Many foreign students are perplexed with the two forms of Chinese characters when they take HSK preparation program in China. The Chinese characters experiences two kinds of character styles through the history, namely, the simplified characters and the original complex form of a simplified Chinese character. With the development of the characters, some people consider the simplified characters and the complex as two opposite character styles. As a matter of fact, the difference between simplified characters and the complex forms is not as much as one imagines.

There are as many as 2235 simplified Chinese characters but only a number of 482 simplified Chinese characters are simplified by the seven simplification methods mentioned before. Among the 482 simplified Chinese characters, 467 are in common use according to the statistics of the most frequently quoted modern Chinese characters. The number takes a proportion of 13.34 percent. Another 1753 Chinese characters apply the eight simplification method, namely the Chinese character component analogy. For example, the word 說話is simplified into 说话.飽餓is changed into饱饿. 駕駛 is simplified into 驾驶. The simplification methods like the above examples conform to some certain rules and they are easy to comprehend. The foreign students who learn to speak Chinese may be inclined to the learning of the simplified characters for the easy process of learning.

Then does the development of the Chinese characters always tend to the simplified trend? There is not an absolute to the answer to the question for the development of Chinese characters may be simplified or made complex. From the history of Chinese characters, the development of the Chinese characters tends to simplification. But during that period of development, there are characters which are made complex. For example, the word 云 is simplified into 雲, 须is changed into鬚.

Then what are the reasons causing the complexity of the Chinese characters? The reasons are easy to understand. In order to write more conveniently, much quicker and save trouble, the strokes of the Chinese characters are reduced. Moreover, for the purpose to distinguish with other words and to display the function of the Chinese characters to express meaning and sound, the strokes and Chinese character components are added. The complex process of the Chinese characters is to distinguish word meaning. Overall, the development of the Chinese characters is tending to simplification.