Traditional and Simplified 20th Century Chinese Characters character simplification (and Cantonese writing) • There are two scripts in use today to write Modern Standard Mandarin • They are closely related CHIN 342/442 • “Traditional Characters” are used today in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and some overseas communities Autumn 2019 • Example: China Daily News ( ) Online)
Traditional and Simplified A simple example Characters • “Simplified Characters” are used today in mainland China, Singapore, and many overseas communities • Example: Guangming Daily ( ) Online • Simplified characters are the first major change to the official Chinese writing system in nearly 2,000 years
A simple example Why?