chinese characters. Simplification of Chinese characters is actually a basic process of the evolution of Chinese characters for thousands of years (the other process is the opposite "multiplication". I won't elaborate). At the beginning of the founding of New China, the China Character Reform Committee comprehensively sorted out the simplification of Chinese characters in past dynasties and published two batches of simplified characters, 1957 and 1959. Simplified Chinese characters have become the legal writing form of Chinese characters in the country and the basic tool to record oral and written communication more efficiently. This is a great event with boundless merits. Ji Lao studied in Peking University for more than 50 years, and he always used simplified characters on most occasions. I saw what he just wrote the other day: "Be patriotic and filial, respect teachers and value friends. Ji Xianlin is a hundred years old. Among them, six simple and complicated words (love, country, family, teacher, time and year) are simplified by five, and only one word "home" is traditional. Ji Lao is a supporter and practitioner of Chinese character simplification. He is very popular in the field of linguistics. He became the first president of the Chinese Language Society from 65438 to 0984. Today, it would be ridiculous for anyone to say that Ji Lao opposes the simplification of Chinese characters in a general sense. Ordinary people inevitably don't understand the actual situation. The other is the ignorance of fake scholars, or the tricks of real bad guys.
Another critic questioned: Is Mr. Ji going to resurrect seal script and Oracle Bone Inscriptions? This is greater ignorance. Seal script was written by extinct language 1800 years ago, and Oracle Bone Inscriptions was written by extinct language/2800 years ago. Only a few scholars and calligraphers know a thing or two. According to my impression, Ji Lao is not familiar with seal script, let alone Oracle Bone Inscriptions. These words have long been abandoned by the ancients, and the literature is basically useless. No matter who the contemporary scholars are, who can revive them even if they have great skills?
2. Chinese Pinyin.
Ji Lao also talked about the influence of Chinese Pinyin on learning ancient Chinese and Chinese studies.
Please note that from an academic point of view, the so-called Chinese Pinyin actually has two concepts: one is the Pinyin of Chinese characters, and the other is the scheme of Chinese Pinyin.
Pinyinization of Chinese characters is a writing system in which pinyin characters are used instead of Chinese characters. Since the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, many revolutionary sages have strongly advocated and called for the replacement of Chinese characters with Latin pinyin characters in order to quickly eliminate illiteracy and improve the quality of the people. The original intention is good. However, because the pinyin theorists fail to see the essential characteristics of Chinese monosyllabic morphemes (one word and one meaning), they ignore the innate defect that pinyin Chinese characters are not competent for "advanced" Chinese semantic expression. Although they struggled for decades, they achieved little and ended in failure. 1952 In February, the China Language Reform Committee directly under the Central Committee was established. Its three major tasks (simplifying Chinese characters, popularizing Putonghua, and formulating and popularizing Chinese pinyin schemes) do not include the pinyin of Chinese characters. 1February, 985, the Cultural Reform Commission was renamed the State Language Commission, which marked the change of the national language policy and the shift of work focus. 1998, the State Language Committee was merged into the Ministry of Education, and now there is a pragmatic college and a pragmatic department, which has nothing to do with the Pinyin movement of Chinese characters.
The scheme of Chinese Pinyin has gradually evolved and matured on the basis of more than 300 years' research by Chinese and western scholars since the late Ming Dynasty. The promulgation and implementation of 1958 is also a great event with boundless merits. In the past 50 years, the scheme of Chinese Pinyin has been the most ideal phonetic tool for Chinese characters and the best friend for learning Chinese characters, which has greatly improved the efficiency of learning Chinese characters and promoting Putonghua. Nowadays, without hanyu pinyin, it is even difficult to enter the computer age. At the same time, the Chinese Pinyin Scheme is a bridge between Chinese and Western languages, and it has become the international standard for spelling China-specific words all over the world in recent twenty or thirty years. As a highly westernized orientalist and China scholar, Ji Lao's main research fields are ancient Indian language, ancient Buddhist culture and comparative culture. He is proficient in many foreign languages and spent most of his life dealing with ancient and modern foreign languages. How could Ji Lao break the bridge between Chinese and western characters and oppose the phonetic notation tool of Chinese Pinyin scheme? That's really an unstable record!
-We must make it clear that what we usually say now is Chinese Pinyin, which refers to this scheme of using Chinese Pinyin as a phonetic notation tool, rather than Chinese Pinyin, which has long been invalid!
Judging from Lao Yu's blog post, the "Chinese Pinyin" that Ji Lao opposes is the failed Pinyin of Chinese characters, that is, the pinyin writing form replaces the Chinese writing system. Ji Lao cited Vietnamese Pinyin as a negative example. In fact, not only Vietnamese Pinyin, but also Korean and even Japanese Pinyin, which abandoned Chinese characters, failed more or less. In the future, with the increasing influence of China culture, these characters will tilt and return to Chinese characters. Believe it or not, please wait and see
Pinyin of Chinese characters is not even suitable for recording oral English, especially advanced oral English, not to mention ancient Chinese and Chinese studies, which is extremely difficult! Ji Lao's opposition to using Pinyin to record China's ancient literature and Chinese studies is correct from theory to practice. I think, at this point, everyone agrees with Ji Lao, right?