The Father of Pinyin (Pīnyīn zhī fù)

An illiteracy rate in China in the last 50 years has dropped from 80% to 10%.  In this fascinating 4 minute interview in February, 102 year old Zhou Youguang remembers being told by the Communist government to create the pinyin romanization system in the 1950s.  Pinyin has become the standard mechanism for learning how to pronounce Chinese characters, both inside and outside of China.  To Zhou and his system, I am greatly indebted.  Now if I can only memorize several hundred more characters…