Chinese is written in two standard character sets. Simplified characters (简体字) are used in mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia. Traditional characters (繁體字) are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.
The spoken language does not change with the script: 学 in Beijing and 學 in Taipei are the same word, read xué, meaning “to study”. The difference is only in how the characters are written.
Where the simplified set comes from
Simplified characters were introduced in mainland China from the 1950s to make reading and writing easier to learn. Most simplifications follow a few patterns:
| Traditional | Simplified | Pattern | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 馬 | 马 | Cursive shape made standard | horse |
| 學 | 学 | Complex top part reduced | to study |
| 愛 | 爱 | Component removed | love |
| 國 | 国 | Inner part replaced | country |
| 語 | 语 | Side component simplified | language |
Many characters are identical in both sets, especially simple ones such as 人, 大, 中 and 你.
Which should you learn?
- Learn simplified if you are preparing for the HSK, plan to live, study or work in mainland China, or have no particular preference. The HSK uses simplified characters, and most learning materials do too.
- Learn traditional if your goal is Taiwan or Hong Kong, you want to read older texts, or you are preparing for Taiwan’s TOCFL exam.
Learning one set and later reading the other is common and easier than it sounds: once you know the simplified form, most traditional forms are recognisable.
Traditional characters on hanzi.ac
Word pages show the simplified form as the headword and list the traditional form beside it when it differs, for example 银行 — traditional 銀行. You can search with either set; searching 銀行 opens the same page as 银行.