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Rewriting the rules of language triggers controversy

By Chen Siwu (China Features)
Updated: 2009-08-28 10:29

But the history of the ideographic Chinese language dates back even further, with archaeologists believing it could have been in use more than 3,400 years ago.

Rewriting the rules of language triggers controversy

Its origins are shrouded in mystery, with legends including how Cang Jie, a minister for the Emperor Huang Di, drew pictures of objects and animals then simplified them by reducing the number of lines. These were the first pictographs, called "xiang xing" by the Han lexicographer Xu Shen (AD 30-124).

The earliest recognisable examples of written Chinese date from the Shang Dynasty (c.16th century-11th century BC) and were inscribed on ox bone and turtle shells. The script on these were known as "shell bone writing" or "oracle bone script" (Jiaguwen).

Following the introduction of kai shu, or standard script, between AD 200 and 600, there was no further formal development. However, as the system allows the creation pf new characters, the language has continued to evolve.

Unlike phonetic symbols in English and Latin, Chinese characters are arranged and combined together by basic character components, or radicals.

There are two ways of writing and printing Chinese: traditional characters that are used in regions including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, and simplified characters that are used on the Chinese mainland and in Singapore.

Traditional characters usually contain more strokes than simplified ones, which were introduced on the Chinese mainland following the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The central government began simplifying characters to help more people out of illiteracy and encourage education.

The Ministry of Education unveiled its wide-ranging reforms with the simplified characters in November 1956. Officials attempted to further simplify them in 1977 but, after nine years of trials, the plan was dropped, mainly due to many of the revised characters caused confusion.

The vocabulary of modern Chinese in common usage was published in 1988, which included a total of 7,000 characters.

Despite the opposition, Professor Wang assured that the ministry and State Language Commission are not against the public, and added: "We are listening to the public sincerely before coming up with a report for the ministry to decide."

However, with a ton of gold currently only worth about 200 million yuan, the old Chinese saying may also need to be revised.

Wang Ruoyao and Li Jianmin contributed to the story

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