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The Debate Around the Use of Traditional Characters In FACULTEIT LETTEREN EN WIJSBEGEERTE Academiejaar 2014–2015 THE DEBATE AROUND THE USE OF TRADITIONAL CHARACTERS IN CONTEMPORARY CHINESE SOCIETY Camiel COLRUYT Promotor: prof. Christoph Anderl Scriptie voorgedragen tot het behalen van de graad van MASTER IN DE OOSTERSE TALEN EN CULTUREN Abstract The Chinese Character Simplification Scheme of 1956 was the most radical intervention in the development of the character script since the early dynastic period. This and subsequent reforms have left a complex legacy. China’s eco- nomic and political opening up in the 1980’s was accompanied by a re-evaluation of suppressed traditional Chinese culture, including the traditional script. A grow- ing number of voices argue that the simplification has created a destructive fault line in Chinese cultural history. At the same time, the rise of digital technol- ogy has considerably shifted the playing field of script planning policy towards a standards-based rather than a reform-based approach, leading script planning authorities to abandon simplification-oriented rhetoric. This thesis reviews the evolution of reporting around script planning issues in the People’s Daily, China’s state-sponsored newspaper. Official and popular attitudes towards traditional char- acters are examined through analysis of People’s Daily articles. Finally, the thesis looks at signs of future policy changes. The Table of General Standard Characters, released in 2013, tentatively shows a willingness on the part of language planners to re-introduce previously banned characters. Still, policy makers have yet to take an overt stance on the role of traditional characters in modern society. Consider- ing the focus on the rediscovery of traditional values in the construction of a new Chinese identity, failure to adopt a clear position on how to deal with this heritage may turn out to be problematic in the long run. Abstract De Chinese karaktervereenvoudiging doorgevoerd in 1956 was de meest rad- icale ingreep in de ontwikkeling van het karakterschrift sinds het vroeg dynas- tisch tijdperk. Deze en volgende hervormingen hebben een complexe nalaten- schap achtergelaten. De economische en politieke heropening van China in the jaren 1980 ging gepaard met een herevaluatie van de onderdrukte traditionele Chi- nese cultuur en van het traditioneel schrift. Een groeiend aantal stemmen argu- menteren dat de vereenvoudiging een destructieve breuklijn in de Chinese cul- turele geschiedenis heeft teweergebracht.Tegelijk heeft de opkomst van digitale technologie het speelveld van taalplanning grondig veranderd. Men spreekt nu van een aanpak gericht op standardisatie en niet hervorming, wat taalplanners ertoe geleid hebben de retoriek van schriftvereenvoudiging op te geven. Deze proef on- derzoekt de evolutie van de journalistiek rond het thema schriftplanning in China’s overheid-gesponsord nieuwsblad, de Rénmín Rìbào (People’s Daily). Officiële en populaire attitudes tegenover traditionele karakters worden onderzocht via analyse van krantenartikels uit de Rénmín Rìbào. Ten laatste kijkt de proef naar tekenen van toekomstige beleidsveranderingen. De Table of General Standard Characters, uitgegeven in 2013, toont dat taalplanners bereid zijn om vroeger verboden karak- ters terug toe te laten. Evengoed hebben beleidsmakers geen openlijk standpunt ingenomen aangaande de rol van traditionele karakters in de moderne maatschap- pij. Gezien de hedendaagse focus op de herontdekking van traditionele waarden in de opbouw van een nieuwe Chinese identiteit, zou het op de lange termijn prob- lematisch kunnen zijn indien beleidsmakers geen duidelijkheid scheppen rondom hoe men met deze erfenis moet omgaan. 2 0 Contents 1 Introduction4 2 Historical perspectives6 2.1 Standardization in dynastic times.....................7 2.2 Early modern reform (late 20th century - 1949)............. 11 2.3 Reform during the Mao era (1949-1970’s)................ 13 2.4 Modern reform.............................. 14 3 Script planning in the Rénmín Rìbào 16 3.1 Characteristics of the Rénmín Rìbào ................... 16 3.2 Patterns in keyword use in the Rénmín Rìbào .............. 17 4 Article analysis 24 4.1 Policy communication through editorials................. 24 4.2 Arguments for a re-evaluation of traditional characters......... 31 5 Current efforts and prospects in Chinese script planning 42 6 Conclusion 49 7 Bibliography 51 3 1 Introduction The People’s Republic of China is one of the world’s great growing powers, and over the last century Chinese society has experienced rapid and spectacular changes as it finds its role on the world stage. At the same time, the Chinese writing system has undergone no less impressive reforms. The successful introduction of the Chinese Character Simpli- fication Scheme1 in 1956 represents the high water mark of the Chinese government’s efforts in script reform, and it is the event that most clearly defines the shape of the modern writing system. But it is not an isolated event, either in the history of character simplification or Chinese script reform as a whole. In the narrow sense, it was a suc- cessor to the abortive simplification scheme launched by the Republican government in 1935, and it was followed by the polarizing, short-lived Second Character Simplifica- tion Scheme of 1977. From a historical perspective, the character simplification scheme merely formalized the use of character variants that had existed for hundreds of years — only about 8 percent of simplified characters were original creations.2 The 1956 simplification scheme created the mostly artificial distinction between the simplified Chinese script used in Mainland China and the traditional (or complex) script used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore and overseas Chinese communities (as well as Korea and Japan). Throughout Máo Zédong’s¯ 毛泽东 communist regime, the use of simplified characters was deemed ideologically correct, and the use of traditional characters was suppressed. After the Cultural Revolution and Máo’s death, however, traditional Chinese culture and values were once more topics of discussion, and debate over the role and status of traditional characters arose. Traditional characters are the prime exponent of Chinese culture, but modern Chinese script policy yet forbids their use (with a few exceptions). The debate around the use of traditional characters is more present today than ever before. In this thesis, I intend to examine the nature and prospects of this debate, look- ing especially at the way it is brought forward in the Rénmín Rìbào (People’s Daily), China’s primary state-sponsored newspaper. The Rénmín Rìbào is a key element of the Chinese government’s discursive strategy towards the population, and its contents reach a very wide audience. This thesis is divided into four parts. In the first part, I sketch the development of Chinese script and script policy through history. I divide this development into four stages — dynastic China, early modern reform in the early 20th century, reform in the Máo era, and developments after 1986. Each period is character- ized by different external and internal pressures placed upon the character script, and 1 Hànzì jianhuàˇ fang’àn¯ IW简化¹H. 2 Bökset 2006: 181. 4 each period contributes to the general modern perception or experience of the Chinese character script. In the second part, I search the archives of the Rénmín Rìbào for articles revolving around character use, and plot these by keyword and by year in order to discern mean- ingful patterns in the evolution of reporting around script issues. In the third part, I look into two kinds of articles published in the Rénmín Rìbào— editorials and opinion pieces. By analyzing an example editorial in detail, I determine the political and ide- ological background of current-day official attitudes towards script reform. I analyze two opinion pieces and discuss common themes. Finally, I take a look at script plan- ners’ response to the increasing pressure of digital technology on the hànzì system, and at a project that addresses this pressure. That project is the Table of General Standard Characters. It was completed in 2013, and it is significant in two ways: it clearly de- fines the bounds of the hànzì system, fixing the number of standard characters in use in the People’s Republic; and it reinstates a small number of traditional and banned variant characters into use. This last may indicate a change of official attitudes towards traditional characters, and open the door for more significant reforms in the future. For theoretical background, I have relied primarily on the mammoth work of Richard Baldauf and Zhao Zhouhui, Planning Chinese Character: Reaction, Evolution, Revolu- tion? (2008), an invaluable resource for students of modern Chinese character studies; on Chen Ping’s Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics (2004) for historical background; and on Guo Yi’s perspicacious analysis of the link between Chinese na- tionalism and script reform laid out in Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary China: The Search for National Identity under Reform (2004). In writing this thesis, I am grateful to prof. Christoph Anderl, my promotor, whose support and advice proved invaluable; to ms. Lˇı Línghóng N凌y, whose help with translations is deeply appreciated; and to my parents, who have always encouraged me. All translations are my own, except where otherwise noted. 5 2 Historical perspectives "In broad perspective Chinese writing reform is not merely a minor mat- ter of tinkering with the symbols used in writing. It is a major
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