Composition I: Why Not Be Traditional?

In 2008, the hottest rumor was that Untied Nation decided to “abolish” traditional Chinese and took simplified Chinese characters as its official language. This unverified news still stirs in the Chinese-speaking people’s minds. I am strongly opposed to the plan, because of three reasons: origin, calligraphy and passing down of classics.

Traditional Chinese characters have been used for more than 1700 years. There are six principles for creating Chinese characters, so if traditional Chinese was simplified, words would be hard to connect with the reasons they were created. For example, “east” in traditional Chinese means the sun in the wood, but once it is simplified, it’s difficult to associate the meaning with the origin. “Lush” in traditional Chinese characters is a complex word, but in simplified Chinese, it is transformed into another word in traditional Chinese. It’s not just violating the origin, but also making users perplexed.

Calligraphy is an eternal and irreplaceable treasure for Chinese. No matter when calligraphy is written, it is in traditional Chinese form. Calligraphy is an art of symmetry. If some big words are simplified in asymmetrical shapes, it will make us hard to present the aesthetic value of Chinese characters in calligraphy. For instance, “broadness” in traditional Chinese is full of vigor and symmetrical, but after the simplification, it turns to be a weak word in form and has ugly shape in calligraphy. “Fly” in traditional Chinese is also a big word, but it becomes so unfit in calligraphy as a result of the simplification.

Classics are important in every culture. For example, in the Bible as well as the analects of Confucius, we can find norms of behavior, moral principles and ethical paragons in those two classics. Chinese classics are all written in traditional Chinese, so if Chinese is simplified, how could people who use simplified Chinese understand the classics? For the children, classics are the best teaching material. They can learn the norms, beliefs and norms that members of whole society share. If children are educated in simplified Chinese, they will not understand those important values and may meet some frustrations in the society.

There’s an advantage that people who use simplified Chinese claim. That is, it’s much easier for people to write. But in my point of view, the rate of computer use is much higher than before, and I don’t need to “write.” The only thing I have to do is “type.” Thanks to the development of computer, the only advantage of simplified Chinese disappears.

Knowing the traditional Chinese means that someone has ability to know the origins of characters, to write calligraphy and to read the classics. There are so many advantages, so why not be traditional?