In 1956 and in 1964 China simplified several thousand characters to make learning Chinese less difficult. In many cases the new forms were ancient characters that had become unnecessarily complex over time. Returning to the original form meant fewer strokes that students had to memorize, and also meant a clearer logical structure of the characters.
In other cases the new simplified characters were popular variant forms that were were widely used due to having fewer strokes and, quite frequently, clearer composition than the more standard form.
Unfortunately, the simplifications did not stop at this point, nor was a more ambitious effort made to systematically clarify the phonetic and semantic information in the characters. Instead, a large number of more questionable simplifications were made, sometimes by conflating different characters, sometimes by adopting variant or script forms that had fewer strokes than the standard form, and sometimes by creating completely new forms with fewer strokes. The phonetic and semantic information in the characters was sometimes improved on but often degraded, while a large number of inconsistencies between characters were created, undermining the goal of making Chinese characters easier to learn.
Roots and derivates treated differently
Components simplified differently
Components not always simplified (A)
Components not always simplified (B)
Similar structures treated differently
Simplified characters are now used in China and Singapore while traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and most overseas communities (and increasingly again in southern and coastal China). While it is too late for a more systematic reform of the characters, it is likely that there will be some partial convergence between the simplified and traditional character sets which preserves some of the strengths of each.
Click on any character to see its simplified form (and its definition and etymology).
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