Language Planning in China Walter de Gruyter and the Commercial Press, Berlin and Beijing

Written by a leading scholar who has been closely involved in language planning in China over many decades, this collection of essays is a critical reflection of the work the Chinese government and academics have undertaken in establishing appropriate policies regarding language standard, language use and language education. The essays contain unique insights into the thinking behind much of the language planning work in China today. Preface 6 Foreword by Bernard Spolsky 8 Table of contents 12 Chapter 1. Three major linguistic issues of mankind in contemporary societies 16 Chapter 2. On mother tongue 32 Chapter 3. On planning of language function 54 Chapter 4. Some considerations on enhancing the national language capability 68 Chapter 5. Language is also a “hard power” 86 Chapter 6. On levels of language life 102 Chapter 7. On field language planning 120 Chapter 8. Characteristics of language life in contemporary China 138 Chapter 9. On foreign language planning in China 160 Chapter 10. The status of authoritative dialect in language standardization 172 Chapter 11. A supplement to The Status of Authoritative Dialects in Language Standardization 190 Chapter 12. Building up bilingual and bi-dialectical competence 200 Chapter 13. On the establishment of Chinese Language Resource Audio Database 214 Chapter 14. Some thoughts on the standardization of lexical items 230 Chapter 15. On terminology 244 Chapter 16. Reflection on the modernization of lexicography in China 262 Chapter 17. On Zhongguo Yuyan Shenghuo Lüpishu (Green Paper on the Language Situation in China) 278 Chapter 18. Issues of the Chinese language in the information age 296 Chapter 19. Language tasks in the information age 314 Chapter 20. The work of language standardization in the information age 328 Chapter 21. Constructing the grand platform of China Character Set 344 Chapter 22. On annotation of language knowledge in the corpus 356 Chapter 23. The needs for language learning and teaching Chinese as foreign language 372 Chapter 24. The significance of a study on the history of the international dissemination of Chinese 388 Chapter 25. Contemporary China: the core of international education of the Chinese language 394 Chapter 26. The intension and extension of qieyinzi 402 Chapter 27. The proposition of universal education in the Qieyinzi Movement 422 Chapter 28. Late Qing script reformers’ view of dialects 442 Chapter 29. Late Qing script reformers’ views on language unification 460 Chapter 30. Centenary of the promulgation of the state resolution Proposal for Establishing a Common National Language 484 Index 504 This ground-breaking series aims to bring together original studies and translated work on language, culture, and society in China and across the Chinese diasporas worldwide. Topics covered in the series include language policy and planning, language standardization and language engineering, language contact and multilingualism, minority languages, language in education, language and the media, language and the law, language and economy, language and history, language and culture, languages of the Chinese disaporas worldwide, and Chinese as a global language. The series also includes English translations of the laws and policies concerning language in China and reports and surveys by Chinese official institutions and agencies. This series brings together original studies and translated work on language, culture, and society in China and across the Chinese diasporas worldwide. Topics include language policy and planning, language standardization and language engineering, language contact and multilingualism, language in education, language and the media, language and the law, language and economy, language and history, and Chinese as a global language Features a collection of essays that reflects the work the Chinese government and academics that have undertaken in establishing appropriate policies regarding language standard, language use and language education.