Traditional Chinese (Traditional Chinese: 正體字/繁體字, Simplified Chinese: 正体字/繁体字) refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han Dynasty, and have been more or less stable since the 5th century during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The term "traditional" is used to contrast traditional characters with another standardized set — simplified Chinese characters, standardized by the government of the People's Republic of China since the 1950s. A Chinese logogram A logogram, or logograph, is a single written character which represents a word or a morpheme (a meaningful unit of language). ... For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone meaning sound, voice) is the study of sounds and the human voice. ... Unicode is an industry standard designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers. ... This chart shows concisely the most common way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is applied to represent the English language. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... 漢字 / 汉字 Chinese character in Hànzì, Kanji, Hanja, Hán Tá»±. Red in Simplified Chinese. ... Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Variant Chinese characters are Chinese characters that can be used interchangeably. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; also Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) refer to one of two standard Chinese character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language, officially simplified by the government of the Peoples Republic of China in an attempt to promote literacy. ... The second round of Chinese character simplification was officially promulgated on December 20, 1977 by the Peoples Republic of China, and replaced the existing (first round) simplified Chinese characters that were already in use. ... Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji Kanji (Japanese:  ) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名), and the Arabic numerals. ... Look up KyÅ«jitai in Wiktionary, the free dictionary KyÅ«jitai (Shinjitai: 旧字体 KyÅ«jitai: 舊字體, meaning old character form) is the traditional form of the Japanese kanji used before 1947. ... Shinjitai (in Shinjitai: ; in KyÅ«jitai: æ–°å­—é«”; meaning new character form), are the forms of Kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. ... Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. ... Gugyeol is a system for rendering texts written in Classical Chinese into understandable Korean. ... Hyangchal (hangul: 향찰; hanja: 鄕札; revised: hyangchal; McCune-Reischauer: hyangchal) is an archaic writing system used in Korea. ... Chữ nôm (𡦂喃 lit. ... Hán tá»± (漢字, lit. ... The art of calligraphy is widely practiced and revered in the East Asian civilizations that use Chinese characters. ... Oracle bone script (Chinese: 甲骨文; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally shell bone writing) refers to incised (or, rarely, brush-written) ancient Chinese characters found on oracle bones, which are animal bones or turtle shells used in divination in ancient China. ... Bronzeware script (金文 pinyin jin wen or 鐘鼎文 pinyin zhong1 ding3 wen2) is a family of scripts found on Chinese bronzes such as zhong (bells) and ding (tripods), since bronze artifacts with Chinese characters span many centuries and they have been found in many areas of China. ... 《尋隱者不遇》—賈島 松下問童子 言師採藥去 隻在此山中 雲深不知處 Seeking the Master but not Meeting by Jia Dao Beneath a pine I asked a little child. ... The clerical script (traditional Chinese 隷書, simplified Chinese 隶书) is an archaic style of Chinese calligraphy which, due to its high legibility to modern readers, is still being used for artistic flavor in a variety of functional applications such as headlines, signboards and advertisements. ... Sheng Jiao Xu by Chu Suiliang: calligraphy of the Kaishu style The Regular Script, or in Chinese Kaishu (楷書 Pinyin: kÇŽishÅ«) and Japanese Kaisho, also commonly known as Standard Regular (正楷), is the newest of the Chinese calligraphy styles (peaked at the 7th century), hence most common in modern writings and... Semi-cursive script (Chinese: 行書, Pinyin: XíngshÅ«, Japanese: gyōsho, Korean: haengseo) is a partially cursive style of Chinese calligraphy. ... Chinese characters of Cursive Script in regular script (left) and cursive script (right). ... Since the Chinese language uses a logographic script — that is, a script where one or two characters corresponds roughly to one word or meaning — there are vastly more characters, or glyphs, than there are keys on a standard computer keyboard. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... 漢字 / 汉字 Chinese character in Hànzì, Kanji, Hanja, Hán Tá»±. Red in Simplified Chinese. ... The clerical script (traditional Chinese 隷書, simplified Chinese 隶书) is an archaic style of Chinese calligraphy which, due to its high legibility to modern readers, is still being used for artistic flavor in a variety of functional applications such as headlines, signboards and advertisements. ... Later Han redirects here. ... Europe in 450 The 5th century is the period from 401 - 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... This article is about China. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... // Recovering from World War II and its aftermath, the economic miracle emerged in West Germany and Italy. ...

Today traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and by some overseas Chinese communities, especially those originating from the aforementioned regions/countries or who emigrated before the widespread adoption of simplified characters in the People's Republic of China. In contrast, simplified characters are used in mainland China, Singapore (in official publications, though many names are still written in traditional characters), and in some overseas Chinese communities; especially those from aforementioned countries who emigrated after the widespread adoption of simplified Chinese characters. Debate over Traditional and Simplified Chinese is long-running among Chinese communities. Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese ancestry who live outside China. ... The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC); however, it excludes the two special administrative regions... Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese ancestry who live outside China. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; also Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) refer to one of two standard Chinese character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language, officially simplified by the government of the Peoples Republic of China in an attempt to promote literacy. ...

Controversy over Chinese name

Among Chinese speakers, traditional Chinese characters are referred to by several different names, each with different implications. The government of the Republic of China on Taiwan officially calls traditional Chinese characters Standard characters or orthodox characters (Traditional Chinese: 正體字,Simplified Chinese: 正体字 Hanyu Pinyin: zhèngtǐzì; Tongyong Pinyin: jhèngtǐzìh ), which implies that traditional characters are the full and correct forms of the characters. It should be noted, however, that the same term ("Standard characters", 正体字) is used in mainland China to distinguish standard, Simplified and Traditional characters from variant and idiomatic characters (异体字).^[1] Motto: Three Principles of the People (三民主義 San-min Chu-i) Anthem: National Anthem of the Republic of China Capital Taipei (de facto)  Nanking (de jure)1  Largest city Taipei Official languages Mandarin (GuóyÇ”) Government Semi-presidential system  - President Chen Shui-bian  - Vice President Annette Lu  - Premier Su Tseng-chang... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of... Tongyong Pinyin (Chinese: ; pinyin: Tōngyòng pÄ«nyÄ«n; literally Universal/General Usage Sound-combining) is the current official romanization of the Chinese language adopted by the national government (although not all local governments) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2002. ... The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC); however, it excludes the two special administrative regions...

Users of traditional characters may also call them "complete-bodied characters" (Traditional Chinese: 全體字, Simplified Chinese: 全体字 Hanyu Pinyin: quántǐzì; Tongyong Pinyin: cyuántǐzìh ), which also has the same implication. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of... Tongyong Pinyin (Chinese: ; pinyin: Tōngyòng pÄ«nyÄ«n; literally Universal/General Usage Sound-combining) is the current official romanization of the Chinese language adopted by the national government (although not all local governments) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2002. ...

In contrast, other Chinese speakers, mainly simplified characters call them complex characters (Traditional Chinese: 繁體字, Simplified Chinese: 繁体字 Hanyu Pinyin: fántǐzì; Tongyong Pinyin: fántǐzìh ), or, informally, "old characters" (Chinese: 老字; Hanyu Pinyin: lǎozì; Tongyong Pinyin: lǎozìh ), with the implication that traditional Chinese characters have been replaced and are obsolete. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of... Tongyong Pinyin (Chinese: ; pinyin: Tōngyòng pÄ«nyÄ«n; literally Universal/General Usage Sound-combining) is the current official romanization of the Chinese language adopted by the national government (although not all local governments) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2002. ... Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of... Tongyong Pinyin (Chinese: ; pinyin: Tōngyòng pÄ«nyÄ«n; literally Universal/General Usage Sound-combining) is the current official romanization of the Chinese language adopted by the national government (although not all local governments) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2002. ...

Traditional character users argue that traditional characters cannot be called "complex" as they were never made more complex; the characters were preserved the way they were. Conversely supporters of simplified Chinese characters object strongly to the description of these characters as "standard," since they view the new simplified characters as the contemporary standard. They also point out that traditional characters are not truly traditional as Chinese characters have changed significantly over time. Many characters since the Han Dynasty had been made more elaborate than the original standard. Later Han redirects here. ...

Curiously, although the character which is generally translated as "complex" itself comprises numerous, if not complex strokes, the character has not undergone simplification; this is perhaps intentional as it demonstrates the relative complexity of the Traditional characters in contrast to the Simplified versions. Additionally, while "complex" bears something of a negative connotation in English, the Chinese character per se does not imply anything to the extent that it might be construed as "complex" or "troublesome"; rather, the meaning is rather vague and remains neutral unless coupled with other characters.

Some older people refer to traditional characters as "proper characters" (Chinese: 正字; Hanyu Pinyin: zhèngzì; Tongyong Pinyin: jhèngzìh ) and simplified characters as "simplified-stroke characters" (Traditional Chinese: 簡筆字, Simplified Chinese: 简笔字 Hanyu Pinyin: jiǎnbǐzì; Tongyong Pinyin: jiǎnbǐzìh ) or "reduced-stroke characters" (Traditional Chinese: 減筆字,Simplified Chinese: 减笔字 Hanyu Pinyin: jiǎnbǐzì; Tongyong Pinyin: jiǎnbǐzìh ) (simplified- and reduced- are actually homonyms in Mandarin Chinese, both pronounced jiǎn). Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of... Tongyong Pinyin (Chinese: ; pinyin: Tōngyòng pÄ«nyÄ«n; literally Universal/General Usage Sound-combining) is the current official romanization of the Chinese language adopted by the national government (although not all local governments) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2002. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of... Tongyong Pinyin (Chinese: ; pinyin: Tōngyòng pÄ«nyÄ«n; literally Universal/General Usage Sound-combining) is the current official romanization of the Chinese language adopted by the national government (although not all local governments) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2002. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of... Tongyong Pinyin (Chinese: ; pinyin: Tōngyòng pÄ«nyÄ«n; literally Universal/General Usage Sound-combining) is the current official romanization of the Chinese language adopted by the national government (although not all local governments) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2002. ... This article is on all of the Northern Chinese dialects. ...

In China's north-east, a local word for traditional characters is "real characters" (Chinese: 真字; Hanyu Pinyin: zhēnzì; Tongyong Pinyin: jhēnzìh ). Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of... Tongyong Pinyin (Chinese: ; pinyin: Tōngyòng pÄ«nyÄ«n; literally Universal/General Usage Sound-combining) is the current official romanization of the Chinese language adopted by the national government (although not all local governments) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2002. ...

Printed text

When printing text, people in Mainland China and Singapore mainly use the simplified system, which was developed by the People's Republic of China government in the 1950s. However, the PRC also prints material intended to be read outside of Mainland China using traditional characters. In handwritten text, most people use informal, sometimes personal simplifications. In most cases, an alternative character (異體字) would be used in place of one with more strokes, such as 体 for 體. Contrary to popular belief, most of these are still part of the set of traditional Chinese characters^{[citation needed]}, but informally and confusingly called simplified form (簡寫). Though not standard, these are usually accepted outside schools, and some are extremely widespread, notably the 台 tái in 台灣 Táiwan as opposed to the standard character (臺). Additionally, there were two main usages of alternative characters in the old days. First, alternative characters were used to avoid using the characters of an important person in other occasions as a way of showing respect to the said person by preserving the characters to the person's name. This act is called "offence-avoidance" (避諱) in Chinese. Secondly, alternative characters were used when the same characters were repeated in context to show that the repetition was intentional rather than an editorial mistake (筆誤). // Recovering from World War II and its aftermath, the economic miracle emerged in West Germany and Italy. ... The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC); however, it excludes the two special administrative regions...

Computer character encoding

In the past, Traditional Chinese was most often rendered using the Big5 character encoding scheme, a character encoding scheme that favors Traditional Chinese. Unicode, however, has become increasingly popular as a way to render Traditional Chinese. Unicode gives equal weight to both simplified and traditional Chinese characters and does not favor either over the other. There are various IMEs (Input Method Editors) available to input Chinese characters. There are still some characters that cannot be written using most IMEs, one example would be the character used in the Shanghainese dialect instead of 嗎, it is 伐 with a 口 radical. Big-5 or Big5 is a character encoding method used in Taiwan (Republic of China) and Hong Kong for Traditional Chinese characters. ... Unicode is an industry standard designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers. ... An input method editor (IME) is a program or operating system component that allows computer users to enter complex characters and symbols (such as Japanese, Chinese, Tibetan and Korean characters), using a standard Western keyboard. ... Since the Chinese language uses a logographic script — that is, a script where one or two characters corresponds roughly to one word or meaning — there are vastly more characters, or glyphs, than there are keys on a standard computer keyboard. ... The left part of mā, a Chinese character meaning mother, is a radical that means woman A radical (from Latin radix, meaning root) is a basic identifiable component of every Chinese character. ...

Web pages

The World Wide Web Consortium recommends the use of the zh-Hant language attribute value and Content-Language value to specify web pages contents in Traditional Chinese.[1] The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web (W3). ...

Usage in other languages

Traditional characters are also used in Korean Hanja, and moderately simplified traditional characters are used in modern Japanese Kanji. Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. ... Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji Kanji (Japanese:  ) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名), and the Arabic numerals. ...

See also

• Kanji
• Hanja almost identical to traditional Chinese character
• Kaishu
• Chinese character
• Simplifications to written Chinese in Hong Kong

Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji Kanji (Japanese:  ) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名), and the Arabic numerals. ... Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. ... Calligraphy in the Kaishu style The Regular Script, or in Chinese Kaishu (楷書 Pinyin: kǎishū) and Japanese Kaisho, also commonly known as Standard Regular (正楷), is the newest of the Chinese calligraphy style (peaked at the 7th century), hence most common in modern writings and... 漢字 / 汉字 Chinese character in Hànzì, Kanji, Hanja, Hán Tá»±. Red in Simplified Chinese. ... In Hong Kong, the Chinese language is commonly used in daily life. ...

External links

• Evolution of Chinese Characters
• Traditional Chinese Dictionary

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.