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    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                   Ancient classics and historical documents available nowadays are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.

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