but Chinese never abandoned the principle of one character per word (or at least one character for each meaningful element). The art of calligraphy is highly developed in China. For this purpose a ...

And to complicate matters even further, there are actually two Chinese writing systems: simplified Chinese (used in mainland China ... Chinese characters, a.k.a. writing Chinese words with ...

Unlike cuneiform (“wedge-shaped”) or hieroglyphics (“sacred carvings”) — names that evoke the distinct essence of ancient scripts — “Chinese character” is vague, impersonal and oddly detached from its ...

Some estimates say China’s literacy rate has increased to more than 95 per cent. People in Singapore and Malaysia also use simplified Chinese ... characters that gave a hint to the word ...