Li Nian nodded and said, "Your Majesty is wise! But to implement education well, not only should there be appropriate content, but also appropriate tools that enable people to learn conveniently and quickly."
"At present, written records on bamboo slips are very inadvisable for the entire Qin Empire's teaching and instruction. A bamboo slip not only has limited content but is also cumbersome and inconvenient to carry."
From what you say, you want all people in Qin to learn how to read and write, acquire education?
That makes sense. He comes from a later time when everyone was literate and knew history. To him, everyone being literate and knowledgeable about history is as natural as drinking water and eating daily.
Ying Zheng thought in his heart, "Do you want to replace bamboo slips with the paper you mentioned?"
Li Nian said, "That's right. In the history of my Xia and Han, the number of people who can read and write will gradually increase due to the invention of paper and printing technology."
"Paper carries the text, and printing technology is the method of printing text onto paper. Together, they address the issue of recording and spreading text."
"A book this size can only hold writing for a cartload of bamboo slips."
Li Nian gestured the size with his hand, making Ying Zheng and Meng Yi astonished. This sized object is comparable to a cartload of bamboo slips.
The "five carts" in the idiom "a scholar's learning is as rich as five carts," refers to "five carts of bamboo slips."
Of course, "five carts" is an exaggeration, indicating Hui Zi's extensive knowledge. However, if we really take five carts of bamboo slips as a comparison, it is equivalent to dozens of modern books.
'If books made of paper can truly record so much text, it's no wonder that people in later generations can all read and write.'
Ying Zheng naturally saw the immense advantage of books over bamboo slips.
"In addition to changing the recording and spreading tools of text, the text itself also needs to change. Please forgive me for speaking candidly, but the Qin Empire's writing is indeed difficult to read."
"Language, as a tool for spreading content, I think should be concise and clear. It must be easy to understand and learn, while accurately conveying its meaning."
Ying Zheng said, "How do you propose to change it? Do you want to imitate the writing of later generations?"
Li Nian indeed had this thought: "I do have this idea. The writing I learned in later generations is also derived from the Qin Empire's writing, which has been tested through practice and is more conducive to learning. I believe it is not impossible to change the Qin Empire's writing into the writing of later generations."
Ying Zheng did not agree or disagree but instead said, "After the paper is made, you will transcribe a written article in the style of later generations. Just like Li Shi's 'Advisory on Expulsion of Foreigners,' present it to me."
Li Nian knew that Ying Zheng wanted to see the actual product before making a decision, and said, "Your servant will comply!". Then he continued, "Not only must the text be changed, but some changes to the Qin language are also necessary."
Ying Zheng asked, "Are you also going to change it according to the writing of later generations?"
This time, Li Nian shook his head, "That's not necessary. We should adapt to the times and the local conditions. The things from later generations may not be superior to those of the Qin Dynasty, nor may they be suitable for the Qin Dynasty."
Ying Zheng was quite satisfied in his heart when Li Nian said, "The things from later generations may not be superior to those of the Qin Dynasty."
My great Qin is not inferior to later generations in everything.
"The text can be changed to the writing of later generations. First, there are not many people who are literate now, so even if there is a change, the impact will not be significant. Second, the writing of later generations is evolved from today's writing, so it will not be difficult for people to accept after the modification."
"After the language of later generations, as well as the Qin Dynasty and other six countries, are all different, forcing the implementation of later generations' language would be equivalent to requiring people all over the world to learn how to speak again."
Li Nian indeed wants everyone in the Qin Dynasty to speak Mandarin, but in fact, this is very difficult to achieve. The Mandarin language was promoted for many years even in later generations. How could it be done at this time in the Qin Dynasty?
Ignoring the actual circumstances of the Qin Dynasty and arbitrarily offering suggestions will only achieve the opposite!
After Li Nian explained, Ying Zheng secretly nodded, realizing that the things from later generations were indeed good and worth importing to the Qin Dynasty. It was done with sincerity.
"Are you planning to use Yanyan?"
In this era, there is also a common language called "Yanyan." If there were no common language, how could kings from different countries communicate with each other, and how could talents from other countries serve in the Qin Dynasty or appear at court without a translator?
However, Yanyan only spread among the elite, and ordinary people would not know it. They were still speaking local dialects.
At this moment, when Li Nian spoke to Ying Zheng, he used Yanyan and said, "Yanyan is also fine. The changes I mentioned are not about how to speak, but to clearly establish a language as the common language of the world. Whether it is the people of Qin or the people from the six countries, whether they are kings and ministers or peasants and porters, they must learn this language and spread it throughout the world."
"In the past, Yanyan was only spread among the nobles and aristocrats, but my idea is that it cannot be limited to the nobility; even merchants and laborers should learn it."
Li Nian wants to add another "language unity" to the Emperor's "one track, one writing, one conduct, one geography, one measurement, and one currency" policy. From now on, everyone, regardless of their original nationality, will have to speak the same language.
Ying Zheng understood Li Nian's intention and became serious. If this thing is successful, it will greatly benefit the Qin Dynasty.
Lack of a common language is the biggest obstacle between people. Once language barriers are overcome, many problems can be solved, because without a common language, there is no way to communicate.
"To become a common language for people all over the world, it must be easy to learn. When I learned languages in later generations, there were methods for teaching pronunciation to quickly master them."
"This method of phonetic transcription is simple. It divides the pronunciation of characters into consonants, semivowels, vowels, and tones. Just by mastering the rules, with a dictionary at hand, one can learn the pronunciation of all characters in the world."
Li Nian spoke and gave an example: "For the Qin Dynasty's 'Qin', the consonant can be set as 'q', the vowel as 'in', and the tone as the second tone in Yangping, then it will be pronounced as 'Qin'!"
"Q" and "in" are the pronunciations Li Nian read out, not the later generations' way of reading, but rather the pronunciation of the character "Qin" at this time according to his reading.
This is just what the author uses to convey meaning, as the author is not proficient in Yanyan.
Ying Zheng and Meng Yi were both outstanding individuals of their time, and they easily understood Li Nian's intention. The two of them were quite surprised.
Because according to Li Nian's method, learning to read doesn't seem to be that difficult. However, the premise is that all characters in the world have to be given this so-called "pinyin."
Li Nian said, "The difficulty of this method lies in the need to annotate the pronunciation for all characters, which requires compiling a dictionary that includes all characters."
"A dictionary is a book for recording characters, containing their sounds, meanings, and annotation. Creating a dictionary that includes all characters is not an easy task. It would be best to gather scholars from various disciplines to collaborate on it."
Ying Zheng declared with grandeur: "As long as it is beneficial to the Qin Dynasty, even if it takes great difficulty and danger, I have nothing to fear! However, the dictionary can only be made after paper is invented, right?"
To collect all the characters in the world and annotate each one with pronunciation and meaning, if it were to be recorded on bamboo slips, a single dictionary might require several carts of bamboo slips. Only that so-called paper would be suitable for the task.
Li Nian said, "Yes! If a dictionary were to be made using bamboo slips, it would require many bamboo slips. Not only would it be inconvenient to carry and consult, but its main function is to enable people to look up unfamiliar characters."
Imagine looking through a cartload of bamboo slips to find an unfamiliar character. Ying Zheng immediately understood.
