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 Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the pre ...

and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...

from Wuxing,

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Ji ...

. He was also an important figure in

Chinese poetry Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language. While this last term comprises Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, and other historical and vernacular forms of the language, its poetry ...

, 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, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

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 Nanjing University (NJU; ) is a national public research university in Nanjing, Jiangsu. It is a member of C9 League and a Class A Double First Class University designated by the Chinese central government. NJU has two main campuses: the Xi ...

, 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 university in Beijing, China, that was formed out of the merger of four Christian colleges between the years 1915 and 1920. The term "Yenching" comes from an alternative name for old Beijing, derived from its statu ...

. 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 (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific T ...

, 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 (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...

. 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, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...

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. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, Lu was transferred to the

Chinese Academy of Science The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...

. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

, 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