Zhou Youguang

Zhou Youguang
Zhou Youguang
周有光
	Zhou in the 1920s
Born	13 January 1906; Changzhou, Jiangsu, Qing Empire
Died	14 January 2017 (aged 111); Beijing, China
Known for	Development of pinyin; supercentenarian
Political party	China Democratic National Construction Association
Spouse	Zhang Yunhe (m. 1933; died 2002)
Children	2
Academic background
Alma mater	St. John's University; Guanghua University;
Academic work
Notable works	The Historical Evolution of Chinese Languages and Scripts
Chinese name
Chinese	周有光
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Zhōu Yǒuguāng
Wade–Giles	Chou1 Yu3-kuang1
IPA	[ʈʂóʊ jòʊkwáŋ]
Birth name
Chinese	周耀平
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Zhōu Yàopíng
Wade–Giles	Chou1 Yao4-p'ing2

Zhou Youguang (Chinese: 周有光; pinyin: Zhōu Yǒuguāng; 13 January 1906 – 14 January 2017), also known as Chou Yu-kuang or Chou Yao-ping, was a Chinese economist, banker, linguist, sinologist, Esperantist,^[1]^[2] publisher, and supercentenarian. He has been credited as the father of pinyin,^[3]^[4]^[5] the most popular romanization system for Chinese, which was adopted by the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1958, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1982, and the United Nations (UN) in 1986.^[5]^[6]

^ (fr) Le soutien ambigu de la République Populaire de Chine à l'esperanto, Médiapart, 17/06/2019
^ Harrison Smith, Zhou Youguang, whose Pinyin writing system helped modernize China, dies at 111, The Washington Post, 16/01/2017.
^ Cite error: The named reference china.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Branigan, Tania (21 February 2008). "Sound Principles". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
^ ^a ^b Margalit Fox (14 January 2017). "Zhou Youguang, Who Made Writing Chinese as Simple as ABC, Dies at 111". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 January 2017.
^ Bristow, Michael (22 March 2012). "The man who helped 'simplify' Chinese". BBC News. Archived from the original on 22 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2017.