Editing Written vernacular Chinese (section)

=== 20th century reforms ===
The period following the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China was characterized by efforts at language reform.{{sfnp|DeFrancis|1986}} Many of the first language reformers of this period were associated with the [[New Culture Movement]],{{sfnp|DeFrancis|1986}} which began around 1916 due to anti-imperialist and anti-traditionalist sentiments which boiled over during the [[May Fourth Movement]], and which also promoted concepts like republicanism and democracy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Before and After the May Fourth Movement |url=http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1750_mayfourth.htm |access-date=2023-04-30 |website=afe.easia.columbia.edu}}</ref>

These sentiments inspired a movement to democratize language and replace classical Chinese with a written vernacular. Some of the most important proponents of vernacularization were Mao Zedong and renowned writer Lu Xun. This was at first before the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party, which occurred in 1921, though some of the most radical language reform activists were communists.{{sfnp|DeFrancis|1986}}

There was significant debate among reformers on what steps to language reform should be taken, and how far reform should go. The central component was vernacularization, but questions such as the extent to which the written vernacular should borrow elements from classical Chinese and whether Chinese characters should be replaced by an alphabet or another kind of writing system were hotly debated.{{sfnp|DeFrancis|1986}} Mao, Lu, and the more radical activists at first argued for replacing characters with a phonetic writing system, which they believed would more easily facilitate a switch from classical Chinese to vernacular language in writing. However, as it became increasingly clear that the Communists were winning the Chinese Civil War and would have control over mainland China, a change occurred in thinking at the top of the Chinese Communist Party.{{sfnp|DeFrancis|1986}} The official goal became to first simplify characters, then to possibly transition to a romanized phonetic writing system over time. The precise history of why and how this happens remains obscure, and the extent of the role that Chairman Mao Zedong played in the change of policy is not known.{{sfnp|DeFrancis|1986}} However, it has been suggested that Communist leadership wanted to preserve the cultural heritage of Chinese characters, while also encouraging increased literacy among the Chinese people.{{sfnp|DeFrancis|1986}} It has even been suggested that Mao acted to preserve characters at the encouragement of Joseph Stalin, so that China would maintain a domestic writing system and the linguistic heritage attached to it.<ref>{{Cite news |title=One country, two systems |url=https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2017/01/19/one-country-two-systems |access-date=2023-04-30 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref> An eventual switch from Chinese characters to pinyin, a domestically perfected romanized phonetic writing system, was indefinitely postponed to the point that it remains a complementary system to simplified characters, which is the dominant writing system in contemporary mainland China.{{sfnp|Zhong|2019}}