China’s national language authority recently unveiled an expanded Chinese Coded Character Set, a significant advancement in the realm of computing and preservation of Chinese characters. As reported by Central China Television on Sunday, this update allows over 17,000 rare Chinese characters to be recognized by computer systems, bringing the total number of characters in the set to a remarkable 88,115.
Set to be implemented nationwide from August 1, this digital transformation will be rolled out in institutions such as hospitals and police stations. The primary aim is to facilitate the input of infrequently used Chinese characters, particularly those found in some individuals’ names. Furthermore, this digitization process also contributes to the preservation of traditional culture.
Computer science insider, Zhang Ji described the expansion as a “great progress”. He further explained that the widely used American Standard Code for Information Interchange, which is designed for the 26 English letters, has significant limitations when it comes to converting Chinese characters for computer use.
Instead, China now uses a different standard code known as GB18030, which accommodates both simplified and traditional Chinese characters, enabling their input on computers and mobile phones.
The task of encoding a character depends on the work of the International Organization for Standardization ISO/IEC 10646. Zhang clarified that encoding these rare characters is a complex process. Each year, China submits about 1,000 Chinese characters, but with the ISO meeting only twice a year to make decisions, it typically takes four to five years for Chinese characters to be officially recognized.
While there’s no concrete definition for a “rare” Chinese character, experts generally agree that any character with “extremely low usage” and which is unrecognizable to many can be deemed “rare”. Tan Jingchun, a language researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, explained that numerous characters have emerged and disappeared throughout China’s extensive history. Some characters, no longer in active use, have consequently become “rare”.
As of April, public data indicated that approximately 60 million people in China have names containing these rare characters. Linguist Tan Ruwei suggested that many parents opt for these uncommon characters when naming their children to avoid repetition. Often found in ancient poems rather than everyday language, these characters usually possess beautiful meanings. However, their rarity can sometimes cause practical problems.
Wang Zhe, a hospital employee, shared with the Global Times that his name, meaning “sagacious” and “philosophical”, caused considerable inconvenience as it was unrecognized by computer databases. It was only a few years ago that the character in his name became recognizable by computer systems, alleviating some of the hassle.
The upcoming version of the character set will include most of the rare characters used in people’s names and place names throughout the country, in addition to characters employed in specialized fields such as literature, science, and technology.
Liu Yongge, director of the Key Laboratory of Oracle Information Processing Department at Anyang Normal University, stressed the importance of preserving these rare Chinese characters for future studies. He compared them to the Oracle Bone Inscriptions, through which researchers have been able to learn about the Shang Dynasty society. These rare characters, he noted, reflect the past and deserve to be protected and studied.
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