Editorial: The value of traditional script

According to Chinese-language media reports, the UN will abandon its policy of using both simplified and full-form Chinese characters in 2008, when it will start using only China's simplified system. This move is tantamount to changing the "cultural status quo," making Taiwan the last independent repository (unlike Hong Kong) of traditional Chinese script.

China's simplified system was invented after Mao Zedong's (毛澤東) accession to power in 1949 in an attempt to draw a line between the new China and traditional Chinese culture. After almost half a century of forcing its citizenry to learn the simplified system, and despite the destruction of books and traditional learning during the Cultural Revolution, most academics have continued to study the full-form characters to perpetuate traditional culture. Although they use simplified characters, they have no problem reading full-form script. The traditional writing system has therefore not been completely eliminated in China.

China's economic development has expanded the influence of culture and other "soft powers," thereby sparking a global interest in Chinese culture. China has taken advantage of these developments to set up "Confucian academies" (孔子學院) to attract foreigners interested in learning about Chinese language and culture. Although many foreigners prefer studying simplified characters as they are supposedly easier to learn and use, admirers of Chinese culture feel that the simplified system is a kind of cultural handicap. These people do not fear the small amount of extra work that goes into studying full-form characters, because they know that this will allow them to easily read simplified Chinese, while the opposite does not hold true.

The traditional Chinese script is a writing system that has evolved over thousands of years. Not only is the traditional system freely adaptable to changing conditions, but it is also an art form through which calligraphic styles can be presented in an artistic fashion. The simplified Chinese writing system is by no means as artistic. And even if the UN abandons full-form characters in favor of the simplified system, the use of traditional script will remain orthodox in Chinese calligraphy.

The Chinese Communist Party has in recent years turned away from the excesses of the Cultural Revolution by once again revering Confucius and establishing Confucian academies around the world. Publications relating to Confucius, Mencius (孟子)and other philosophers have once again found favor among the reading public. It is unlikely that the Chinese government will stop the use of simplified Chinese and adopt the traditional script. However, with Chinese culture steadily gaining in popularity, there may be an upward trend in learning traditional Chinese characters.

A common language and writing system is a prerequisite for territorial and ethnic integration. The strongest foundation for cross-strait exchanges is that both sides once used the same writing system. Be it pressure from Beijing or UN efforts to cut down on costs by using only simplified Chinese characters, the move to eradicate full-form characters reeks of politics and seeks to restrict the continued evolution of Chinese script. By doing so, it will leave each side of the Taiwan Strait with its own writing system, further contributing to their division. This might turn out to be a good thing for Taiwan.

Full-form characters may appear to be at a disadvantage, as the nation and its traditional script become even more isolated. But from another perspective, they allow Taiwan to lay ironic claim to greater cultural independence.