Traditional

Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets used to write the Chinese language, with the other being simplified characters. Traditional characters were predominant in written Chinese until the middle of the 20th century. Today, they are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia. In the mid-20th century, People's Republic of China began standardizing simplified Chinese, mostly with characters that existed before as variants, sometimes merging previously distinct character forms. "Traditional" as such is a retronym applied to non-simplified character. As for non-Chinese languages using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as shinjitai standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts. Korean hanja remain virtually identical to traditional Chinese characters. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese. Many Chinese-language systems and websites allow users to switch between the two character sets.