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What’s the difference between “traditional” versus “simplified” Chinese characters? (FAQ)

See below for example of difference between simplified versus traditional Chinese characters, respectively.

Simplified characters were created by the Chinese government (mainland) in an attempt to promote literacy. Traditional characters are still used for important ceremonies, for cultural purposes (such as calligraphy), etc.

To me, simplified Chinese characters just seem empty, missing something, lacking uh character (sorry!) or soul. While likely great for literacy, not necessarily so great from an artistic perspective. With fewer strokes, there are fewer opportunities to showcase the elegant nuances of individual strokes.

If you visit my store Building Characters, you’ll notice we’ve purposefully chosen to use traditional characters for precisely the reason above. Besides, traditional writing is still widespread internationally, from Hong Kong, to Macau, to Taiwan, to most overseas communities. In keeping with this theme, you’ll notice the translations on this site are also done in traditional Chinese characters… woot woot!

3 Responses to “What’s the difference between “traditional” versus “simplified” Chinese characters? (FAQ)”

Lily Chang Says:
May 25th, 2006 at 4:16 am
Yes, I agree! Traditional characters look nice and simplified ones lost some logic. But for the sake of learners of this language, your wondeful website could be much more helpful if you put both traditional and simplified versions. In addition, by puttng them side by side, one can easily understand why traditional characters look prettier, right?
j.t. Says:
May 25th, 2006 at 1:54 pm
Good suggestion Lily! I’ll put this on my (extremely long) list of things to do.
Jenny Gan Says:
September 30th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
I am glad to see someone speaks up for traditional characters here, in my view they set the gold standard for whatever people want to do with simplification; regardless of the arugements of what is confusing or which simplified characters meant what, in the end of the day it is the traditional character that set the true meaning of any given vocabularies.

What’s the difference between “traditional” versus “simplified” Chinese characters? (FAQ)

3 Responses to “What’s the difference between “traditional” versus “simplified” Chinese characters? (FAQ)”

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