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Simplification of Chinese Characters Reviewed

Fountain Pen

1/
Is it a linguistic coincidence or undeclared prophesy?
But 60 years after Mao Zedong approved
The scheme for simplifying Chinese characters
We are now living in an open & reformed age, where


愛/ai/ [love] has become a feeling without a heart: 爱
親/qin/ [kinship] someone who is not to be seen: 亲
兒/er/[son] a person without his own brain: 儿
郷/xiang/ [village] a place where there’s no male: 乡
厰/chang/ [factory] a building with nothing inside: 厂
産/chan/ [manufacture] a process without production: 产
雲/yun/ [cloud] a nimbus offering no rainfall:云
開/kai/ [open] an action to break something doorless: 开
導/dao/ [lead] a guidance without the Way: 导


2/
More than half a century long after
The simplification of classic Chinese characters
& almost half a century well after
China opened its doors & began its reforms
To shake off its deformities or backwardnesses:


魔 /mo/ remains the same as魔 [evil], so does
鬼 /gui/ as鬼[ghost], so does
偷 /tou/ as偷[steal], so does
黑 /hei/ as [darkness], so does
贪 /tan/ as贪[greed], so does
赌 /du/ as赌[gamble], so does
毒 /du/ as毒[poison], so does
贼 /zhei/ as贼[thief], so does
骗 /pian/ exactly as骗[cheat,], which remains
As unchangeable as Chinese per se, or does it not?

Meet the Author:

Yuan Changming co-edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan. Writing credits include 12 Pushcart nominations for poetry and 3 for fiction besides appearances in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17) and 2159 other publications worldwide. A poetry judge for Canada's 44th National Magazine Awards, Yuan began to write prose in 2022, his hybrid novel DETACHING, 'silver romance' THE TUNER and short story collection FLASHBACKS available at Amazon.  

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