Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/cnforbiddennews Like us on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/chinaforbiddennews 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/

• published: 20 Jun 2011
• views: 2441