The Smart Set: Small Chinese character reform triggers big controversy - October 19, 2009:
"BEIJING (AFP) - More than 50 years after a major overhaul of the way in which Chinese characters are written, a far less ambitious project to simplify just a few dozen ideograms has sparked huge controversy here.
The government has put forward proposals to change 44 characters out of the 3,500 most used, or 1.25 percent of the total, 'to adapt to the requirements of the information era, the evolution of language and the development of society.'"
"BEIJING (AFP) - More than 50 years after a major overhaul of the way in which Chinese characters are written, a far less ambitious project to simplify just a few dozen ideograms has sparked huge controversy here.
The government has put forward proposals to change 44 characters out of the 3,500 most used, or 1.25 percent of the total, 'to adapt to the requirements of the information era, the evolution of language and the development of society.'"