Maturity Pe̍h-ōe-jī

thomas barclay, tâi-oân-hú-siâⁿ kàu-hōe-pò, issue 1

quanzhou , zhangzhou 2 major varieties of southern min, , in xiamen combined form not quan, not zhang – i.e. not 1 or other, rather fusion, became known amoy dialect or amoy chinese. in taiwan, mixture of migrants both quanzhou , zhangzhou, linguistic situation similar; although resulting blend in southern city of tainan differed xiamen blend, close enough missionaries ignore differences , import system wholesale.

the fact religious tracts, dictionaries, , teaching guides existed in xiamen tongue meant missionaries in taiwan begin proselytizing immediately, without intervening time needed write materials. missionary opinion divided on whether poj desirable end in full-fledged orthography, or means literacy in chinese characters. william campbell described poj step on road reading , writing characters, claiming promote independent writing system inflame nationalist passions in china, characters considered sacred part of chinese culture. taking other side, thomas barclay believed literacy in poj should goal rather waypoint:

soon after arrival in formosa became firmly convinced of 3 things, , more fifty years experience has strengthened conviction. first if have healthy, living church necessary members, men , women, read scriptures themselves; second, end can never attained use of chinese character; third, can attained use of alphabetic script, romanised vernacular.

a great boon promotion of poj in taiwan came in 1880 when james laidlaw maxwell, medical missionary based in tainan, donated small printing press local church, thomas barclay learned how operate in 1881 before founding presbyterian church press in 1884. subsequently, taiwan prefectural city church news, first appeared in 1885 , produced barclay s presbyterian church of taiwan press, became first printed newspaper in taiwan.

as other authors made own alterations conventions laid down medhurst , doty, pe̍h-ōe-jī evolved , settled current form. ernest tipson s 1934 pocket dictionary first reference work reflect modern spelling. between medhurst s dictionary of 1832 , standardization of poj in tipson s time, there number of works published, can used chart change on time of pe̍h-ōe-jī:

taiwanese kana used ruby characters

competition poj introduced during japanese era in taiwan (1895–1945) in form of taiwanese kana, system designed teaching aid , pronunciation guide, rather independent orthography poj. 1930s onwards, increasing militarization of japan , kōminka movement encouraging taiwanese people japanize , there raft of measures taken against native languages, including taiwanese. while these moves resulted in suppression of poj, logical consequence of increasing amount of education in japanese, rather explicit attempt ban particular taiwanese orthography in favor of taiwanese kana .

the second sino-japanese war beginning in 1937 brought stricter measures force, , along outlawing of romanized taiwanese, various publications prohibited , confucian-style shobō (chinese: 書房; pinyin: shūfáng; pe̍h-ōe-jī: su-pâng) – private schools taught classical chinese literary southern min pronunciation – closed down in 1939. japanese authorities came perceive poj obstacle japanization , suspected poj being used hide concealed codes , secret revolutionary messages . in climate of ongoing war government banned taiwan church news in 1942 written in poj.