Written Off Handwriting

by Zhang Hailin

Several years ago， The Los Ange- les Times printed a story about the phenomenon of more and more Chinese people realizing they couldnt remember how to write a given character. The article depicted various subjects embarrassment when laboring to scrawl a figure they had spent years practicing in childhood. The subject was seldom broached again until the inception of two reality shows， Hero of Chinese Characters and Chinese Characters Dictation Competition， in which participants compete in their ability to write.

The United Nations dubbed September 8 International Literacy Day to raise awareness about global literacy issues. In China， the illiterate population reached almost 55 million， about 4.08 percent of the total population， in 2010 according to that years census. Although “illiteracy”is defined as “an adult who lacks ability to read or write，” Chinese writer Wang Meng claims that those who lose the ability to write certain characters due to excessive reliance on modern technology have actually created a new form of illiteracy with their disappearing ability to preserve traditional Chinese culture through handwriting. According to a poll conducted recently in Beijing， Shanghai， Guangzhou and nine other Chinese cities by Horizon， a renowned Chinese consulting company， 94.1 percent of respondents admitted that they had experienced being unable to write certain characters， of which 26.8 percent called the occurrence “frequent.”

Although the typewriter was taking over handwriting for some over a century ago， the ubiquity of the computer is usually blamed for handwritings decline， especially for Chinese characters in which each elaborate stroke also has meaning. American scholar Jessica Bennett even lamented that the computer is a “curse on handwriting.”

Li Xingjian， chief editor of A Standard Dictionary of Contemporary Chinese and a researcher at the Institute of Applied Linguistics under Chinas Ministry of Education， argues that it isnt fair to place all the blame on computers. Instead， he opines that the issue should also be examined from perspectives of internet and foreign languages. “Typing with a keyboard can be efficient， which is highly necessary in modern society，” he explains. “Whats more， people have to at least recognize a character in order to type it correctly.”According to Jiang Lansheng， director of the Lexicographical Society of China， foreign languages， especially English， exert much more impact on the Chinese language than computers. “A survey by the National Working Committee on Language and Culture revealed that about 65 percent of college students spend more than 25 percent of their studies learning foreign languages， which is much longer than what they spend on Chinese language and history，” says Jiang. From her perspective， the embarrassing state of Chinese handwriting today is caused by a lack of admiration for traditional culture and the aesthetics of handwriting， which are crucial to preserve the eloquence of the worlds only surviving pictographic script.

Handwriting in other countries has also been impacted by modern technology. However， Chinese characters are not simply tools for communication， but timeless symbols of art and culture. Richard Sears， nicknamed“Chinese Characters Uncle，” an American who founded the worlds first website devoted to the etymology of written Chinese， still embraces the moving stories hidden behind every single Chinese character. It seems that the handwriting crisis could be signaling the fading momentum of Chinese culture.

However， according to Li Yuming， professor at Beijing Language and Culture University， the positive public reception of Chinese handwriting reality shows actually testifies to Chinese peoples concern and enthusiasm for Chinese culture and its development in the age of information. A failure by someone to remember exactly how to write certain characters isnt a catastrophe heralding a crisis of Chinese characters or culture. “Chinese culture and Chinese characters have survived millennia of evolution，” adds Li. “Im sure they will not only survive but continue to thrive.”