Variant characters
Contents·Basic information
·Causes of variant characters
·Various characters in mainland China
·Others
Variant characters
Also known as You style, or style, and are called Chongwen in "Shuowen Jiezi".
Basic information
Hanyu Pinyin: yìtǐzì
English translation: variant form of a Chinese character
Narrow sense variant: follow the prescribed Traditional Chinese characters have the same pronunciation and the same meaning but are written differently.
In the sentence "'A' is a variant of 'B'", "A" is a variant in a narrow sense, and "B" is a traditional Chinese character.
Broadly defined variant characters: Chinese characters with the same pronunciation and meaning, but different writing methods.
In the sentence "'A' and 'B' are variant characters of each other", "A" and "B" are both variant characters in a broad sense, regardless of which one is the traditional Chinese character.
Sometimes the concept of variant characters also includes characters that are often borrowed or even used in common.
The concepts commonly referred to as variant characters are all variant characters in a narrow sense. For example, "Kao (丂攵)" is a variant of "Kao", "Di (阝士)" is a variant of "Di", and "Feng" is a variant of "Feng".
Variants can be further divided into "complete variants" (the pronunciation and meaning are the same in all circumstances) and "partial variants" (the same only in certain circumstances).
The reasons for the emergence of variant characters
①The methods of creating characters are different;
②The shape symbols and meaning symbols with similar meanings are changed;
③Change the sound symbols.
Variant characters in mainland China
In December 1955, the Ministry of Culture and the Cultural Reform Commission jointly issued the "First Batch Variant Character Collection List", which stipulated 810 characters based on the principle of simplicity and popularization. For traditional Chinese characters, 1,055 variant characters have been eliminated. Variant characters are non-standard characters and are no longer used except for surnames and certain special occasions.
The "Simplified Character List" and the "Modern Chinese Common Character List" republished in 1986 both revised the variant characters proposed in the "First Batch Variant Character List".
The "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Language" promulgated in 2000 stipulates that variant characters are non-standard Chinese characters. It is not allowed to be used except in the following situations:
(1) Cultural relics and historic sites;
(2) Variants of characters in surnames;
(3) Calligraphy, seal cutting, etc. Works of art;
(4) Handwritten characters for inscriptions and signboards;
(5) Needed for use in publishing, teaching, and research;
(6) Special circumstances approved by relevant departments of the State Council.
Others
Sometimes, variants and officially used fonts vary from place to place, or are even completely opposite.
For example: In mainland China, "Guo (Duo Sen)" is a variant of "Guo (Duo Sen)", but in Taiwan it is just the opposite.
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Reference materials:
1. "Ancient Chinese" by Zhonghua Book Company, Unit 2 "General Theory of Ancient Chinese (6)"