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Joakim Enwall
A Myth Become Reality
History and Development
of the Miao Written Language
Volume 2
Joakim Enwall
A Myth Become Reality
History and Development
of the Miao Written Language
Volume 2
Stockholm East Asian Monographs no. 6
Abstract
This book, volume two of the study A Myth Become Reality - History and Development of
the Miao Written Language, contains historical descriptions and graphonomic analyses of
the Miao writing systems devised in China after 1949 and a discussion about the
mythologization of one of the missionary writing systems for Miao - the Pollard script.
The first volume contains an introduction and parts I and II out of four parts. In the
introduction the author discusses the notion ‘Miao’, the Miao dialects and presents their
phonological systems. Part I deals with the Miao myth about a prehistoric writing system
and part II is concerned with the efforts of various missionaries, mainly British and
American, to devise writing systems for Miao. The present volume deals with the Miao
writing systems devised within the language programs sponsored by the Chinese state,
particularly in the 1950s and how these writing systems have subsequendy been propagated.
There are substantial differences in the success of propagating Miao writing in different
Miao groups and the reasons for this are to be sought both in the reinterpretation of the
writing systems in accordance with the myth about the loss of writing, and in the
differences in bilingual competence, economic development etc. In the last part the
author describes how the Pollard script has been reinterpreted within the framework of
the Miao myth about a lost writing system, and how it has subsequently also been
integrated into the state efforts to create a Miao writing which represents the Miao
language both on a phonemic level and on an etymological level, especially regarding
the tone marking system. Finally, the author discusses the importance of dissimilarity in
connection with the strikingly different degrees of success for the various writing systems.
Published by the Institute of Oriental Languages, Stockholm University
The publication of this volume was financed by the Swedish Council for Research in
the Humanities and Social Sciences
©Joakim Enwall
Layout and cover design by Susanna & Thomas Hellsing
Cover illustration: Pollard script ‘Oh, Closer God, to Thee’ in A-Hmao and one of Lu
Ciyun’s Miao characters
Printed by Graphic Systems, Stockholm, 1995
ISBN 91-7153-423-7
ISSN 1101-5993
From the nineteenth century onwards the imperialists propagated Christianity in northwest
Guizhou and in other Miao areas. They used an invented ‘frame-formed’ ‘Miao script’
and printed the ‘Bible’ in order to poison and deceive the masses in the area in question.
Furthermore they sowed dissension and discord, spied, exploited, pillaged etc.
Zhongyang minzu xueyuan yanjiushi [The Research Office of the Central Institute of
Nationalities], Zhongguo shaoshu minzu jiankuang tniaozu yaozu tujiazugelaozu [Brief account
of the conditions of the minorities in China - Miao, Yao, Tujia, Gelao], Peking, s.a.,
p. 5.
When he taught Miao writing at school, the teacher of Chinese and mathematics of the
class told the students without any kind of authorization that: “You shouldn’t study
Miao writing, it’s just bullshit”. Therefore, there were not many students in that class
who wanted to study Miao writing; [...].
Long Zhiguang, ‘Zhongshi fazhan shaoshu minzu wenzi’ [Pay attention to the development
of minority writing systems], Guiyang, 1986—7, pp. 404-5.
The creator of the original Miao writing was not an Englishman, nor a Chinese, but a
Miao scholar, Mr Zhang Yuehan. [...] He said: [...] ‘In the past Christianity came into
our Miao area and the English pastor Pollard and the Chinese Mr Li Wu came to our
place to preach. I then asked them to teach me the structure and the way of reading
Chinese and English. Li Wu and Pollard gladly taught me. They said: English writing is
an alphabetic writing; Chinese writing has developed from an originally pictographic
writing. After I had heard this I incessantly investigated Miao writing. Thereupon I took
the ancient Miao pictographic characters, added sounds and imitated the alphabetic
structure of English writing. Then I invited the intellectuals of our Miao people, like
Yang Yage, Wang Shengmo and Yang Zhi and investigated and created it together with
all these gentlemen.’
Wang Jianguang, ‘Miaomin de wenzi’ [Miao writing], Biansheng yuekan [Sounds from
the borderlands monthly magazine], vol. 1, no. 3 (1940), p. 49.
List of Contents
Acknowledgements 7
Preface 7
Abbreviations 8
Part III. Chinese Approach to Miao Writing
Minority Policies of the Kuomintang 9
The 1941 Ghao-Xong Writing 11
Kuomintang Policies in the 1940s 12
Shi Qigui’s Writing Systems for Ghao-Xong 15
Early Minority Language Policies of the CCP 16
The 1949-50 reform of the Pollard Script 20
CCP Minority Language Policies 1949-1951 18
Early Proposals of Miao Writing 19
The 1949—50 Reform of the Pollard Script 19
Early Writing Systems at the CIN 24
CCP Minority Policies 1952-55 29
The First Conference on Nationality Languages 32
Pollard Script 1949—1955 36
Academia Sinica Research at Stone Gateway 37
CCP Minority Policies and Field Research in 1956 39
The Conference on Miao Writing 44
Reform of the Pollard Script 53
Preliminary Writing Proposals for the Conference 58
The Miao Writing Reforms of 1957 63
The Reformed Writing Systems 1957 66
The Adaptation of Miao Writing to Chinese Pinyin
Implementation of the Language Policies 1958-1966 81
The Second Conference on Nationality Languages 81
Miao Writing at the CIN 1957—1966 90
Loanwords in Miao: Categories and Spelling 90
The Cultural Revolution 93
A Private Initiative in Baojing (West Hunan) 95
The Pollard Script during the Great Leap 95
Church Life after 1979 97
The Revival of Miao Writing 101
After the Cultural Revolution 101
The Third Conference on Nationality Languages 101
Ghao-Xong 103
Hmu 117
Hme 123
Hmong 125
A-Hmao 126
The Fourth Work Meeting 127
The Future of the New Writing Systems 129
Problems in the Latin-based writing systems 131
Part IV. Mythologization
Reinterpretation of the Pollard Script before 1949 133
Creation of a Predecessor to the Pollard script 138
The Origin of the Pollard Script in the 1980s 143
The Chuxiong Reformed Pollard script 148
The Future of the Pollard script 158
Mythological Writing Systems for Hmong 185
The Desire to be Unique 162
Appendices 169
Bibliographies
Miao Bibliography 190
Miao Books and Periodicals after 1979 197
Unpublished Sources for Vol. 2 212
Bibliography toVoll&2 215
Errata to Vol. 1 242
Acknowledgements
Apart from those colleagues and friends mentioned in vol. 1, I also wish to
thank Miss Mirja Juntunen, Stockholm, Miss Maria Edin, Uppsala, and Miss
Anna Lapira, Venice, for their valuable comments and suggestions.
Preface
The present volume presents the Miao writing systems in the People’s
Republic of China from 1949 until the early 1990s with particular emphasis
on how these various writing systems were devised and subsequently
propagated. Much has been said about these topics in more or less scholarly
media, but most studies are of a general nature, and rarely delve into the
practicalities of devising writing systems. The author has tried to present the
whole process so that the reader can also form an opinion of his own, on
the basis of the empirical facts made available.
The Miao - seven million people in southwest China - present a typical
picture of how the actual minority language work has been carried out and
what results it has yielded.
Hopefully, the present volume will inspire to further in-depth studies of
China’s minority language policies.
