三级aa视频在线观看-三级国产-三级国产精品一区二区-三级国产三级在线-三级国产在线

US EUROPE AFRICA ASIA 中文
Business / Top Photos

Chinese characters under threat in digital age

By Jin Zhu (China Daily) Updated: 2013-08-21 07:34

Chinese characters under threat in digital age

A student takes part in a calligraphy competition in Jiashan county, Zhejiang province, in August. Ten of the 50 participants will go to Jiaxing for a follow-up competition. Hu Lingxiang / for China Daily

Chinese characters under threat in digital age

China's cultural reach is growing every year - but is one of its most-treasured traditions under threat on its own shores?

One calligraphy master believes so, and warns that the skill of writing Chinese characters, or hanzi, is being affected by growing reliance on digital technology.

"The style of writing among Chinese people today has been changed or ruined," said Cui Zhiqiang, a senior figure with the China Calligraphers Association.

The 60-year-old said the rapid development and popularity of cellphones and computers mean most people now write Chinese on keyboards using pinyin, words are written in a system which characters are rendered in the Roman alphabet.

A standard Chinese phrase can be written as numbers, symbols or a phonetic translation from English, he said, while netizens also use words that sound the same but are written differently to disguise what they really mean.

"In these ways, the features of a Chinese character, such as its structure and meaning, can be easily forgotten or misunderstood," Cui said. "As a result, many people find they have forgotten how to write a character when picking up a pen and often make mistakes.

"It is an existential crisis for Chinese characters," he added.

The association started holding nationwide calligraphy tests in 2010. Carried out in more than 10 stages, candidates must use hard or soft brushes.

Chinese characters under threat in digital age

Between 60,000 and 70,000 people register every year, and organizers expect that number to reach more than 100,000 within the next five years.

"These tests are not to train top calligraphers, they are aimed at trying to rescue people's penmanship, which has been ruined by wide use of keyboards," Cui said.

Training teachers

The China Calligraphers Association is also working to train more teachers, to improve professional standards.

In 2011, the Ministry of Education required all primary schools to hold a calligraphy class once a week as well as calling for related courses at high school.

Experts said the move represented concern among educators about the increasing number of students who are losing the ability to correctly write Chinese characters with a brush, or even a pen.

"Shortly after the ministry's stipulation, however, many schools found they did not have enough qualified calligraphy teachers," Cui said. "Many classes had to be taught by physical education teachers."

The association coaches 300 to 400 elementary and middle school teachers in calligraphy each year, and it hopes to have trained 20,000 more in the next three years.

Xu Wei, from Huayuancun No 2 Primary School in Beijing, gained a certificate for teaching calligraphy in June.

"I'm an art teacher, but for many years calligraphy has been a hobby of mine," he said. "I learned how to copy and appreciate the art form for the exam. It's really been useful for my practical teaching."

He said more and more students tend to scribble when they write because they always have lots of homework, which has caused a decline in handwriting. "I believe my calligraphy class helps remind them not to brush off their writing."

Early education

Parents are also beginning to realize the importance of teaching children calligraphy at an early age, said Ji Jiejing, who is head of ancient Chinese civilization studies at the Beijing Confucian Temple and Imperial College.

"Mostly it is those who are really into Chinese traditional culture," she said. "Generally, people send their children to calligraphy classes far less than to English or Math Olympiad classes."

The college, which was the central institute of learning for ancient Chinese dynasties, has run calligraphy courses for children aged 5 to 16 since 2007.

The classrooms are in an institute emperors frequently visited to read Confucian classics, which is meant to bring children back to ancient times and appreciate traditional culture, Ji said.

Gao Tianchen, a calligraphy teacher at the Imperial College, said in his class, children write characters with soft brushes to the sounds of the guqin, a traditional seven-stringed instrument.

"Before teaching a Chinese character, I show students every major change on its pattern and structure in history and tell children the stories behind the changes," he said.

His teaching focuses on helping children memorize the structure of a character and understand its meaning, rather than studying in pinyin.

"That way the students can better remember Chinese characters when they grow up, even though they are using a keyboard every day," he added.

Yang Fei said the improvement of her 8-year-old son's handwriting after the class was far beyond her expectations.

"My son wrote the character shou, meaning longevity, as a birthday gift for his grandmother last year," she said. "I realized then that he'd come to understand filial piety through the characters.

"The meaning would have been lost if he'd just typed it in pinyin," she added.

 

Hot Topics

Editor's Picks
...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲自偷自拍另类12p | 欧美一级毛片国产一级毛片 | 五月久久亚洲七七综合中文网 | 九九精品99久久久香蕉 | aaa黄色| 成人乱码一区二区三区四区 | 国产成人手机视频 | 日本视频二区 | 网址成人| 看5xxaaa免费毛片 | 黄网观看 | 一级毛片大全免费播放 | 国产主播一区二区三区 | 伦理片一区| 香蕉久久精品国产 | 日韩在线一区二区三区 | 97色在线视频| 在线免费观看h片 | 国产一级久久免费特黄 | 国产一级特黄生活片 | 国产色婷婷 | 国产日韩欧美三级 | 欧美成a人片免费看久久 | 日本高清xxxx免费视频 | 欧美在线观看高清一二三区 | 黄色国产在线视频 | 国产一级片观看 | 91视频啪 | 午夜久久久久久久 | 超级碰碰碰免费视频播放 | 大学生a级毛片免费观看 | 国产三级在线观看免费 | 91福利区 | 久久国产免费福利资源网站 | 久久婷婷五月综合色丁香 | 天天噜噜色 | 老湿机一区午夜精品免费福利 | 成人午夜国产福到在线不卡 | 麻豆久久 | 国产精品亚洲专一区二区三区 | 波波网在线看免费观看视频 |