Reasons for failure and implications on later standardization efforts. Standardization of the Chinese language

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Orientalism / Sinology - Chinese / China, grade: 1,0, University of Göttingen, language: English, abstract: The following term paper deals with the question how the standardization of languages developed around the foundation of the Republic of China. In addition to that, the author tries to assess why the first attempt of standardization and its manifest, the guóyīn zìdiǎn failed. The term paper starts with an overview of the language situation in China at the turn of the 19th century. The author then gives details about the guóyīn zìdiǎn and how it was developed. In the last part, the term paper tries to evaluate why the guó yīn zì diǎn in its first attempt had to fail and why the second attempt, the guó yīn cháng yòng zì huì almost a decade later, was able to function as a first sucessful base for the standardization of the Chinese language. The basis for this evaluation is the change model by John P. Kotter, which defines eight steps for a sucessful change (1995).