Traditional Chinese characters

{{Short description|Standardized set of Chinese characters}} {{Use American English|date=May 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox writing system  | name = Traditional Chinese | type = Logographic | languages = Chinese languages | published = {{ubl|Taiwan: ({{hlist|class=inline|1979|1982}})|Hong Kong: (1986)}} | fam1 = Oracle bone script | fam2 = Small seal script | fam3 = Clerical script | fam4 = Regular script | sisters = {{hlist|Simplified characters|Kanji|Hanja|Chữ Nôm|Bopomofo|Khitan large script|Khitan small script|Sawndip}} | sample = Hanzi (traditional).svg | imagesize = 100px | iso15924 = Hant | direction = * Left-to-right * Top-to-bottom, columns right to left | official script = {{ubl|Taiwan|Hong Kong|Macau}} | unicode = no | module = {{Infobox Chinese | child = yes | s = 正体字 | t = 正體字 | j = zing3 tai2 zi6 | y = Jing tái jih | p = Zhèngtǐzì | s2 = 繁体字 | t2 = 繁體字 | p2 = Fántǐzì | j2 = faan4 tai2 zi6 | y2 = Fàahn tái jih | l = Orthodox form characters | l2 = Complex form characters | w = {{tonesup|Chêng4-tʻi3-tzŭ4}} | w2 = {{tonesup|Fan2-tʻi3-tzŭ4}} | mi = {{IPAc-cmn|zh|eng|4|.|t|i|3|.|zi|4}} | ci = {{IPAc-yue|z|ing|3|.|t|ai|2|.|z|i|6}} | bpmf = {{bpmfsp|ㄓㄥˋ|ㄊㄧˇ|ㄗˋ}} | tp = Jhèng-tǐ-zìh | tp2 = Fán-tǐ-zìh | bpmf2 = {{bpmfsp|ㄈㄢˊ|ㄊㄧˇ|ㄗˋ}} | mi2 = {{IPAc-cmn|f|an|2|.|t|i|3|.|zi|4}} | ci2 = {{IPAc-yue|f|aan|4|-|t|ai|2|-|z|i|6}} }} }}

'''Traditional Chinese characters''' are one of two standardized character sets used to write the Chinese language, with the other being simplified characters. Traditional characters were predominant in written Chinese until the middle of the 20th century.<ref name="BiWei">{{Cite journal |last=Wei |first=Bi |year=2014 |title=The Origin and Evolvement of Chinese Characters |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/229246973.pdf |journal=Gdańskie Studia Azji Wschodniej |volume=5 |pages=33–44 |access-date=29 September 2023 |via=CORE}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kornicki |first=P. F. |author-link=Peter Kornicki |title=New Word Order: Transnational Themes in Book History |year=2011 |publisher=Worldview Publications |isbn=978-81-920651-1-3 |editor-last=Chakravorty |editor-first=Swapan |pages=65–79 |chapter=A Transnational Approach to East Asian Book History |editor-last2=Gupta |editor-first2=Abhijit |chapter-url={{Google books|bjJBrKfCKIYC |page=65 |plainurl=yes}}}}</ref> Today, they are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yan |first1=Pu |last2=Yasseri |first2=Taha |year=2016 |title=Two Diverging Roads: A Semantic Network Analysis of Chinese Social Connection ("Guanxi") on Twitter |journal=Frontiers in Digital Humanities |volume=4 |article-number=11 |arxiv=1605.05139 |doi=10.3389/fdigh.2017.00011 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

In the mid-20th century, People's Republic of China began standardizing simplified Chinese, mostly with characters that existed before as variants, sometimes merging previously distinct character forms.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pae |first=H. K. |title=Script Effects as the Hidden Drive of the Mind, Cognition, and Culture |publisher=Springer |year=2020 |isbn=978-3-030-55151-3 |series=Literacy Studies (Perspectives from Cognitive Neurosciences, Linguistics, Psychology and Education) |volume=21 |location=Cham |pages=71–105 |chapter=Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Writing Systems: All East-Asian but Different Scripts |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-55152-0_5 |s2cid=234940515}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Twine |first=Nanette |title=Language and the Modern State: The Reform of Written Japanese |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-415-00990-4}}</ref> "Traditional" as such is a retronym applied to non-simplified character. As for non-Chinese languages using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as {{tlit|ja|shinjitai}} standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts. Korean hanja remain virtually identical to traditional Chinese characters. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Neill |first=Mark |date=8 June 2020 |title=China Should Restore Traditional Characters-Taiwan Scholar |url=https://www.ejinsight.com/eji/article/id/2488630/20200608-China-should-restore-traditional-characters-Taiwan-scholar |access-date=30 March 2021 |website=EJ Insight |publisher=Hong Kong Economic Journal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Sui |first=Cindy |date=16 June 2011 |title=Taiwan Deletes Simplified Chinese from Official Sites |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-13795301 |access-date=30 March 2021 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> Many Chinese-language systems and websites allow users to switch between the two character sets.<ref name="yzzk">{{Cite web |last=Lin |first=Youshun |author-mask=Lin Youshun (林友順) |year=2009 |script-title=zh:大馬華社遊走於簡繁之間 |trans-title=The Malaysian Chinese Community Wanders Between Simplified and Traditional Characters |url=https://www.yzzk.com/article/details/%E5%B0%81%E9%9D%A2%E5%B0%88%E9%A1%8C/2009-25/1365566312660/%E5%A4%A7%E9%A6%AC%E8%8F%AF%E7%A4%BE%E9%81%8A%E8%B5%B0%E6%96%BC%E7%B0%A1%E7%B9%81%E4%B9%8B%E9%96%93 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210523114033/https://www.yzzk.com/article/details/%E5%B0%81%E9%9D%A2%E5%B0%88%E9%A1%8C/2009-25/1365566312660/%E5%A4%A7%E9%A6%AC%E8%8F%AF%E7%A4%BE%E9%81%8A%E8%B5%B0%E6%96%BC%E7%B0%A1%E7%B9%81%E4%B9%8B%E9%96%93 |archive-date=23 May 2021 |access-date=30 March 2021 |publisher=Yazhou Zhoukan |language=zh}}</ref>

== Terminology == Traditional characters are known by different names throughout the Chinese-speaking world. The most widely used name is {{zhi|s=繁体字|t=繁體字|first=t|p=fántǐzì|l=complex characters}}. The government of Taiwan officially refers to them as {{zhi|s=正体字|t=正體字|p=zhèngtǐzì|first=t|l=orthodox characters}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://law.moj.gov.tw/Law/LawSearchResult.aspx?p=A&t=A1A2E1F1&k1=正體字|script-title=zh:查詢結果|date=2014-09-26|publisher=Ministry of Justice (Republic of China)|access-date=2014-10-07}}</ref> This term is sometimes used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard characters, including both simplified, and traditional, from other variants and idiomatic characters.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Academy of Social Sciences |title=Modern Chinese Dictionary |year=1978 |publisher=The Commercial Press |location=Beijing }}</ref> Traditional characters are also known as {{zhi|c=老字|p=lǎozì|l=old characters}}, or {{zhi|s=全体字|t=全體字|p=quántǐzì|first=t|l=full characters}} to distinguish them from simplified characters.

Some argue that since traditional characters are often the original standard forms, they should not be called "complex". Conversely, there is a common objection to the description of traditional characters as "standard", due to their not being used by a large population of Chinese speakers. Additionally, as the process of Chinese character creation often made many characters more elaborate over time, there is sometimes a hesitation to characterize them as "traditional".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Norman |first=Jerry |title=Chinese |year=1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |pages=81}}</ref>

== Use by region == {{Further|Written Chinese#Evolution}} The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty {{circa|200 BCE}}, with the sets of forms and norms more or less stable since the Southern and Northern dynasties period {{circa|the 5th century}}.

=== Mainland China === [[File:廣州日報印務中心.JPG|thumb|left|The ''Guangzhou Daily'', one of China's best-read newspapers, uses traditional Chinese characters in its branding.]] Although the majority of Chinese text in mainland China uses simplified Chinese characters, there is no legislation prohibiting the use of traditional Chinese characters, and they remain in wide use for stylistic and commercial purposes, particularly in calligraphy. The nameplates and logos of many major institutions are written in traditional characters, including those of the ''People's Daily'', ''China Pictorial'', the Bank of China, Air China, and Sinopec. Traditional characters are common in material and on buildings predating the promulgation of the current simplification scheme, as well as in media and publications imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan. A notable critic of character simplification was the renowned historian Chen Yinke, whose works were published in traditional characters with vertical typesetting in mainland China as he insisted until his copyright expired in 2020, fifty years after his death.<ref>{{Cite web |last=澎湃新闻 |date=2020-03-23 |title=陈寅恪著作进入公版，简体字版《陈寅恪合集》出版引发争议 |url=https://news.sina.cn/2020-03-23/detail-iimxxsth1202357.d.html |access-date=2026-05-27 |website=手机新浪网 |language=zh-CN}}</ref>

In mainland China, traditional Chinese characters are standardized according to the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters.<ref name=tygfhzb>{{Cite web |date=5 June 2013 |title=国务院关于公布《通用规范汉字表》的通知 |trans-title=Notice of the State Council on the publication of the "List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters" |url=http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2013-08/19/content_2469793.htm |website=Gov.cn |publisher=State Council of the People's Republic of China |language=zh}}</ref> Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=DeFrancis |first=John |author-link=John DeFrancis |title=The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy |date=1984 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=0-585-31289-3 |location=Honolulu |oclc=45733542 |page=291}}</ref> There are small differences between the accepted traditional forms in mainland China and elsewhere, for example the accepted traditional form of {{zhi|c=产}} in mainland China is {{zhi|c=産}} (also the accepted form in Japan and Korea), while in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan the accepted form is {{zhi|c=產}} (also the accepted form in Vietnamese chữ Nôm{{Citation needed|date=February 2026}}).<ref name="tyhzzxb">{{cite book|title=印刷通用汉字字形表 (List of character forms of General Used Chinese characters for Publishing)|publisher=文字改革出版社|date=1986|language=Chinese}}</ref>

=== Hong Kong and Macau === {{Expert needed|China|reason=The differences between traditional characters as used in Taiwan versus in Hong Kong|date=September 2023}} In Hong Kong and Macau, traditional characters were retained during the colonial period, while the mainland adopted simplified characters. Simplified characters are contemporaneously used to accommodate immigrants and tourists, often from the mainland.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Li |first=Hanwen |author-mask=Li Hanwen (李翰文) |script-title=zh:分析：中國與香港之間的「繁簡矛盾」 |url=http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/hong_kong_review/2016/02/160224_monitoring_simp_trad |access-date=2018-07-01 |website=BBC News |date=24 February 2016 |language=zh}}</ref> The increasing use of simplified characters has led to concern among residents regarding protecting what they see as their local heritage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lai |first=Ying-kit |date=17 July 2013 |title=Hong Kong Actor's Criticism of Simplified Chinese Character Use Stirs up Passions Online |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1284691/hong-kong-actors-criticism-simplified-character-use-stirs-passions?page=all |access-date=2018-07-01 |website=Post Magazine |publisher=South China Morning Post }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-03-01 |title=Hong Kong TV Station Criticized for Using Simplified Chinese|work=SINA English |url=http://english.sina.com/china/2016/0229/894388.html |access-date=2018-07-01}}</ref>

=== Taiwan === Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in government documents and educational settings is discouraged by the government of Taiwan.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chiang |first=Evelyn |date=2006-04-11 |title=Character Debate Ends up Being Nothing but Hot Air: Traditional Chinese Will Always Be Used in Education, Minister Says |work=Taiwan News |url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/91775 |access-date=25 May 2021 |archive-date=25 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525121443/https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/91775 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2011-06-17 |title=Taiwan Rules out Official Use of Simplified Chinese |work=Taiwan News |agency=Central News Agency |url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/1628627 |access-date=25 May 2021 |archive-date=25 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525111309/https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/1628627 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |script-title=zh:寫作測驗 |trans-title=Writing Test |url=https://cap.rcpet.edu.tw/test_5_1.html |website=Guozhong jiaoyu huikao |language=zh |quote=若寫作測驗文章中出現簡體字，在評閱過程中可能被視為「錯別字」處理，但寫作測驗的評閱方式，並不會針對單一錯字扣分……然而，當簡體字影響閱讀理解時，文意的完整性亦可能受到影響，故考生應盡量避免書寫簡體字}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |script-title=zh:轉知:各校辦理課後社團，應檢視授課教師之教材內容，避免有不符我國國情或使用簡體字之情形 |url=https://www.tres.ntpc.edu.tw/modules/tadnews/index.php?ncsn=17&nsn=2512 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525111310/https://www.tres.ntpc.edu.tw/modules/tadnews/index.php?ncsn=17&nsn=2512 |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 May 2021 |website=Xin beishi tong rong guomin xiaoxue |language=zh }}</ref> Nevertheless, with sufficient context simplified characters are likely to be successfully read by those used to traditional characters, especially given some previous exposure. Many simplified characters were previously variants that had long been in some use, with systematic stroke simplifications used in folk handwriting since antiquity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cheung |first=Yat-Shing |title=Sociolinguistics Today: International Perspectives |year=1992 |publisher=Routledge |editor-last=Bolton |editor-first=Kingsley |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=fAYOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA211 211] |chapter=Language Variation, Culture, and Society}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Price |first=Fiona Swee-Lin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-FRIYcHARa0C&q=Guangdong+traditional+characters&pg=PA67 |title=Success with Asian Names: A Practical Guide for Business and Everyday Life |year=2007 |publisher=Nicholas Brealey |isbn=978-1-85788-378-7 |via=Google Books}}</ref> In Taiwan, the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the ''Standard Form of National Characters''.

=== Singapore === Traditional characters were recognized as the official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters.<ref name="reflection on use of simplified Chinese in Singapore">{{Cite conference |last=Chia |first=Shih Yar | author-mask=Chia Shih Yar (谢世涯) |script-title=zh:新加坡汉字规范的回顾与前瞻 |trans-title=Review and Prospect of Standardization of Chinese Characters in Singapore |url=http://www.huayuqiao.org/articles/xieshiya/Simplified/5_XinJiaPoHanZiGuiFan-XP.htm |conference=Paper presented at The Fourth International Conference on Chinese Characters. Convened by The Society of Chinese Philology, Jiangsu Educational Publishing House and State Language Commission of PRC. Suzhou, China. 26–27 Nov 1997 |language=zh |via=huayuqiao.org}}</ref> Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers.<ref name="yzzk"/>

=== Philippines === The Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative in Southeast Asia regarding simplification.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} Although major public universities teach in simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications such as the ''Chinese Commercial News'', ''World News'', and ''United Daily News'' all use traditional characters, as do some Hong Kong–based magazines such as ''Yazhou Zhoukan''. The ''Philippine Chinese Daily'' uses simplified characters.

thumb|center|Advertisement in a Filipino Chinese daily newspaper written in traditional Chinese characters

=== North America === With most having immigrated to the United States during the second half of the 19th century, Chinese Americans have long used traditional characters. When not providing both, US public notices and signs in Chinese are generally written in traditional characters, more often than in simplified characters.<ref name=":0">For instance, {{Cite web |url=https://www.irs.gov/irm/part22/irm_22-031-001.html |work=Internal Revenue Manual |title=22.31.1.6.3 |date=6 November 2012 |quote=The standard language for translation is Traditional Chinese |publisher=Internal Revenue Service }}.</ref>

== Use on computers == === Encoding === {{Main|Chinese character encoding}} {{See also|Han unification}} In the past, traditional Chinese was most often encoded on computers using the Big5 standard, which favored traditional characters. However, the ubiquitous Unicode standard gives equal weight to simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and has become by far the most popular encoding for Chinese-language text.

=== Input methods === {{Main|Chinese input methods}} There are various input method editors (IMEs) available for the input of Chinese characters. Many characters, often dialectical variants, are encoded in Unicode but cannot be inputted using certain IMEs, with one example being the Shanghainese-language character {{unichar|20C8E|CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-20C8E}}—a composition of {{zhi|c=伐}} with the {{kxr|口}} radical—used instead of the Standard Chinese {{zhi|t=嗎|s=吗|first=t}}.{{Citation needed|date=June 2007}}

=== Typefaces === {{Further|List of CJK fonts}} Typefaces often use the initialism {{code|TC}} to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters, as well as {{code|SC}} for simplified Chinese characters. In addition, the Noto family of typefaces, for example, also provides separate fonts for the traditional character set used in Taiwan ({{code|TC}}) and the set used in Hong Kong ({{code|HK}}).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Noto CJK |url=https://www.google.com/get/noto/help/cjk/ |website=Google Noto Fonts }}</ref>

=== Webpages === Most Chinese-language webpages now use Unicode for their text. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends the use of the language tag {{code|zh-Hant}} to specify webpage content written with traditional characters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Internationalization Best Practices: Specifying Language in XHTML & HTML Content |url=http://www.w3.org/TR/i18n-html-tech-lang/#ri20040429.113217290 |access-date=2009-05-27 |publisher=W3C }}</ref> ISO 15924 offers {{code|Hant}} to mark text in traditional Chinese and {{code|Hntl}}<ref name="IETF">{{cite web |title=IETF Language Subtag Registry |url=https://www.iana.org/assignments/language-subtag-registry/language-subtag-registry |access-date=15 July 2025 |language=en |date=2025-06-23}}</ref> for text mixing traditional Chinese and Latin characters, sometimes used for Taiwanese Hokkien.

== Comparison with other scripts == In the Japanese writing system, {{Transliteration|ja|kyujitai}} are traditional forms, which were simplified to create {{Transliteration|ja|shinjitai}} for standardized Japanese use following World War II. Kyūjitai are mostly congruent with the traditional characters in Chinese, save for minor stylistic variation. Characters that are not included in the {{Transliteration|ja|jōyō kanji}} list are generally recommended to be printed in their traditional forms, with a few exceptions. Additionally, there are {{Transliteration|ja|kokuji}}, which are kanji wholly created in Japan, rather than originally being borrowed from China.

In the Korean writing system, hanja—replaced almost entirely by hangul in South Korea and totally replaced in North Korea—are mostly identical with their traditional counterparts, save minor stylistic variations. As with Japanese, there are autochthonous hanja, known as {{Transliteration|ko|gukja}}.

Traditional Chinese characters are also used by non-Chinese ethnic groups. The Maniq people living in Thailand and Malaysia use Chinese characters to write the Kensiu language.<ref name="Glossary of Aslian Languages.">{{Cite journal |last=Phaiboon |first=D. |date=2005 |title=Glossary of Aslian Languages: The Northern Aslian Languages of South Thailand |url=http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/phaiboon2006glossary.pdf |journal=Mon-Khmer Studies |volume=36 |pages=207–224 |via=Southeast Asian Linguistics Archives |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106093538/http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/phaiboon2006glossary.pdf |archive-date= Jan 6, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bishop |first=N. |date=1996 |title=Who's Who in Kensiw? Terms of Reference and Address in Kensiw |url=http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/bishop1996who.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Mon-Khmer Studies |volume=26 |pages=245–253 |via=Southeast Asian Linguistics Archives |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719030049/http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/bishop1996who.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-19 |access-date=2010-12-12}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Traditional Chinese Characters}} Category:Chinese characters Category:Chinese language reform