Simplified Traditional Chinese

The Ways Chinese are Written

There are two sets of Chinese characters below. Both mean Chinese words.

The only difference is that the set of characters on the left is written in the simplified Chinese; and the set on the right, the traditional Chinese.

Although there is only one writing system, a Chinese character can still be written differently.

This is because China has simplified about 2000 characters to help improve literacy of her people. They are the so-called simplified Chinese, or jiantizi 简体字, rather than traditional simplified chinese.

Outside the mainland China, especially in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the traditional ways of writing Chinese is preserved. To distinguish them from the simplified Chinese, they are known as traditional Chinese, or fántǐzì 繁体字.

These are some examples that show the difference between the simplified and traditional Chinese.

English Word	Pinyin	simplified	traditional
Book	shū	书	書
Machine	Jī	机	機
Close	guān	关	關

Do not be confused

You can see that, although somehow related, the characters can be written quite differently.

If you learn the simplified version of Chinese, do not be unduly alarmed when the characters you know appear in a different manner. This is especially the case when you travel to places like Taiwan and Hong Kong. Vice versa if you learn the traditional version.

Since the simplified Chinese is more widely used, and is easier to write as it involves fewer strokes, we'd recommend that you learn this version.

Read about Chinese pictogram.

Read about learning Chinese.

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