Wu Zhihui

A native of Wujin, Jiangsu province, Wu Zhihui was a distinguished scholar in the areas of writing, poetry, calligraphy, education, and the classics, and was regarded as a leading authority in the latter two. Wu promoted the adoption of phonetic symbols for Chinese characters, and after 1927, as chairman of the preparatory commission for the unification of the national language, dedicated most of his time to the standardization of spoken Chinese. Active in social and educational reform, Wu was also admired as one of the Nationalist partyÆs four elder statesmen.