It has been nearly 60 years since the reform of Chinese characters. Why don't calligraphers want to write simplified characters? Is this the right thing to do?

Why do calligraphers refuse to write simplified Chinese characters? Firstly, the formation process of simplified characters is analyzed.

Simplified characters have existed since ancient times. In ancient times, it was often called vulgar characters or small handwriting, which was widely circulated among the people. Such as country, Liu, longevity, ten thousand years, chaos, nothingness and so on. Moreover, writing is a tool for us to communicate and understand the world, and it has been simplified since its birth.

The modern Chinese character simplification movement originated from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to improve the literacy rate. At that time, the imperial seals and official documents of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were simplified characters, and the reform of Chinese characters stopped after the demise of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, vulgar characters were popular not only among "peddlers" but also among intellectuals, and some literati consciously collected, sorted out and used them. For example, the famous thinkers Huang Zongxi, Gu, and others in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties are outstanding representatives. Lv Liuliang admitted in his note to Huang Zongxi's poems: "Copying books with vulgar words with pride can get twice the result with half the effort." It can be seen from the manuscripts that Huang Zongxi has preserved so far that he consciously and systematically used vulgar characters, such as "one", "dang" and "nan", which are the same as the later simplified Chinese characters.

The essence of the policy of restoring ancient Chinese characters in Qing Dynasty is to guide intellectuals to face the old system and reality, and to regard their tampered ancient books and fonts as a barrier to isolate intellectuals and ordinary people, so as to prevent them from being connected in series and triggering a fire against foreign rule. In addition, with the rise of stele studies and exhibitions, there are various kinds of calligraphy, and some calligraphers deviate from the right track of calligraphy, such as writing Oracle Bone Inscriptions as calligraphy without writing norms.

The change and popularization of simplified characters is the fifth great change in China. In the early days of liberation, there were more than two improved simplified characters, most of which only changed the radicals, such as Chinese characters, horses, letters, characters, shells, food, door characters, etc., which neither affected the recognition and learning of Chinese characters nor the learning of traditional Chinese characters. Still in a Chinese character system. The strokes are simplified a lot, which really brings us a lot of convenience in writing and learning.

As a tool and symbol, Japanese characters can be simplified beyond recognition on the basis of China's strokes, which has not affected their ability to know the world, but also accelerated their ever-changing scientific and technological development. Besides, China only simplified a part of it, so there is no need to dwell on simple and complicated words.

Since the promulgation of simplified characters, a large number of books and dictionaries have been produced, and books on science, technology, culture, agriculture and education cannot be further changed.

Only calligraphy. Most copybooks are traditional Chinese characters. Therefore, when learning calligraphy, traditional Chinese characters are used as copybooks, which makes people feel bored easily. So many people don't want to learn calligraphy. Many people in their fifties and sixties are unwilling to read calligraphy works because they don't know traditional Chinese characters. Just like I have studied calligraphy for many years and don't want to read seal script. Those words are too far away from us. There are many ways to write a word in seal script, but there are still some missing.

Now many children are too busy to learn, even less willing to learn traditional Chinese characters. As soon as they heard that they wanted to learn calligraphy, they were reluctant in every way, which is why calligraphy is becoming less and less popular. Calligraphy, as a national quintessence, should be a basic skill that everyone who writes Chinese characters must have, and it is also the original intention of the country to vigorously promote calligraphy. But now it has become a worse painting art than painting. The handwriting of most people in China is ugly and they don't appreciate calligraphy. It's really sad

According to the data provided by the Survey Data of Language and Character Usage in China, 95.25% of people usually write simplified characters, 0.92% write traditional characters, and 3.84% write both simplified characters and traditional characters. Isn't it obvious that traditional calligraphy has become a "common language trend"? Standing on the opposite side of 95.25% people, the result is self-evident.

It is imperative for the country to promote simplified Chinese calligraphy. Mr. Qi Gong saw this problem a long time ago, so he was the first calligrapher to write simplified Chinese characters. Simplified Chinese characters were used in posters and picture books written during the Cultural Revolution. However, after the establishment of the Calligraphy Association, the state did not promote simplified characters, but encouraged the writing of retro seal and official scripts and the innovation of ancient Chinese characters. As a result, the understanding of calligraphy became more and more extreme, and gradually developed into a mixed exhibition of artistic Chinese characters and calligraphy. Calligraphy has gradually lost its true meaning, which not only violates the guiding principle of advocating calligraphy by the state, but also violates the development of characters and the pioneering and leading role of calligraphy as cultural communication.

According to the Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on National Common Language and Characters (implemented from 200 1 1), Article 13 of the public service industry takes standardized Chinese characters as the basic service words. Signboards, advertisements, notices, signs, etc. set up for the needs of public services. If both foreign languages and Chinese are used, standardized Chinese characters should be used. Advocate the public service industry to use Putonghua as the service language. Article 14 In the following cases, the basic language should be the national common language: (1) the language used in radio, film and television;

(2) Chinese characters for facilities in public places;

(3) Characters used in signboards and advertisements;

(4) Names of enterprises and institutions;

(five) the packaging and description of the goods sold in China. Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on National Common Language and Characters

Seventeenth in any of the following circumstances, you can keep or use traditional Chinese characters and variant Chinese characters:

(1) Cultural relics and historic sites;

(2) variations in surnames;

(3) Artistic works such as calligraphy and seal cutting;

(4) Handwritten inscriptions and signboards;

(five) required by publishing, teaching and scientific research;

(six) special circumstances approved by the relevant departments of the State Council.

200 1 The Law of the State on the Common Language and Characters stipulates that the characters used in facilities, signboards and advertisements in public places should be based on the common language and characters of the state, that is, Chinese characters are standardized, and the legal status of simplified characters is clarified.

Standardized language is not only beneficial to the development of economy and civilization, but also of great significance to safeguarding national sovereignty and national dignity. The standardization of language and writing should start from three aspects. First, the school is the "starting point", and the language should be standardized from the campus; Secondly, the general public should have the consciousness of standardizing language and writing, promote language and writing work in a subtle way, and popularize simplified Chinese calligraphy.

It is not difficult for a real calligrapher to write simplified Chinese characters well, and it will take some time for an ordinary calligrapher to write them well. Therefore, it is the calligrapher's innovative road and historical responsibility to write beautiful simplified Chinese calligraphy now. Popularizing simplified Chinese calligraphy is also an inevitable trend to promote traditional culture and calligraphy.

May 26, 2020 Liu Fang