Wei Jiangong and his family. [Photo/WeChat account: hafbwx]

Wei Jiangong, who was born in 1901 in Hai'an, Nantong, has made great contributions to the promotion of the Chinese language.

When he was nine years old, Wei started learning Chinese philology and showed great interest in explanations of words in ancient books.

In 1919, Wei was admitted to the preparatory course class of Peking University, and since then he has dedicated his whole life to the teaching and research of Chinese philology.

Wei tutors his younger colleagues. [Photo/WeChat account: hafbwx]

His course summary of phonology was reputed among the three major courses of the department of Chinese language and literature at Peking University along with the summary of the history of Chinese literature by Hu Shi and the summary of philology by Shen Jianshi.

After the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1945, Wei went to Taiwan to promote the Chinese language, and three years later he returned to Beijing and decided to compile a new-style dictionary for a new China after discussing it with his colleagues at Peking University.

The first edition of the Xinhua Dictionary. [Photo/WeChat account: hafbwx]

In 1953, the first edition of the Xinhua Dictionary, the most authoritative Chinese language dictionary, was published. It is now in its 13th edition.

In addition, Wei contributed to the preservation of China's cultural legacy by cultivating a group of urgently-needed professionals in the collection and research of ancient books.