Taiwan to seek world heritage status for complex Chinese characters

Sat, 26 Dec 2009

Taipei - Taiwan plans to apply for World Heritage status for the complex Chinese characters that China stopped using after 1949 but Taiwan continues to use today, President Ma Ying-jeou said Saturday. "In order to preserve the world's oldest and most beautiful language, I have entrusted minister without portfolio Ovid Tzeng to prepare for making the application," he told an international seminar on teaching Chinese, held in Taipei.

Ma said he has asked Tseng to "actively apply" for world heritage status for complex Chinese characters, but did not say when Taipei will make the application.

Ma reiterated his appeal to China that the Chinese mainland, while using the simplified Chinese characters, should still let people know how to read the complex characters.

He disapproved the name "complex characters," Ma said.

"They should not be called complex characters just because there are the simplified characters. They should be called standard characters," he argued.

Ma made his initial appeal to Beijing last June, but China's Education Ministry said that China would not revive the complete Chinese characters because that would cause confuse people.

As Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations or the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), it is not clear if UNESCO will accept Taipei's application and if Beijing will support the application.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee meets once a year to review applications for World Heritage status, which breaks down into cultural, natural and mixed properties.

The World Heritage List is reviewed every year, with some items removed and new items added.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301033,taiwan-to-seek-world-heritage-status-for-complex-chinese-characters.html.