>> Kaeops
To say that an alphabet (e.g. pinyin) is more efficient and easy to learn than ideograms (e.g. hanzi) is not a cultural judgment; it is an objective fact. How much value to place on efficiency vs. tradition is of course a subjective, cultural matter. But we can still compare writing systems objectively on various criteria without being advocates. <<
>> Skippy
It's not that the Chinese should give it up, but I really think teachers of Chinese (especially in the West) need to remove it from the curriculum until you get to be more advanced. It's a huge turn off having to learn a new alphabet, much less a pictographic system. <<
Latinxua Sin Wenz (Romanized Written Mandarin)
Latinxua Sin Wenz (拉丁化新文字; pinyin: Lādīnghuà Xīn Wénzì) is a kind of Romanization System for Mandarin before 1950s. It was usually written without "tones" under the assumption that the proper tones could be understood from the meaning of Mandarin words, phrases and context because this Romanized Writing System is according to the natural Mandarin Colloquial Speech.
Latinxua Sin Wenz is historically notable as being the first Romanization System used in place of Chinese characters by Native Mandarin Speakers. It was originally developed by the scholars of Soviet Union and used by Mandarin speaking immigrants there until the majority of them left the country. Later, it was revived for some time in Northern China where it was used by over 200,000s popular people and printed in this writing system over 300 publications before its usage ceased by the government at 1950s.
History and development
The work towards constructing the Beifangxua Latinxua Sin Wenz (北方話拉丁化新文字) system began in Moscow as early as 1928 when the Soviet Scientific Research Institute on China sought to create a means through which the large Mandarin speaking population living in the Far Eastern Region (Vladivostok and Khabarovsk) of the U.S.S.R. could be made literate, facilitating their further education.
This was significantly different from all other romanization schemes in that, from the very outset, it was intended that the Latinxua Sin Wenz system, once established, would supersede the Chinese characters. They decided to use the Latin alphabet because they thought that it would serve their purpose better than the Cyrillic alphabet. Unlike Gwoyeu Romatzyh, with its complex method of indicating "tones", Latinxua Sin Wenz system does not indicate "tones" at all, and it is not Mandarin-specific and so could be used for other Chinese languages and dialects.
The eminent Moscow-based Chinese scholar Qu Qiubai (1899-1935) and the Russian linguist V.S. Kolokolov (1896-1979) devised a prototype romanization system in 1929.
In 1931 a coordinated effort between the Soviet sinologists B.M. Alekseev, A.A. Dragunov and A.G. Shrprintsin, and the Moscow-based Chinese scholars Qu Qiubai, Wu Yuzhang, Lin Boqu, Xiao San, Wang Xiangbao, and Xu Teli established the Latinxua Sin Wenz system. This Romanization System was supported by a number of Chinese intellectuals such as Guo Moruo and Lu Xun, and trials were conducted amongst 100,000 Chinese immigrant workers for about four years and later, in 1940-1942, in the communist-controlled Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region of China. In November 1949, the railways in China's north-east adopted the Latinxua Sin Wenz system for all their telecommunications.
For a time, this Romanization System of Mandarin was a very important communication tool in spreading literacy in Northern China areas. There were more than 200,000s population of this writing system and 300 publications totalling half a million issues appeared in Latinxua Sin Wenz.
In 1944 the Latinization Movement was officially curtailed in the communist-controlled areas [of Nothern China] on the pretext that there were insufficient trained cadres capable of teaching this writing system. It is more likely that, as the communists prepared to take power in a much wider territory, they had second thoughts about the rhetoric that surrounded the Latinization Movement; in order to obtain the maximum popular support, they withdrew support from a movement that deeply offended many supporters of the traditional writing system in script of Chinese character.
Latinxua Sin Wenz: 拉丁化新文字; pinyin: Lādīnghuà Xīn Wénzì; also known as Sin Wenz, Latinxua Sinwenz, Zhongguo Latinxua Sin Wenz, Beifangxua Latinxua Sin Wenz or Latinxua
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinxua_Sin_Wenz
An issue of "Dazhung Bao" (大眾报, Dazhong Bao), a newspaper published in Latinxua Sin Wenz in 1932
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dazhongbao.jpg