Spoof News: China Plans to Phase Out Chinese Characters ?

[Void]

Of course writing is part of the culture, but it is not the culture. When the writing system changes that does not mean that the culture itself is endangered.

yet, it is not clear in science how much does the language affects the culture. Certainly, it doesn`t make the culture, but besides many other functions it`s also an instrument to preserve many cultural achivements, to
bequeath the culture to the descendants. And when the language is gone, what is passed over. Why then we have such notion as "extinct culture"?

It is also said, that the world view imprinted into the language spire in a culture like a grain which turns into a wheatear...

[Void]

i would vote for keeping with Kanji

[bossel]

yet, it is not clear in science how much does the language affects the culture.

IMO, not much. It's the other way round: Culture affects language.

Certainly, it doesn`t make the culture, but besides many other functions it`s also an instrument to preserve many cultural achivements, to
bequeath the culture to the descendants.

Preserve many cultural achievements? Only insofar as to write down what's going on in culture, but that can be done in virtually any script adapted to the particular language.

And when the language is gone, what is passed over. Why then we have such notion as "extinct culture"?

Because people seem to need easy labels.

Cultures may have gone extinct (though many, which may be called extinct by some people, probably simply evolved), but most probably not because the language was lost, & surely not because the script changed. Just because the Koreans changed from Hanzi to Hangul doesn't mean that this change of script ended Korean culture.


If it comes to a vote regarding Chinese Hanzi, I would abstain. That's for the Chinese to decide.

[marcus314]

How about phasing out the simplified Chinese characters and retaining the traditional characters?

[Can someone correct me with the following if it's wrong?]

The traditional characters are used in mainland China for official documents and governments. It has been going on for many hundreds of years. The simplified, on the other hand, the simplified characters were introduced during Mao's leadership.

I personally see no point in understanding the simplified characters at that time when the traditional characters were still present........now people learning Chinese would have to go through the pain of learning two systems for some Chinese characters.....

[Ermac]

Damn westerners and their world domination plans!!

The system is fine the way it is.

and although some of the historic buildings may be leeching to keep in them in repair well that shouldnt really be a factor in it.

they are apart of chinese history, money should be no obsical(sp).

- Ermac

[bossel]

Damn westerners and their world domination plans!!

I don't think, Westerners will have any influence on that decision. The Chinese are too nationalist to let the West play a role.

Talking about buildings: money is an obstacle, whether you want it, or not. To keep all older buildings intact would be a waste of money, time & space. Something a developing (even as rapidly as the PRC) country cannot really afford.

The old stuff should be properly researched & documented, but it's not necessary to keep all of it. Some representative locations for each style, period, a.s.o. can & should be kept as tourist attractions, but else ...

[Jack]

Damn westerners and their world domination plans!!

The system is fine the way it is.

and although some of the historic buildings may be leeching to keep in them in repair well that shouldnt really be a factor in it.

they are apart of chinese history, money should be no obsical(sp).

- Ermac

good spelling,

well evolving is the human nature of life, and things change, those that stay adn moan about things, die out and become forgotten, its about leaving a mark on tomorrows world.

[Void]

i read one idea recently.
That there is one speciality about East comparing to the West. Peculiarity which provided a bit better cultural succession through the ages. This is hieroglyphic script. Comparing to alphabet it has one advantage: semantemes stays intelligible even if phonetics of the language and/ or the ideological concepts change.
So, medieval chinese could read Confucius or Lao and felt the captivation of their ideas more that medieval european monks studying Bible, `cause words change their meaning depending on
a) translation
b) intonation
c) reader`s erudition
d) and his system of associations
Hieroglyphs are monosemantic almost like math symbols.
That`s why cultural disruptions within Chine were lesser than those of the Europe (for example, between classic (greco-roman) and medieval (roman-germanic))

So, how much true is this
1) Are hieroglyphs monosemantic?
2) Doesn`t their meaning change with time?
3) Were Chinese culture and history that homogeneous?

[bossel]

That there is one speciality about East comparing to the West. Peculiarity which provided a bit better cultural succession through the ages. This is hieroglyphic script.

Actually, hieroglyphs are Egyptian. Chinese hanzi are logograms, like hieroglyphs. Unlike the hieroglyphic system, which is consonant-based (& actually not only logographic, but combined with syllabic & alphabetic elements: one hieroglyph could be used to simply represent one sound), hanzi are syllable-based.

So, how much true is this
1) Are hieroglyphs monosemantic?
2) Doesn`t their meaning change with time?
3) Were Chinese culture and history that homogeneous?

1) For a large part Chinese hanzi are definitely not monosemantic.
2) It does.
3) Not as homogenous as many Chinese (want to make) believe. Neither was European history as much disrupted after the West-Roman empire fell as some want to make us believe.