Lu Zhiwei (; 6 February 1894 – 21 November 1970), also known as C. W. Luh, was an influential Chinese

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

from Wuxing,

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

. He was also an important figure in

Chinese poetry Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language, and a part of the Chinese literature. While this last term comprises Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, and other historical and vernac ...

, both for his critical ideas and as a poet being one of the early poets to work in the Modern Chinese poetry, influenced by a more vernacular style and by international developments in poetry.

Career

In 1915, Lu went to study in the United States. In 1920, he graduated from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Department of Psychology with the doctoral paper "The Conditions of Retention". Lu returned to China that year and was hired by various academies in Nanjing. While he was teaching in the University of Nanjing, he became the first one to introduce the Pavlovian theories into China along with various other Western psychological ideas. In 1927, he arrived in Beijing and was hired as the professor of psychology at

Yenching University Yenching University () was a Private university, private research university in Beijing, China, from 1919 to 1952. The university was formed out of the merger of four Christian colleges between the years 1915 and 1920. The term "Yenching" come ...

. In 1933, he went to

faculty of biology to pursue further education in psychology. He returned to China the next year and was appointed as the president of Yenching. During the onset of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

, the study of psychology was halted. Lu began to turn his devotion of research into the Chinese linguistics, and published various papers beginning in 1939. His published book ''The Structure of Hanyu'' was one of the first complete analyses of the Chinese language structure. Lu was also one of the original developers of

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

. In August 1941, he was arrested by the Japanese Army along with several other employees of Yenching University. After being discharged, he began to research on the

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from . For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary ...

and completed the first draft of ''Introduction to Classical Pronunciation'', in September, 1943. After the Second Sino-Japanese War was over, Lu was in charge of rebuilding Yenching University. After the establishment of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, Lu was transferred to the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, he was criticized and persecuted like many other scholars at the time. On November 21, 1970, Lu died in Beijing due to illness.

Works

* ''The Structure of Hanyu'' * ''Introduction to Classical Pronunciation'' * ''Record of Poetic Rhythms'' * ''Social Psychology Textbook'' * ''The Unlimited Wonders of Chinese Children''

Poetry

* ''Crossing the River'' (1923) * ''New Year and Other Poems'' (1933) * ''Songs of the Monkey Year and Chicken Year'' (1933)

References and further reading

*
Chinese Academy of Science
*
Chinese Linguistics Government Website
*

Career

Works

Poetry

References and further reading

See also