When is the exact date whereby China abolished Traditional Chinese and replaced it with Simplified Chinese??

Question

Anyone has any idea how did the Chinese manage to switch from reading and writing traditional chinese to a whole new simplified chinese?

ok, my fault. What I mean is Mainland China...

Answer 1

It began in 1956, and continued in the 1960s and 1970s, so there isn't really an exact date. It's more of a process. It was part of the cultural revolution, and it was at first difficult for people to adjust to, and even today the traditional Chinese exists in Hong Kong. Simplified Chinese was introduced in order to increase literacy.

Answer 2

I just want to make it clear that China never abolished Traditional Chinese though lots of people in the Mainland are using Simplified Chinese. Take Hong Kong as an example, it's part of China and all the people there are still using Traditional Chinese. Another point is that Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese read the same as far as the same character is concerned. I'd say there's a difference between the writing system in Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese, but never in their pronunciation.
One more point, Traditional Chinese is still being used by some people in some places(villages/cities) in China. That's what I saw when I visited China.

Answer 3

My gf grew up in Taiwan. From all that she's told me, this "simplified Chinese" is a bastardization of the language. Foreigners cannot pronounce Chinese easier - it's a hard language to pronounce in any writing. Simplified Chinese removes the context of the characters without the simplification of an alphabet. However, Taiwan is a small country, and China is Asia's powerhouse. To ignore simplified Chinese is to ignore the future. If possible I would love to learn both, but the reality is that we are both learning simplified Chinese for practicality and traditional Chinese for understanding and beauty.

Answer 4

China did abandon the traditional Chinese text since the communist took over. Hong Kong is still using the traditional version because it had been under the British rule until 1997 and when China took over, there was the thinking to maintain the status quo, so the traditional version is still being used.

Answer 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_chinese