Page "Gwoyeu Romatzyh" Paragraph 8

In the 1930s two shortlived attempts were made to teach GR to railway workers and peasants in Hénán and Shāndōng provinces.

Support for GR, being confined to a small number of trained linguists and Sinologists, " was distinguished more for its quality than its quantity.

" During this period GR faced increasing hostility because of the complexity of its tonal spelling.

Conversely, Sinologist Bernhard Karlgren criticised GR for its lack of phonetic rigour.

Ultimately, like the rival ( toneless ) system Latinxua Sinwenz, GR failed to gain widespread support, principally because the " National " language was too narrowly based on Beijing speech: " a sufficiently precise and strong language norm had not yet become a reality in China ".