February 11 is the 50th anniversary of the approval of the Pinyin Program by the Fifth Session of the First National People's Congress (NPC). During these fifty years, nearly one billion people have learned and basically mastered Pinyin, which has had a great effect in universal education as well as in the course of developing science and culture, showed tremendous practical significance and hearty energy in the process of opening to the outside world.
As a big event in the history of contemporary civilization development, establishing and implementing Pinyin Program was a major decision on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China after the founding of new China. Chinese characters are not alphabetic, which suggests that they cannot be pronounced directly by looking at them. So we need a series of scientific and convenient Pinyin program to simplify reading, regulate pronunciation, and use in situations that Chinese characters are not convenient or not available. Fifty years ago, in 1958, a draft of the Pinyin Program was passed at the Fifth Session of the First NPC on February 11, after having been proposed by Premier Zhou Enlai. From then on, the Pinyin Program has been a legal project of the country.
Chinese Pinyin has played a significant role in education, science and technology, culture, military affairs, diplomacy and other domains, and has made great contributions in the eradication of illiteracy, universal education, and enhancement of intercommunion with other countries over these fifty years. For the one billion Pinyin learners and masters, Pinyin has became the most common Chinese input method in dealing with computers, cell phones and other electronic equipment, and also the most efficient and handy tool for learning the Chinese language.
The popularity of English learning lasted for more than twenty years in China, and shows a firm desire for going out into the world. The new wave of Chinese language learning the world over symbolizes the increasingly deepening international influence of a rising China. According to statistics, more than 40 million people aboard are studying Chinese now, and Pinyin is an important method for overseas Chinese teaching. Language is the carrier of the culture, a factor of comprehensive national strength, and once a language learned universally as a foreign language, in a great degree, suggests upgraded international status and deepening influence.
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