BEIJING: Zhou Youguang, a linguist considered the father of modern China’s Hanyu Pinyin Romanisation system, died on Saturday (Jan 14). He was 111.
Born in 1906 during China’s Qing dynasty, Zhou died at his home in Beijing, one day after celebrating his birthday, according to state broadcaster Chinese Central Television and other official media.
He moved to the United States after receiving a Western-style education at Shanghai’s St. John’s University, and for a time worked as a banker on Wall Street.
After the communist victory in 1949, Zhou returned to China and was placed in charge of a committee working on a new writing system to allow Chinese characters to be converted into Roman script.
