Thanks to words, we have a history of five thousand years. There is no doubt that this 5,000-year history of civilization is a valuable asset of our Chinese nation. But history tells us that this is also a heavy burden. What has history left us?
Traditional clothes? Now it seems that no one knows, and no one cares, what kind of traditional Chinese clothing is. Numerous modern exotic clothes make it impossible for China people to recall their past, and even experts can't figure out when and where clothes should be regarded as the orthodoxy of the Chinese nation, and how to restore this orthodoxy to China people. As we all know, all the leaders and elites of China people wear suits and ties.
Traditional architecture? Are the common mud brick houses in rural areas orthodox in China or those palaces and temples with red walls, green tiles and yellow glazed cornices? Or those tall buildings that flaunt China's modernization?
Traditional religion? It is said that Taoism is China's own religion, but how many people know it now? How many people still worship their "Bodhisattva"? Buddhism introduced from abroad seems to have occupied the authentic position of religion in China, although it has been declining for a long time. It seems that Chinese people have become accustomed to it.
Traditional language? This is even harder to mention. Although we know that there must have been a language in China before the Yao and Shun era, we can't find out who is using China's orthodoxy today. Are you from Beijing, Hongkong or Taiwan Province? Even Tibetans?
Chinese characters, which seem to be only Chinese characters, have been preserved as the orthodox tradition in China and are loved and widely used by Chinese people. But it is obvious that today's writing is far from the past. For thousands of years, from Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Xiao Zhuan, Da Zhuan, Li Shu and Kai Shu, China (strictly speaking, Han nationality) has also experienced vicissitudes. If Yao Shun or Hanwu are resurrected, they will surely exclaim that they are beyond recognition. It can be seen that Chinese characters have been changing, and its trend is from complex to simple, from patents of a few people to tools of many people.
2. In the past hundred years, we have always heard the voice of "preserving the national quintessence" or even "defending the national quintessence". We have a strong sense of national pride. However, if you look carefully and listen carefully, most of them are people in suits and ties, lying on the sofa, or frequently shuttling between planes and trains. And these impassioned cries are all focused on the national treasure of Chinese characters.
Why didn't anyone enthusiastically stand up to defend (or preserve) China's clothing, China's architecture and Chinese religion, as well as China's music, China's calligraphy and painting and China's philosophy? Aren't these the quintessence of China?
It seems that if there is no major crisis in Chinese characters, there will be a major crisis for those who want to defend the "quintessence of the country."
This crisis is brought by the times. When the wave of industrial revolution finally hit the sleeping East, the crisis happened. At the beginning of this century, foreign guns broke China's closed door, and the people of China woke up in shock and shouted for self-improvement. So there was the Revolution of 1911 of 19 1 1, and then there was the New Culture Movement of 19 18, which made Chinese characters break away from the stereotype of classical Chinese for thousands of years, embark on a new road of vernacular Chinese, and have another lovely partner- Because of this change, Chinese characters conform to the spoken habits of China people. Those who want to maintain the old order, that is, to safeguard vested interests, are trying their best to obstruct this change in the voice of "defending the essence of the country." However, Chinese characters have changed irreversibly, from the patent of literati to the tool of civilians. With this change, various phonetic notation and pinyin schemes have emerged to promote the modernization of Chinese characters. A large amount of new information has flooded into China from all over the world, and it has been accepted and mastered by more and more people in China through new written forms and new educational forms, which has brought China an opportunity to enter the world's advanced ranks. Unfortunately, this major change, which was enough to change the historical process, was unfortunately suspended due to frequent wars afterwards.
1949 regime change, the new regime with the slogan that the people are the masters of the country, triggered the new character reform movement of 1956, which culminated in the publication of simplified characters and the formulation of Chinese pinyin of 1958. The people of China have got another chance to keep pace with the world powers. At that time, students in grade two of primary school could freely write and express everything they wanted in Chinese Pinyin. If this change continues until now, the new generation is just the social foundation connecting the information age. Regrettably, this change was suspended due to frequent "wars". After that, none of China's leaders (flawless? ) ask this important event that is closely related to the Chinese nation. Deng Xiaoping once said: "Improve the scientific and cultural level of the whole nation." Unfortunately, because there are too many things to be busy, and at the same time I don't realize the great significance of the text reform to the future of the Chinese nation, it becomes an empty talk. The transformation that lasted for nearly a century finally made Chinese characters the "quintessence" of our Chinese nation, and at the same time made this "quintessence" a stumbling block for our Chinese nation to enter the information age.
3. In 1960s, IBM mobilized hundreds of computer workers and Chinese character workers, and spent tens of millions of dollars on Chinese character input, which took several years and had little effect, so that it came to the conclusion that "kill Chinese characters or kill computers".
This conclusion is obviously too biased, but isn't the warning to us thrilling enough? After more than 20 years, Chinese characters have not disappeared, and computer technology and its application have developed rapidly. However, the computer application of Chinese characters is still difficult, and even the basic bottleneck of Chinese input has not been completely solved. English can be directly used for computer input, output and retrieval, while Chinese is different. This situation obviously greatly increases the difficulty of learning and using Chinese computers, which directly affects the efficiency of all language activities, and then affects the productivity of all work, and even makes some work impossible.
Chinese is the only character in the world that needs to input a lot of codes. Because the font is complex and there are too many words, it is very difficult and even more difficult. At present, the use of computers in China seems to be like a car without auto-ignition function. It's always hard to do it. Every user must have the first condition that is strong enough to start the car, and then he can think about driving!
As we all know, an English computer is like a car with an automatic ignition device, which is easier to start. Learning to use it can benefit a lot. Why do you have to learn and use such complicated computer technology in China? Therefore, we are facing the grim prospect of losing the whole "China Computer Age". Once we lose the "Chinese computer age", Chinese characters will quit the world stage. The Chinese nation that only relies on Chinese characters will face the danger of "disappearing".
These are not minor issues, but major issues related to the survival of the Chinese nation and culture and the destiny of the country, no less than the issue of "catching up with foreign countries" put forward by the Westernization Movement at the end of 19.
As China people, shouldn't we ask ourselves: In the information age, it will take more than 20 years to solve the problem of Chinese character input, and it has not been solved yet. How much more time can we take? Do we have the right to sacrifice the future of the Chinese nation for the "national quintessence" that is almost vain? When the world is advancing by leaps and bounds on the information superhighway, we are talking endlessly about defending the "quintessence of Chinese culture", which is self-defeating by the times. Moreover, we know that all our cutting-edge military, science and technology, and even projects related to the great future of national development are using foreign languages, and foreign computers and their software are controlling their development or failure. These projects, which are related to the lifeline of our country and nation, are just words that exclude our compatriots in China and make our compatriots in China unable to understand. Why would we rather leave the future of our nation to foreign characters than reform Chinese characters? Why don't those gentlemen who defend the "national quintessence" come out to defend the "national quintessence" at this time? Why not tell these things to the general public?
We have lost an era of industrial revolution, and now we are facing a more fierce era of information revolution. To enter the ranks of the information revolution, the first thing we encounter is the passport of text reform. If we don't make up our minds to reform the written language, then, for the sake of survival and in order to keep up with the modernization of the world, all national elites will inevitably turn to a written language system (such as English) that is more suitable for the information age, and gradually alienate or even give up Chinese characters. Obviously, there is an obvious trend in front of us: if our generation and future generations want to gain a good life and social status, they must enter a writing system that is suitable for the information age. They may not have enough time and energy to study the complicated Chinese character system that has not kept pace with the information age so far. Whether overseas or at home, this trend has clearly unfolded before our eyes. The ostrich policy will only accelerate this trend.
The momentum of polarization has also been clearly demonstrated. On the one hand, in the slogan of defending "national quintessence", the students of Mongolian children wandered into the pile of Chinese characters and became cultural fossils. On the other hand, facing the world and pursuing modernization, national elites strode out of China and entered the world village to realize their lives and values in English or other languages adapted to the information age.
As a descendant of the Chinese nation, it seems that no one will pursue to wear "national quintessence" costumes, live in "national quintessence" palaces and temples, and worship the "national quintessence" bodhisattva. These, China people accepted the progress of the world frankly, and obviously did not hinder the survival and development of the Chinese nation. In front of suits, tall buildings and Sakyamuni, why didn't anyone stand up to defend the quintessence of the country? Why do you have a soft spot for "national quintessence"? The Chinese nation has a long history and continues to this day. In addition to the huge population recognized by the world, there is only one Chinese character that needs to be impassioned, loudly defended and preserved. Can't it foreshadow a profound crisis for us?
Five. The decline of literature in the last hundred generations. On behalf of China writers, Mr. Wu Wenchao, the executive director of "American China Association for the Promotion of Character Reform", put forward a great reform ideal. Nearly 400 years of industrial revolution made China, a world power at that time, lag behind the world trend for at least a century. How much time will we fall behind in the information age? Do you have time to catch up in the future? At that time, both Japan and Korea adopted Chinese, which made their countries and nations make great progress. Today, Japan and North Korea have also given up Chinese and quickly moved closer to the world trend, making their countries and nations among the world's advanced ranks. This has not affected them to preserve Chinese characters as art and spread them widely to future generations. Mr. Lu Xun put it well: "Yes, Chinese characters are handed down from generation to generation, but our ancestors are older than Chinese characters, so we are even more handed down from generation to generation." Sacrifice us for Chinese characters or sacrifice Chinese characters for us? (Lu Xun's Chinese Characters and Latinization) "Isn't all this enough to make us think deeply? Should all leaders who are descendants of the Chinese people take some time to fight for power and profit to discuss this issue?
Is it conservative to keep the quintessence of Chinese culture, or is it determined to change and save Chinese characters? Is it determined to reform Chinese characters, make a name in history and benefit the national society, or to protect the "quintessence of the country" for the sake of immediate fame, delay the opportunity and harm future generations? It seems that it all depends on people with lofty ideals.