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51-485: The Shaximiao Formation includes two distinct subunits: The upper and lower Shaximiao Formations ( simplified Chinese : 上 · 下 沙溪庙地层 ; traditional Chinese : 上·下沙溪廟地層 ; pinyin : shàng / xià Shāxīmiào dìcéng ), although they are commonly referred to as one, simply being called the "Shaximiao Formation". The upper Shaximiao Formation is also known as the Shangshaximiao Formation , and

102-563: A tuff bed supports traditional Middle Jurassic age for the lower part of the formation, with an average age of around 166.0 ± 1.5 Ma. The top of the Shaximiao Formation has been believed to be the end of the Tithonian age. The paleontologist who has made the largest contribution to the formation and its excavation is Dong Zhiming . He first examined the formation in 1975, after bone fragments were found embedded in rock from

153-443: 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

204-434: 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

255-407: 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

306-610: 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

357-573: 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 ),

408-472: A strong runner. Dong Zhiming , Zhou Shiwu, and Zhang Zicheng, who originally described the type species G. shiyii , thought it was most similar to Fabrosaurus and assigned it to the nebulous Fabrosauridae . Upon description of the second species "G." wucaiwanensis several years later, Dong elected to assign it to Hypsilophodontidae , an equally nebulous ( paraphyletic ) family of somewhat more derived small bipedal ornithischians , while at about

459-440: 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,

510-487: Is derived from the imperial ministry, bu , of public works, gong , in honour of the great poet Du Fu who in Sichuan worked for that ministry after 760, in the rank of shi yi , "junior consultant", which explains the specific name . As shi yi also can mean "register of lost objects" the specific name is at the same time a pun on the fact that the teeth were later separately found among the assorted bones collected during

561-454: 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

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612-813: 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

663-623: 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

714-547: 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,

765-644: The Bathonian to Callovian stages of the Mid Jurassic, while the Upper Shaximiao was thought to be Oxfordian in age. A paper by Wang et al. (2018), (recalibrated dates reported in Moore et al. (2020)), reported a zircon U-Pb age of 160.4 ± 0.4 mya for the lower part of the Shaximiao Formation, suggesting that the Shaximiao Formation is younger than previously thought. Contradicting this, U-Pb dates from

816-670: 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

867-477: The "Dot" stroke : The traditional components ⺥ and 爫 become ⺈ : The traditional component 奐 becomes 奂 : Gongbusaurus Gongbusaurus is a genus of ornithischian , perhaps ornithopod , dinosaur that lived between about 160 and 157 million years ago, in the Late Jurassic period . A small herbivore , it is very poorly known. Two species have been assigned to it, but as

918-459: 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

969-482: 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

1020-520: 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

1071-470: 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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1122-566: The Shaximiao Formation was once a lush forest, evidence of which has been found alongside dinosaur remains in the form of fossilised wood. Paleontologists speculate that the area also had a lake that was fed by a large river. Dinosaur remains would have been swept toward the lake over millions of years, thus accounting for the hundreds of specimens found. Based on biostratigraphy, the Lower Shaximiao Formation has been usually seen to date to 168 to 161 million years old, between

1173-1249: The Shaximiao Formation. Amongst these finds are fishes , amphibians , turtles , marine reptiles such as crocodiles and also pterosaurs . Bienotheroides , a Tritylodont Synapsid has been found there, as well as Sinobrachyops , a Labyrinthodont . Agilisaurus A. louderbacki Shunosaurus - Omeisaurus assemblage, Lower Shaximiao Formation [REDACTED] Gongbusaurus G. shiyii Mamenchisaurus assemblage, Upper Shaximiao Formation Teeth Hexinlusaurus H. multidens Shunosaurus - Omeisaurus assemblage, Lower Shaximiao Formation [REDACTED] Xiaosaurus X. dashanpuensis Shunosaurus - Omeisaurus assemblage, Lower Shaximiao Formation Yandusaurus Y. hongheensis Mamenchisaurus assemblage, Upper Shaximiao Formation Chialingosaurus C. kuani Mamenchisaurus assemblage, Upper Shaximiao Formation A stegosaurian. [REDACTED] Chungkingosaurus C. jiangbeiensis Mamenchisaurus assemblage, Upper Shaximiao Formation A stegosaurian. [REDACTED] Huayangosaurus H. taibaii Shunosaurus - Omeisaurus assemblage, Lower Shaximiao Formation A huayangosaurid with more spike-like plates than Stegosaurus . It

1224-485: The area – amounting to nearly 40  tonnes . The site was unknown until the early 1970s, when a Chinese gas company unearthed Gasosaurus in 1972. It would be the first of the many dinosaurs to be uncovered from the area. Most specimens found are held at the Zigong Dinosaur Museum which has been placed on the area during the mid-1980s. Despite being a frequented "dinosaur-quarry" at present,

1275-401: The area. The site was being demolished to make way for both a natural gas field facility and a vehicle park when Dong first saw the area. Amongst the extensive clearings, Dong found numerous bone fragments which were exposed. However, the specimens were being damaged due to bulldozers in the area and there would be little chance of closing the area as the state had invested millions of yuan in

1326-672: The beak ( premaxilla ), and the other, V9069-2, from the cheek ( maxilla ). These remains came from the Oxfordian -age Upper Shaximiao Formation in Sichuan , China and were found by a unit of the Chinese aerial survey behind an elementary school in the village of Huangtong , part of the Duxin commune, in Rongxian or Rong County. The type species Gongbusaurus shiyii was named and described by Dong, Zhou, and Zhang in 1983. The generic name

1377-428: 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

1428-407: 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

1479-473: 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

1530-454: The dig. Dong added a second species, "G." wucaiwanensis , in 1989 for a fragmentary skeleton (holotype IVPP 8302) including a partial lower jaw, three tail vertebrae , and a partial forelimb, and added another specimen ( paratype IVPP 8303) consisting of two hip vertebrae , eight tail vertebrae, and two complete hind limbs. A partial foot (IVPP 8304) and four separate dorsal vertebrae and a caudal vertebra were referred. These remains came from

1581-476: 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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1632-634: 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

1683-463: 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

1734-475: 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

1785-511: 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

1836-466: 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

1887-465: 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,

1938-564: The lower Shaximiao Formation is also known as the Xiashaximiao Formation , which are direct transliterations of the Chinese names. Both subunits primarily consist of purple-red mudstones, with variable sand inclusion. and siltstones with interbedded sandstones. The Shaximiao Formation has produced mainly sauropods , but has also held numerous other dinosaur types, such as theropods and stegosaurians amongst others. In total, over 8,000 pieces of bone have been unearthed from

1989-402: 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,

2040-477: The original name is based on teeth, there is no concrete evidence to connect the two species. Its fossils have been found in China . Gongbusaurus , by extrapolation from the remains of possible species "G." wucaiwanensis and other basal ornithopods, was a herbivorous bipedal animal around 1.3 to 1.5 meters (4.3 to 4.9 ft) long. The tibia of "G." wucaiwanensis is 19.5 centimetres long. It would have been

2091-430: 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

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2142-465: 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

2193-481: 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

2244-548: The same time, David B. Weishampel and Larry Witmer found Gongbusaurus to be an indeterminate basal ornithischian. The most recent reviews also found the genus to be a dubious ornithischian, and recommended renaming the better-known second species. Peter Galton has noted that the teeth on which Gongbusaurus is based resemble those of Sarcolestes and Gastonia , so the genus may actually be an ankylosaurian . Dong and his coauthors established Gongbusaurus on two small teeth, holotype IVPP V9069 : one, V9069-1, from

2295-467: 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

2346-453: The site already. It was not until 1985 that the government finally agreed to close the construction on the site, and by then Dong and his team had already excavated over 100 dinosaurs from the area, including several rare sauropod skulls. A dinosaur found in the Shaximiao Formation, Dashanpusaurus dongi , was named in tribute of both Dashanpu and Dong Zhiming. In addition to dinosaur finds, many other prehistoric finds have been uncovered from

2397-497: 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

2448-833: 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

2499-522: 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

2550-464: 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

2601-553: Was also one of the smallest known stegosaurs , at just 4.5 meters (15 feet) in length. [REDACTED] Gigantspinosaurus G. sichuanensis Mamenchisaurus assemblage, Upper Shaximiao Formation A stegosaurian. G. sp. Mamenchisaurus assemblage, Upper Shaximiao Formation A stegosaurian. Tuojiangosaurus T. multispinus Mamenchisaurus assemblage, Upper Shaximiao Formation Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write

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