Zhou Youguang, a linguist considered the father of modern China's Pinyin Romanization writing system, died Saturday at the age of 111. After receiving a Western-style education at Shanghai's St. John's University, Zhou moved to the United States and for a time worked as a banker on Wall Street. Zhou went on to work on an official Chinese translation of the Encyclopedia Britannica and write on topics including the evolution of Chinese historical languages and scripts. He continued writing even after age 100, although many of his books were banned and the government censored discussion about his work online. "Ordinary people no longer believe in the Communist Party anymore," Zhou said in the interview.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 14, 2017 19:01 UTC