Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters explained

The Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters is the new standard of the PRC on the relationship between simplified, traditional and variant Chinese characters. It includes all the characters in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters which have different forms in traditional or variant writing. The comparison table was built by integrating the General List of Simplified Chinese Characters and the First List of Processed Variant Chinese Characters.[1] [2] [3] [4]

History

In December 1955, the Ministry of Culture and the Chinese Character Reform Committee of the PRC jointly announced the "First List of Processed Variant Characters" (第一批异体字整理表).It contained 810 groups of variant characters, totaling 1865 characters. According to the principle of following the common and simple, one character from each group was selected as the correct (or standard) form, and the rest are eliminated.After some later adjustments, the list now has 796 groups of variant characters, and 1,027 characters have been eliminated. [5]

On 28 January 1956, the 23rd State Council Plenary Meeting passed the Resolution on the Promulgation of the "Chinese Character Simplification Scheme." On 31 January 1956, People's Daily published in full the Resolution and the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme (Chinese: 漢字簡化方案). The first list of the scheme was put into use nationwide on 1 February 1956, followed by the rest characters in batches.[6]

In May 1964, the General List of Simplified Chinese Characters was published by the Chinese Character Reform Press as a new standard list of simplified Chinese characters, which largely ratified and revised the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme.[7] It was released again in 1986 with some revision, alongside the rescission of the Second round of simplified Chinese characters that had been announced in 1977. The General List of Simplified Chinese Characters includes three sub-lists with a total of 2274 simplified characters and 14 simplified components.[2]

In 1988, the List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese (现代汉语通用字表, of 7,000 characters) developed by the department of Chinese characters of the State Language Commission was jointly released by the State Language Commission and the National Education Committee of the People's Republic of China.[8]

In 2013, the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters was published to replace the List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese as the new standard for Chinese characters in the People's Republic of China.

The Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters, published as Attachment 1 of the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters, is the new standard on the relationship between simplified, traditional and variant Chinese characters. It includes all the standard characters in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters which have different traditional or variant forms. The comparison table was built by integrating the "General List of Simplified Chinese Characters" and the "First List of Processed Variant Characters".

Changes

Comparing with the previous standards, the changes of the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters include

Explanation

In front of the comparison table there are some explanations, which are summarized as follows.

  1. This comparison table is compiled to guide the correct application of the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters, to facilitate the reading of ancient books, and to promote communication between the China mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. The use of traditional Chinese characters and variant characters follows the provisions of the Chinese language law.
  2. This table lists 3,120 standard characters in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters and their corresponding traditional Chinese characters and variant characters, arranged in three columns: the first column contains the standard characters and their serial numbers. The second column contains traditional Chinese characters, enclosed in parentheses. The third column contains variant characters, enclosed in square brackets.
  3. This table contains 2,574 traditional Chinese characters corresponding to 2,546 standard characters. 96 groups of inter-character relationships in which one standard character corresponds to multiple traditional Chinese characters (or inherited characters) were decomposed. "~" in the table represents the same heritage characters as the standard characters. According to the provisions of "General List of Simplified Chinese Characters", some characters such as "瞭、乾、藉、麽" that are not simplified in some meanings and usages are explained with notes.[2]
  4. This table has adjusted the "First List of Processed Chinese Variant Characters" and includes 794 groups of 1,023 variant characters in total. For some variant characters such as "仝、甦、堃、脩" that can be used as standard characters in some meanings and usages, notes have been added to explain their scopes and usages.[11]

Disputes

Some one-simple-vs-multiple-traditional characters that are highly controversial have not been restored to standard, such as 後, 發, 隻, 鬥, 麺(麵).[12]

In the previous simplification of Chinese characters, the analogy between traditional and simplified Chinese characters was not consistent for some reasons. For example, in addition to the simplification analogy of "车 (車)", "毂（轂)" still misses a horizontal line. [13]

Professor Su Peicheng of Peking University objected to the "limited analogy" advocated by the "Interpretation of Table of General Standard Chinese Characters", and was particularly opposed to the abolition of the "General List of Simplified Chinese Characters". He believed that "the "General List" specifically stipulates the individual simplification and component analogy simplification relationship between Traditional and Simplified Chinese, if the "General List" is abolished, the relationship between Traditional and Simplified Chinese will become "water without a source and a tree without a root". [14]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 5 June 2013 . 国务院关于公布《通用规范汉字表》的通知 . Notice of the State Council on the publication of the "Table of General Standard Chinese Characters" . Gov.cn . . zh.
  2. Web site: State Language Commission . General List of Simplified Chinese Characters (简化字总表). Language Press . 1986 .
  3. Web site: Chinese Character Reform Committee . Chinese Character Reform Press . First List of Processed Variant Characters (第一批异体字整理表) . 1955. https://web.archive.org/web/20110809091018/http://www.china-language.gov.cn/wenziguifan/managed/003.htm . 2011-08-09 .
  4. Book: Qiu, Xigui 裘锡圭 . zh:文字学概要 . Chinese Writing . 商务印书馆 (Commercial Press) . 2013 . 978-7-100-09369-9 . 2nd . Beijing . zh . 266–267.
  5. Book: Chinese Language Press, PRC (语文出版社) . 语言文字规范手册 (Handbook of Language Standards) . 语文出版社 (Chinese Language Press) . 1997. Beijing . zh. 182.
  6. Web site: zh:国务院关于公布汉字简化方案的决议 . State Council's resolution on the promulgation of the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme . http://www.edu.cn/20011114/3009782.shtml . dead . https://archive.today/20121129222344/http://www.edu.cn/20011114/3009782.shtml . 29 November 2012 . 19 June 2024 . zh.
  7. Web site: General List of Simplified Chinese Characters. zh:简化字总表. zh . Chinese Character Reform Committee . 1964 .
  8. http://www.moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s230/201001/75616.html 现代汉语通用字表
  9. Book: Wang Ning (王宁 ed) . The Attitude of the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters towards analogical simplification" (in 《〈通用规范汉字表〉解读》, Interpretation of the "Table of General Standard Chinese Characters) . 3.3 《通用规范汉字表》对待类推简化的态度 . Commercial Press . 9787100100939 . zh-cn.
  10. Wang Ning (王宁) . 2014 . 再论《通用规范汉字表》发布的背景和制定的意义——兼论汉字规范保持稳定的重要性 (Re-visit the background and significance of the release of the "Table of General Standard Chinese Character" - and on the importance of maintaining the stability of Chinese character standards) . 云南师范大学学报(哲学社会科学版) (Journal of Yunnan Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition)) . 46 . 6 . 1–5.
  11. https://web.archive.org/web/20110809091018/http://www.china-language.gov.cn/wenziguifan/managed/003.htm 第一批异体字整理表
  12. Book: Su, Peicheng 苏培成 . zh:现代汉字学纲要 . Essentials of Modern Chinese Characters . 商务印书馆 (The Commercial Press, Shangwu) . 2014 . 978-7-100-10440-1 . 3rd . Beijing . zh. 134.
  13. Wang Cuiye (王翠叶) . 简论《通用规范汉字表》制定的特点及问题的解决 (A brief discussion on the characteristics of the formulation of the "Table of General Standard Chinese Characters" and the solution of problems) . 陕西师范大学学报(哲学社会科学版) (Journal of Shaanxi Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition) . 49 . 2 . 2020 . 106–112 . 10.15983/j.cnki.sxss.2019.1112.
  14. Guo Xiaowu (郭小武) . 2017 . 关于《通用规范汉字表》兼容性问题的考察论证 (An Investigation and Argumentation on the Compatibility Issues of the Table of General Standard Chinese Character) . 汉字文化 (Chinese Character Culture) . 12 . 41–61 . 10.14014/j.cnki.cn11-2597/g2.2017.12.024.

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