Talk:Qian Zhongshu
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[edit] Qian Zhongshu in Simplified Chinese
Qian was born when traditional characters (TC) were the standard and was named 錢鍾書, which literally means being fond (鍾 as in 鍾愛) of books or scriptures (書). In simplified Chinese (SC), the character for 鍾 was 钟, but 钟 was also SC for 鐘 meaning clock. Many SC-users subsequently confuse the two and write 錢鐘書 for TC, which looks ridiculous to those familiar with TC and understand his name. Subsequently, a "semi-simplified" character 锺 was "created", in hope to clarify when 钟 confused the readers between 鍾 and 鐘. Therefore, Qian's name in SC is sometimes written as 钱钟书 or 钱锺书. Other "context-dependent" simplified characters include 1.余 and 2.馀 and 3.餘, with (1) being the general simplification character for (3), but (2) is sometimes used to avoid confusion. Confusion as such is seen as one of the weaknesses of SC characters. -- Tonync 16:16, 20 May 2005 (UTC)
- To put it simpler, it is perfectly alright to write Qian Zhongshu's name as "钱钟书" in simplified Chinese. It was the man himself who preferred "钱鍾书" and some publishers obliged, and hence the two versions of his name on books by different publishers. Thanks Tonync for bringing this to our attention. :) --Plastictv 04:41, 21 May 2005 (UTC)
Qian himself preferred to write "钱锺书" which may seem like a mix between traditional and simplified Chinese. Usually, when "锺" is used in its ordinary meaning of "clock" or "bell", it is simplified to "钟" but when it is used for names of places and people (proper nouns) it is still written as "锺". --Sumple 22:13, 25 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] No personal pic?
Several seem to be available, just wondering why none used. Lycurgus 18:00, 9 June 2007 (UTC)
