A few weeks ago the Guangming Daily asked several authorities their ideas on “Internet language” (wǎngluò yǔyán / 网络语言), the mix of abbreviated English and Pinyin along with slang that characterizes much of what is written on Internet chat services and the like.

Since three of those interviewed — Su Peicheng (Sū Péichéng / 苏培成), president of the PRC-government-sponsored Society for the Modernization of the Chinese Language (Zhōngguó Yǔwén Xiàndàihuà Xuéhuì); Qian Yuzhi (Qián Yùzhǐ / 钱玉趾), a member of the same group as Su; and Feng Zhiwei (Féng Zhìwěi / 冯志伟), a research fellow with the PRC Ministry of Education’s Institute of Applied Linguistics’s computational linguistics department — are in important positions related to script reform in China, their thoughts are worth noting. Not surprisingly, they aren’t particularly supportive of it. Su particularly stresses the need to instruct young people in the “harm” of using Internet language.

The fourth member of the group is Wu Zhiwei (Wǔ Zhìwěi / 武志伟), who works at the CCTV website.

source: Rúhé kàndài “Wǎngluò yǔyán” (如何看待“网络语言”), Guangming Ribao, December 7, 2006