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Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified . The other set is Traditional Chinese Character s. Simplified Chinese characters are the Chinese Character s officially simplified by the government of the People's Republic Of China in an attempt to promote literacy. This character set is used for most Chinese-language printing in Mainland China and Singapore whereas traditional characters are used in Hong Kong , Macao , Taiwan , and Overseas Chinese communities. Simplified characters are gradually gaining popularity among many Overseas Chinese communities as more mainland Chinese are emigrating from their homeland. Only a fraction of characters were simplified, and many characters are identical between Simplified and Traditional Chinese. There are also a large number of Simplified characters whose forms are regularly derived using rules that replace Traditional character components with Simplified components. A small number of Simplified characters, however, are not regularly derived from Traditional Chinese; some Simplified characters are completely different in form from Traditional characters. EXTENT The final list of Simplified characters, announced in 1986 , contains the following:
After World War II , 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 is much more moderate. ORIGINS AND HISTORY Mainland China Although associated with the People's Republic Of China (PRC), 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 ), though early attempts at simplification actually resulted in more characters being added to the lexicon). One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lu Feikui , who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement , many Chinese intellectuals began to propose reform of the Chinese writing system, either by simplification or complete abolishment. Fu Sinian , a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the "writing of ox-demons and snake-gods" (牛鬼蛇神的文字). Lu Xun , one of the most influential Chinese writers of the 20th century, also declared, "If Chinese characters aren't destroyed, then China will be." (漢字不滅，中國必亡。) 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. 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, character simplification became associated with the leftists of the Cultural Revolution , culminating in a second round of character simplifications (known as ''erjian'' 二简, or " Second-round Simplified Characters ", which were promulgated in 1977 . It was poorly received, and 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: 叠, 覆, 像). Although no longer recognized officially, some second-round characters appear in informal contexts, as many people learned second round simplified characters in school. Simplification initiatives have been 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 has stated that it wishes to keep Chinese orthography stable and does not appear to plan any further reforms in the future, nor restore any characters that have already been simplified Singapore and Malaysia Singapore 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 . Malaysia promulgated a set of Simplified characters in 1981 , which were also completely identical to the simplified characters used in Mainland China. METHOD OF SIMPLIFICATION There are several methods in which characters were simplified: #Replacing complicated components of common characters with simpler shapes:
#Changing the phonetic:
#Omitting entire components:
#Using Grass Script shapes:
#Adopting ancient forms that are simpler in form:
#Creating new radical-radical compounds:
#Creating new radical-phonetic compounds:
#Merging a character into another one that sounds the same or similar:
#Merging several characters into a newly created and simpler character:
#Systematically simplifying a shape, so that every character that uses it is simplified:
Since traditional characters are sometimes merged, confusion may arise when Classical Chinese texts are printed in simplified characters. For example, a phrase like 獨餘余一人(only I am left alone) will become 独余余一人 when simplified. This also makes conversion between simplified and traditional texts a non-trivial task. In rare instances, simplified characters actually became one or two strokes more complex than their traditional counterparts due to logical revision. An example of this is 搾 mapping to the previously existing variant form 榨. Note that the "hand" radical on the left (扌), with three strokes, is replaced with the "tree" radical (木), with four strokes. DISTRIBUTION AND USE Mainland China and Singapore generally use simplified characters. They appear very sparingly in printed text produced in Hong Kong , Macau , Taiwan , and 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 found aesthetically appealing and often used on signs and in logos. People unfamiliar with how the PRC deals with simplified versus traditional characters erroneously claim that the PRC permits only simplified characters and has "banned" traditional characters. Although the PRC views Traditional characters as errors in domestic published material, the Law Of The People's Republic Of China On National Language And Common Characters explains that traditional characters are not banned altogether on mainland China; instead, their usage is relegated to certain aspects and purposes. In Mainland China, traditional characters are used mainly for ceremonies, cultural purposes (e.g. calligraphy), decoration, some books on ancient literature and poetry, and commercial purposes such as shopfront displays and advertisements, though the latter is technically discouraged. The PRC also tends to print material intended for Taiwanese, people in Hong Kong and Macao, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, the PRC 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. Other examples include milk from a mainland company which is for distribution in Hong Kong, for example, has traditional characters printed on it instead of simplified. Also, as part of the One Country, Two Systems model, the PRC has not attempted to convert Hong Kong nor Macau into using simplified characters. Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. Some traditional character publications other than dictionaries are published on mainland China, for domestic consumption. Moreover, it is possible for residents in Guangdong to receive Chinese language television in Cantonese from Hong Kong (though the politically sensitive issues in news and other current affairs programs may be censored). The use of traditional form characters is flourishing in Hong Kong, and through such encounters, mainlanders are exposed to the use of traditional characters in television subtitling. In all areas, most handwritten text will include informal character simplifications, and some characters (such as the "Tai" in Taiwan: traditional 臺 simplified 台) have informal simplified forms that appear more commonly than the official forms, even in print. EDUCATION In general, schools in Mainland China 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 Kongers 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. Mainland China In political conference member who called for elementary schools to teach traditional Chinese characters in addition to the simplified ones, but to use simplified characters exclusively. The conference member pointed out that most mainland Chinese, especially young people, have difficulties with traditional characters; this is especially important in dealing with non-mainland communities such as Taiwan and Hong Kong . The educational authorities slammed 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. The use of traditional characters can only be legal in calligraphy, research purposes or special cases approved by State Council of PRC. {Link without Title} However, advertising sometimes use traditional characters, and the government takes measures to suppress them from time to time. Hong Kong In Hong Kong, Traditional Chinese Characters are officially and customarily used, but the increasing influence of mainland China on Hong Kong has boosted the use of simplified characters. Since the 1990s, students have begun to a hybrid written form, comprising some Simplified characters, along with traditional characters to speed up writing in public examinations. Students have found that the examination authority do not see simplified characters as being "incorrectly written characters" that would lead to being marked down. Since the 1990s, bookshops selling publications in simplified characters are becoming popular, because these PRC editions are often cheaper. Tourists from China have also increased the use of simplified characters in tourist areas; however textbooks, official statements, newspapers, including the PRC -funded media, show no signs of moving to simplified characters. In 2006, a survey showed that 82% of Hong Kong youths frequently use simplified characters and more than half are familar with it, but over 70% of them opposed the idea that the official status of traditional characters be replaced by Simplified characters, believing that the use of traditional characters preserves cultural tradition. {Link without Title} For use on computers, people tend to type Chinese characters using a traditional character set like Big5 , but if needed, encode it later into simplified Chinese using available conversion software. Taiwan Although Simplified Chinese character is officially banned from all aspects in Taiwan, the use of it is more common now steadily due to the growing political and economic influence of the Other Side Of The Strait . Chinese as a foreign language For persons learning Chinese as a foreign language, instruction varies greatly: most universities on the west coast of the United States teach 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 at least a decade ago, even though the majority of ethnic Chinese at that time were Traditional users.) In places where a particular set is not locally entrenched—for example, Europe, and some of the east coast of the US—instruction is swinging towards Simplified, as the economic importance of the Mainland increases, and also because of the availability of cheap high-quality textbooks printed in Mainland China. Teachers of international students often recommend learning both systems. Their experience is that students who start with Traditional characters would understand Simplified characters without much difficulty while students who begin with simplified characters tend to have more difficulties when they encounter traditional characters. DEBATE ON TRADITIONAL AND SIMPLFIED CHARACTERS The traditional versus simplified characters (Chinese: 繁簡之爭) debate has existed for a long time amongst users of Chinese. The debate have stirred heated responses from supporters of both sides as it involves the questions on political ideology and cultural identity in the Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It is important to note that supporters for traditional characters may not necessarily reject the idea of simplfication. Simplfied characters here exclusively means "those characters simplified by People's Republic Of China since 1950s". The effect of simplified characters on the language remains controversial decades after their introduction: Cultural Legitimacy
Literacy
Similarity
Speed in writing
Clarifications and Confusions
Unity
Other issues
COMPUTER ENCODING In computer text applications, the GB Encoding Scheme most often renders simplified Chinese, while Big5 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 of the characters of Unicode 3.0. Since Big-5 and GB characters are both included in Unicode, the GB 18030 encoding contains both simplified and traditional characters, including 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. 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. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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