From a Nanking Correspondent.
The "National Association for the Promotion of Popular Education" which is to hold a meeting at Tsinghua College on August 26 is making some interesting investigations and experiments.
They have an organization committee composed of Madame Hsiung Hsi-ling, Dr. W. T. Tao of the Southeastern University, and Mr. Jas, Yen of the Y.M.C.A., who are composing some books in elementary national language (Mandarin) for the use of the common people.
Their method was to take 1,000,- 0cO characters gathered from popular literature and from these to select. 1,165 characters used most frequently among the millions, of course in this they had a full corps of helpers. Of these 1,165 characters the most frequent were used 101 times or more in the million and some ten of thousands of times. Then to this 1,165 they add a few characters not appearing in this list but indispensable in the language of the people such as egg, chicken, donkey, ete., and with this 12-or 13 hundred charac. ters they propose to form a long: wage and a literature for the common people, for the instruction of any from 12 to 60 years of age who cannot read. The first primers will soon be out and later it is proposed to issue further prim. ers, story books, biographies of national and other heroes (stressing morality and illustrating it by example) -and a newspaper.
Experiments already made by Mr. James Yen prove the feasibility of the plan. It is proposed to begin a campaign in Nanking on August 5 and extend to other cities.
The plan. of the selection of the most frequent characters for teaching the illiterate has been in use for some years in such books at "Short Steps to Great Truths," published by the Tract Societies and Mr. Wong's "Six Hundred Character Classics." But this is the first time the experiment has been taken up in 60 scientific a manner and so widespread a scale. The promoters look for a national movement based upon their method.
It is interesting to note that the Phonetic does not figure in it at all. That may come later, they say, but the fundamental idea of this movement is acquaintance first by sight-reading with the existent Chinese character.
The whole get-up of this new language - series is thoroughly Chinese, having an appeal to the popular mind by those who know it and hence a vigour that gives much promise of success., 2
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.