Mr. Zhou Youguang was born in January 13, 1906, so today is his 111st birthday.  Happy birhtday, Mr. Zhou, and wish you health and "longevity"!

You may or may not have heard of Mr. Zhou Youguang(周有光), but you must have heard of the Chinese phonetic system: Pinyin.  Mr. Zhou has been honored with "Founding Father of Pinyin" in China for his great work of contriving the sophisticated system to help learners, no matter they are Chineses or foreigners, get hold of Chinese language simply through the same notes as those 26 English alphabets.  The system had been widely used not only as a common tool to help people pronounce Mandarin correctly, but also an auxiliary to help reduce illiterates in China as well.  Bravo, Mr. Zhou.  You are just marvelous! 

You know, I am a lousy typist in Chinese, for I am not conversant with any key-in tools used in Taiwan, not even that popular Zhuyin any more.  So I've been longing to master Pinyin, and I must resolve on doing it quick. 

P.S.  Mr. Zhou is brother-in-law to Mr. Shen Congwen(沈從文), one of the greatest writers in modern China.  Both of them married a bluestocking sister apiece.