James Y. C. Yen

Yen, James Y. C. (yĕn), Mandarin Yen Yang-chu, 1893-1990, Chinese educator, b. Sichuan prov., China, educated at Yale (B.A., 1918) and Princeton (M.A., 1920) universities. Yen devised a simplified form of Chinese writing consisting of 1,000 characters and suitable for instructing adult illiterates. He became prominent for his work with the national association for mass education, which was organized to reduce illiteracy and encourage modern methods of farming and agricultural marketing.