Page:Chinese Local Dialects Reduced to Writing- An Outline of the System Adopted for Romanizing the Dialect of Amoy (IA jstor-592283).pdf/7

Rh This style is more difficult than an alphabetic system, as there are more characters to be learned, and yet not so much more difficult as would ordinarily be supposed; especially when we consider that the various combinations of the initials and finals, varied by the tones, amount to nearly four thousand. This system has also the advantage of being already understood; and the amount of knowledge already existing among the laboring classes, enables thousands to read books prepared in this style, who would never learn to read any other.

This phonetico-logographic system must evidently be the great medium of reaching the laboring classes of China for many years to come.