Page 5 - 成語故事5005

Chinese Characters

– Our Cultural Treasure

One of the main missions of the Overseas Community Affairs Council
(OCAC) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) is to promote the continu-
ing education of the Chinese language among our compatriot commu-
nities abroad. To pass on this important cultural heritage, the OCAC
has long been publishing educational materials printed in traditional
characters, in lieu of simplified characters, so as to facilitate the
younger generation to learn and appreciate the artistic beauty and
innate values of the Chinese language.

Traditional characters have evolved alongside Chinese long history, and
as a result, the characters have developed into logograms through
shapes, pronunciation and meaning, which closely conform to the
traditional Six Principles of Character (pictograph, ideograph,
compound ideograph, phono-semantic compound, phonetic loan
character and derivative cognate). Approximatively 80% of Chinese
characters are phono-semantic compounds, also known as radical-pho-
netic characters, created by combining radicals on one side and phonet-
ics on the other. Knowledge of these facts makes the learning of
Chinese characters much easier, and is just half the battle!

Traditional Chinese characters have been in use for 5,000 years.
Ancient classics and historical documents available nowadays are
written or printed in traditional characters. Therefore, learning tradi-
tional characters can break through the limitations of time, travel
through eras without the boundaries of words, as well as comprehend
the treasure of civilization imbued with abundant human thoughts and
wisdom. Additionally, a variety of calligraphy styles, both symmetric
and aesthetic, help shape traditional characters into a unique and
scholarly art.

Dr. Chin-chuan Cheng, member of the Academia Sinica, has pointed
out in his research that the maximum number of words an average
person may acquaint in a given language is about eight thousand. The
simplified characters promulgated in Mainland China cover merely a
total of 2,235 characters, including 482 independently simplified ones
and 1,753 derived from simplified radicals and independently simpli-
fied ones. These limited number of characters, created without solid
origin, have lost the traditional picto-phono-semantic traits sine qua
non to Chinese characters.