Taiwan Says "No" to Simplified Characters
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The
Taiwan Government recently claimed that, official
documents and websites should not use simplified
characters, and "
Chinese characters' beauty should
be appreciated by the world." Many scholarly people
said that traditional characters are the foundation
of
Chinese culture, but simplified characters were
created to destroy Chinese characters and culture.
"
Relatives cannot be seen; productions cannot be
produced; no heart in love; factories are empty."
These words criticize simplified characters,
which go against cognitive principles.
Since Taiwan will open its borders to individual
Chinese travelers at the end of June, many merchants
have changed their brands and menus into simplified
characters. On June 15,
Taiwan President Ma Yingjiu
announced that official documents and websites should
use traditional characters,
but comparison tables can be offered, if necessary.
President Ma said in
2007 that, the so-called
"complex characters" are real Chinese characters
and should be called "traditional characters."
Presidential spokesman,
Fan Jiang Taiji, said that,
Taiwan's
Tourism Bureau website, should immediately
delete the "simplified Chinese edition," to ensure that
Chinese culture is preserved in the "
Republic of China"
and that Chinese simplified characters are only allowed
to be used when promoting Taiwan in
China.
On June 16, Ma gave a speech at an official book
release conference held for
Executive President,
Hao Baicun, author of the new book, "Hao Baicun
Unscrambles
Chiang Kai-shek's
Diary 1945-1949."
Ma said that Chiang Kai-shek's insistence on preserving
traditional characters "was Chiang's important act
to revive Chinese culture during the
Cultural Revolution,
which turned out to be insightful."
Many outstanding scholars have realized the
significance of traditional characters in
Chinese
culture, like
Chen Yinke, a famous sinologist who
insists on writing in classical Chinese and publishing
books in traditional Chinese characters.
A
Swedish sinologist,
Cecilia Lindqvist, believes that,
Chinese characters are "the most fun characters
in the world." She told Taiwan's
China Times in
2006:
"
Taiwanese people are very lucky to study traditional
characters since childhood." She said that if Taiwan
someday replaces traditional characters with
simplified ones, she will feel very sad.
In
1956, the
Chinese Communist Party (
CCP) advocated
simplified characters, saying they were easy to learn
and read, faster to write, and helped reduce the number
of characters. Yet, illiteracy still exists and new
characters are being added all the time.
Computer keyboards can now type simplified characters,
so being "easy to write" has really lost its meaning.
Liu
Fengjie, a scholar, said, "The use of simplified
characters has bought about the worst chaotic times
since the
Qin Dynasty."
.
A netizen named Changheyueying, explained the five
disadvantages of simplified characters: 1. they are
unable to imitate shapes or express inner meaning
2. they are ugly; 3. they contain more meanings than
traditional ones, bringing about misunderstandings;
4. people who use simplified characters cannot read
ancient articles; 5. they destroy the cultural connection
between the mainland and Taiwan,
Hong Kong,
Macao,
and overseas Chinese.
Changheyueying said, "The revival of a culture is based
on inheriting ancient civilizations and absorbing good
cultures worldwide. Therefore, the first step to revive
Chinese culture is to revive traditional characters!"
The online article, "
Simplified Characters Are Not
Meant to Simplify," stated that, between 1920-1930,
the CCP planned to begin "alphabetizing Chinese."
But due to public outcry, they simplified a just few
characters at first. Then as people adapted to alphabetic
writing, they added more characters. Thus, simplified
characters were not meant to simplify, but were only
semi-finished products in the alphabetization process.
Many scholars said that, traditional characters are
cultural essences left by ancient civilizations and only
traditional characters can truly present
the greatness of Chinese traditional culture.
NTD reporters
Wu Wei and Li Ruolin
《神韵》2011世界巡演新亮点
http://www.ShenYunPerformingArts.org/