Chapter 49 Lin's Chinese Pinyin Scheme
Only by knowing oneself and one’s enemy can one never be defeated in a hundred battles.
The first thing Lin Zixuan has to do is to collect information, but the information obtained from domestic newspapers is limited, and most of it is just a broad introduction, without mentioning deeper things.
It just talks about how popular "The Old Man and the Sea" is in America and how popular Ji Hongming is in American newspapers.
Telegrams cannot express too much, they just convey a message.
Lin Zixuan didn't give up. "The Old Man and the Sea" could not become popular all of a sudden, and there must be a gradual process.
In Shanghai, many foreign companies and schools subscribe to foreign newspapers, magazines and journals. Although mailing them to China is no longer timely, it is also a channel to understand their own country.
Shanghai Hujiang University is a church school run by Americans, and there must be similar literary magazines.
Lin Zixuan asked Feng Chengcheng to look for foreign newspapers and magazines in Hujiang University Library, focusing on literature, with the focus on reports on "The Old Man and the Sea".
He also asked Pingqianya to collect similar newspapers and periodicals in foreign settlements in various foreign companies and public concessions.
Hard work pays off.
Two days later, I found several reports about "The Old Man and the Sea".
Although it was news more than a month ago, Lin Zixuan also learned the whole story.
It turned out that after he left the United States, the Atlantic Monthly published "The Old Man and the Sea" and "The Little Prince". It was not until half a year later that "The Old Man and the Sea" attracted the attention of the American literary critics.
I'm afraid Ji Hongming saw the news and felt it was profitable, so he impersonated him and became the author of "The Old Man and the Sea".
After knowing the general situation, Lin Zixuan began to weigh the pros and cons.
Ji Hongming translated "The Old Man and the Sea" and must be very familiar with this novel. Perhaps something left behind is left to make Americans believe that he is the author of the novel.
So what are your advantages?
The manuscript was mailed to the Atlantic Monthly by Lin Zixuan. The content of the manuscript was printed with a printer, but the address on the envelope was written by him.
If the envelope still exists, you can identify the handwriting to prove that the letter was sent by him.
There is also the mailing address, which is the apartment he and Xu Zhimo rented, and the landlord can prove that he lived there during that time.
The pseudonym that troubles Americans is the Chinese pinyin of the three words "Lin Zixuan", which is the most direct evidence.
etc!
Lin Zixuan suddenly remembered that he used the pinyin of later generations, which was completely different from the pinyin of the Republic of China period.
The pinyin used in this era was the pronunciation letters, not the Latinized pinyin.
In February 1913, the Pronunciation Unification Conference was held in Peiping. The main tasks of the meeting were to "examine the national pronunciation of all characters" and "recruit the letters".
The meeting drafted a set of 39 phonetic letters in total.
In 1920, "Mandarin Training Institute" and "Summer Mandarin Training Institute" were successively opened across the country to promote pronunciation letters.
All classical Chinese classes in primary schools across the country have been changed to vernacular classes, and primary school textbooks are pronounced with pronunciation letters on the new Chinese characters.
Later, the Mandarin Roman movement and the Chinese character Latinization movement emerged.
In 2019, the Mandarin Monthly published the "Special No. 1 of the Chinese Character Reform", and the call for the use of Roman characters reached its climax, and the Mandarin Roman characters movement entered a new stage.
On September 26, 1931, at the First Congress of Latinization of Chinese Characters held in Vladivostok, the written plan "Principles and Rules of Latinization of Chinese Characters" was passed.
The pinyin of later generations was improved on the basis of the Latinization of Chinese characters.
Starting from the fall of 1958, the "Chinese Pinyin Plan" entered the classrooms of primary schools across the country as a compulsory course for primary school students.
The "Chinese Pinyin Plan" is a set of pinyin letters and spelling methods for standardized Mandarin.
This plan draws on various Latin alphabetical pinyin schemes in the past, and is more perfect and mature than any Latin alphabetical pinyin scheme in history.
Lin Zixuan was very depressed.
Could it be that in order to prove that the pseudonym was my Chinese pinyin, I had to invent the "Chinese Pinyin Plan" from later generations decades in advance?
Then, am I directly promoting the development of Latinization of Chinese characters?
Isn't it a bit big to do this?
He searched out the first-grade Chinese textbook in his mind, and looked at the familiar texts and felt a lot of emotion.
Ah Woge, Yiwuyu, Bopo, Detener, and Goke...
What a friendly picture, it seems like I'm back to my childhood.
Moreover, this "Chinese Pinyin Scheme" does not seem that difficult, it is just 26 letters, four tones, and various combinations.
Lin Zixuan wrote the words "Lin's Chinese Pinyin Plan" on the manuscript without hesitation, and he decided to promote this set of Chinese Pinyin in the Republic of China.
People from later generations thank him, and he promoted Mandarin in advance.
He also found the Chinese version of "The Old Man and the Sea" and "The Little Prince" from corners, which were his handwritten manuscripts.
Looking at these two manuscripts, I thought about the ambition of plagiarizing foreign classics when I first traveled through time.
Am I too lazy?
He reflected on himself and actually forgot his former ideals in this comfortable life. It was really not right!
It seems that we will work hard on foreign classics in the future.
With the sorted manuscript, he went to meet Zhou Shoujuan of "Shen Bao" and Yan Duhe of "News News".
He wants to publish the manuscript of the novel and the ins and outs of the matter in the newspaper.
It’s not that Lin Zixuan doesn’t want to publish it in his newspapers and magazines. After all, this is a hot event and can increase the sales of newspapers. However, his newspapers are not as influential as "Shen Bao" and "News News".
To clarify this matter, influential newspapers are naturally needed.
Zhou Shoujuan and Yan Duhe looked at the manuscript provided by Lin Zixuan and looked solemn. If this matter was true, then it would be a literary scandal.
They tend to believe in Lin Zixuan because with Lin Zixuan's position in the literary world at this time, there is no need to compete for this false reputation.
Others don't know, but they know it very clearly.
Now "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is popular all over Shanghai. If Lin Zixuan is willing to become famous, he is a master of popular literature, not to mention that he is also the founder of domestic new poetry. It is said that the drama "Thunderstorm" that has been rehearsed recently was also written by him.
He doesn't have to take risks.
At this time, the novel "The Old Man and the Sea" has never appeared in China. They just heard that it would probably take a month to get the novel.
Lin Zixuan was able to take out this handwritten manuscript, which is enough to illustrate the problem. It seems that this was not written recently.
Judging from the time Lin Zixuan returned to China, it is really possible that he missed the notice from the Atlantic Monthly.
It can only be said that it was a coincidence that Ji Hongming took advantage of a loophole.
In addition, Lin Zixuan also came up with a set of Latin pinyin schemes to prove that the pseudonym was the Chinese pinyin of his name.
How boring he is to do such a thing.
So, this matter should be true. Next, it depends on how to expose Ji Hongming's true face.
Chapter completed!