One of the leading proponents of the radical linguistic reforms in 20th century
China, Wei Jiangong remains hardly known in the West. This book describes how Wei,
who was rooted in traditional philology and conceptualizing language as a tool,
helped to promulgate a standard language, led the compilation of the world¿s most
popular dictionary, and helped to drive script reform. While these measures were
characterized as violent intervention in the Chinese language sphere, Wei¿s careful
negotiating of linguistic description and political prescription illustrates how
they also may have been steps that helped to achieve linguistic
self-determination.