Blair Braille was introduced to China on 1874. In cooperation with the blind in China, British missionaries successively worked out the "Kangxi Blind Word", the "Fuzhou Blind Word" spelled in Minnan dialect with Chinese Pinyin, the "Qing Xin Blind Word" spelled in Nanjing Mandarin, and the Cantonese and Hakka dialects according to the phonetic sequence of Kangxi Dictionary (the earliest common Chinese Braille used in China). Among them, Kangxi blind character, commonly known as 408, is a code-based blind character. It consists of two blind symbols arranged and combined into 408 numbers, representing 408 syllables of Chinese. Each syllable can be transformed according to certain rules to represent four tones. Pure heart blind character was popular in areas outside Northeast China in the early 20th century. Take Nanjing pronunciation as the standard, with 18 initial and 36 vowel, and spell a syllable with another blind tone. After the national liberation, 1952, Huang Nai, the blind man (the son of Huang Xing, a democratic revolutionary in China) made reference to Blair's Braille system, and after adjustment and innovation, put forward a new scheme of using Chinese characters for the blind, which is based on Putonghua and based on Beijing pronunciation, and uses the method of word segmentation and continuous writing to spell Putonghua. The New Blind Character Scheme was promulgated and implemented nationwide in 1953. It has 18 initials and 34 finals, and another blind character is used to spell a syllable as key signature. At this point, China has unified Braille, which makes it possible to create a new cause of Braille publishing in China.

At the beginning of 1953, the State Council decided to establish the China Welfare Association for the Blind. President Mao Zedong sent his in-laws Comrade Zhang Wenqiu, under the leadership of Minister of the Interior Xie Juezai and Secretary-General of China People's Relief Association Wu Yunfu, to undertake the task of establishing China Blind Welfare Association, including Braille publishing business. Comrade Zhang Wenqiu served as the director-general of the China Welfare Association for the Blind, and together with Huang Nai, he started the new China Braille publishing business. At the beginning of the preparatory work, President Mao Zedong asked Premier Zhou Enlai to personally solve the funding problem and Minister An to solve the cadre and personnel problems. In July, 1953, the Department of Education for the Blind and Deaf of the Central Ministry of Education established the Braille Compilation Group. 1953 65438+On February 3rd, Braille Publishing Group of China Blind Welfare Association was formally established. Braille Publishing Group consists of Jiang Benxin, Chen Shaohuai, Ye Yaozeng, Tang Zerong, Wei, He Rentang, etc. 12. In the same year, Li Gui, a blind girl, successfully developed a lead-printed Braille book, and the first Braille book "Who is the cutest person" in New China was officially published. The following year, the first publication named by President Mao Zedong in Braille, The Blind Monthly, was published.

1975, braille workers put forward the reform of braille, and after more than ten years of research and exploration, they determined the scheme of double spelling braille in China. It is an actual syllable in Chinese, which is spelled with two blind symbols, that is, a tonal syllable with sound on the left and rhyme on the right. There are initials, semi-initials, middle consonants and zero phonetic symbols on the sound side; There are vowels, zero rhyme, key signature. The use of mathematical symbols in Braille has a history of more than 90 years in China. Taylor symbol has been used since the establishment of 19 1 Shanghai School for the Blind. 1927 After the establishment of Nanjing School for the Blind and Deaf, Taylor symbol was also adopted. That is to say, from then on, our country began to adopt Taylor symbol system, which was used until the early 1970s. The Marburg symbol system officially adopted in China is 1972. At that time, with the increase of braille publications, the content became more and more in-depth, and only the Taylor symbol system at the middle school level was gradually insufficient. On the basis of studying Marburg symbols and referring to Marburg symbol system, Huang Jiani, a braille publisher at that time, put forward a set of mathematical and physical symbols suitable for China. This set of symbols * * * has more than 130, and was officially adopted by Braille publications in March 1972.

This set of symbols put forward by Mr. Huang Jiani has played its due role in publishing Braille books and mathematics and physics textbooks in China. This set of symbols has been used for more than thirty years. With the development of natural science and special education, it can not fully meet the needs of blind education and Braille book publishing. The development of society expects a set of more scientific, complete, extensive and deeper Braille symbols to come out.

1990, the Ministry of Education of China Disabled Persons' Federation and China Association for the Blind jointly held the first expert seminar on Braille symbols. The meeting analyzed the current situation of the use of mathematical and physical symbols in Braille in China. The significance and feasibility of writing new mathematical and physical symbols in Braille are studied. The design ideas and writing principles of the new symbols are determined. And set up a writing team to start writing. The writing team consulted a large number of materials and research results of mathematical and physical symbols in Braille at home and abroad, made in-depth comparison and research on representative mathematical and physical symbol systems, solicited opinions from all sides extensively, learned from others' strengths and made innovative development, and put forward a whole set of schemes of mathematical and physical symbols in Braille. After the introduction of the plan, the relevant parties held six large-scale writing meetings, which were revised, supplemented and improved many times by the writing team and submitted to the meeting attended by 199 1 12 experts for approval.

Experts agree that this set of symbols is systematic, scientific and practical, which enriches the original mathematical and physical symbols in China and is suitable for the blind in China. Experts pointed out that this set of symbols laid a foundation for developing a higher level of blind education in China and publishing a higher level of natural science books in Braille. China Braille uses Chinese Pinyin to represent Chinese, and three squares respectively represent initials, finals and asterisks to form a pronunciation.

Braille in Taiwan Province Province also stipulates the corresponding relationship between Braille and phonetic symbols, which consists of initials, finals and tones.

In Hong Kong, nine tones of Guangzhou Cantonese Pinyin and Cantonese pronunciation are used, and three squares respectively represent a pronunciation consisting of initials, finals and tones, but the first tone is not marked, that is, two squares are used respectively.