Second Stage Simplifications

第二次汉字简化方案（草案）

Introduction

Following on from the formal introduction of simplified Chinese characters in the 1950s and 1960s, an attempt to promote a second stage of further, even more radical, simplifications was made in the late 1970s. In May 1975 the Chinese Writing Reform Committee 中国文字改革委员会 produced a first draft of Second Stage simplified characters for review by the State Council, and eventually on 29th December 1977 the final draft was published in the People's Daily 人民日报 and other newspapers. The following day the People's Daily started to use the characters in Table 1 of the Second Stage simplification tables, and continued to do so until July 1978. Postage stamps issued between June and November 1978 also made use of the new simplified characters. After the end of 1978 the new simplified characters were no longer used in official publications, and finally in 1986 they were officially withdrawn. Although these second stage simplifications rarely occur in printed matter, they are still frequently used in informal contexts such as in personal correspondence and on street signs.

References

• 二简字 (Chinese Wikipedia)
• 中国语言文字大事记

Tables of Second Stage Simplified Characters

The "Plan for the Second Stage of the Simplification of Chinese Characters (Draft)" 第二次汉字简化方案（草案） comprises two tables. Only the simplifications in Table 1 were used in newspapers and other publications during the brief trial of the Second Stage simplifications during 1977 and 1978.

Table 1 comprises two parts :

1. Non-Generic Simplifications 不作简化偏旁用的简化字 (172)
2. Generic Simplifications 不可作简化偏旁用的简化字 (21)

The simplifications given in Table 1 are listed below.

Table 2 outlines an even more extensive and radical plan of simplification, in eight parts :

1. Homophonic Substitutions 同音代替字 (72) : replace a complex character with a simpler homophone (e.g. 陡 dǒu is replaced by 斗 dǒu)
2. Pictophonetic Characters 形声字 (115) : write a character with a different, simpler phonetic element (e.g. the 夷 yí on the righthandside of 姨 is replaced by the homophonic 乙 yí)
3. Characteristic Characters 特征字 (32) : reduce a complex character to one characteristic component (e.g. 得 is reduced to its righthandside component)
4. Outline Characters 轮廓字 (23) : keep the outline of a character but omit some of the internal detail (e.g. the two internal strokes of 耳 are omitted)
5. Cursive Simplifications 草书楷化字 (16) : create a simplified character based on the cursive, grass script way of writing it (e.g. the character 身 is written similarly to the character 力)
6. Associative Characters 会意字 (6) : replace one component of a character with a different, more meaningful component (e.g. the 豕 "pig" component in 家 "family" is replaced by 人 "person")
7. Symbolic Characters 符号字 (5) : replace a complex component in a character with a simple component that has no relationship with the component that it is replacing (e.g. the 鬼 component in 魏 is replaced by 乚)
8. Generic Simplifications 简化偏旁 (24) : simplified forms of components that can be used in any character that has the component (e.g. the component 旁 is written as 㝑 in any character with the component, such as 傍, 谤, 榜, 膀, 磅, 镑, 耪 and 螃)

Many of the simplifications given in Table 2 are modern creations, but many of them derive from vulgar usage going back several centuries. Some examples of pre-modern simplifications related to those in Table 2 are given below.

Draft Plan for the Second Stage of the Simplification of Chinese Characters

This comprises both Table 1 and Table 2.

• page 1
• page 2
• page 3
• page 4
• page 5
• page 6

Source : 二简全表

1977 Edition of the Simplification Tables 简化字总表（第二版）

The second edition of the official Simplification Tables that was published in 1977 includes the simplifications from Table 1 of the Draft Plan for the Second Stage of the Simplification of Chinese Characters as an appendix, but does not include any of the simplifications given in Table 2.

• Back Cover
• page 33
• page 34
• page 35
• page 36

Source : Jianhuazi Zongbiao (2nd ed.) 简化字总表（第二版）. Beijing : Wenzi Gaige Chubanshe 文字改革出版社, 1977.

Sample Texts Using Second Stage Simplifications

Newspapers

From December 1977 to July 1978 second stage simplifications were used in the People's Daily 人民日报 and the Liberation Army Daily 解放军报.

Postage Stamps

• J28 [1978-6-20] : 寨 is written using the ultra-simplified form.
• T24 [1978-4-25] : 天气预报 "weather forecast" is written as 天气予报.
• T25 [1978-6-15] : 原 is written using the ultra-simplified form.
• T27 [1978-6-30] : 寨 is written using the ultra-simplified form.
• T29 [1978-8-26] : 漆 and 器 are written using the ultra-simplified forms (Stamps 3 and 7); 景泰蓝 is written as 景太兰 (Stamp 6); and 盒 is written as 合 (Stamp 7).
• T31 [1978-11-1] : 锡 is written using the ultra-simplified form.
• T34 [1978-11-30] : 寨, 面 and 展 on big posters in the painting are written using the ultra-simplified forms.

Reference : 新中国邮票文字上的错误(4).

Booklet of Two-Part Sayings

This booklet shows examples of second stage simplifications of various characters, including 道, 溜, 面, 清, 晴, 情 and 閻.

• Title Page
• page 1
• page 2
• page 3
• page 4
• page 5
• page 6

Source : Xiehouyu 歇后语. [No publication details]

These are my preliminary attempts to represent the second stage simplifications from Table 1 using existing Unicode characters or IDS sequences. This data is also available as a plain text file.

N.B. 〇 represents an unrepresentable component.

Non-Generic Simplifications (172)

Generic Simplifications (21)

The table below shows some of the more interesting examples of vulgar simplifications that are commonly encountered in Yuan and Ming editions of vernacular literature. Self-evident cursifications such as for rú 如, and simplifications involving reduction of strokes but not reduction of compositional elements, such as for tàn 歎, have been excluded. If you look carefully you may see other examples of second stage simplifications in the example texts. For example, the simplification of 腰 that is found in Part 8 of Table 2 may be seen in Xinbian Yue Kongmu Jie Tieguai Li Huanhun
新編岳孔目借鐵拐李還魂 3a (line 5).

Reference Glyph	Reference Source	Description
	Jingben Tongsu Xiaoshuo 京本通俗小説 11/02 (lines 13 & 14)	Simplified form of néng 能, comprising only the right-hand side of the full-form character. Included under Part 3 of Table 2.
	Jingben Tongsu Xiaoshuo 京本通俗小説 11/02 (line 22)	Simplified form of bà 罷.
	Jingben Tongsu Xiaoshuo 京本通俗小説 11/04b (line 8)	Simplified form of tài 態.
	Jingben Tongsu Xiaoshuo 京本通俗小説 11/02 (line 1 etc.)	Simplified form of niáng 娘.
	Jingben Tongsu Xiaoshuo 京本通俗小説 11/02 (line 13)	Cursive grass-script form of dé 得.
	Jingben Tongsu Xiaoshuo 京本通俗小説 11/02 (line 4)	Cursive grass-script form of xiāng 香.
	Guhang Xinkan Diben Guanmu Fengyue Ziyunting 古杭新刊的本關目風月紫雲庭 3a (line 12)	Cursive grass-script form of shì 事. Included under Part 5 of Table 2.
	Jingben Tongsu Xiaoshuo 京本通俗小説 11/02 (line 1) Xinbian Yue Kongmu Jie Tieguai Li Huanhun 新編岳孔目借鐵拐李還魂 3a (line 9)	Vulgar form of qián 錢. The first form is very common, and the second form is unusual.

In choosing the above examples I have mainly relied on the following well-known collections of vernacular literature :

• Quanxiang Pinghua Wuzhong 全相平話五種 (Beijing : Wenxue Guji Kanxingshe, 1956)
• Yuankan Zaju Sanshizhong 元刊雜劇三十種 (Beijing : Shangwu Yinshuguan, 1958)
• Ming Chenghua Shuochang Cihua Congkan 明成化說唱詞話叢刊 (Shanghai : Wenwu Chubanshe, 1976)

However, for convenience, and as it is by far the clearest text, I have used Jingben Tongsu Xiaoshuo 京本通俗小説 (Wenxue Guji Kanxingshe 1987 reprint) as the reference source for most of these vulgar form characters. There is some debate about the authenticity of this text, but that is not relevant here.

CJK Home Page

BabelStone Home Page