Planning Chinese Characters - Reaction, Evolution or Revolution?

DEDICATION

Contents

Authors

Abbreviations

Preface

Foreword

PROLOGUE

1. THE ORIGINS OF HANZI

2. STRUCTURE EVOLUTION – FROM PICTURES TO SYMBOLS

2.1 Oracle Bone Inscription ( jiaguwen, jiaguwen, jiaguwen, jiaguwen, ).

2.2 Bronze Inscription ( jinwen, jinwen, jinwen, )

2.3 Small Seal Script4 (xiaozhuan, xiaozhuan, xiaozhuan, )

2.4 Clerical Script ( lishu, lishu, lishu, )

2.5 Square Script (kaishu, kaishu, kaishu, )

2.6 Summary of Historical Development

3. CHARACTERISTICS OF CHINESE HANZI

3.1 Abstraction: From Pictogram and Ideogram to Phonogram

3.2 Structural Complexity

3.3 An Open-Ended Number of Characters

3.4 Artistic Features: Writing Stylization, Print Fonts

4. PROLOGUE SUMMARY

Chapter 1 MAKING HANZI ACCESSIBLE

1. INTRODUCTION

2. HANZI UNIFICATION AND STANDARDIZATION IN DYNASTIC CHINA

2.1 One State, One Script – Qin Empire

2.2 Subsequent Developments Prior to Modern China

2.3 Standardization Summary

3. THE FIRST SIMPLIFICATION SCHEME IN 1935

3.1 Background Review

3.2 Exploring Reasons for Failure: Cultural Continuity

3.3 Implications for the Forthcoming Reforms

3.4 Government vs Individuals

3.5 Methodological Issues

4. SIMPLIFICATION MOVEMENTS IN THE 1950s AND 1960s

4.1 Dynamic Intervention from the State – Organizational Change

4.2 A Tentative Evaluation of the Table of Simplified Characters of 1956 – Periodic Success

5. SECOND SIMPLIFICATION SCHEME (SSS) ( 1977)

5.1 Political Presence in Chinese Characters and Character Planning

5.2 Formalization and Implementation

5.3 Factors That Led to the Abandonment

5.4 Summarizing the Second Simplification Scheme

Chapter 2 REFLECTIONS ON NEW PERSPECTIVES

The Opening Up of Chinese Society

1. SCRIPT REFORM TRANSFORMED: REFLECTION AND RE- ORIENTATION

1.1 Adjustment to Meet the Needs of a New Society – NCLW ( 1986)

1.2 Reflection on Past Experience

2. SOCIO-POLITICAL ASPECTS OF THE TRANSFORMATION

2.1 Chaotic Situation During Social Transition

2.2 A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Character Use

2.3 The Polemic (Debate) on hanzi’s Future

Chapter 3 NEW CHALLENGES FOR A DIGITAL SOCIETY

1. INTRODUCTION

2. DEALING WITH THE PROBLEMS OF A DIGITAL SOCIETY

2.1 Chinese Character’s Machine Applications

2.2 Three Streams of Input Schemes

3. INTERNET USE OF CHINESE CHARACTERS

3.1 Some Technical Issues in Encoding and Decoding Chinese Characters

3.2 Decoding Chinese Information on Web Pages

3.3 E-mail Use on Non-Chinese Language Computers

3.4 Summarizing the On-line Dilemma

Chapter 4 STANDARDIZATION AS A SOLUTION

Multiple Standards for Specific Purposes

1. INTRODUCTION

2. A NEW ROUND OF STANDARDIZATION: A SOCIOLINGUISTIC SOLUTION TO TECHNOLOGICAL IMPACT

2.1 Tackling the Total Number of Chinese Characters

2.2 Shape – Developing a Higher Standard for Physical Uniformity

2.3 Sound – Reducing Pronunciation Variation

2.4 Ordering – Standardizing the Referencing Methods

3. CURRENT STANDARDIZATION PROJECTS

3.1 Systematic Optimization and Modification: CTSC

3.2 Overhauling the Repertoire of Chinese Writing System: Corpus of Whole Chinese Characters

4. TENTATIVE SUMMARY

Chapter 5 INFLUENCING OUTCOMES

Sociolinguistic Analysis of Non-Character-based Issues

1. INTRODUCTION

2. LINGUISTIC RESEARCH AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF LP

2.1 New Functions for Pinyin and Putonghua

2.2 Implications of Linguistics Science

3. TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AS A CATALYST

3.3 The Outcome of Economic Development

4. SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC FEATURES

4.1 Widespread Literacy

4.2 Awareness of Democracy

4.3 Regionalism

4.4 Down to Reality

5. POLITICAL CLIMATE ACROSS THE TAIWAN STRAIT

5.1 The Source of the Difference: Political Rift

5.2 Stability and Unification: From Maintaining the Status Quo to Moving Closer

5.3 Looking into the Future: Planning for Unification

6. POPULAR CULTURE – SHIFTING ATTITUDES TOWARDS CULTURE AND CHARACTERS

7. THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNAL POLITICAL CLIMATE

7.1 The Shift of the Party’s Propaganda Strategy

7.2 Leadership – Political Individual Involvement at the National Level

7.3 Integration of Ongoing Political Campaigns into LP Work

8. INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT

8.1 International Comparison and Cooperation

8.2 Ideological Factors from a Historical Perspective

8.3 Coping with Recent Reality

8.4 National Interest

9. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Chapter 6 ENVISIONING THE FUTURE

Trends and Strategies

1. INTRODUCTION

2. TOWARD A PLURICENTRIC STANDARD MODEL

2.1 and Democratization The Socio- political Context: Diversification

2.2 Framework of a Pluricentric Standard

2.3 Deliberation on the Notion of Standardization

2.4 The Ongoing Exploration – Toward a Framework for the Future

3. LANGUAGE REFORM MODERNIZATION

3.1 Theoretical Framework

3.2 The Importance of Language Planners and Stakeholders Agreeing on a Standard

3.3 Challenging Existing Practices – Experiences and Realities

3.4 Looking for a Way Forward

Chapter 7 SOME CRITICAL ISSUES

Historical and Current

1. INTRODUCTION

2. ROMANIZATION – OLD QUESTION, NEW CHALLENGE

2.1 Renewed Interest in Romanization and Digraphia

2.2 Technological Impact and Technological Issues

2.3 Romanization or Hanzi? Still a Question

3. CRACKING THE HARD NUT: DEALING WITH THE RESCINDED SECOND SCHEME AND BANNED TRADITIONAL CHARACTERS

3.1 Systematic Optimization and Modification:

3.2 Small Compromise for Big Convenience: Partial Re- Introduction of the Traditional Characters

3.3 Tentative Summary

4. ‘COMMON SCRIPT’ ACROSS CYBERSPACE

4.1 Han-Unification – Diversity and Difficulty

4.2 Socio-Political Dimensions

5. HANZI REFORM: A BATTLEFIELD FOR SOCIAL FORCES IN LANGUAGE PLANNING

5.1 Rearticulating Some Underlying Issues

5.2 Evolution

5.3 Revolution

5.4 Reaction

5.5 Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Appendix

Notes

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

References

Content Index

Author Index