The Complex and Simplified Forms of Chinese Characters

The ultimate aim of the reform being carried in the Chinese writing system is to gradually replace the ideograms with a phonetic writing system. Before this can be done, the characters should first of all be simplified and the number of strokes of the characters reduced so as to relieve much of the burden of both users and learners of Chinese. The simplification of Chinese characters is two fold: reduction of the number of the characters (mainly through the elimination of the complex variants) and reduction of the number of the strokes of which a complex character is composed (by the popularization of the simplified characters). Since the 1950s and especially with the publication of the1964 list, the PRC (People’s Republic of China) has officially adopted this simplified form of Chinese Characters.

This simplification conforms entirely to the general tendency of development of the Chinese characters towards greater simplicity. The simplified forms, as compared with their complex equivalents, are much easier to learn, to memorize, to read and to write. A very few examples will help to show the advantages of the simplified over the complex forms: men 们 (們), ma 马 (馬), huan 欢 (歡), jin 进 (進).