Simplified Chinese characters

Simplified characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write contemporary Chinese languages, along with traditional characters. Their development during the 20th century was part of an initiative by the People's Republic of China to promote literacy, and their use in ordinary circumstances on the mainland has been encouraged by the Chinese government since the 1950s. They are the official forms used in mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore, while traditional characters are officially used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

In Chinese, simplified characters are referred to by their official name 简化字; Jiǎnhuàzì, or colloquially as 简体字; Jiǎntǐzì^ⓘ. The latter term refers broadly to all character variants featuring simplifications of character form or structure, a practice which has always been present as a part of the Chinese writing system. The official name tends to refer to the specific, systematic set published by the Chinese government, which includes not only simplifications of individual characters, but also a substantial reduction in the total number of characters through the merger of formerly distinct forms.

Simplification of a component—either a character or a sub-component called a radical—usually involves either a reduction in its total number of strokes, or an apparent streamlining of which strokes are chosen in what places—for example, the ⼓ 'WRAP' radical used in the traditional character 沒 is simplified to ⼏ 'TABLE' to form the simplified character 没. By systematically simplifying radicals, large swaths of the character set are altered. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms that embody graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms. In addition, variant characters with identical pronunciation and meaning were reduced to a single standardized character, usually the simplest amongst all variants in form. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification and are thus identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies.

The Chinese government has never officially announced the completion of the simplification process after the bulk of characters were introduced by the 1960s. In the wake of the Cultural Revolution, a second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977—largely composed of entirely new variants intended to artificially lower the stroke count, in contrast to the first round—but was massively unpopular and never saw consistent use. The second round of simplifications was ultimately retracted officially in 1986, well after they had largely ceased to be used due to their unpopularity and the confusion they caused.

In August 2009, China began collecting public comments for a revised list of simplified characters. This Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consists of 8,105 characters, both unchanged and newly revised, was implemented for official use by China's State Council on 5 June 2013.