The Reason Why There are Traditional Chinese Characters & Why Some People Are Using Them

Ah, the Chinese language. If you have studied or are studying Chinese, regardless of whether it’s Higher Chinese, Normal Chinese, or CLB (Basic or Foundational Chinese), there have definitely been times when a complex comprehension passage has made you question your heritage and wish you could switch your mother tongue. 

The only comfort I can offer to students still taking Chinese? Be glad you’re studying simplified and not traditional Chinese. 

But have you ever wondered about the backstories and origins of both versions of Chinese? Why are there two versions to begin with, for example? What are their main differences, apart from the fact that one is so obviously more complex than the other? 

If these questions fascinate you and you wish to dig deeper, read on to find out more.

Just remember to finish that Chinese compo I know you’ve been procrastinating on.

If you prefer to watch a video about this topic, here’s one we’ve done:

Main Differences Between Simplified VS Traditional Chinese Characters

Firstly, it’s a known fact that Traditional Chinese characters are so much more visually complex than Simplified ones due to their greater number of strokes. The difference in the number of strokes leads to a difference in character structure. 

Secondly, they differ in terms of the number of characters. The development of Simplified Chinese led to the merging of some Traditional Chinese characters, so the simplified version actually contains fewer characters. Yes, be grateful, because you’re actually learning how to write fewer words now. 

As a result of this merging, a single Simplified character may have more than one meaning, in contrast to Traditional characters in which each character represents one specific word or meaning. 

For instance, the character 发 in Simplified Chinese refers to either “hair” or “develop”, both of which are represented by different characters in Traditional Chinese: 髮 and 發 respectively. 

Finally, another major difference would be the flow of text. Simplified text flows horizontally, and we read Simplified characters from left to right just like we would for English text. 

However, Traditional Chinese can be written and read either horizontally or vertically. Sometimes, text can even flow both horizontally and vertically on the same page! How’s that for a Chinese compre passage? 

To dig deeper into even more linguistic differences such as vocabulary, sentence structure and even punctuation, click here. 

Why Are There Two Versions?

The logical question that’s probably on your mind right now is, how did there come to be two versions in the first place? Well, it’s time for a little history lesson. 

China was facing the problem of low literacy levels at about 20% when the People’s Republic of China was formed in 1949. 

The Government believed that the difficulty of learning Traditional Chinese had contributed to the low literacy rates, hence a campaign was implemented to raise literacy rates and boost education by simplifying the Traditional Chinese system. 

Traditional Chinese characters were then modified by linguists to achieve character simplification; the number of strokes was reduced and characters were merged. Simplified Chinese emerged as a result of these efforts.

However, what’s interesting to note is that the concept of character simplification was not a novel one in 1949, nor was it magically invented by the Chinese government. 

The Chinese had been simplifying complex characters for centuries prior, but this government-endorsed simplification in the 19th century left a lasting mark on the entirety of the Chinese writing system which spread beyond Mainland China, coming to be used in Malaysia and Singapore in the 1950s and 60s, and is the system that we continue to use today. 

Which Areas Uses Which Version? 

Simplified Chinese is officially used in Mainland China, Singapore, as well as by the Chinese community in Malaysia. 

Meanwhile, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau continue to use traditional Chinese. 

I can practically hear the nationwide sighs of relief from students all over Singapore studying Chinese—if we studied Traditional Chinese instead, our vision of being “effectively bilingual” would probably go straight down the drain.