Sinological education in Russia and problems of the Chinese writing reforms in the first half of the ХХ century

The article refers to the problems of the Chinese writing reforms in the first half of the 20 th century caused by the development of Sinological education in Russia. Development of the Russian classical Chinese Studies in the 1920s entered into conflict with political and cultural processes in the Soviet Union and worldwide. Using of Latinized alphabet was an attempt of Chinese language translation for a new alphabet, which was caused by the practical needs of the Russian-Chinese relations, and also general processes of transformation of Russia and China in the epoch of traditional empires’ crisis and revolutionary changes. The movement for radical changes in Sinological education partly came from below, especially from the Soviet students. The initiative of transition to the Latinized letters is largely owned by the progressive community and Soviet Chinese. In the early 1930 th there was created Chinese Latinized writing and put into practice in within the all-union movement for a new alphabet in the Soviet Union. However, the hieroglyphic writing of the 1930 th was not displaced, either from education or from practical usage among the Soviet Chinese. By the beginning of World War II the policy of Chinese writing latinization lost its relevance, and political repression seriously undermined the capacity of the Soviet Sinology.