Discusses the popularization of Putonghua, the common language of the People's Republic of China, and the creation and popularization of a national phonetic alphabet. These two issues are related by the fact that romanization is seen as an important vehicle for the popularization of Putonghua. (CLK)

Based on travel to the People's Republic of China, language changes and reform are reported. New meanings of old expressions and new expressions are listed and discussed. Language reform consists of: popularization of Putonghua, simplification of the characters, and romanization of the Chinese Language. (SW)

After a century of effort, directed at modernising Chinese script, it is still the case that Chinese characters (henceforth "hanzi") remain a deficient communication system both for human use and for mechanical application. In some respects, the reform of Chinese "hanzi" has been a very political process, driven ultimately by…