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Calls to restore traditional Chinese characters

By Jia Xu (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-03-04 14:06

China should restore the use of traditional Chinese characters in the mainland, Pan Qinglin, vice president of Tianjin Oversea Chinese Federation said on the first opening day of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Mar 3, 2011, the Beijing Morning Post reported.

Due to historic reasons, the government of the People's Republic of China has promoted the use of simplified Chinese characters for use in printing since the 1950s and 60s in an attempt to increase literacy. The use of traditional Chinese characters is popular in HK, Macau and Taiwan regions.

“If HK, Macau and Taiwan people can have a good use of traditional Chinese characters, why can’t we use them in the Chinese mainland？” Pan, a CPPCC member, said.

Traditional Chinese characters are the original form of Chinese characters, and carry the wisdom and philosophies of Chinese people, and therefore should be promoted as China now moves toward a more civilized society, Pan added.

(L) The traditional Chinese character “Love” has a “heart”inside the structure, while the simplified one (R) doesn’t consist. The underline Chinese characters read "without a HEART, where to come the LOVE?"[Photo/sina microblogger]

“I wish to see the Chinese character 爱 (ai,love in English) with a ‘heart’("xin (心)" in Chinese) inside it, ”said Pan.