Simplified Chinese character
Encyclopedia
Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese character
s prescribed in the Xiandai Hanyu Tongyong Zibiao (List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese) for use in Mainland China
. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of many standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language
. The government of the People's Republic of China
in Mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy. They are officially used in the People's Republic of China and Singapore
.
Simplified Chinese characters are officially known as 简化字 , and colloquially called 简体字 . Mao Zedong
said in 1952, at the start of the simplification movement, that the process of simplification should embody both structural simplification of character forms as well as substantial reduction in the total number of standardized Chinese characters, concisely stating the two parallel goals of simplification.
Traditional Chinese characters are currently used in the Hong Kong
, Macau
, and Republic of China
(Taiwan
). Overseas Chinese
communities generally use traditional characters, but simplified characters are often used among mainland Chinese immigrants.
Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive
forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms. Some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with same pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to one single standardized character, usually the simplest amongst all variants in form. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are thus identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies.
Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictable from traditional characters, especially in those where a component is replaced by an arbitrary and simplistic symbol. This often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the 'overall process' of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few and internally-consistent. On the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. The debate
over the use of traditional versus simplified Chinese characters continues in Chinese-speaking countries.
A second round of simplifications was promulgated in 1977, but was later retracted for a variety of reasons. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future. In August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters.
(PRC) in the 1950s and 60s, character simplification predates the PRC's formation in 1949. Cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed; they date back to as early as the Qin Dynasty
(221–206 BC).
One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lufei Kui
, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement
in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China. Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism
were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and therefore proposed that a reform be initiated. It was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian
, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the “writing of ox-demons and snake-gods” niúguǐ shéshén de wénzì . Lu Xun
, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, "If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die." Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the economic problems in China during that time.
In the 1930s and 1940s, discussions on character simplification took place within the Kuomintang
government, and a large number of Chinese intellectuals and writers have long maintained that character simplification would help boost literacy in China. 324 simplified characters collected by Qian Xuantong
were officially introduced in 1935 as the table of 1st batch simplified character and suspended in 1936. In many world languages, literacy has been promoted as a justification for spelling reform
s.
The People's Republic of China issued its first round of official character simplifications in two documents, the first in 1956 and the second in 1964. In the 1950s and 1960s, while confusion about simplified characters was still rampant, transitional characters that mixed simplified parts with yet-to-be simplified parts of characters together appeared briefly, then disappeared.
Within the PRC, further character simplification became associated with the leftists of the Cultural Revolution
, culminating in a second round of character simplifications (known as erjian ), or "Second-round simplified characters
", which were promulgated in 1977. Intellectuals who opposed the reform were labeled rightists. One such intellectual, Chen Mengjia
, committed suicide. In part due to the shock and unease felt in the wake of the Cultural Revolution and Mao's death, the second-round of simplifications was poorly received. In 1986 the authorities retracted the second round completely. Later in the same year, the authorities promulgated a final list of simplifications, which is identical to the 1964 list except for six changes (including the restoration of three characters that had been simplified in the First Round: , , ; note that the form is used instead of in regions using Traditional Chinese). Although no longer recognized officially, some second-round characters appear in informal contexts, as many people learned second-round simplified characters in school.
There had been simplification initiatives aimed at eradicating characters entirely and establishing the Hanyu Pinyin
romanization as the official written system of the PRC, but the reform never gained quite as much popularity as the leftists had hoped. After the retraction of the second round of simplification, the PRC stated that it wished to keep Chinese orthography stable. Years later in 2009, the Chinese government released a major revision list which included 8300 characters. No new simplifications were introduced. However, six characters previously listed as "traditional" characters that have been simplified, as well as 51 other "variant" characters were restored to the standard list. In addition, orthographies (e.g., stroke shape) for 44 characters were modified slightly. Also, the practice of simplifying obscure characters by analogy of their radicals is now discouraged. A State Language Commission official cited "over-simplification" as the reason for restoring some characters. The language authority declared an open comment period until August 31, 2009 for feedback from the public.
underwent three successive rounds of character simplification, eventually arriving at the same set of simplified characters as Mainland China.
The first round, consisting of 498 Simplified characters from 502 Traditional characters, was promulgated by the Ministry of Education in 1969. The second round, consisting of 2287 Simplified characters, was promulgated in 1974. The second set contained 49 differences from the Mainland China system; those were removed in the final round in 1976. In 1993, Singapore adopted the six revisions made by Mainland China in 1986. However, unlike in mainland China where personal names may only be registered using simplified characters, parents have the option of registering their children's names in traditional characters in Singapore.
Malaysia promulgated a set of simplified characters in 1981, which were also completely identical to the simplified characters used in Mainland China. Chinese-language schools
use these.
Traditional characters are still often seen in decorative contexts such as shop signs and calligraphy in both countries.
, Japan
also simplified a number of Chinese characters (kanji
) used in the Japanese language
. The new forms are called shinjitai
. Compared to Chinese, the Japanese reform was more directed, affecting only a few hundred characters and replacing them with simplified forms, most of which were already in use in Japanese cursive script. Further, the list of simplifications was exhaustive, unlike Chinese simplification – thus analogous simplifications of not explicitly simplified characters (extended shinjitai
) are not approved, and instead standard practice is to use the traditional forms.
The number of characters in circulation was also reduced, and formal lists of characters to be learned during each grade of school were established. The overall effect was to standardize teaching and the use of Kanji in modern literature and media.
Derivation based on simplified character components
Elimination of variants of the same character
Adoption of new standardized character forms
Replacing a character with another existing character that sounds the same or similar:
Using printed forms of cursive
shapes :
Replacing a component of a character with a simple symbol such as and :
Omitting entire components:
Further morphing a character after omitting some components:
Preserving the basic outline or shape of the original character
Replacing the phonetic component of phono-semantic compound characters
:
Replacing some arbitrary part of a character with a phonetic component, turning it into a new phono-semantic compound character:
Replacing entire character with a newly-coined phono-semantic compound character:
Adopting obscure ancient forms or variants:
Adopting ancient vulgar variants:
Re-adopt abandoned phonetic-loan characters:
Sample Derivations:
Sample reduction of equivalent variants:
In choosing standard characters, often ancient variants with simple structures are preferred:
Vulgar forms simpler in structure are also chosen:
The chosen variant was already simplified in Chart 1:
In some instance, the chosen variant is actually more complex than eliminated ones. This is often taken up by opponents of simplification who are not aware of the dual goals of simplification (i.e. in structure of characters as well as in total number of characters) to decry that simplification does not always simplify characters. An example is the character which is eliminated in favor of the variant form . Note that the "hand" radical , with three strokes, on the left of the eliminated is now "seen" as more complex, appearing as the "tree" radical , with four strokes, in the chosen variant .
The traditional component becomes :
The traditional component becomes :
The traditional "Break" stroke becomes the "Dot" stroke:
The traditional components and become :
The traditional component becomes :
An often cited example of the apparent irregularity of simplification involves characters that appear to share the simple symbol used in many simplified characters in Chart 1. Often it is intuited that is a 'character component', after observing → , → , → , etc. A student of simplification may infer that the same simplification mechanism also works for → and → . When observing that → , → , → , (not simplified) and (not simplified), one may come to the conclusion that the process of simplification is irregular.
However, in the Complete List of Simplified Characters, → appears in Chart 1. → is listed in Chart 2. And → is a derived character found in the non-exhausted list in Chart 3. Therefore, is defined as a 'simplified character component' according to the standard, while is not. Based on , is simplified to , and to .
In the "Series One Organization List of Variant Characters", the variant character is replaced by . The character is simplified in Chart 1 to . Therefore, → .
Both → and → appear in Chart 1. Thus they are not defined as derived characters.
There are no characters or components found in Chart 2 usable for derivation of and . Further investigation reveals that these two characters do not appear in Chart 1 nor in "Series One Organization List of Variant Characters". Thus they are not defined as simplified characters; they remain unchanged from traditional forms in the "List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese".
Not all new character forms result in simpler characters (i.e. fewer strokes). For instance, the old form , with 11 strokes, now appears as , with 12 strokes, in the new form. However, technically, these new character forms do not constitute simplified characters.
communities, although they are becoming more prevalent as China opens to the world. Conversely, the mainland is seeing an increase in the use of traditional forms, where they are often used on signs and in logos.
As part of the one country, two systems
model, the PRC has not attempted to force Hong Kong or Macau into using simplified characters. The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, it prints versions of the People's Daily
in traditional characters and both the People's Daily and Xinhua
websites have versions in traditional characters using Big5
encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use Traditional characters on their displays and packaging to communicate with consumers (the reverse is true as well).
Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke
videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters, thereby exposing mainlanders to the use of traditional characters.
It is common for Hong Kong people to learn traditional Chinese characters in school, and some simplified Chinese in passing (either through reading mainland-published books or other media). For use on computers, however, people tend to type Chinese characters using a traditional character set such as Big5
. In Hong Kong, as well as elsewhere, it is common for people who use both sets to do so because it is much easier to convert from the traditional character set to the simplified character set because of the usage of the aforementioned methods 8 and 9 of simplification.
In all areas, most handwritten text will include informal character simplifications (alternative script), and some characters (such as the "Tai" in Taiwan: traditional simplified/alternative have informal simplified forms that appear more commonly than the official forms, even in print and in answers to school exams. The use of Japanese hiragana
character [no] in place of the more complex [de] is common: both are possessive particles in their respective languages, despite their unrelated pronunciations. However, Japanese characters and Chinese simplified characters are not acceptable to use in official documents in the Republic of China.
In Malaysia, as simplified characters are taught exclusively in Chinese schools since 1981, most younger Chinese Malaysians are proficient in simplified characters. As Chinese is not an official language in Malaysia, official usage of Chinese, and hence simplified characters, is rare.
As there is no restriction of the use of traditional characters in the mass media, television programmes, books, magazines and music CD's that have been imported from Hong Kong or Taiwan are widely available, and these almost always use traditional characters. Most karaoke discs, being imported from Hong Kong or Taiwan, have song lyrics in traditional characters as well. Many shop signs continue to be written in traditional characters.
Menus in hawker centre
s and coffeeshops are also usually written in traditional characters.
communities (except for Singapore
and Malaysia), traditional characters are most commonly used.
For overseas Chinese going to "Chinese school", which character set is used depends very much on which school one attends. Not surprisingly, parents will generally enroll their children in schools that teach the script they themselves use. Descendants of Hong Kong
ers and people who emigrated before the simplification will therefore generally be taught traditional (and in Cantonese), whereas children whose parents are of more recent mainland origin will probably be taught simplified.
Teaching Chinese as a foreign language to non-Chinese students is mainly carried out in simplified characters and Hanyu Pinyin.
's educational authorities rejected a proposal from a Beijing CPPCC
political conference member that called for elementary schools to teach traditional Chinese characters in addition to the simplified ones. The conference member pointed out that most mainland Chinese, especially young people, have difficulties with traditional Chinese characters; this is especially important in dealing with non-mainland communities such as Taiwan
and Hong Kong
. The educational authorities did not approve the recommendation, saying that it did not fit in with the "requirements as set out by the law" and it could potentially complicate the curricula. A similar proposal was delivered to the 1st Plenary Session of the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in the March of 2008.
for their speed.
Most universities on the west coast of the United States previously taught the traditional character set, most likely due to the large population of Chinese Americans who continue to use the traditional forms. The largest Mandarin Chinese program in North America, at the University of British Columbia
in Vancouver
, switched to simplified characters at least a decade ago, although the majority of the surrounding Chinese Canadian
population, who are non-Mandarin speaking, at that time were users of traditional characters. Stanford University's Cantonese program instructs its students with a traditional character set partly because Hong Kong uses traditional characters as well . In places where a particular set is not locally entrenched, e.g., Europe and the United States, instruction is in or is swinging towards simplified, as the economic importance of mainland China increases, and also because of the availability of inexpensive decent quality textbooks printed in mainland China. Teachers of international students often recommend learning both systems.
In the United Kingdom
, universities mainly teach Chinese at undergraduate level using the simplified characters coupled with pinyin
. However, they will require the students to learn and be able to recognise the traditional forms by the last year of the course, by which time the students will have completed a year's study either in mainland China
or Taiwan
.
In Australia
and New Zealand
, schools, universities and TAFEs use predominantly simplified characters.
Russia
and most East European nations are traditionally oriented on the education of the PRC
's system for teaching Chinese, uses simplified characters but exposes the learners to both systems.
In South Korea
, universities have used predominantly simplified characters in 1990s. In high school
, Chinese is one of the selective subjects. By the regulation of the national curricula standards, MPS I and traditional characters had been originally used before (since the 1940s), but by the change of regulation, pinyin
and simplified characters have been used to pupils who enter the school in 1996 or later. Therefore MPS I and traditional characters disappeared after 1998 in South Korean high school Chinese curriculum.
In Japan
there are two types of schools. Simplified Chinese is taught instead of traditional Chinese in pro-mainland China schools. They also teach Pinyin, a romanization system for standard Chinese, while the Taiwan-oriented schools teach Zhuyin
, which uses phonetic symbols. However, the Taiwan-oriented schools are starting to teach simplified Chinese and Pinyin to offer a more well-rounded education.
most often renders traditional characters. Although neither encoding has an explicit connection with a specific character set, the lack of a one-to-one mapping between the simplified and traditional sets established a de facto
linkage.
Since simplified Chinese conflated many characters into one and since the initial version of the GB encoding scheme, known as GB2312-80, contained only one code point for each character, it is impossible to use GB2312 to map to the bigger set of traditional characters. It is theoretically possible to use Big5 code to map to the smaller set of simplified character glyphs, although there is little market for such a product. Newer and alternative forms of GB have support for traditional characters. In particular, mainland authorities have now established GB 18030
as the official encoding standard for use in all mainland software publications. The encoding contains all East Asian characters included in Unicode
3.0. As such, GB 18030 encoding contains both simplified and traditional characters found in Big-5 and GB, as well as all characters found in Japanese
and Korean encodings.
Unicode
deals with the issue of simplified and traditional characters as part of the project of Han unification
by including code points for each. This was rendered necessary by the fact that the linkage between simplified characters and traditional characters is not one-to-one. While this means that a Unicode system can display both simplified and traditional characters, it also means that different localization
files are needed for each type.
The Chinese characters used in modern Japanese have also undergone simplification, but generally to a lesser extent than with simplified Chinese. It's worth mentioning that Japan's writing system utilizes a reduced number of Chinese characters in daily use, resulting partly from the Japanese language reforms; thus, a number of complex characters are written phonetically. Reconciling these different character sets in Unicode
became part of the controversial process of Han unification
. Not surprisingly, some of the Chinese characters used in Japan are neither 'traditional' nor 'simplified'. In this case, these characters cannot be found in traditional/simplified Chinese dictionaries.
's Internationalization working group recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hans as a language attribute value and Content-Language value to specify web-page content in simplified Chinese characters.
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
s prescribed in the Xiandai Hanyu Tongyong Zibiao (List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese) for use in Mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of many standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language
Chinese written language
Written Chinese comprises Chinese characters used to represent the Chinese language, and the rules about how they are arranged and punctuated. Chinese characters do not constitute an alphabet or a compact syllabary...
. The government of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
in Mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy. They are officially used in the People's Republic of China and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
.
Simplified Chinese characters are officially known as 简化字 , and colloquially called 简体字 . Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
said in 1952, at the start of the simplification movement, that the process of simplification should embody both structural simplification of character forms as well as substantial reduction in the total number of standardized Chinese characters, concisely stating the two parallel goals of simplification.
Traditional Chinese characters are currently used in the Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
, and Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
(Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
). Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
communities generally use traditional characters, but simplified characters are often used among mainland Chinese immigrants.
Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive
Cursive script (East Asia)
Cursive script , sometimes translated as Grass script is a style of Chinese calligraphy. Cursive script is faster to write than other styles, but difficult to read for those unfamiliar with it. It functions primarily as a kind of shorthand script or calligraphic style...
forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms. Some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with same pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to one single standardized character, usually the simplest amongst all variants in form. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are thus identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies.
Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictable from traditional characters, especially in those where a component is replaced by an arbitrary and simplistic symbol. This often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the 'overall process' of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few and internally-consistent. On the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. The debate
Debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters
The debate on traditional Chinese characters and simplified Chinese characters is an ongoing debate concerning Chinese orthography among users of Chinese characters. It has stirred up heated responses from supporters of both sides in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and among overseas...
over the use of traditional versus simplified Chinese characters continues in Chinese-speaking countries.
A second round of simplifications was promulgated in 1977, but was later retracted for a variety of reasons. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future. In August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters.
Mainland China
Although most of the simplified Chinese characters in use today are the result of the works moderated by the government of the People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
(PRC) in the 1950s and 60s, character simplification predates the PRC's formation in 1949. Cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed; they date back to as early as the Qin Dynasty
Qin Dynasty
The Qin Dynasty was the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BC. The Qin state derived its name from its heartland of Qin, in modern-day Shaanxi. The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, during the Warring...
(221–206 BC).
One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lufei Kui
Lufei Kui
Lufei Kui was a Chinese educationist and publisher. His courtesy name was Bo hong . He is known in his advocacy for simplified Chinese characters.-Early life:...
, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement
May Fourth Movement
The May Fourth Movement was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student demonstrations in Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting the Chinese government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles, especially the Shandong Problem...
in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China. Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism
Confucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...
were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and therefore proposed that a reform be initiated. It was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian
Fu Sinian
Fù Sīnián , was a famous Chinese educator and linguist, and one of the leaders of the May Fourth Movement in 1919. He studied experimental psychology at University College, London from 1920-23. He was also one of the creators of the Academia Sinica, and was named director of the Institute of...
, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the “writing of ox-demons and snake-gods” niúguǐ shéshén de wénzì . Lu Xun
Lu Xun
Lu Xun or Lu Hsün , was the pen name of Zhou Shuren , one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua as well as classical Chinese...
, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, "If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die." Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the economic problems in China during that time.
In the 1930s and 1940s, discussions on character simplification took place within the Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
government, and a large number of Chinese intellectuals and writers have long maintained that character simplification would help boost literacy in China. 324 simplified characters collected by Qian Xuantong
Qian Xuantong
Qian Xuantong was a Chinese linguist.-Biography:Born in Huzhou, Zhejiang, Qian was named 錢夏錢夏 at birth, and was given the courtesy name Deqian trained in traditional Chinese philology. After receiving his university education in Japan, Qian held a number of teaching positions in mainland China...
were officially introduced in 1935 as the table of 1st batch simplified character and suspended in 1936. In many world languages, literacy has been promoted as a justification for spelling reform
Spelling reform
Many languages have undergone spelling reform, where a deliberate, often officially sanctioned or mandated, change to spelling takes place. Proposals for such reform are also common....
s.
The People's Republic of China issued its first round of official character simplifications in two documents, the first in 1956 and the second in 1964. In the 1950s and 1960s, while confusion about simplified characters was still rampant, transitional characters that mixed simplified parts with yet-to-be simplified parts of characters together appeared briefly, then disappeared.
Within the PRC, further character simplification became associated with the leftists of the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
, culminating in a second round of character simplifications (known as erjian ), or "Second-round simplified characters
Second-round simplified Chinese character
The second round of Chinese character simplification, made by official document Second Chinese Character Simplification Scheme to introduce second round of simplified Chinese characters, was an aborted orthography reform promulgated on 20 December 1977 by the People's Republic of China...
", which were promulgated in 1977. Intellectuals who opposed the reform were labeled rightists. One such intellectual, Chen Mengjia
Chen Mengjia
Chen Mengjia was a Chinese scholar and archaeologist. At the height of his career Chen was Professor of Chinese at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He was married to Chinese poet and translator Zhao Luorui...
, committed suicide. In part due to the shock and unease felt in the wake of the Cultural Revolution and Mao's death, the second-round of simplifications was poorly received. In 1986 the authorities retracted the second round completely. Later in the same year, the authorities promulgated a final list of simplifications, which is identical to the 1964 list except for six changes (including the restoration of three characters that had been simplified in the First Round: , , ; note that the form is used instead of in regions using Traditional Chinese). Although no longer recognized officially, some second-round characters appear in informal contexts, as many people learned second-round simplified characters in school.
There had been simplification initiatives aimed at eradicating characters entirely and establishing the Hanyu Pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
romanization as the official written system of the PRC, but the reform never gained quite as much popularity as the leftists had hoped. After the retraction of the second round of simplification, the PRC stated that it wished to keep Chinese orthography stable. Years later in 2009, the Chinese government released a major revision list which included 8300 characters. No new simplifications were introduced. However, six characters previously listed as "traditional" characters that have been simplified, as well as 51 other "variant" characters were restored to the standard list. In addition, orthographies (e.g., stroke shape) for 44 characters were modified slightly. Also, the practice of simplifying obscure characters by analogy of their radicals is now discouraged. A State Language Commission official cited "over-simplification" as the reason for restoring some characters. The language authority declared an open comment period until August 31, 2009 for feedback from the public.
Singapore and Malaysia
SingaporeSingapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
underwent three successive rounds of character simplification, eventually arriving at the same set of simplified characters as Mainland China.
The first round, consisting of 498 Simplified characters from 502 Traditional characters, was promulgated by the Ministry of Education in 1969. The second round, consisting of 2287 Simplified characters, was promulgated in 1974. The second set contained 49 differences from the Mainland China system; those were removed in the final round in 1976. In 1993, Singapore adopted the six revisions made by Mainland China in 1986. However, unlike in mainland China where personal names may only be registered using simplified characters, parents have the option of registering their children's names in traditional characters in Singapore.
Malaysia promulgated a set of simplified characters in 1981, which were also completely identical to the simplified characters used in Mainland China. Chinese-language schools
Education in Malaysia
Education in Malaysia is overseen by two government ministries. The Ministry of Education handles matters pertaining to pre-school, primary school, secondary school and post-secondary school. Matters regarding tertiary education are dealt with by the Ministry of Higher Education...
use these.
Traditional characters are still often seen in decorative contexts such as shop signs and calligraphy in both countries.
Hong Kong
A small group called Dou Zi Sei / Dou Zi Wui attempted to introduce a special version of simplified characters using romanizations in the 1930s. Today, however the traditional characters remain.Comparison with Japanese simplification
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
also simplified a number of Chinese characters (kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
) used in the Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
. The new forms are called shinjitai
Shinjitai
Shinjitai are the forms of kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. Some of the new forms found in shinjitai are also found in simplified Chinese, but shinjitai is generally not as extensive in the scope of its modification...
. Compared to Chinese, the Japanese reform was more directed, affecting only a few hundred characters and replacing them with simplified forms, most of which were already in use in Japanese cursive script. Further, the list of simplifications was exhaustive, unlike Chinese simplification – thus analogous simplifications of not explicitly simplified characters (extended shinjitai
Extended shinjitai
is the extension of the shinjitai simplification method to : kanji not included in the jōyō kanji list. They are unofficial characters: the official forms of hyōgaiji are kyūjitai .-Simplified forms:...
) are not approved, and instead standard practice is to use the traditional forms.
The number of characters in circulation was also reduced, and formal lists of characters to be learned during each grade of school were established. The overall effect was to standardize teaching and the use of Kanji in modern literature and media.
Method of simplification
Structural simplification of characters- All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Chart 1 and Chart 2 in Jianhuazi zong biao (http://zh.wikisource.org/zh/简化字总表), "Complete List of Simplified Characters" announced in 1986.
- Chart 1 lists all 350 characters that are used by themselves, and can never serve as 'simplified character components' ( or simplified radical componentsRadical (Chinese character)A Chinese radical is a component of a Chinese character. The term may variously refer to the original semantic element of a character, or to any semantic element, or, loosely, to any element whatever its origin or purpose...
). - Chart 2 lists 132 characters that are used by themselves as well as utilized as simplified character components to further derive other simplified characters. Chart 2 also lists 14 'components' or 'radicals' that cannot be used by themselves, but can be generalized for derivation of more complex characters.
- Chart 1 lists all 350 characters that are used by themselves, and can never serve as 'simplified character components' ( or simplified radical components
Derivation based on simplified character components
- Chart 3 list 1,753 characters which are simplified based on the same simplification principles used for character components and radicals in Chart 2. This list is non-exhaustive, so if a character is not already found in Chart 1, 2 or 3, but can be simplified in accordance with Chart 2, the character should be simplified.
Elimination of variants of the same character
- Series One Organization List of Variant Characters accounts for some of the orthography difference between Mainland China on the one hand, and Hong Kong and Taiwan on the other. These are not simplifications of character structures, but rather reduction in number of total standard characters. For each set of variant charactersVariant Chinese characterVariant Chinese characters are Chinese characters that are homophones and synonyms. Almost all variants are allographs in most circumstances, such as casual handwriting...
that share the identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are obsoleted. After rounds of revisions, by 1993, some 1,027 variant characters have been declared obsolete by this list. Amongst the chosen variants, those that appear in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" are also simplified in character structure accordingly.
Adoption of new standardized character forms
- new standardized character forms ' onMouseout='HidePop("50437")' href="/topics/Xīn_Zìxíng">Xin ZixingXīn ZìxíngThe Xin Zixing is a standardized form of Chinese characters set in mainland China.-Characteristics:Note: Viewing this section correctly requires certain standard typefaces to be installed and the browser to be configured to use them in appropriate contexts.The Xin Zixing tends to adopt vulgar...
) originated from the "List of character forms of General Used Chinese characters for Publishing" containing 6,196 characters, published in 1965. The new forms tend to adopt vulgar variant forms for most of its characters. The List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese list, published in 1988, contains 7,000 commonly used characters, and replaces the 1965 list. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as structurally-simplified characters.
Structural simplification of characters
All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Chart 1 and Chart 2 in the Complete List of Simplified Characters. Characters in both charts are structurally simplified based on similar set of principles. They are separated into two charts to clearly mark those in Chart 2 as 'usable as simplified character components', based on which Chart 3 is derived.Replacing a character with another existing character that sounds the same or similar:
- → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; etc.
Using printed forms of cursive
Cursive script (East Asia)
Cursive script , sometimes translated as Grass script is a style of Chinese calligraphy. Cursive script is faster to write than other styles, but difficult to read for those unfamiliar with it. It functions primarily as a kind of shorthand script or calligraphic style...
shapes :
- → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; etc.
Replacing a component of a character with a simple symbol such as and :
- → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; etc.
Omitting entire components:
- → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; etc.
Further morphing a character after omitting some components:
- → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; etc.
Preserving the basic outline or shape of the original character
- → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; etc.
Replacing the phonetic component of phono-semantic compound characters
Chinese character classification
All Chinese characters are logograms, but there are several derivative types. These include a handful which derive from pictograms and a number which are ideographic in origin, but the vast majority originated as phono-semantic compounds . In older literature, Chinese characters in general may be...
:
- → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; etc.
Replacing some arbitrary part of a character with a phonetic component, turning it into a new phono-semantic compound character:
- → ; → ; → ; → ; etc.
Replacing entire character with a newly-coined phono-semantic compound character:
- → ; → ; → ; → ; etc.
Adopting obscure ancient forms or variants:
- → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; etc.
Adopting ancient vulgar variants:
- → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; etc.
Re-adopt abandoned phonetic-loan characters:
- → ; → ; → ; etc.
Derivation based on simplified character components
Based on 132 characters and 14 components listed in Chart 2 of the Complete List of Simplified Characters, the 1,753 'derived' characters found in the non-exhaustive Chart 3 can be created by systematically simplifying components using Chart 2 as a conversion table. While exercising such derivation, following rules should be observed:- The "Complete List of Simplified Characters" employs character components, not the traditional definition of radicalRadical (Chinese character)A Chinese radical is a component of a Chinese character. The term may variously refer to the original semantic element of a character, or to any semantic element, or, loosely, to any element whatever its origin or purpose...
s. A component refers any conceivable part of a character, regardless of its position within the character, or its relative size compared to other components in the same character. For instance, in the character , not only is (a traditional radical) considered a component, but also is a component.- Each of the 132 simplified characters in Chart 2, when used as a component in compound characters, systematically simplify compound characters in exactly the same way the Chart 2 character itself was simplified. For instance, is simplified in Chart 2 to . Based on the same principle, these derivations can be made: → ; → ; → ; etc.
- The 14 simplified components in Chart 2 are never used alone as individual characters. They only serve as components. Example of derived simplification based on the component , simplified to , include: → ; → ; → ; etc.
- Chart 1 collects 352 simplified characters that generally cannot be used as components. Even in rare cases where a Chart 1 character is found as a component in a compound character, the compound character cannot be simplified in the same way. For instance, is simplified in Chart 1 to , but cannot be simplified to .
- A character that is already explicitly listed as simplified character in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" cannot be alternatively simplified based on derivation. For instance, and are simplified in Chart 1 to and respectively, thus they cannot be simplified alternatively by derivation via and in Chart 2 to and . is simplified in Chart 2 to , thus it cannot be alternatively derived via in Chart 2 as .
Sample Derivations:
- → , thus → ; → ; → ; etc.
- → , thus → ; → ; → ; etc.
- → , thus → ; → ; → ; → ; etc.
- → , thus → ; → ; → ; etc.
- → , thus → ; → ; → ; → ; etc.
Elimination of variants of the same character
The "Series One Organization List of Variant Characters" reduces the number of total standard characters. First, amongst each set of variant characters sharing identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are obsoleted. Then amongst the chosen variants, those that appear in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" are also simplified in character structure accordingly. Some examples follow:Sample reduction of equivalent variants:
- → ; → ; → ; → ; → ; → etc.
In choosing standard characters, often ancient variants with simple structures are preferred:
- → ; → ; → ; etc.
Vulgar forms simpler in structure are also chosen:
- → ; → ; → ; → ; etc.
The chosen variant was already simplified in Chart 1:
- → → ; → → ; → → ; → → ; → → ; → → ; etc.
In some instance, the chosen variant is actually more complex than eliminated ones. This is often taken up by opponents of simplification who are not aware of the dual goals of simplification (i.e. in structure of characters as well as in total number of characters) to decry that simplification does not always simplify characters. An example is the character which is eliminated in favor of the variant form . Note that the "hand" radical , with three strokes, on the left of the eliminated is now "seen" as more complex, appearing as the "tree" radical , with four strokes, in the chosen variant .
Adoption of new standardized character forms
The new standardized character forms started in the "List of character forms of General Used Chinese characters for Publishing" and revised through the "List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese" tend to adopt vulgar variant character forms. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as structurally-simplified characters. Some examples follow:The traditional component becomes :
- → ; → ; etc.
The traditional component becomes :
- → ; → ; etc.
The traditional "Break" stroke becomes the "Dot" stroke:
- → ; → ; etc.
The traditional components and become :
- → ; → ; etc.
The traditional component becomes :
- → ; → ; etc.
Consistency of the rules of simplification
It's a common conception that the simplification process is arbitrary and not based on consistent rules. These allegations are often made when people 'discover' their own 'principles of simplification' from anecdotal evidence. Note, however, that simplification by derivation must follow the rules mentioned earlier.An often cited example of the apparent irregularity of simplification involves characters that appear to share the simple symbol used in many simplified characters in Chart 1. Often it is intuited that is a 'character component', after observing → , → , → , etc. A student of simplification may infer that the same simplification mechanism also works for → and → . When observing that → , → , → , (not simplified) and (not simplified), one may come to the conclusion that the process of simplification is irregular.
However, in the Complete List of Simplified Characters, → appears in Chart 1. → is listed in Chart 2. And → is a derived character found in the non-exhausted list in Chart 3. Therefore, is defined as a 'simplified character component' according to the standard, while is not. Based on , is simplified to , and to .
In the "Series One Organization List of Variant Characters", the variant character is replaced by . The character is simplified in Chart 1 to . Therefore, → .
Both → and → appear in Chart 1. Thus they are not defined as derived characters.
There are no characters or components found in Chart 2 usable for derivation of and . Further investigation reveals that these two characters do not appear in Chart 1 nor in "Series One Organization List of Variant Characters". Thus they are not defined as simplified characters; they remain unchanged from traditional forms in the "List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese".
Not all new character forms result in simpler characters (i.e. fewer strokes). For instance, the old form , with 11 strokes, now appears as , with 12 strokes, in the new form. However, technically, these new character forms do not constitute simplified characters.
Distribution and use
The People's Republic of China, Singapore and Malaysia generally use simplified characters. They appear very sparingly in printed text produced in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and overseas ChineseOverseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
communities, although they are becoming more prevalent as China opens to the world. Conversely, the mainland is seeing an increase in the use of traditional forms, where they are often used on signs and in logos.
Mainland China
The Law of the People's Republic of China on the National Common Language and Characters implies simplified Chinese as the standard script, and relegates Traditional Chinese to certain aspects and purposes such as ceremonies, cultural purposes (e.g. calligraphy), decoration, publications and books on ancient literature and poetry, and research purposes. Traditional Chinese remains ubiquitous on buildings predating the promotion of simplified characters, such as former government buildings, religious buildings, educational institutions, and historical monuments. Traditional Chinese is also often used for commercial purposes, such as shopfront displays and advertisements, though this is officially discouraged.As part of the one country, two systems
One country, two systems
"One country, two systems" is an idea originally proposed by Deng Xiaoping, then Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China , for the reunification of China during the early 1980s...
model, the PRC has not attempted to force Hong Kong or Macau into using simplified characters. The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, it prints versions of the People's Daily
People's Daily
The People's Daily is a daily newspaper in the People's Republic of China. The paper is an organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China , published worldwide with a circulation of 3 to 4 million. In addition to its main Chinese-language edition, it has editions in English,...
in traditional characters and both the People's Daily and Xinhua
Xinhua News Agency
The Xinhua News Agency is the official press agency of the government of the People's Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and press conferences in the PRC. It is the largest news agency in the PRC, ahead of the China News Service...
websites have versions in traditional characters using Big5
Big5
Big-5 or Big5 is a character encoding method used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau for Traditional Chinese characters.Mainland China, which uses Simplified Chinese Characters, uses the GB instead.- Organization :...
encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use Traditional characters on their displays and packaging to communicate with consumers (the reverse is true as well).
Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...
videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters, thereby exposing mainlanders to the use of traditional characters.
Hong Kong
Textbooks, official statements, newspapers, including the PRC-funded media, show no signs of moving to simplified Chinese characters. However simplified Chinese character version of publications are becoming popular, because these mainland editions are often cheaper.It is common for Hong Kong people to learn traditional Chinese characters in school, and some simplified Chinese in passing (either through reading mainland-published books or other media). For use on computers, however, people tend to type Chinese characters using a traditional character set such as Big5
Big5
Big-5 or Big5 is a character encoding method used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau for Traditional Chinese characters.Mainland China, which uses Simplified Chinese Characters, uses the GB instead.- Organization :...
. In Hong Kong, as well as elsewhere, it is common for people who use both sets to do so because it is much easier to convert from the traditional character set to the simplified character set because of the usage of the aforementioned methods 8 and 9 of simplification.
Taiwan
Simplified Chinese characters are not officially used in governmental and civil publications in Taiwan (the Republic of China). However, it is legal to import simplified character publications and distribute them. Certain simplified characters that have long existed in informal writing for centuries also have popular usage, while those characters simplified originally by the Taiwanese government are much less common in daily appearance.In all areas, most handwritten text will include informal character simplifications (alternative script), and some characters (such as the "Tai" in Taiwan: traditional simplified/alternative have informal simplified forms that appear more commonly than the official forms, even in print and in answers to school exams. The use of Japanese hiragana
Hiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
character [no] in place of the more complex [de] is common: both are possessive particles in their respective languages, despite their unrelated pronunciations. However, Japanese characters and Chinese simplified characters are not acceptable to use in official documents in the Republic of China.
Singapore and Malaysia
In Singapore, where Chinese is one of the official languages, simplified characters are the official standard and used in all official publications as well as the government-controlled press. While simplified characters are taught exclusively in schools, the government does not officially discourage the use of traditional characters. While all official publications are in simplified characters, the government still allows parents to choose whether to have their child's Chinese name registered in simplified or traditional characters.In Malaysia, as simplified characters are taught exclusively in Chinese schools since 1981, most younger Chinese Malaysians are proficient in simplified characters. As Chinese is not an official language in Malaysia, official usage of Chinese, and hence simplified characters, is rare.
As there is no restriction of the use of traditional characters in the mass media, television programmes, books, magazines and music CD's that have been imported from Hong Kong or Taiwan are widely available, and these almost always use traditional characters. Most karaoke discs, being imported from Hong Kong or Taiwan, have song lyrics in traditional characters as well. Many shop signs continue to be written in traditional characters.
Menus in hawker centre
Hawker centre
A hawker centre or cooked food centre is the name given to open-air complexes in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Riau Islands housing many stalls that sell a variety of inexpensive food...
s and coffeeshops are also usually written in traditional characters.
Overseas Chinese
Among overseas ChineseOverseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
communities (except for Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and Malaysia), traditional characters are most commonly used.
Education
In general, schools in Mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore use simplified characters exclusively, while schools in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan use traditional characters exclusively.For overseas Chinese going to "Chinese school", which character set is used depends very much on which school one attends. Not surprisingly, parents will generally enroll their children in schools that teach the script they themselves use. Descendants of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
ers and people who emigrated before the simplification will therefore generally be taught traditional (and in Cantonese), whereas children whose parents are of more recent mainland origin will probably be taught simplified.
Teaching Chinese as a foreign language to non-Chinese students is mainly carried out in simplified characters and Hanyu Pinyin.
Mainland China
In December 2004, BeijingBeijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
's educational authorities rejected a proposal from a Beijing CPPCC
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference [], shortened as 人民政协, Rénmín Zhèngxié, i.e. "People's PCC"; or just 政协, Zhèngxié, i.e. "The PCC"), abbreviated CPPCC, is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China...
political conference member that called for elementary schools to teach traditional Chinese characters in addition to the simplified ones. The conference member pointed out that most mainland Chinese, especially young people, have difficulties with traditional Chinese characters; this is especially important in dealing with non-mainland communities such as Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. The educational authorities did not approve the recommendation, saying that it did not fit in with the "requirements as set out by the law" and it could potentially complicate the curricula. A similar proposal was delivered to the 1st Plenary Session of the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in the March of 2008.
Hong Kong
Most, if not all, Chinese language text books in Hong Kong are written in traditional characters. Before 1997, the use of simplified characters was generally discouraged by educators. After 1997, while students are still expected to be proficient and utilise traditional characters in formal settings, they may sometimes adopt a hybrid written form in informal settings to speed up writing. With the exception of open examinations, Simplified Chinese characters are considered acceptable by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment AuthorityHong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority
the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority , administers the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination .-History:The agency was established in 1977...
for their speed.
Singapore and Malaysia
Chinese text books in Singapore and Malaysia are written exclusively in simplified characters, and only simplified characters are taught in school. Traditional characters are usually only taught to those taking up calligraphy as a co-curricular activity.Chinese as a foreign language
As the source of many Chinese Mandarin textbooks is mainland China, the majority of textbooks teaching Chinese are now based on simplified characters and hanyu pinyin – although there are textbooks originating in China which have a traditional version. For practical reasons, universities and schools prepare students who will be able to communicate with mainland China, so their obvious choice is to use simplified characters.Most universities on the west coast of the United States previously taught the traditional character set, most likely due to the large population of Chinese Americans who continue to use the traditional forms. The largest Mandarin Chinese program in North America, at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, switched to simplified characters at least a decade ago, although the majority of the surrounding Chinese Canadian
Chinese Canadian
Chinese Canadians are Canadians of Chinese descent. They constitute the second-largest visible minority group in Canada, after South Asian Canadians...
population, who are non-Mandarin speaking, at that time were users of traditional characters. Stanford University's Cantonese program instructs its students with a traditional character set partly because Hong Kong uses traditional characters as well . In places where a particular set is not locally entrenched, e.g., Europe and the United States, instruction is in or is swinging towards simplified, as the economic importance of mainland China increases, and also because of the availability of inexpensive decent quality textbooks printed in mainland China. Teachers of international students often recommend learning both systems.
In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, universities mainly teach Chinese at undergraduate level using the simplified characters coupled with pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
. However, they will require the students to learn and be able to recognise the traditional forms by the last year of the course, by which time the students will have completed a year's study either in mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
or Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
In Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, schools, universities and TAFEs use predominantly simplified characters.
Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and most East European nations are traditionally oriented on the education of the PRC
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
's system for teaching Chinese, uses simplified characters but exposes the learners to both systems.
In South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, universities have used predominantly simplified characters in 1990s. In high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, Chinese is one of the selective subjects. By the regulation of the national curricula standards, MPS I and traditional characters had been originally used before (since the 1940s), but by the change of regulation, pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
and simplified characters have been used to pupils who enter the school in 1996 or later. Therefore MPS I and traditional characters disappeared after 1998 in South Korean high school Chinese curriculum.
In Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
there are two types of schools. Simplified Chinese is taught instead of traditional Chinese in pro-mainland China schools. They also teach Pinyin, a romanization system for standard Chinese, while the Taiwan-oriented schools teach Zhuyin
Bopomofo
Zhuyin fuhao , often abbreviated as zhuyin and colloquially called bopomofo, was introduced in the 1910s as the first official phonetic system for transcribing Chinese, especially Mandarin....
, which uses phonetic symbols. However, the Taiwan-oriented schools are starting to teach simplified Chinese and Pinyin to offer a more well-rounded education.
Computer encoding
In computer text applications, the GB encoding scheme most often renders simplified Chinese characters, while Big5Big5
Big-5 or Big5 is a character encoding method used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau for Traditional Chinese characters.Mainland China, which uses Simplified Chinese Characters, uses the GB instead.- Organization :...
most often renders traditional characters. Although neither encoding has an explicit connection with a specific character set, the lack of a one-to-one mapping between the simplified and traditional sets established a de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
linkage.
Since simplified Chinese conflated many characters into one and since the initial version of the GB encoding scheme, known as GB2312-80, contained only one code point for each character, it is impossible to use GB2312 to map to the bigger set of traditional characters. It is theoretically possible to use Big5 code to map to the smaller set of simplified character glyphs, although there is little market for such a product. Newer and alternative forms of GB have support for traditional characters. In particular, mainland authorities have now established GB 18030
GB 18030
GB18030 is a Chinese government standard describing the required language and character support necessary for software in China. In addition to the "GB18030 code page" this standard contains requirements about which scripts must be supported, font support, etc....
as the official encoding standard for use in all mainland software publications. The encoding contains all East Asian characters included in Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
3.0. As such, GB 18030 encoding contains both simplified and traditional characters found in Big-5 and GB, as well as all characters found in Japanese
Japanese language and computers
In relation to the Japanese language and computers many adaptation issues arise, some unique to Japanese and others common to languages which have a very large number of characters. The number of characters needed in order to write English is very small, and thus it is possible to use only one byte...
and Korean encodings.
Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
deals with the issue of simplified and traditional characters as part of the project of Han unification
Han unification
Han unification is an effort by the authors of Unicode and the Universal Character Set to map multiple character sets of the so-called CJK languages into a single set of unified characters. Han characters are a common feature of written Chinese , Japanese , Korean , and—at least historically—other...
by including code points for each. This was rendered necessary by the fact that the linkage between simplified characters and traditional characters is not one-to-one. While this means that a Unicode system can display both simplified and traditional characters, it also means that different localization
Locale
In computing, locale is a set of parameters that defines the user's language, country and any special variant preferences that the user wants to see in their user interface...
files are needed for each type.
The Chinese characters used in modern Japanese have also undergone simplification, but generally to a lesser extent than with simplified Chinese. It's worth mentioning that Japan's writing system utilizes a reduced number of Chinese characters in daily use, resulting partly from the Japanese language reforms; thus, a number of complex characters are written phonetically. Reconciling these different character sets in Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
became part of the controversial process of Han unification
Han unification
Han unification is an effort by the authors of Unicode and the Universal Character Set to map multiple character sets of the so-called CJK languages into a single set of unified characters. Han characters are a common feature of written Chinese , Japanese , Korean , and—at least historically—other...
. Not surprisingly, some of the Chinese characters used in Japan are neither 'traditional' nor 'simplified'. In this case, these characters cannot be found in traditional/simplified Chinese dictionaries.
Web pages
The World Wide Web ConsortiumWorld Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...
's Internationalization working group recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hans as a language attribute value and Content-Language value to specify web-page content in simplified Chinese characters.
Debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters
The debate over the use of traditional versus simplified Chinese characters has existed for a long time and still continues.See also
- Chinese characterChinese characterChinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
- Stroke orderStroke orderStroke order refers to the order in which the strokes of a Chinese character are written. A stroke is a movement of a writing instrument on a writing surface. Chinese characters are used in various forms in Chinese, Japanese, and in Korean...
- ShinjitaiShinjitaiShinjitai are the forms of kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. Some of the new forms found in shinjitai are also found in simplified Chinese, but shinjitai is generally not as extensive in the scope of its modification...
( or – Japanese simplified characters) - RyakujiRyakujiRyakuji are colloquial simplifications of Kanji.- Status :Ryakuji are not covered in the Kanji Kentei, nor are they officially recognized...
Further reading
- Bergman, P. M. (1980). The basic English-Chinese, Chinese-English dictionary: using simplified characters (with an appendix containing the original complex characters) transliterated in accordance with the new, official Chinese phonetic alphabet. New York: New American Library. ISBN 0451092627.
- Bökset, R. (2006). Long story of short forms: the evolution of simplified Chinese characters. Stockholm East Asian monographs, No. 11. Stockholm: Dept. of Oriental Languages, Stockholm University. ISBN 9162868322.
- Chen, H. (1987). Simplified Chinese characters. Torrance, CA: Heian. ISBN 0893462934.
External links
- Andrew WestAndrew WestAndrew Christopher West is an English Sinologist. He initially devoted himself to studying Chinese novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties...
, Proposal to Encode Obsolete Simplified Chinese Characters - Stroke Order Animation and Dictionary of Simplified Chinese Characters
- Simplified to Traditional Chinese Conversion Table