Planning Chinese Characters

• Prologue.- Making Hanzi Accessible.- Reflections on New Perspectives.- New Challenges for a Digital Society.- Standardization as a Solution.- Influencing Outcomes.- Envisioning the Future.- Some Critical Issues.

From the reviews: "In this book, Zhao and Baldauf have thoroughly examined the unfolding of the fate of the Chinese characters in the twentieth century within the conceptual framework of language planning. ... this book provides a comprehensive picture of China's script reform and standardization with a tuned focus on the last three decades, a period that missed much-deserved coverage in scholarly work until now. Thus, it is a significant contribution to both English and Chinese publications on modern China's language planning." (Minglang Zhou, Chinese Language and Discourse, Vol. 4 (1), 2013) "This thorough investigation from an international perspective is not only of value to Chinese LP studies, but contributes to widening the spectrum of LP research in the world as well. ... the book is carefully constructed; the theoretical investigation is well balanced with readability. The volume is unique in providing a stimulating and critical study of how technology has outstripped political decision-making about language in China ... . thus stimulate scholars to pursue further studies." (Haitao Liu, Language Problems & Language Planning, Vol. 34 (3), 2010)