Subject: Complete (?) list of problems with Jingbai's fantizi

From: Scott Horne <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 9 May 90 23:40:18 EDT

Here are all of the incorrect fantizi in Jingbai's document:

1) `lei4' `category' should have an extra dot.

2) `kuang4' (as in `qing2kuang4') should have a `san1 dian3 shui3'.

3) In this document, `hou4' `after' is written with the simplified character,
   which corresponds to the fanti character for the `hou4' of `huang2hou4'
   `queen'.  It should be written with a `shuang1 li4 ren2' and six other
   strokes.

4) The three-stroke `cai2' means `talent' in fantizi; `cai2' `still' is written
   with a `si1 zi4 pang2' and eighteen other strokes.

5) The `shen2' of `shen2me' is often written as `shen4' (`qi2' with an extra
   stroke).

6) The `me' of `shen2me' is written with `ma2' `hemp' and then the simplified
   `me'.

7) `wan4' `ten thousand' should be written with a `cao3 zi4 tou2' and nine
   other strokes.

8) The left-hand part of `ji2' `approach' should be written as `bai2' `white'
   above `bi3' `spoon'.

9) `li3' meaning `mile' is written as you have it; meaning `inside', it is
   written with `li3' `mile' inside a split `yi1' `clothes' (or with an
   `yi1 zi4 pang2').

10) As for `ji4' `already', see (8), above.

11) `qi4' `product' is written with an extra dot.

Additionally, there are the following mainland-style fantizi:

12) `zhe3' `person' should be written with an extra dot (likewise for all
    characters in which it occurs).

13) `guo4' `pass', `ti3' `body', &c, are written with

        ---
        |

    instead of

        ---
          |

14) `huang2' `yellow' is written with an extra `heng2'.

15) The last four strokes of `cheng2' `sequence, rule' should be a `ren2',
    not a `wang2'.

16) The right-hand part of the `pin1' of `pin1yin1' is written with eight
    strokes, as it is in `ping2' `scroll', which occurs correctly in this
    document.

17) `lu4' `record' is written with a slightly different right-hand component.

18) The right-hand component of `chun2' `pure' begins with a `pie3' stroke.

                                        --Scott

---

From: "J.B. WANG" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 May 90 10:03:00 EDT

I appreciate Scott's comments and list of incorrect FanTi, and I am aware
of it. As I said, we just have to put up with it. It takes an incredible
amount of time to polish up a font library, and we know how.

I would like to warn the net though, FanTi has no a straight cut standard.
Taiwan, Hong Kong and overseas all have different versions. Besides, we
should all believe that simplified characters or semi-simplified characters
will prevail. The reason is simple: people need efficiency more and more
than fancy or traditional. Another more important aspect is that 10 billion
mainland Chinese is too large a number compared to the population of
Taiwan Chinese, Hong Kong/Macau (which will soon return to PRC), and
overseas Chinese. The only thing we are waiting for is the economy strength
of mainland China. If one day, mainland China becomes a major business
partner of major western countries, simplified Chinese characters will
become a standard all over the world overnight. It was coming close,
unfortunately those butchers reversed the wheels.

Anyway, limited FanTiZi will be supported, and improved support will be
continued after the release. However, we (Yan, Zhao and I) agreed that
we won't give in an inch to other things persisted in Taiwan for
political (and stupid) reasons, such as BoPoMoFo and Taiwan (2 versions)
PinYin and CangJieMa. Although Taiwan had started intensive researches in
Chinese computing much much earlier than mainland, their advance and
achievements are really no match of the others. In certain aspects,
a dictatorship is very good in clearing up ambiguity. For instance, Singapore's
Primier Lee decided that simplified characters should be their standard,
overally you see a neatness in Singapore and chaos in Taiwan in Chinese
computing.

Sincerely yours,

JB Wang