The Traditional and Simplified Characters: From the Revolution of the Chinese Characters to the Deviation of the Writing System in Mainland China and Taiwan

Abstract

This article aims to present a brief history of the Chinese characters revolution which led to the use of simplified characters in mainland China and traditional characters in Taiwan until the present day. An analysis of secondary sources was conducted and it was found that the use of both simplified and traditional characters as mentioned initiated from the same cause. In other words, according to the need of elevating the literacy rate of the Chinese to the more advanced literate countries level, the revolution began from the ideological trend of the Chinese character termination, as well as Chinese romanization. Nevertheless, the resolution of the intellectuals at that period was unable to be realized. Thus, the goal of revolution finally shifted to the simplification of the Chinese characters instead. After the end of the civil war between the Kuomintang-led government and forces of the Chinese Communist party in 1949, the mission for the research to find the romanization system for Chinese by both the Communist party and the Republic of China was conducted in distinctive ways until it ended up with the declaration for the official use of simplified characters with Pinyin in mainland China and the termination of character simplification and bringing back the traditional characters.