Simplified Chinese characters facts for kids

Simplified Chinese characters are a way of writing the Chinese language. They are one of the two main forms of Chinese characters used today. As their name suggests, these characters have been made "simpler" than their original, older forms, which are called traditional Chinese characters.

Why Chinese Characters Changed

When the People's Republic of China was created in 1949, its leader, Mao Zedong, wanted more Chinese people to learn to read and write. At that time, many people in China could not read or write. The government hoped that by making characters simpler, it would be easier for everyone to learn. This change, along with other improvements in the education system, aimed to help more people become literate.

The first group of simplified Chinese characters was introduced in 1956. Over time, more characters were simplified, or existing ones were changed. This happened again in 1964, and then in 1978 and 1984.

To help with learning, the government also created a system called pinyin. Pinyin uses the Latin alphabet to show how Chinese words are pronounced. It was introduced in primary schools in 1958.

Where Simplified Characters Are Used Today

Today, simplified Chinese characters are used all over Mainland China. They are also taught and used in some countries in Southeast Asia, like Singapore and Malaysia.

However, when the Republic of China moved to Taiwan, its government decided not to simplify its writing system. So, Taiwan still uses the older traditional Chinese characters. The areas of Hong Kong and Macau also continue to use traditional characters, even though they are part of China.

It has not been proven that simplified Chinese characters definitely helped more people learn to read and write. In fact, places that use traditional Chinese characters do not have problems with people being able to read and write. In 2009, a Chinese official named Pan Qing-Lin suggested stopping the use of simplified characters, but this did not happen.

In places like Singapore, where people often learn more than one language, students have found simplified Chinese characters helpful. People who learned the simplified set usually do not have much trouble understanding the traditional set. Even today, there are many reasons why people might need to use traditional Chinese characters, such as working in places that use them or reading older books that have not been changed to simplified characters.

Images for kids

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  The first group of Simplified Characters introduced in 1935 had 324 characters.

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  The slogan 战无不胜的毛泽东思想万岁! (Zhàn wúbù shèng de Máo Zédōng sīxiǎng wànsuì!; Long live the invincible Mao Zedong Thought!), in simplified script, on Xinhua Gate in Beijing.

See also

In Spanish: Caracteres chinos simplificados para niños