Simplified Chinese Characters - Method of Simplification

Method of Simplification

Structural simplification of characters (T:字型結構簡化; S:字型结构简化)

All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Chart 1 and Chart 2 in Jianhuazi zong biao (简化字总表), "Complete List of Simplified Characters" announced in 1986.

• Chart 1 lists all 350 characters that are used by themselves, and can never serve as 'simplified character components' (簡化偏旁 or simplified radical components).
• Chart 2 lists 132 characters that are used by themselves as well as utilized as simplified character components to further derive other simplified characters. Chart 2 also lists 14 'components' or 'radicals' that cannot be used by themselves, but can be generalized for derivation of more complex characters.

Derivation based on simplified character components (T:簡化字與簡化偏旁之延伸與應用; S:简化字与简化偏旁之延伸与应用)

• Chart 3 list 1,753 characters which are simplified based on the same simplification principles used for character components and radicals in Chart 2. This list is non-exhaustive, so if a character is not already found in Chart 1, 2 or 3, but can be simplified in accordance with Chart 2, the character should be simplified.

Elimination of variants of the same character (T:廢除異體字; S:废除异体字)

• Series One Organization List of Variant Characters (T:第一批異體字整理表; S:第一批异体字整理表, or Di yi pi yitizi zhengli biao) accounts for some of the orthography difference between Mainland China on the one hand, and Hong Kong and Taiwan on the other. These are not simplifications of character structures, but rather reduction in number of total standard characters. For each set of variant characters that share the identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are obsoleted. After rounds of revisions, by 1993, some 1,027 variant characters have been declared obsolete by this list. Amongst the chosen variants, those that appear in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" are also simplified in character structure accordingly.

Adoption of new standardized character forms (T:採用新字形; S:采用新字形)

• new standardized character forms (新字形, or Xin Zixing) originated from the "List of character forms of General Used Chinese characters for Publishing" containing 6,196 characters, published in 1965. The new forms tend to adopt vulgar variant forms for most of its characters. The List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese list, published in 1988, contains 7,000 commonly used characters, and replaces the 1965 list. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as structurally simplified characters.