Jigsaw

This article was first published on Minority. Due to differences in editors, the version outside the blog does not include the ending Easter egg.

Statement: This article will not discuss encoding methods for Chinese characters such as Unicode, GB18030, BIG5, JIS C 6226. This article will not evaluate the merits of the first and second Chinese character simplification schemes or any regional standards for Chinese characters. This article inevitably contains various forms of Chinese characters, and readers are advised not to use any simplification or traditional conversion methods for a better reading experience.

Clarifying Definitions#

Recently, while watching animations on Bilibili, I saw a comment: "Why do Japanese people sometimes use traditional characters and sometimes simplified ones?" This made me feel the lack of education in character forms, hence this article.

Difference Between Simplified and Traditional#

To understand "traditional characters," one must first understand the definition of "simplified characters." Broadly speaking, simplified characters, also known as Simplified Chinese (zh-Hans), are the official script used in mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia, and other regions. The latest standard is the General Standard Chinese Character List (2013) (hereinafter referred to as "General Standard"), which specifies 8,105 standard characters commonly referred to as simplified characters. In a narrower sense, simplified characters refer to the characters adopted and retained in the two Chinese character simplification schemes.
In contrast, broadly speaking, traditional characters are referred to as Traditional Chinese (zh-Hant), which are the forms of characters used in regions that have not undergone simplification, such as the standard promoted in Taiwan, which is the "National Standard Character Set (1998)," and the standard promoted in Hong Kong, which is the "Commonly Used Character Form List (2012)." In a narrower sense, traditional characters are also known as "classical characters," referring to the original forms of simplified characters, as provided in the appendix of the General Standard, "Comparison Table of Standard Characters and Traditional Characters, Variant Characters." For characters that have not been simplified and exist in both simplified and traditional forms, they are referred to as inherited characters. It is particularly important to note that the number of strokes in simplified characters is not necessarily fewer than that in traditional characters; for example, the strokes in "沉" are not fewer than those in "沈."
In the following text, simplified characters and traditional characters will use the broad definitions; if referring to the narrow definitions, I will use simplified characters and classical characters.

Difference Between Standard and Variant#

The distinction between standard and variant characters has existed since ancient times, but due to the limitations of information dissemination in ancient times, it was not strictly enforced. After entering the industrial age, stricter standards for standard and variant characters began to be implemented for the convenience of production and education.
Standard characters are the officially prescribed standard forms. You may have heard of "Taiwan Standard Characters," which, as the name suggests, are the standard forms used in Taiwan. Note that outside of Taiwan, it should not be abbreviated as "standard characters." Currently, the mainland no longer uses the term "standard characters," and it is generally believed that the traditional characters specified in the General Standard are the standard characters in the mainland. In contrast to standard characters are variant characters, which differ by region. For example, "裏" is the standard character in the mainland, while "裡" is the standard character in Taiwan. Apart from regional differences, it can also be said that "裏" and "裡" are variants of each other.

Difference Between Old and New#

During the woodblock printing era, characters on wooden boards were carved by craftsmen. Due to material limitations, the carved Chinese characters often differed significantly from handwritten regular script, and this type of printed form eventually evolved into what we now call Song type (Ming type). Compared to regular script, Song type has straighter and sturdier strokes, and there is a poem that praises it: "Horizontal strokes are thin, vertical strokes are thick, slants like knives, dots like melon seeds, and presses like sweeping."

The "General Standard Chinese Character Form List" introduced in the mainland in 1963 made significant changes to the printed forms of both simplified and traditional characters based on handwritten forms, and the forms after this are referred to as new forms. Here are some notable features of the new forms: the "八" above "兌" is changed to "丷，" the "氵" in characters like "決沖" is changed to "冫，" and the second stroke of "入，" "㇝ (nà)," no longer has a hook... If you want to experience the old forms on electronic devices, you can install Terry Wang's Jinghua Old Song Type, restored from the Commercial Press's 61-1 type.

Taiwan's national standard character forms have also made certain modifications to printed forms, such as the well-known new "⺼" radical representing the meat radical that has been mistakenly changed to "月."

Beyond Chinese#

Japan, as the first East Asian country to modernize, was the first to introduce standards for Chinese characters and character encoding standards. Its "List of Commonly Used Kanji (1923)" also has some new forms similar to the simplified characters promoted in mainland China, with the current standard being the "List of Commonly Used Kanji (2010)." Readers who frequently watch Japanese entertainment works should be familiar with those seemingly familiar new Japanese characters, such as "沢" for "澤" and "図" for "圖."
Due to the alphabetical order of JP preceding SC and TC, if localization is not specified, CJK fonts often fall back to Japanese forms. Many European and American websites and video games still have this issue, with the most noticeable being the characters for "关门."

After French colonization, Vietnam has gradually abolished Chinese characters. The civil organization "Committee for the Revival of Han-Nom Vietnam" (abbreviated as Han-Nom Revival Committee) is dedicated to restoring Han-Nom and has published the "Common Standard Han-Nom Character List" and accompanying open-source fonts in 2023.
Although I mentioned earlier that I would not evaluate the standards of various regions, I can't help but say a few words. Many Han-Nom characters are so confusing that even the Vietnamese who submitted them don't understand them, yet they occupy space in Unicode (including the upcoming CJK-J), and developing a shape code also requires encoding, which is really exhausting.

Both Korea and North Korea still retain some Chinese characters, but their usage frequency is much lower than in Japan. Since neither country has changed the forms of Chinese characters, they have instead become the best reference for old forms.

Casual Talk: Learning and Using Traditional Characters#

Learning and Practicing#

As I mentioned in How to Create a Font Input Method, "Actually, nothing is important." Before learning, it might be worth considering what your purpose for learning is.

Currently, there are abundant resources online. I first recommend liuhl6's One-Stop Traditional Character Learning Manual, but note that some of the characters used in the text are actually the author's personal judgments. For more detailed information, you can check Han Dian; if you can't find it in Han Dian, you can check the most comprehensive Zi Tong Wang. If possible, I also recommend buying a physical book: the "Xinhua Dictionary," which everyone should have, goes without saying, and the "Wang Li Ancient Chinese Dictionary" is also very useful.
I suggest learning variant characters as well. After all, as mentioned earlier, the standard and variant characters may be exactly opposite in different regions. Moreover, many variant characters are just structural differences; learning the standard characters may also help you learn the variant characters, with extreme examples like "鵝䳗䳘鵞."

Be sure not to use foreign language learning methods to learn traditional characters. Learning traditional characters is about learning the script, not the language, so the most useful environment for language learning is actually not very useful— even if you set the language of your electronic devices to traditional, a native speaker's instinct is enough to understand without recognizing a few traditional characters.
The most effective method is still writing. Even if it's not for learning, practicing writing a little every day can effectively treat modern people's forgetfulness when picking up a pen. If you really don't want to write, you can also learn a font input method that supports both simplified and traditional characters, but compared to writing, it can be said to be "twice the effort for half the result," and is only recommended for casual users.

Using with Principles#

First of all, in formal occasions, it's best to use standard Chinese characters and not cause trouble for the staff. Other than that, there are no restrictions. There are all kinds of people among Chinese character enthusiasts, and various usages are not surprising.

My personal principles for usage are still conservative, for reference only:

0. Non-usage suggestion: Use Song type as the default font for electronic devices, and use regular script/Imitation Song type as the italic font for electronic devices.
1. Primarily use traditional characters as per the General Standard.
2. Do not use proprietary terms from Hong Kong and Taiwan, such as using "服務器" instead of "伺服器."
3. Retain some simplified characters, using traditional characters for semantic differentiation, such as continuing to use "电，" with "電" only for natural phenomena.
4. Use variant characters with left-right structures first, but be mindful of compatibility in the CJK extension area.

Finally, what should you do when someone says "showing off" or "Kong Yiji"?

Admit it. There are so many useless hobbies in this world, and traditional characters are just one of them.

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