On 1/31/2010 5:48, bill lam wrote: > dim, 31 Jan 2010, David Mitchell skribis: >> Part of the course discussed the history of the language. Our teacher noted >> that classical written Chinese was a formal language of the elite, never >> intended for general use. He said that there had been a breakthrough in >> written >> Chinese that had happened during the leadership of Chairman Mao, where the >> symbols used were greatly simplified to allow a more universal access to the >> written language. > > This is utter nonsense. Education had been meant for everyone (both > the noble or the common) ever since Confucius. Your teacher might > have been brain washed by Mao's propaganda. >
I defer to your wider experience. My only contact with Mandarin was via our teacher, a professor from Taiwan. He had nothing else good to say about Mao. -- David Mitchell ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
