An Appeal for Justice for Chinese Characters

Abstract

The system of Chinese characters is an ancient, beautiful language, easily learned, easily written, economical, and effective. Since the end of the Qing dynasty, however, a few irresolute and inconsistent people have advocated reform of the written language, condemning the system of Chinese characters with many unwarranted charges while promoting the romanization of the language. Lu Gangzhang of the Qing was the first to launch an attack. He stated that "the system of Chinese characters is the most difficult written system of the entire world… even the smartest people require at least ten years of very hard work."