HUMA1020 Chinese Writing and Culture Nov 18, 2019

From now on until the end of this semester, I will use Canvas
Conferences for real-time delivery of online lecture.
The forthcoming online lectures will be given according to
the regular class schedule:

1) 4:30pm-5:50pm, Monday 18 November

2) 12:00pm-1:20pm, Friday 22 November
3) 4:30pm-5:50pm, Monday 25 November
4) 12:00pm-1:20pm, Friday 29 November

 Canvas app does not support Conferences, you must use the
web version of Canvas to join the Conference sessions.
 It is recommended to use Chrome or Firefox to access
Conferences.
To join the “Conference”, you need to:
-- Open a web browser and go to the URL https://canvas.ust.hk.
-- Select the correct account type and log in with your username
and password.
-- Get to the course site, and click the Conferences link in course
navigation.
-- Click the Join button next to the conference. (Note: you cannot
join it until the conference host has started the conference)
-- Join audio by clicking “2 Listen only” icon. (Note: You can
click “1 Microphone” icon, but I think it is better not to do so this
time.)
-- Test the microphone, and I think you can neglect it.
-- View and listen to the Conference. You can hear my voice and
see the PPT presentation I have prepared.

You will see something like this. But I will soon present the
PPT file in full-screen.
 Part 10. Simplification of Chinese characters
漢字簡化問題

1) The history of Simplification of Chinese Script 漢字

簡化史
2) Strategies of Simplification 簡化的方法
3) Complete List of Simplified Characters 簡化字總表
4) Controversies over the Simplification of
Chinese characters 有關漢字簡化的爭論
5) Research on issues arising from the simplification
簡化字問題的研究
Abolishing Chinese characters is the trend of the times
陳獨秀 CHEN Duxiu：“强烈地主張廢除漢字，中國文字，
既難載新事新理，且爲腐毒思想之巢窟，廢之誠不足惜。”
蔡元培 CAI Yuanpei：“漢字既然不能不改革，盡可直接的
改用拉丁字母了。”
魯迅 LU Xun：“方塊漢字真是愚民政策的利器”，“漢字
也是中國勞苦大衆身上的一個結核，病菌都潜伏在裏面，倘不首
先除去它，結果只有自己死。”
胡適 HU Shih ：“必須先用白話文字來代替文言的文字，然
後把白話的文字變成拼音的文字。”
錢玄同 QIAN Xuantong：“欲廢孔學，不可不先廢漢文；欲
驅除一般人之幼稚的野蠻的頑固的思想，尤不可不先廢漢文。”
1) The history of Simplification of Chinese Script
漢字簡化史

We all know that Chinese writing consists of

semantic and phonetic symbols. Chinese characters have
numerous variant forms. Chinese characters are structurally
complex and easily corrupted. 漢字異體眾多，結構複雜，
容易訛變。
In order to make it easy to write, it is understandable
for people to create/use simplified characters.

9
 We need to know that the simplification was
mingled with the complexification over history 歷史上，
簡化繁化交織在一起

Simplification 簡化
虎 hu3 ‘tiger’

Tribe’s name
Bronze

Early OBI

Normal Bronze

Late OBI
10
Complexification 繁化

Rubbing of oracle bone inscriptions

甲骨文拓本
從 cóng ‘follow’
从 (simplified character
appeared earlier than 從)
Over the long history of
Chinese script, commoners created
many simpler characters. But, the
governments generally rejected
popular simplified forms.
11
 Famen Temple法門寺 a simplified
rebuilt in the Tang character
dynasty.
A brick (磚) in Famen
Temple Museum
The unburned brick 磚坯 was wet and
soft. So people could write down this
sentence on it. Then they baked it.

麵面
miàn ‘flour’
tǎ shàng quē mǐ miàn
‘In the pagoda construction site, it
is short of rice and flour provision.’ 12
 The Republic of China government ever tried to
popularize simplified characters. In Aug. 1935, Ministry
of Education, Republic of China published a list of
simplified characters, including 324 characters.

杂 13
 After the foundation of the People’s Republic of
China in 1950s, the Mainland Chinese government
launched a campaign called anti-illiteracy campaign 掃
盲運動 sǎo máng yùn dòng.

14
 In the government’s opinion, the Chinese characters
are too complex and it is too difficult for common
people to handle.政府認為漢字太難，百姓很難掌握。

農 識 學
By simplifying the characters,
Chinese government hoped to enable
the common people to acquire literacy
more easily. 政府希望通過簡化漢字以
幫助百姓掃盲。 15
 In 1950s, the Mainland Chinese government
started to simplify Chinese characters.

At present, except some historical and literary

classics, all the books and newspapers are published in
the simplified script. School children after the 1950s
were all taught the simplified script. Although some of
the characters were later dropped from the
simplification lists due to poor acceptance, the project
was by and large successful. The simplified characters
were firmly established before long.
16
2) Strategies of Simplification 簡化的方法
What follows are the most commonly used
simplification strategies:
a. Ancient forms 古字: some ancient shapes were
adopted, as they are simpler in shape. Examples
are 眾众, 從从, 禮礼, and 雲 云.

Guoyu《國語》, book completed in

Warring states time. Reprinted in 1979.

三人為眾 ‘three people makes 眾’

The graphic analysis of this kind
shows us that the character was
actually written as 众 in the ancient
time. 17
b. Partial retention 取字的一部份: others retain only
part of traditional characters:

豐丰 ‘good harvest’ 豐

飛飞 ‘fly’
禦御 ‘defend’
嚮向 ‘toward’
廣广 ‘wide’ 廣州广州
醫医 ‘give medical treatment’
習习 ‘learn to fly’
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c. Phonetic component substitution 改換聲旁: some
phonetic components of the traditional characters are
replaced with better ones (closer in pronunciation to the
whole character) or simpler ones that are pronounced
the same or in a similar way:
Phonograms 形聲字
擔担; 種种; 遠远; 運运; 郵邮; 燈灯

詹旦; 重中; 袁元; 軍云; 垂由; 登丁

19
d. Semantic component substitution 改換義符: some
semantic radical is also replaced with more
reasonable ones from the modern point of view. For
example, the character for ‘scare’ used to have a
horse radical 驚. Now it is replaced with the heart
radical, which is more transparent semantically 惊.
The traditional character for wish is 願. Now the
semantic radical is replaced with the more reasonable
heart radical in the simplified version 愿.

jīng 驚惊 （馬忄 [心]）‘astonishing’

yuàn 願愿 （頁心） ‘wish, hope’

“頁心”. This replacement is not ideal. Why I say so?

20
e. Cursive forms 利用草書字形: some simplified
characters use the simpler shape with fewer strokes
of the cursive style. Examples, 語 speech

语 comes from the cursive form 语字來自草書

Cursive
forms
草書

語 ‘speech’
语
21
Other examples,

東东 dōng ‘east’； 會会 huì ‘meeting’；

樂乐 lè ‘happy’； 專专 zhuān ‘special’；
買买 mǎi ‘buy’； 農农 nóng ‘agraculture’
孫孙 sūn ‘grandson’

Originally cursive forms 草書

22
f. Merging character into another one that

容易出錯
sounds the same or similar 字形合流:

Easily make mistakes

餘‘surplus’ → 余 (surname) yú,

穀‘millet grain’ → 谷(valley) gǔ,

後 ‘be behind’ → 后 （queen）hòu,

幾 ‘almost’  几（table） jī

茶*幾、西太*後、*餘老師、山*穀 (從禾， 聲)

茶几、 西太后、 余老師、 山谷

谷 ( : 的變體，表示水從山坡上流下。 : 山口) 23
g. Reduce strokes.

傷伤; 食饣; 糸 纟;

釒钅; 見见; 變变；
勞劳； 魚鱼;
單单; 車车; 齊齐;

24
h. New creations
A number of characters are indeed created from scratch to
replace the original, very complex characters.

竈灶 ‘stove’; 塵尘‘dust’; 滅灭 ‘extinguish the fire’

A newly created semantic phonetic character with both simpler

semantic and phonetic components:

響  响 ‘echo 回聲, loud 聲音大’

鄉—phonetic; 音 – semantic
向 口 25
3) Complete List of Simplified Characters
簡化字總表

Mainland China‘s official list of simplified characters

was first issued in 1956, with a revision in 1964. The final
list of simplified characters was announced in 1986. Three
tables.

Table 1第一表, which contains 350 singly simplified

characters, whose simplifications cannot be generalized to
other characters. 只是一個字的簡化，不能推而廣之。
26
 350 簡化字

One to one, 一對一。

27
Table 2 第二表, which contains 132 simplified
characters and 14 simplified radicals, which can all be
generalized to other characters

第二表，共收简化字132个和简化偏旁14个。可作简化
偏旁用的简化字和简化偏旁 可以推而廣之。

28
Table 3 第三表, a list of 1,753 characters which are
simplified in accordance with Chart 2. This list is non-
exhaustive, so a character that can be simplified in
accordance with Chart 2 should be simplified, even if
it does not appear in Chart 3.

本表共收简化字1,753个。应用第二表所列简化字和简
化偏旁得出来的简化字

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30
 In 1977， the government published another
table of simplified characters “Second-round
simplified characters ” (第二批簡化字)

Unlike the first two revisions which were based on

familiar traditional Chinese characters, the second
round introduced completely new forms. The second
round was not well-received, and it was officially
retracted in 1986. 已經正式廢除。

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junior high school 初中地理課本
Geography textbook, 1978

32
 zhěng jì
寨 寨
建 建
境 境
靠 靠

煤 煤
播 播
道 道 雄 雄
面 面 游 游
雪 雪 情 情
展 展
部 部
宣 宣 33
 Simplified new
characters in 1977

yuán, ‘plain’
cài, ‘vegetable’
guàn, ‘irrigate’
jiǔ, ‘liquor’
Most people don’t like this batch of simplified
characters. It was officially abolished in 1986. 1986年
正式終止。 34
 The Second-round simplified characters were
officially abolished in 1986.

Some confusion is a hangover from this batch of

characters.
標準用法：支付、肖像；
“闫”是一個新造字，尚
“傅” “傅”姓與“付”姓 未正式接受。

“蕭” “萧”姓與“肖”姓
“閻” “阎”姓與“闫”姓
The latter characters (in red) are not official ones (in
the sense of ‘surname’).
35
 Three family names sequela 後遺症
Traditional Simplified 简体 1956 second-round simplified
firstly issued; 1964 二简 issued in 1977, and
繁体 abolished in 1986.
revised; 1986 finally
Fù 傅‘surname’ Fù 傅‘surname’ 付
≠ 付 ‘pay’ ≠ 付 ‘pay’
Xiāo 蕭‘surname’ Xiāo 萧‘surname’ 肖
≠ 肖 ‘resamble’ ≠ 肖 ‘resamble’
Yán 閻 ‘surname’ Yán 阎 ‘surname’ 闫
(阎王 ‘King of Hell’) (阎王 ‘King of Hell’) Some people still keep using
these irregular characters.
Very bad.

Both 傅 and 付 are standard characters exixting in the traditional and simplified
characters. But in the 二简, both are merged as 付. After the 二简 was abolished in
1986, however, some people are still keeping writing 付 for the surname. And we know
this is not right.
“肖”原本就是一個姓。在“二簡”中，“蕭（萧）”併入“肖”字，影響所及，很多
蕭（萧）姓人被改為 肖 姓。
4) Controversies over the Simplification of Chinese
characters 有關漢字簡化的爭論

To answer this question, we have to ask first

what the simplified characters are used for, i.e.,
whether they are used for reading or writing. 從何種角
度看這個問題，閱讀還是書寫？
There is no denying that for writing, fewer
strokes take less time. Taking less time can be
interpreted as being simpler. It is of course very ideal.
This is the most important advantage for the
simplified.就書寫而言，筆劃越少越好。簡化字最大好處
Look at the following table:
Traditional Simplified strokes
龜 18 strokes 龟 7 strokes guī ‘turtle’
書 10 stroke 书 4 strokes shū ‘book’
義 13 stroke 义 3 strokes yì ‘righteous’
講 17 strokes 讲 6 strokes jiǎng ‘speak’
寶 20 strokes 宝 8 strokes bǎo ‘treasure’
廣 14 strokes 广 3 strokes guǎng ‘broad’
蟲 18 strokes 虫 6 strokes chóng ‘worm’
學 16 strokes 学 8 strokes xué ‘school’
慶 15 strokes 庆 5 strokes qìng ‘congratulate’
鬱 29 strokes 郁 8 strokes yù ‘thickly wooded’
漢 14 strokes 汉 5 strokes hàn ‘a river name’
陽 12 strokes 阳 7 strokes yáng ‘sunny side’
釁26 strokes 衅 11 strokes xìn ‘smear with blood .’
A Comprehensive List of Simplified Characters 2235 characters

Total strokes Average for Number reduced

縂筆畫數 each 平均筆畫 減少筆畫
simplified 23025 10.3 strokes 5.7 strokes for
簡體 2235 each
Traditional 36236 16 strokes
繁體 2261
The numbers of simplified and traditional characters are different because:

幾乎 ‘almost’ 几乎
 Stroke reduction is very ideal. This is the most
important advantage for the simplified. 減少筆畫非常
理想，這應該是簡化字的最大的好處
But we need to understand this advantage may
not be that important to writers. Why?

We need to understand the correlation between

frequency of occurrence and average number of
strokes. There are a lot of simplified characters which
are not highly frequently used. Given this, simplification
would result in less differentiation within the writing
system, and it won’t provide much real benefits to
writers. 很多簡化字並不是常用字，在這種情況下，簡化
字難有助益。
 In most of cases, characters undergoing simplification
are those comparatively less frequently used.
一 二 三 五 的 人 大 小 多 少 not simplified. no necessity

Highly frequently used characters in modern Chinese:

(這) (國)(來)(們) (個) (說)

(為) (時) (會)

這:这、國:国、來:来、個:个、說:说、為:为、時:时、會:会
8/40 (=1/5) of the Highly frequently used characters
are simplified. 40個最常用字中只有8個簡化了
No much impact.
Take Analects (論語 Lùnyǔ) for another example.
子曰而之不亦乎有朋自方人知愠君 15 not simplified
學:学、時:时、習:习、說:说、遠:远、樂:乐 6 simplified
 Correlation between incidence and average number of
strokes of characters used in Analects (論語 Lùnyǔ)
《論語》中字頻與平均筆劃對照
(Chen Ping 1999: 161)

材料解讀：由這個表格看到，越是高頻常用，筆畫越是稀少；高頻常用字沒有簡化，也沒有這個
必要。因此，從書寫的角度看，簡化字減少筆畫的省時功效不一定像想像得那樣明顯。
 Stroke reduction is of course very good for people
to write. But there are other criteria for simplicity that
are not simply depending on the number of strokes. 不
僅僅是一個筆劃多少的問題。

On the other hand, the simplified characters may

not be always easier to remember than traditional
characters. If we can’t remember them, then it does
not matter how few strokes a character has. For these
simplified characters, the simplification is useless. 如
果不容易記，那麼簡化就沒用了。

What follow are some problems of simplified

characters.
Problem in distinguishing characters 文字的區別
When some simplified characters become easier to
learn and write, they may not necessarily be easier to
recognize. 容易寫，但未必容易認，容易區別。
lóu shàng shè / méi yǒu yǎ zuò
樓上設有雅座。（雅座 yǎzuò private room in restaurant）
樓上沒有雅座。
Simplified
楼上设有雅座。
楼上没有雅座。
 traditional simplified

yīn yáng yīn yáng

negative positive negative positive
reaction reaction reaction reaction

The test is negative/positive

檢測結果是陰性 检测结果是阴性
檢測結果是陽性 检测结果是阳性
jiǎn cè jié guǒ shì yīn xìng
jiǎn cè jié guǒ shì yáng xìng
 Traditional Simplified
廠  厂 chang3 ‘factory’
廣  广 guang3 ‘broad’

Traditional Simplified
擾  扰 rao3 ‘disturb’
攏  拢 long3 ‘hold together’

鳳 凤 fēng ‘phoenix’ 兒 儿 ér ‘son’

風 风 fèng‘wind’ 几 几 jǐ ‘several’

The simplified pairs are easily confused.

 Opposite example, showing the simplified is better.

Traditional : 晝 畫
Simplified : 昼 画
Pronunciation: zhou4 hua4
Meaning: ‘daytime’ ‘to draw’

In this pair, the simplified characters are

easier to tell apart than the traditional. But this is
not a typical case.

Generally, the traditional characters are

easier to tell apart than the simplified characters.
 one obvious drawback of the simplification is that
the structure of some characters is destroyed. Many
semantic symbols and phonetic symbols become signs.
Semantic symbols lose their semantic function. And
phonetic symbols lose their phonetic function. This is
really bad. We have learned many cases in which the
original graphic symbols make sense in terms of semantic
or phonetic implications. But with application of the
simplification, these characters do not make sense
anymore. This is a serious problem.
簡化字的一個大問題是破壞字型。
Comparison of the traditional with the simplified
Semantic function is lost.喪失表意功能
買买 貝 ‘cowry’ ‘buy’
賣卖 ‘sell’
東东 The sun is inside threes ‘east’

愛  爱心 ‘heart’ ‘love’
(《說文解字》。據此，可知“愛”的通行用法（love）源自假借。
那麼，繁體字“愛”其實與“心”字是沒有關係的。但人們願意將
繁體的“愛”字理解為從“心”，亦無不可。)

鳳 
聖 圣 ‘smart, sage’

‘phoenix’
聖 It is related to ear and mouth

凤
產  产 bear a child [生]
《孟子》：陳良，楚產也。
聲、義皆失
雲 (雲彩[雨 rain])云 葉(葉子[艸 grass]叶
後(走在後面[彳 walk]）后 裏 (衣裏子[衣 cloth])里
麯 (酒麯 [麥 wheat]） 曲 曆（曆法 [日 sun]）历
衝 (交通要道 [行 road])沖 麵 (麵粉 [麥 wheat])面

麥麯 leaven, yeast 發酵粉

鬥 dòu 2 hands ‘fight’ 斗

電 diàn 雨 rain ‘lightening’ 电
開 kāi 門 door ‘open (door) 开
頭 tóu 頁 head ‘head’ 头
關 guān
‘mountain
pass’

Semantic element
is 門 mén, ‘gate’.
Phonetic element
is .

The semantic element indicates that it is a kind of gate.

The simplified character 关 is simply a sign character, no
semantic information implied.
 This is the first time for me to deliver the
online lecture, and there are probably some
problems. So I plan to have this online repeated at
8:30pm-9:50pm.
第一次網上教學，也許有些問題，有的同學可能
無法參加。所以我想今晚重複一次，時間是 8:30pm-
9:30pm 。
 The way of how to do the assessment of
your achievement will be adjusted, and I will let
you know the new arrangement.
評定成績的方式會有些調整。