胡适当年就读于美国康奈尔大学。有一次胡适收到的宣传单是劝说人支持用拉丁文字体做民众教育手段。胡适由此想到中国语文言与白话之分的现状,从而写出一篇文章,发表在他自己主编的《留美学生季报》上,副本寄回国内 Hu Shi was studying Cornell University in the United States. One leaflet Hu received once was to persuade people to support popular education in Latin script. Thus, Hu Shi thought of the status quo of the distinction between Chinese and vernacular Chinese, thus writing an article published in his own Quarterly Bulletin of the Students in the United States, with a copy sent back to China