During the ongoing CPPCC meeting, a member proposed that China should gradually abolish the using of simplified Chinese characters and instead use the traditional Chinese characters, which have been barely used in decades.
This proposal has aroused heated discussion. (www.hXen.com)
Xinhuanet.com publishes a commentary, saying that both the simplified and traditional Chinese characters can serve important, yet different, roles in the lives of Chinese people and there is no need to abolish either one.
The author says characters were created to preserve and convey information. Simplified Chinese characters can meet our everyday demands in our modern fast-paced society. Meanwhile since China first promoted the use of simplified Chinese characters in the 1950s, they have been widely used and any change to this system may bring about more complications.
Meanwhile the author also points out that we should not neglect the importance of traditional Chinese characters which are still used by people in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The author further argues that without knowledge of the traditional Chinese characters, people may find it more difficult to interpret historical information left on cultural relics.
The author finally suggests that it's reasonable for us to maintain the use of simplified Chinese characters while providing education about traditional ones. As the author points out many websites are now able to convert traditional characters into simplified ones and vice-versa. It's unnecessary to abolish either type of Chinese character as they both play a role in their own way.
