Provinces
62-712: The God Worshipping Society ( simplified Chinese : 拜上帝会 ; traditional Chinese : 拜上帝會 ; pinyin : Bài Shàngdì Huì ) was a religious movement founded and led by Hong Xiuquan which drew on his own unique interpretation of Protestant Christianity and combined it with Chinese folk religion , based on the faith in Shangdi ("Highest/Primordial God"), and other religious traditions. According to historical evidence, his first contact with Christian pamphlets occurred in 1836 when he directly received American Congregationalist missionary Edwin Stevens ' personal copy of
124-704: A black dragon robe, and having a wife, known as the Heavenly Mother. He claimed that God's children included Jesus, himself and a host of little sisters in heaven, and that Jesus, Yang Xiuqing, and himself were born from God before heaven and earth existed. Hong's depiction of God and his intimate heavenly family is likely to have been based on his interpretation of how "Shangdi created humankind in his image". Hong also insisted that only God and Jesus could be described as sheng (holy), warning his followers not to use this term for himself; he also insisted that his own title had to be written in an inferior position to Jesus
186-443: A component—either a character or a sub-component called a radical —usually involves either a reduction in its total number of strokes , or an apparent streamlining of which strokes are chosen in what places—for example, the ⼓ ' WRAP ' radical used in the traditional character 沒 is simplified to ⼏ ' TABLE ' to form the simplified character 没 . By systematically simplifying radicals, large swaths of
248-434: A conversion table. While exercising such derivation, the following rules should be observed: Sample Derivations : The Series One List of Variant Characters reduces the number of total standard characters. First, amongst each set of variant characters sharing identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are made obsolete. Then amongst
310-504: A faith that had been displaced by Confucianism (its corrupted version, used by the Qing to submit the Han) and dynastic imperial regimes. The next year, Hong and Feng Yunshan , Hong's distant cousin and one of the earliest converts to Hong's faith, traveled to Sigu, Guiping county, Guangxi to preach their version of Christianity. In November 1844, Hong returned home without Feng, who remained in
372-407: A few revised forms, and was implemented for official use by China's State Council on 5 June 2013. In Chinese, simplified characters are referred to by their official name 简化字 ; jiǎnhuàzì , or colloquially as 简体字 ; jiǎntǐzì . The latter term refers broadly to all character variants featuring simplifications of character form or structure, a practice which has always been present as
434-538: A force of 10,000–30,000 people. While the majority of the group were Hakka, some followers were Punti , Miao , or members of other local tribal groups. Membership in the God Worshippers was eclectic; they counted businessmen, refugees, farmers, mercenaries, and members of secret societies and mutual-protection alliances among their ranks. The Emperor Worshippers were also joined by a number of bandit groups, including several thousand pirates led by Luo Dagang. On
496-610: A newly coined phono-semantic compound : Removing radicals Only retaining single radicals Replacing with ancient forms or variants : Adopting ancient vulgar variants : Readopting abandoned phonetic-loan characters : Copying and modifying another traditional character : Based on 132 characters and 14 components listed in Chart 2 of the Complete List , the 1,753 derived characters found in Chart 3 can be created by systematically simplifying components using Chart 2 as
558-573: A part of the Chinese writing system. The official name tends to refer to the specific, systematic set published by the Chinese government, which includes not only simplifications of individual characters, but also a substantial reduction in the total number of characters through the merger of formerly distinct forms. According to Chinese palaeographer Qiu Xigui , the broadest trend in the evolution of Chinese characters over their history has been simplification, both in graphical shape ( 字形 ; zìxíng ),
620-440: Is actually more complex than eliminated ones. An example is the character 搾 which is eliminated in favor of the variant form 榨 . The 扌 'HAND' with three strokes on the left of the eliminated 搾 is now seen as more complex, appearing as the ⽊ 'TREE' radical 木 , with four strokes, in the chosen variant 榨 . Not all characters standardised in the simplified set consist of fewer strokes. For instance,
682-406: Is an administrative branch office with the rank of a national ministerial department ( 司级 ) and dispatched by the higher-level provincial government. The leader of the prefecture government, titled as prefectural administrative commissioner ( 行政公署专员 ; xíngzhèng gōngshǔ zhūanyūan ), is appointed by the provincial government. Instead of local people's congresses, the prefecture's working commission of
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#1732766267325744-454: Is derived. Merging homophonous characters: Adapting cursive shapes ( 草書楷化 ): Replacing a component with a simple arbitrary symbol (such as 又 and 乂 ): Omitting entire components : Omitting components, then applying further alterations : Structural changes that preserve the basic shape Replacing the phonetic component of phono-semantic compounds : Replacing an uncommon phonetic component : Replacing entirely with
806-813: Is now discouraged. A State Language Commission official cited "oversimplification" as the reason for restoring some characters. The language authority declared an open comment period until 31 August 2009, for feedback from the public. In 2013, the List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters was published as a revision of the 1988 lists; it included a total of 8105 characters. It included 45 newly recognized standard characters that were previously considered variant forms, as well as official approval of 226 characters that had been simplified by analogy and had seen wide use but were not explicitly given in previous lists or documents. Singapore underwent three successive rounds of character simplification , eventually arriving at
868-623: Is referred to as the " big seal script ". The traditional narrative, as also attested in the Shuowen Jiezi dictionary ( c. 100 AD ), is that the Qin small seal script that would later be imposed across China was originally derived from the Zhou big seal script with few modifications. However, the body of epigraphic evidence comparing the character forms used by scribes gives no indication of any real consolidation in character forms prior to
930-547: Is used instead of 叠 in regions using traditional characters. The Chinese government stated that it wished to keep Chinese orthography stable. The Chart of Generally Utilized Characters of Modern Chinese was published in 1988 and included 7000 simplified and unsimplified characters. Of these, half were also included in the revised List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese , which specified 2500 common characters and 1000 less common characters. In 2009,
992-627: The Good Words to Admonish the Age (by Liang Fa , 1832). He only briefly looked over and did not carefully examine it. Subsequently, Hong claimed to have experienced mystical visions in the wake of his third failure of the imperial examinations in 1837 and after failing for a fourth time in 1843, he sat down to carefully examine the tracts with his distant cousin Feng Yunshan , believing that they were "the key to interpreting his visions" coming to
1054-670: The Chinese language , with the other being traditional characters . Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of an initiative by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to promote literacy, and their use in ordinary circumstances on the mainland has been encouraged by the Chinese government since the 1950s. They are the official forms used in mainland China and Singapore , while traditional characters are officially used in Hong Kong , Macau , and Taiwan . Simplification of
1116-545: The God Worshipping Society in Guangxi after a missionary journey there in 1844 to spread Hong's ideas. In 1847, Hong became the leader of the secret society. The Taiping faith, inspired by missionary Christianity, says one historian, "developed into a dynamic new Chinese religion... Taiping Christianity". Hong presented this religion as a revival and a restoration of the ancient classical faith in Shangdi ,
1178-674: The Han dynasty , and were abolished only with the establishment of the Republic of China . Zhou is generally translated as "province" or "region" for the period before the Sui dynasty , and "prefecture" for the period from the Sui dynasty onwards. The People's Republic of China has revived the word zhou as part of the term "zizhizhou" ( 自治州 ), which is translated as "autonomous prefectures", as described above. Fu ( 府 ) were first established during
1240-496: The Warring States period , and have existed continuously ever since. Today, they continue to form an important part of the political divisions of China. Xian has been translated using several English language terms. In the context of ancient history, "district" and "prefecture" are the most commonly used terms, while "county" is generally used for more contemporary contexts. Zhou ( 州 ) were first established during
1302-488: The fu . Prefectures are administrative subdivisions of provincial-level divisions . The constitution of the People's Republic of China does not endorse any prefecture-level division, except for autonomous prefectures. Prefectures and leagues are not at all mentioned; provinces are explicitly stated to be divided directly into counties. The administrative commission ( Chinese : 行政公署 ; pinyin : xíngzhèng gōngshǔ )
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#17327662673251364-464: The prefectural and provincial examinations , where local scholars competed for the chance to rise to power in the imperial civil service. One of the native tracts, Liang's nine-part, 500-page tome, Good Words to Admonish the Age , found its way into the hands of Hong Xiuquan in the mid-1830s, although it remains a matter of debate during which exact examination this occurred. Hong initially leafed through it without interest. Feng Yunshan formed
1426-476: The "Crown Prince" "Heavenly Elder Brother" (太子天兄), which was in turn to be written beneath "God the Heavenly Father and Great Shangdi" (天父皇上帝) Beginning with Robert Morrison in 1807, Protestant missionaries began working from Macao , Pazhou (known at the time as Whampoa), and Guangzhou (Canton). Their household staff and the printers they employed for Morrison's dictionary and translation of
1488-1221: The "Dot" stroke : The traditional components ⺥ and 爫 become ⺈ : The traditional component 奐 becomes 奂 : Prefecture (China) Autonomous regions Sub-provincial autonomous prefectures Autonomous prefectures Leagues (Aimag) (abolishing) Prefectures Provincial-controlled cities Provincial-controlled counties Autonomous counties County-level cities Districts Ethnic districts Banners (Hoxu) Autonomous banners Shennongjia Forestry District Liuzhi Special District Wolong Special Administrative Region Workers and peasants districts Ethnic townships Towns Subdistricts Subdistrict bureaux Sum Ethnic sum County-controlled districts County-controlled district bureaux (obsolete) Management committees Town-level city Areas Villages · Gaqa · Ranches Village Committees Communities Capital cities New areas Autonomous administrative divisions National Central Cities History: before 1912 , 1912–49 , 1949–present Prefectures are one of four types of prefecture-level divisions in China ,
1550-459: The "external appearances of individual graphs", and in graphical form ( 字体 ; 字體 ; zìtǐ ), "overall changes in the distinguishing features of graphic[al] shape and calligraphic style, [...] in most cases refer[ring] to rather obvious and rather substantial changes". The initiatives following the founding of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) to universalize the use of their small seal script across
1612-884: The 11th day of the first lunar month of 1851, which was also Hong Xiuquan's birthday, the God Worshipping Society proclaimed the Jintian Uprising against the ruling Qing dynasty , and declared the formation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom , thus beginning the Taiping Rebellion , which has been described as the "most gigantic man-made disaster" of the nineteenth century. The God Worshippers trained to fight were considered Protestant revolutionaries. Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write
1674-482: The 1986 General List of Simplified Chinese Characters , hereafter the General List . All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Chart 1 and Chart 2 in the 1986 Complete List . Characters in both charts are structurally simplified based on similar set of principles. They are separated into two charts to clearly mark those in Chart 2 as 'usable as simplified character components', based on which Chart 3
1736-520: The 1986 mainland China revisions. Unlike in mainland China, Singapore parents have the option of registering their children's names in traditional characters. Malaysia also promulgated a set of simplified characters in 1981, though completely identical to the mainland Chinese set. They are used in Chinese-language schools. All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Charts 1 and 2 of
1798-484: The Bible —men like Cai Gao , Liang Afa , and Qu Ya'ang —were their first converts and suffered greatly, being repeatedly arrested, fined, and driven into exile at Malacca . However, they corrected and adapted the missionaries' message to reach the Chinese, printing thousands of tracts of their own devising. Unlike the westerners, they were able to travel through the interior of the country and began to particularly frequent
1860-574: The CPPCC is a branch of the provincial committee of the CPPCC, not an individual society entity. The same is valid for provincial CPPCCs, which are formally sections of the national CPPCC. The term "prefecture" derives from the former circuit , which was a level between provinces and the counties during the Qing dynasty . In 1928, the government of the Republic of China abolished circuits and provinces began to administer counties directly; however, this reform
1922-470: The Chinese government published a major revision to the list which included a total of 8300 characters. No new simplifications were introduced. In addition, slight modifications to the orthography of 44 characters to fit traditional calligraphic rules were initially proposed, but were not implemented due to negative public response. Also, the practice of unrestricted simplification of rare and archaic characters by analogy using simplified radicals or components
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1984-497: The God Worshipping Society took on a more rebellious character. Hong began to describe himself as a king and explicitly identified the ruling Manchus and their supporters as demons which must be destroyed. The God Worshippers treated their entire community as a family, leading to establishment of a common treasury and a requirement of chastity. In January 1848, Feng Yunshan was arrested and banished to Guangdong . Hong Xiuquan left for Guangdong shortly thereafter to reunite with Feng. In
2046-692: The Han tradition. The Society was militant from its inception, due to the prevalence of both intervillage fighting and conflicts between Hakka and non-Hakka villagers. Generally, individuals did not convert alone, but rather entire families, clans, occupational groups, or even villages would convert en masse . On 27 August 1847, when Hong Xiuquan returned to the Thistle Mountains , the God Worshipers numbered over 2,000. At this time, most God Worshippers were peasants and miners. With Hong's return,
2108-522: The absence of both Feng and Hong, two new leaders emerged to fill the void: Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui . Both claimed to enter trances which allowed them to speak as a member of the Trinity : God the Father (Shangdi) in the case of Yang and Jesus Christ in the case of Xiao. While speaking as Jesus or Shangdi, Xiao and Yang would necessarily have more authority than even Hong Xiuquan. Upon their return in
2170-532: The area and continued to preach. After Hong's departure, Feng traveled deeper and deeper into the heart of the Thistle Mountain region, preaching and baptizing new converts. Feng christened this group of believers the "God Worshipping Society". Hakkas from this area, generally poor and beset by both bandits and local Chinese families angry at the presence of the Hakka in their ancestral lands, found refuge in
2232-428: The character set are altered. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms that embody graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms. In addition, variant characters with identical pronunciation and meaning were reduced to a single standardized character, usually the simplest among all variants in form. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification and are thus identical between
2294-407: The chosen variants, those that appear in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" are also simplified in character structure accordingly. Some examples follow: Sample reduction of equivalent variants : Ancient variants with simple structure are preferred : Simpler vulgar forms are also chosen : The chosen variant was already simplified in Chart 1 : In some instances, the chosen variant
2356-407: The conclusion that he was "the son of God the Father , Shangdi, and was the younger brother of Jesus Christ who had been directed to rid the world of demon worship." The God Worshipping Society believed in divine filiation , the scriptural concept that all Christian believers become sons and daughters of God when redeemed by Christ. Hong did not claim to have a supernatural birth; Hong Xiuquan
2418-473: The country's writing system as a serious impediment to its modernization. In 1916, a multi-part English-language article entitled "The Problem of the Chinese Language" co-authored by the Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao (1892–1982) and poet Hu Shih (1891–1962) has been identified as a turning point in the history of the Chinese script—as it was one of the first clear calls for China to move away from
2480-426: The early 20th century. In 1909, the educator and linguist Lufei Kui formally proposed the use of simplified characters in education for the first time. Over the following years—marked by the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that toppled the Qing dynasty , followed by growing social and political discontent that further erupted into the 1919 May Fourth Movement —many anti-imperialist intellectuals throughout China began to see
2542-634: The first official list of simplified forms was published, consisting of 324 characters collated by Peking University professor Qian Xuantong . However, fierce opposition within the KMT resulted in the list being rescinded in 1936. Work throughout the 1950s resulted in the 1956 promulgation of the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme , a draft of 515 simplified characters and 54 simplified components, whose simplifications would be present in most compound characters. Over
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2604-463: The first round—but was massively unpopular and never saw consistent use. The second round of simplifications was ultimately retracted officially in 1986, well after they had largely ceased to be used due to their unpopularity and the confusion they caused. In August 2009, China began collecting public comments for a revised list of simplified characters; the resulting List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters lists 8,105 characters, including
2666-475: The following decade, the Script Reform Committee deliberated on characters in the 1956 scheme, collecting public input regarding the recognizability of variants, and often approving forms in small batches. Parallel to simplification, there were also initiatives aimed at eliminating the use of characters entirely and replacing them with pinyin as an official Chinese alphabet, but this possibility
2728-458: The founding of the Qin. The Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) that inherited the Qin administration coincided with the perfection of clerical script through the process of libian . Eastward spread of Western learning Though most closely associated with the People's Republic, the idea of a mass simplification of character forms first gained traction in China during
2790-452: The group with its promise of solidarity. While the God Worshipping Society shared some similar characteristics with traditional Chinese secret societies, it differed in that the participants adopted a new religious faith that firmly rejected Chinese tradition as for the one established by the Manchu regime, since they believed that they were following the Chinese tradition, but the original,
2852-466: The increased usage of 朙 was followed by proliferation of a third variant: 眀 , with 目 'eye' on the left—likely derived as a contraction of 朙 . Ultimately, 明 became the character's standard form. The Book of Han (111 AD) describes an earlier attempt made by King Xuan of Zhou ( d. 782 BC ) to unify character forms across the states of ancient China , with his chief chronicler having "[written] fifteen chapters describing" what
2914-465: The left, with the 月 'Moon' component on the right. Li Si ( d. 208 BC ), the Chancellor of Qin, attempted to universalize the Qin small seal script across China following the wars that had politically unified the country for the first time. Li prescribed the 朙 form of the word for 'bright', but some scribes ignored this and continued to write the character as 明 . However,
2976-402: The most prominent Chinese authors of the 20th century, stated that "if Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die" ( 漢字不滅，中國必亡 ). During the 1930s and 1940s, discussions regarding simplification took place within the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party. Many members of the Chinese intelligentsia maintained that simplification would increase literacy rates throughout the country. In 1935,
3038-430: The public and quickly fell out of official use. It was ultimately formally rescinded in 1986. The second-round simplifications were unpopular in large part because most of the forms were completely new, in contrast to the familiar variants comprising the majority of the first round. With the rescission of the second round, work toward further character simplification largely came to an end. In 1986, authorities retracted
3100-465: The recently conquered parts of the empire is generally seen as being the first real attempt at script reform in Chinese history. Before the 20th century, variation in character shape on the part of scribes, which would continue with the later invention of woodblock printing , was ubiquitous. For example, prior to the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) the character meaning 'bright' was written as either 明 or 朙 —with either 日 'Sun' or 囧 'window' on
3162-481: The same set of simplified characters as mainland China. The first round was promulgated by the Ministry of Education in 1969, consisting of 498 simplified characters derived from 502 traditional characters. A second round of 2287 simplified characters was promulgated in 1974. The second set contained 49 differences from the mainland China system; these were removed in the final round in 1976. In 1993, Singapore adopted
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#17327662673253224-467: The second round completely, though they had been largely fallen out of use within a year of their initial introduction. That year, the authorities also promulgated a final version of the General List of Simplified Chinese Characters . It was identical to the 1964 list save for 6 changes—including the restoration of 3 characters that had been simplified in the first round: 叠 , 覆 , 像 ; the form 疊
3286-464: The second-level administrative division in the country. While at one time prefectures were the most common prefecture-level division, they are in the process of being abolished and only seven formally-designated prefectures remain. The term "prefecture" is also used as a translation of three unrelated types of administrative divisions that were historically in use in China: the xian , the zhou , and
3348-470: The standing committee of the provincial people's congress is dispatched and supervises the prefecture governments but can not elect or dismiss prefecture governments. The prefecture's working committee of the provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPCC) is a part of the prefecture's committee of the CPPCC. This means that the prefecture's working committee of
3410-534: The summer of 1849, Hong and Feng investigated Yang and Xiao's claims and declared them to be genuine. In February 1850, local corps passed through a number of God Worshipping villages and threatened to kill the converts. In response, Feng Yunshan began to call for open revolt by the God Worshippers. In July 1850, the God Worshipper's leaders directed their followers to converge in Jintian and quickly amassed
3472-497: The traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. The Chinese government has never officially announced the completion of the simplification process after the bulk of characters were introduced by the 1960s. In the wake of the Cultural Revolution , a second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977—largely composed of entirely new variants intended to artificially lower the stroke count, in contrast to
3534-833: The traditional character 強 , with 11 strokes is standardised as 强 , with 12 strokes, which is a variant character. Such characters do not constitute simplified characters. The new standardized character forms shown in the Characters for Publishing and revised through the Common Modern Characters list tend to adopt vulgar variant character forms. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as structurally simplified characters. Some examples follow: The traditional component 釆 becomes 米 : The traditional component 囚 becomes 日 : The traditional "Break" stroke becomes
3596-522: The use of characters entirely. Instead, Chao proposed that the language be written with an alphabet, which he saw as more logical and efficient. The alphabetization and simplification campaigns would exist alongside one another among the Republican intelligentsia for the next several decades. Recent commentators have echoed some contemporary claims that Chinese characters were blamed for the economic problems in China during that time. Lu Xun , one of
3658-411: Was God who performed them; also commenting on Romans 9, Hong wrote that "Christ is God's Heir Apparent ... [but] is not God" and regarding Mark 12, he wrote that Christ could not be God because "there would be two Gods". He did however believe that Jesus was an actual son of God, not a mere human messenger. Hong depicted God like traditional Chinese folk deities as an old man with golden beard, wearing
3720-464: Was abandoned, confirmed by a speech given by Zhou Enlai in 1958. In 1965, the PRC published the List of Commonly Used Characters for Printing [ zh ] (hereafter Characters for Printing ), which included standard printed forms for 6196 characters, including all of the forms from the 1956 scheme. A second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977, but was poorly received by
3782-494: Was merely regarded as the second eldest son of Shangdi after Jesus Christ, with Feng Yunshan as third eldest son, and Yang Xiuqing the fourth eldest. Wei Changhui was recognized as fifth brother of Jesus, Xiao Chaogui as their sixth brother, Shi Dakai as their seventh brother, and Hong's son was called the nephew of Jesus. Hong Xiuquan's writings expressed rejection of the divinity of Jesus, for example, denying that Jesus performed miracle healing on his own, but rather that it
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#17327662673253844-482: Was soon found unfeasible because some provinces had hundreds of counties. Consequently, in 1932, provinces were again subdivided into several prefectures, and regional administrative offices were set up. In general the word "prefecture" is applied to xian for the period before the Sui and Tang dynasties; for the period after, xian are called "districts" or "counties", while "prefectures" refer to zhou and fu . Xian ( 县 / 縣 ) were first established during
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