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64-648: Lajia ( Chinese : 喇家 ; pinyin : Lǎjiā ) is a Bronze Age archaeological site in the upper reaches of the Yellow River , on the border between the Chinese provinces of Gansu and Qinghai . As at other sites of the Qijia culture (c. 2300–1500 BCE), the people of Lajia had an agricultural economy based primarily on millet cultivation and sheep herding. They also kept pigs for use in ritual activities, including making oracle bones , and experimented with

128-690: A catastrophic outburst flood of the Yellow River, which the authors incorrectly linked to the legendary Great Flood that, according to traditional Chinese historiography , led to the rise of the Xia dynasty . Other researchers considered this implausible, pointing out that the Lajia disaster took place over a hundred years after the 1920 earthquake, and that the lake that is supposed to have burst to produce this flood ceased to exist nearly 2000 years prior. The simultaneous deaths of many people at Lajia provides

192-443: 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

256-434: 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

320-464: A depressed fresh-water lake in a single catastrophe that has been the inspiration for the flood mythology" (Ryan and Pitman, 1998). The marine incursion, caused by the rising level of the Mediterranean, apparently occurred around 7,600 years ago. It remains an active subject of debate among geologists, with subsequent evidence discovered to both support and refute the existence of the flood, while

384-594: A different cause. According to Tchepalyga, global warming beginning from about 16,000 BP caused the melting of the Scandinavia Ice Sheet , resulting in massive river discharge that flowed into the Caspian Sea , raising it to as much as 50 metres (160 ft) above normal present-day levels. The Sea of Azov rose so high that it overflowed into the Caspian Sea. The rise was extremely rapid and

448-407: 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

512-540: A flattened-out Antarctica with a sheet of water 10 metres (33 ft) deep. That volume was added to the world's oceans in a matter of months. The detailed timing and rates of change after the onset of melting of the great ice-sheets are subjects of continuing study. A theory proposed by Andrey Tchepalyga of the Russian Academy of Sciences dates the flooding of the Black Sea basin to an earlier time and from

576-462: A glassy surface, a kind of proto- porcelain . Clays rich in flux were selected for their ability to vitrify at these temperatures. However, the technique used by the Lajia potters was unreliable and required large amounts of fuel, which is perhaps why the use of this proto-porcelain remained uncommon. Lajia was destroyed by a natural disaster at Jishi Gorge that buried the site in mud and killed many of its inhabitants. The cause of this catastrophe

640-411: A high temperature-fired pottery described as proto- porcelain . The world's oldest known noodles were discovered at the site in 2005. A natural disaster buried the site and killed many of its inhabitants in around 1920 BCE, but archaeologists continue to debate the exact cause of the catastrophe. Lajia is associated with the Qijia culture , an archaeological culture of northwestern China dated to

704-537: A megaflood (Gilbert, 1890) describes this event. The last of the North American proglacial lakes, north of the present Great Lakes, has been designated Glacial Lake Ojibway by geologists. It reached its largest volume around 8,500 years ago, when joined with Lake Agassiz. But its outlet was blocked by the great wall of the glaciers and it drained by tributaries, into the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers far to

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768-610: 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

832-518: 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 ),

896-512: A rare opportunity to study family relationships within prehistoric households. Analysis of ancient DNA from the remains of twelve people in one house showed that they belonged to multiple maternal lineages, ruling out a matrilineal social structure. 35°49′40″N 102°51′15″E  /  35.82778°N 102.85417°E  / 35.82778; 102.85417 Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write

960-440: 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,

1024-406: Is debated. The excavators of the site originally proposed a combination of simultaneous earthquakes and flooding of the Yellow River and mountain gullies. More recent research has pointed to localised flash flooding and severe mudflows , which are known to occur in the area and could have been exacerbated by human activity. A controversial 2016 study proposed that an earthquake in 1920 BCE triggered

1088-454: 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

1152-813: 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

1216-623: 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

1280-423: Is the lake overflow that caused one of the worst landslide-related disasters in history on June 10, 1786. A landslide dam on Sichuan's Dadu River , created by an earthquake ten days earlier, burst and caused a flood that extended 1,400 km (870 mi) downstream and killed 100,000 people. Postglacial rebound changes the tilt of ground. In lakes, this means that shores sink in the direction farther away from

1344-547: 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,

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1408-543: The Channeled Scablands . Lake Bonneville , a pluvial lake , burst catastrophically in the Bonneville Flood about 14,500 years ago, due to its water overflowing and washing away a sill composed of two opposing alluvial fans which had blocked a gorge . Lake Bonneville was not a glacial lake, but glacial age climate change determined the lake level and its overflow. The first scientific report of

1472-670: 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

1536-622: The Strait of Gibraltar into the desiccated Mediterranean basin , following the Messinian salinity crisis during which it repeatedly became dry and re-flooded, dated by consensus to before the emergence of modern humans. The Mediterranean did not dry out during the most recent glacial maximum . Sea level during glacial periods within the Pleistocene is estimated to have dropped only about 110 to 120 metres (361 to 394 ft). In contrast,

1600-596: The "Dot" stroke : The traditional components ⺥ and 爫 become ⺈ : The traditional component 奐 becomes 奂 : Outburst flood Megafloods are paleofloods (past floods) that involved rates of water flow larger than those in the historical record. They are studied through the sedimentary deposits and the erosional and constructional landforms that individual megafloods have created. Floods that are known to us through historical descriptions are mostly related to meteorological events, such as heavy rains, rapid melting of snowpacks, or combination of these. In

1664-459: 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

1728-482: 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

1792-520: 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

1856-623: The Caspian basin could not contain all the floodwater, which flowed from the northwest coastline of the Caspian Sea, through the Kuma-Manych Depression and Kerch Strait into the Black Sea basin. By the end of the Pleistocene this would have raised the level of the Black Sea by some 60 to 70 metres (200 to 230 ft) 20 metres (66 ft) below its present-day level, flooding large areas that were formerly available for settlement or hunting. Tchepalyga suggests this may have formed

1920-470: 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

1984-432: The Lajia noodles must have incorporated other starches, perhaps barley or wheat . Remnants of grains, including foxtail and broomcorn millet, and stems of Hordeum and Triticum species, have also been found at the site. The inhabitants used stone knives to process, peel, and cut them. The inhabitants of Lajia kept domesticated sheep, pigs and cattle. Sheep were primarily used for their milk and wool, but were also

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2048-549: The Qijia period, the Guanting Basin was relatively warm and moist. The staple cereal crop of the Qijia culture was millet , which requires high rainfall and temperature to grow. A significant decrease in mean annual precipitation and mean annual temperature occurred between 1800 and 1400 BCE. This coincided with the demise of the Qijia culture, perhaps because their reliance on millet cultivation meant they could not adapt to

2112-662: The areas of the modern lakes, but their drainage sometimes passed south, into the Mississippi system; sometimes into the Arctic, or east into the Atlantic. The most famous of these proglacial lakes was Lake Agassiz . As ice-dam configurations failed, a series of great floods were released from Lake Agassiz, resulting in massive pulses of freshwater added to the world's oceans. The Missoula Floods of Oregon and Washington states were also caused by breaking ice dams, resulting in

2176-670: The barrier failed or was overtopped, loosing a catastrophic flood that permanently diverted the Rhine into the English Channel and replacing the "Isthmus of Dover" watershed by a much lower watershed running from East Anglia east then southeast to the Hook of Holland and (as at modern sea level) separated Britain from the continent of Europe; a sonar study of the sea bed of the English Channel published in Nature , July 2007, revealed

2240-458: The basis for legends of the great Deluge . The barrier across Bab-el-Mandeb , between Ethiopia and Yemen, seems to have been the source of outbreak flooding similar to that found in the Mediterranean. The Lake Toba event, approximately between 69,000 and 77,000 years ago, caused a massive drop in sea levels , exposing the barrier and enabling modern Homo sapiens to leave Africa via a route other than Sinai. The finding of saline evaporites on

2304-399: The changing climate. The world's oldest known noodles have been found at Lajia. The thin yellow strands were found in an upturned pot in 2005 and radiocarbon dated to around 4,000 years ago (c. 2000 BCE). They were originally thought to be made from a combination of foxtail and broomcorn millet , but subsequent experiments have showed millet alone could not have formed noodles, and that

2368-428: 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

2432-407: 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

2496-473: 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

2560-635: The discovery of unmistakable marks of a megaflood on the English Channel seabed: deeply eroded channels and braided features have left the remnants of streamlined islands among deeply gouged channels where the collapse occurred. A catastrophic flood refilled the Mediterranean Sea 5.3 million years ago, at the beginning of the Zanclean age that ended the Messinian salinity crisis . The flood occurred when Atlantic waters found their way through

2624-476: 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

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2688-634: 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

2752-463: 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

2816-569: The floor of the Red Sea confirms that this dam has functioned at various periods in the past. Rising sea levels during the Flandrian transgression (and in earlier interglacial periods) suggest that this area may have been subject to outburst flooding. Originally there was an isthmus across the Strait of Dover . During an earlier glacial maximum, the exit from the North Sea was blocked to

2880-475: 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

2944-543: The former maximum depth of ice. When the lake rests against an esker , water pressure increases with the increased depth. The esker may then fail under the load and burst, creating a new outflow. Lake Pielinen in Finland is an example of this. A rising sea flood, the proposed and much-discussed refilling of the freshwater glacial Black Sea with water from the Aegean , has been described as "a violent rush of salt water into

3008-511: 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

3072-480: The geological past of the Earth, however, geological research has shown that much larger events have occurred. In the case of outburst floods, such floods are typically linked to the collapse of a barrier which formed a lake. They fall in the following classification according to the mechanism responsible: Examples where evidence for large ancient water flows has been documented or is under scrutiny include: An example

3136-466: 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

3200-406: The late Neolithic and early Bronze Age periods (c. 2300–1500 BCE). Excavations at the site have unearthed various Qijia artifacts, including pottery, rings, stone, weapons and jade flakes. Its moat is also typical of Qijia sites. Some metal artifacts from Qijia sites are similar in style to finds from Central Asia and Siberia, suggesting frequent contact and cultural interactions. For most of

3264-465: 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,

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3328-451: The main source of meat. Pigs were not slaughtered for their meat, but used in ritual activities. Pig scapulae were modified for use as oracle bones for divination and, as is frequently seen at Qijia sites, deposited in burials. Wild deer remains have also been found at the site; they must have been hunted by the people of Lajia, or traded from elsewhere. The pottery used at Lajia included pieces fired at extremely high temperatures to produce

3392-402: 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,

3456-554: The north by an ice dam , and the water flowing out of rivers backed up into a vast lake with freshwater glacial melt on the bed of what is now the North Sea. A gently upfolding chalk ridge linking the Weald of Kent and Artois , perhaps some 30 metres (100 feet) higher than the current sea level, contained the glacial lake at the Strait of Dover . At some time, probably around 425,000 years ago and again around 225,000 years later

3520-430: 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

3584-465: 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

3648-481: 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

3712-467: 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

3776-448: The south. About 8,300 to 7,700 years ago, the melting ice dam over Hudson Bay 's southernmost extension narrowed to the point where pressure and its buoyancy lifted it free, and the ice-dam failed catastrophically. Lake Ojibway's beach terraces show that it was 250 metres (820 ft) above sea level. The volume of Lake Ojibway is commonly estimated to have been about 163,000 km (39,000 cu mi), more than enough water to cover

3840-597: The theory that it is the basis of later flood myths is not proven. Flooding of this area scattered peoples to both sides of the gulf depression. It was an area fed by four rivers. Rose calls it the "Gulf Oasis" which may have been a demographic refuge fed by the Tigris, Euphrates, Karun, and Wadi Batin rivers. It was suggested to be an area of freshwater springs and rivers. In North America , during glacial maximum, there were no Great Lakes as we know them, but "proglacial" (ice-frontage) lakes formed and shifted. They lay in

3904-497: 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

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3968-833: 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

4032-522: 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

4096-464: 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

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