According to Shanghai Daily (2/11/2008) , HANYU Pinyin, the Chinese phonetic system, celebrated its 50th anniversary in Feb, 2008. About one billion Chinese have used it to learn Mandarin since the first edition of pinyin was issued in 1958.

“Pinyin is useful … it helps us to learn Chinese characters … thanks to pinyin, we learnt how to read,” said 92-year-old Chen Douxiang from Wanrong County, northern Shanxi Province, who still remembers the pinyin poem she learned 50 years ago.

The first edition of pinyin was adopted at the Fifth Session of the First National People’s Congress on February 11, 1958. It was then introduced to primary schools, and used to improve literacy among adults. By the end of 1959, two-thirds of residents in Wanrong County had learnt Mandarin by using pinyin. ( More )