Too Cool For School

Ten Years ago I got my first tattoo with a friend. We got matching Chinese Characters for 'friendship.' I was like everyone else who got a tattoo like this without really knowing what it meant. Now that I've been studying Mandarin for two years I know that it actually means 'Neutrality' or 'person in the middle,' or 'China person.' This isnt as bad as some Ive heard about-.

Why did I like the characters without even knowing what they meant? Maybe its like having a secret code written on yourself that only a few people know about.
I think though that my obsession with hanzi goes deeper. The beauty and history involved in the character are intriguing and a language is symbolic of an entire culture. I am certainly not alone in my fascination of 'eastern cool.' This trend, of using hanzi, may have started with Bruce Lee and Kung Fu movies but it keeps growing. Here are some examples:

In with the Old, In with the New

Calligraphy, the oldest style of Chinese typography was the standard way of writing for thousands of years. The text was created using a brush and ink. Writing was a high art form and a discipline practiced only by the well educated upper class. Most common people could write their own name and possibly a few other characters.
The character for Success (above) is written in traditional calligraphy. May it bring you much success in your future.


The 20th Century brought monumental changes to China. Mass illiteracy was blamed on the traditional calligraphy style of writing. The complex system was considered elitist and much too difficult to teach, print, and reproduce. It was blamed for the poor economy and mass poverty that China was facing.
In 1909 simplified versions of the traditional style were proposed, but it would be some time before mass education of China's people would take place.
Italian designer Marinetti's "Manifesto on Futurism" was republished in China in 1921 at the height of many anti-imperialist movements. Futurism helped spurn leftist intellectuals towards speed and hope for the future.
As part of the Cultural Revolution led by Mao Zedong, the first round of simplified characters was published by China's government in 1956, with another document published in 1964. This chart (above) shows columns from left to right: traditional, simplified, pinyin(phonetic), and English translation. These can be written using a normal pen or pencil. A second round came out in 1977 but was retracted a few short years later. Today the widely used simplified characters are practically identical to Mao's 1964 version.
Futurism is alive in China today, influencing cutting edge design. Though many type designers and graphic artists do not want the beautiful traditional characters to disappear from China's culture. Many publications are printed using both simplified and traditional styles of Hanzi, as well as English! Like this summer of 2009 movie poster.

Its Automagical!

Song typeface (serif)



Black typeface (sans serif)

Here are examples of two common Chinese typefaces. The shape of each radical will need to transform slightly inside each 'glyph' or character to retain an aesthetic balance. For this reason Chinese printers will carve a plate for each page of print. Programming a digital font for a system of ideographs like Chinese is equally as time consuming. One of the techniques used to do this employs a human calligrapher or experienced designer(human?). The designer's brain is attached to a writing utensil which is then attached to the computer's processor. An element of mystery makes this process semi-automagical. The number of Chinese fonts available are limited. I can't find a specific number, anyone know?

These the characters for Hanzi written in the cursive style. These same two characters are used to represent Japanese Kanji and Korean Hanja. This seems similar to how Latin-root and romance languages use similar letters (the alphabet) to make different words and sounds.

Hanzi Roots

The roots meaning of the characters or Hanzi of Mandarin Chinese often relate to the overall meaning of the word. Sometimes a complex word containing many characters will have a root character called a 'radical' that will help us have a greater understanding of the history, context and definition of that word. Some of my favorites are the 'sun' radical, fire, horse, grass, rain and lightning, mouth, hand, and silk radical. It is easy to see that these Hanzi were once hand painted pictures representing the specific subjects they are named after.
Chinese is the oldest continually used language in the world. Crude carvings and pictographs have been found dating back 8000 years and more. These can't necessarily be called a language but they have linked to more recent uses of Chinese. The earliest true records date between 3000 and 5000BC.
I would say those are some pretty deep roots.