File:New life currents in China (1919) (14584345378).jpg

Identifier: newlifecurrentsi00game (find matches)
Title: New life currents in China
Year: 1919 (1910s)
Authors: Gamewell, Mary Louise Ninde, 1858-1947
Subjects: Missions -- China China
Publisher: New York : Missionary Education Movement of the United States and Canada
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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ing recent achievement in the educa-tional world of China is the new system of phoneticwriting. One cause of the illiteracy is the greatdifficulty of learning to read and write. Authori-ties differ as to the number of characters whichthe Chinese language contains. There are prob-ably about twenty-five thousand characters whichare really sanctioned by good usage. In order toread standard works a knowledge of 10,000 separatecharacters is required; while for the ordinary pur-poses of life it is necessary to know 3,000 or 4,000.Not only are the characters numerous, but theyare complex in form. Three years ago the minis-try of education invited a committee of sixtyChinese to Peking to consider the matter of sim-plified writing. After numberless unworkableschemes had been brought forward and rejected,all finally agreed on a phonetic system of writingwith an alphabet of thirty-nine letters. By thismethod the illiterate can learn to read in a fewweeks or at the most a few months. The blessing
Text Appearing After Image:
Courtesy of Mrs. Frcilrrick G. Mead. The first class of graduates from Ginling College.The procession of Ginling College Students on Founders Day. THE POAVER OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 157 this will be in a country where not over ten percent, of the men and one per cent, of the womencan read, and still fewer can write, may be guessed.To take advantage properly of the opportunitywhich opens before the educational leaders ofChina as a result of the perfecting of the phoneticsystem is a task of great proportions. Practicallyno literature exists in which this system is em-ployed. Translations and new manuscripts areneeded in abundance. Calls for more literature ofhigh standard have come from many mission fieldsin recent years. Such a call now comes from Chinawith peculiar urgency because of the possibilitiesthat this latest development opens up. We canscarcely comprehend what it will mean in theevangelization of China. Dr. G. H. Bondfield, ofthe British and Foreign Bible Society in China,says

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