二战后韩中日三国的汉字政策及要因分析

Abstract

After World War II, China, Japan, and South Korea faced severe devastation, with their economies, politics, and cultures in disarray. China, after the Second Sino-Japanese War, entered into a civil war, only stabilizing with the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Japan, under U.S. occupation, struggled with the war’s lingering effects, while Korea, liberated from Japan, was divided between Soviet-controlled North and U.S.-occupied South. The Korean War (1950-1953) further complicated the situation. To rebuild, these nations adopted significant reforms, including language policy changes. Influenced by Western civilization, China, Japan, and South Korea simplified their writing systems, replacing traditional Han characters and Latinizing scripts. In China, the PRC aimed to standardize language and reduce illiteracy by simplifying Chinese characters and implementing Hanyu Pinyin. Japan, under U.S. guidance, introduced a "National Language Reform" to simplify kanji and promote phonetic scripts. In South Korea, linguistic purism emerged as part of efforts to eliminate Japanese colonial influences, emphasizing the use of Hangul and reducing reliance on hanja. This paper explores the Chinese character policies of these countries, analyzing the motivations and effects of these reforms during the post-war era.