This Grammar on Literary Chinese by Ma Jianzhong (18451900) was the first of its kind ever to be written by a native Chinese on Chinese and was published in 1898. It came at a time when Imperial China was in decline not only by loss of her sovereignty to the then Western colonial powers and when there was a strong feeling of insecurity about the relevance of ancient native Chinese culture in a modern world and its continued existence under the rising pressure to modernise in order to cope with the West and the rest of the modern world. Chinese Language Planning and Reform for the purpose of creating a national standard language and to spread literacy in all parts of society was seen as an essential part of such a modernisation process. Mas work was only a first step in a longer series of research work and language planning and reform projects to follow in the decades after him. This book offers Mas original Chinese text with Chinese-English glossaries at the end for Western students and researchers in Chinese Linguistics.

The editor of this book, Dr Muhammad Schmidt, graduated in Linguistics, Sinology, African, English and German studies as well as Theology and Comparative Religion from universities in Germany and the United States of America and gained rich teaching and research experience at universities worldwide (Europe, Asia, Africa and USA) with numerous publication to his credit.