BabelStone Fonts : BabelStone Erjian

Description

BabelStone Erjian 1 and 2 are two Unicode Han fonts using the draft second stage simplified forms of characters (known informally as èrjiǎnzì 二简字) that are listed in 《第二次汉字简化方案（草案）》 [Draft Plan for the Second Stage of the Simplification of Chinese Characters] which was published in December 1977. The 1977 draft comprises two tables, Table 1 for simplifications intended for immediate use (and which were widely used in publications during 1978), and Table 2 which were intended to be implemented if the experiment with the Table 1 simplifications was a success. The experiment was not judged to be a success, and the use of Table 1 simplifications was stopped at the end of 1978, and the Table 2 simplifications were never put into official use.

Both fonts cover 8,157 high-frequency Hanzi, comprising 8,105 Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 characters listed in Tōngyòng Guīfàn Hànzì Zìdiǎn 通用规范汉字字典 (2013), and 52 other characters. "BabelStone Erjian 1" uses second stage simplified glyph forms for the characters listed in Table 1 only; whereas "BabelStone Erjian 2" uses second stage simplified glyph forms for the characters listed in Table 1 and Table 2 (where the glyph for the same character differs between Table 1 and Table 2, the form given in Table 2 is used). "BabelStone Erjian 1" covers 270 Table 1 simplifications and 99 additional derived simplifications. "BabelStone Erjian 2" covers 270 Table 1 simplifications, 664 Table 2 simplifications, and 522 additional derived simplifications. For both fonts the second stage simplifications are mapped to the corresponding standard simplified form of the character, even when the second stage simplication exists as an independent Unicode character. For nine word-level simplifications in Table 1 (e.g. 蚯蚓 simplifies to 丘引), and 19 word-level simplifications in Table 2 (e.g. 鹦鹉 simplifies to 婴武), the simplification is applied to the word only using OpenType substitution, and the individual characters by themselves are not simplified (except for characters such as 朦, which undergo the expected glyph simplification).

For further details on second stage simplifications in these fonts, please consult The Chart of Current Status for Second Stage Simplification in Unicode by Alexander Zapryagaev (Александр Запрягаев).

History of Second Stage Simplifications

Following on from the formal introduction of simplified Chinese characters in the 1950s and 1960s, an attempt to promote a second stage of further simplifications was made in the 1970s. In May 1975 the Chinese Writing Reform Committee (Zhōngguó Wénzì Gǎigé Wěiyuánhuì 中国文字改革委员会) produced a first draft of Second Stage simplified characters for review by the State Council, and eventually on 20th December 1977 the final draft (entitled Dì'èrcì Hànzì Jiǎnhuà Fāng'àn (cǎo'àn) 《第二次汉字简化方案（草案）》) was published in the People's Daily (Rénmín Rìbào 人民日报), the Guangming Daily (Guāngmíng Rìbào 光明日报) and other newspapers.

Announcement in the People's Daily (20th December 1977)	Second Stage Simplification Tables in the People's Daily

The draft comprised two tables, Table 1 with 172 individual simplifications and 21 generic simplifications, for immediate use; and Table 2 with a much larger number of simplifications for future use if the Table 1 simplifications proved successful. Table 1 only was added as an appendix to a new edition of the General Table of Simplified Characters (Jiǎnhuàzì Zǒngbiǎo 简化字总表) that was published in December 1977 (see "Sources" below). On 21st December 1977, the day after the draft was published, the People's Daily started to use the simplified characters listed in Table 1 only, and continued to do so until July 1978

Headline from the People's Daily (2nd February 1978)

哥德巴赫猜想

During 1978 the new simplified characters from Table 1 were widely used in newspapers, books, and publications of all kinds. Postage stamps issued between June and November 1978 also made use of the new simplified characters from Table 1.

Stamp J28-2 (1978)	Stamp T31-2 (1978)	Stamp T34-4 (1978)
全国财贸学大庆学大寨会议	公路拱桥 无锡 新虹桥	...全面发展

Stamp T25-1 (1978)	Stamp T29-3 (1978)
化学纤维・原料	犀牛（漆器）

“Friendship First, Competition Second”

友谊第一，比赛第二

However, the experiment was judged to have been a failure, and in July 1978 a directive to stop using the new simplified characters was issued. Although the new simplifications were not used in official publications after the end of 1978, they were not officially withdrawn until September 1986. Nevertheless, the new simplifications did not entirely die out, and were occasionally used in printed contexts during the 1980s. Even today simplified characters from Table 1 are often met with in informal contexts such as shop signage and personal correspondence.

Announcement of the Withdrawal of Second Stage Simplified Characters

People's Daily (28th September 1986)

Explanation to the Draft Second Stage Simplification Plan

Published in the People's Daily on 31st January 1978.

The article is written using Table 1 second stage simplifications, but discusses some Table 2 simplifications. All second stage simplifications are highlighted in red.

《第二次汉字简化方案（草案）》解释

中国文字改革委员会

一、《草案》是在什么范围内拟订的

　　汉字总数约六万，通用字数在八千至一万之间，而常用字则只有四千五百个。那么，到底依据什么来确定整理和简化的范围呢？遵照毛主席关于简化汉字是为了有利于目前的应用的指示，根据现行汉字的使用情况和多年积累的经验，从汉字简化工作首先要为普及工农群众文化服务出发，汉字的整理和简化必须在常用字范围内进行。《草案》就是在四千五百个常用字范围内拟订的。这四千五百个常用字，是根据七种材料统计的：《毛泽东选集》一至四卷和《毛泽东著作选读》（乙种本）、《毛主席的五篇哲学著作》所用的字，一九五二年教育部公布的《常用字表》中的两千个常用字，原大辞典编纂处编印的三千五百个常用字，一九六五年人民教育出版社编的小学语文课本用字和一九七三年北京市编的小学语文课本用字。以上七种材料合计用字四千四百四十四个，接近四千五百字。

二、《草案》所收简化字的来源

　　毛主席指出：“‘从群众中来，到群众中去’的群众路线，是我们党一切工作的根本路线。”汉字简化工作更应该这样去做。广大群众对汉字进行的简化，充分显示了群众的创造精神和丰富的智慧。从事汉字简化工作，就是要总结群众创造简化字的规律，应用群众简化汉字的方法，在广泛搜集群众中流行的简化字的基础上，对汉字进行整理和简化。《草案》中所收简化字，是根据以下三种材料研究选用的：一是一九六〇年，教育部、文化部和中国文字改革委员会发出征集简化字的通知后，各省、市、自治区和部队推荐的群众中流行的新简化字材料。二是一九五六年《汉字简化方案》公布以来，群众来信中提供的新简化字材料。三是一九七二年中国文字改革委员会向各省、市、自治区征集的新简化字材料。

三、主要选用群众中流行的简化字

　　《草案》中所收的简化字，主要是从群众中流行的简化字中选用的，少数字是根据群众简化汉字的规律，采用群众简化汉字的方法拟制的。具体讲，分三种情况：一、《草案》中第一表所收的简化字，已在社会上广泛通行。这部分字，自发表之日起，即在图书报刊上试用，在试用中征求意见。二、《草案》还收入了一些在部分地区和某个行业中流行的简化字。例如：傅简作付，储简作储等；还有一些是从社会上流行的几种不同的简化形体中选用的。如“澈”有“沏、彻”等简化形体，《草案》选用了“彻”这一简体。“辨”有“卞、弁”等简化形体，“假”有“𠇺、假”等简化形体，《草案》分别选用了简体“弁”、“假”。三、有少量笔画较繁的常用字，群众迫切要求予以简化，但没有合适的简体可供选择，这部分字的简化形体，是根据群众简化汉字的方法拟制的，如舆（舆）、屹（屹）、鼠（鼠）等。上述两种情况的简化字，都收入了《草案》的第二表。第二表的简化字，还需要经过群众讨论，广泛征求意见，然后进行修改和补充。

四、简化汉字形体的同时精简了汉字的数量

　　《草案》将五百九十个原字简化为四百六十二个简化字（不包括按简化偏旁类推出来的三百九十一个简化字）。五百九十个原字的平均笔画为十三点一画，四百六十二个简化字的平均笔画为六点九画，简化字比原字的笔画减少几近一半。此外，《草案》还通过同音代替、处理异体字和采用一字两读等方法，精简了二百六十三个字，占五百九十个原字的百分之四十四点六。对于采用同音代替和处理异体字精简汉字的方法，大家都比较了解，这里不再多讲。现在着重谈谈一字两读这个方法。采用一字两读精简汉字的方法，也是广大群众创造的。群众形象地说，汉字是忙闲不均。有些字，笔画少，结构简单，但使用频率小，应该让它们多承担一些“责任”，把一些笔画繁、结构复杂的常用字的读音和意义兼起来。如彳亍的亍（chù），只有三画，但不常用，用它代替常用字“街”，既减少了好多笔画，又减少了一个字，使用时也不会发生意义的混淆。《草案》中的遇（遇）、橘（橘）等都属于这一类。

五、淘汰了一部分容易读错和写错的字

　　一九六〇年中共中央关于推广注音识字的指示中说：“为了加速扫盲和减轻儿童学习负担，现有的汉字还必须再简化一批”，“使难写难认难记、容易写错认错记错的字逐渐淘汰。”汉字的繁难，就字形来说，不仅表现在结构复杂、笔画繁多、难写、难认、难记这一方面，还表现在有一部份汉字容易读错和写错方面。《草案》淘汰了一部分这样的字。如臀部的臀（tún），容易错读为diàn，破绽的绽（zhàn），容易错读为dìng等。这两个字，《草案》把它们分别简化成臀、绽。简化以后就好读了，也不容易读错。另外，还简化了一部分容易写错的字，如祭字的上半部分很容易与癸字的上半部分相混，“稻”和“陷”的右半部分也都容易记错写差。《草案》把它们分别简化成祭、稻、陷，就不容易写错了。淘汰了这些容易读错和写错的字，就给初识字的人带来方便。

六、使一部分汉字的偏旁和笔画结构变成了常用字

　　多年来识字教学的经验证明，用分析汉字结构的方法进行教学，不仅教师易教，学生易学，而且使学过的字容易巩固。一九五六年《汉字简化方案》中，将一部分原来不能成字的偏旁和笔画结构，或者是一般人不认识的古字，变成了常用字：如厂、广、关、业、办、亏、儿、击、处等。这样就使相当一部分汉字的结构便于称说，一说就懂，因而大大便利了汉字的教学。比如：“庆”字只消说“广”字下再加一个“大”字就行了，因此易教、易学、易记。这类字深受广大教师和少年儿童的欢迎。这次《草案》中又将一部分汉字的偏旁和笔画结构变成了常用字。如雪（雪）、私（私）、雄（雄）、病（病）、餐（餐）、眉（眉）、修（修）等。

七、减少了一部分汉字的偏旁

　　一九五六年国务院公布《汉字简化方案》以来，群众纷纷建议将有关的一些偏旁进行合并，以减轻学习和使用的负担。例如，群众反映，狼、狗、狐和豺、豹等字的左偏旁不一样，应该合并，统一用“犭”这一偏旁。群众中类似这样的建议还有许多，这里不多列举。这次拟订《草案》时，根据群众的建议，对现行汉字的偏旁进行了适当的调整合并。如“豸”同“犭“合并，采用“犭“这一偏旁、“廴”同”辶”合并，采用“辶“旁。“舀”和“臽”合并简化为“舀”等。减少汉字的偏旁，不仅有利于识字教学，而且也为利用电子计算机和机械处理汉字，提供了一定的便利条件。

Withdrawal of the Draft Second Stage Simplification Plan

国务院批转国家语言文字工作委员会《关于废止〈第二次汉字简化方案（草案）〉

和纠正社会用字混乱现象的请示》的通知

（1986年6月24日）

　　国务院同意国家语言文字工作委员会《关于废止〈第二次汉字简化方案(草案) 〉和纠正社会用字混乱现象的请示》，现转发给你们，请贯彻执行。

　　1977年12月20日发表的《第二次汉字简化方案(草案)》，自本通知下达之日起停止使用。今后，对汉字的简化应持谨慎态度，使汉字的形体在一个时期内保持相对的稳定，以利于社会应用。当前社会上滥用繁体字，乱造简化字，随便写错别字，这种用字混乱现象，应引起高度重视。国务院责成国家语言文字工作委员会尽快会同有关部门研究、制订各方面用字管理办法，逐步消除社会用字混乱的不正常现象。为便利人们正确使用简化字，请《人民日报》、《光明日报》以及其他有关报刊重新发表《简化字总表》。

关于废止《第二次汉字简化方案（草案）》和纠正社会用字混乱现象的请示

国务院：

　　在今年1月召开的全国语言文字工作会议上，与会同志对《第二次汉字简化方案(草案)》长期未作定论和当前社会用字的严重混乱现象，提出了批评和建议。要求国家语言文字工作委员会尽快加以解决。现将有关问题请示如下：

　　一、由原中国文字改革委员会拟订的《第二次汉字简化方案(草案)》，经国务院批准，于1977年12月20日在中央和省、自治区、直辖市一级报纸上发表，在全国征求意见，其中第一表的简化字在出版物上试用。1978年4月和7月，原教育部和中宣部分别发出通知，在课本、教科书和报纸、刊物、图书等方面停止试用第一表的简化字。但是，这个草案并未废止。几年来，原中国文字改革委员会采取各种方式广泛征求各方面人士的意见，并对这个草案进行了多次修订。但在这个过程中，无论社会上或学术界，对要不要正式公布、使用这批新简化字，一直存在着不同的意见。

　　我们认为，1956年公布的《汉字简化方案》和1964年编印的《简化字总表》中的简化字已经使用多年，但有些字至今仍不能被人们准确使用，还需要经过一段时间的消化和巩固。同时考虑到汉字形体在一个时期内需要保持相对的稳定，这对社会应用和纠正当前社会用字的混乱现象较为有利。此外，当前规模最大的《汉语大字典》、《汉语大词典》、《中国大百科全书》以及其它多卷本工具书已经或即将出版；电子计算机的汉字库已采用固定掩膜体芯片存储，如现在再增加新简化字，将会造成人力、财力、物力上的巨大浪费。因此，我们建议国务院批准废止《第二次汉字简化方案(草案)》。

　　二、当前，社会上滥用繁体字和乱造简化字的现象比较严重，使用汉语拼音也有许多不准确的地方，已经引起国内外各方面人士的关注，纷纷提出批评意见。万里同志在全国语言文字工作会议上的讲话中指出："这种现象应该引起我们的注意，并采取切实有效的措施，加以干预和纠正。"为此，我们建议对社会用字作如下规定：翻印和整理出版古籍，可以使用繁体字；姓氏用字可以使用被淘汰的异体字。除上述情况及某些特殊需要者外，其他方面应当严格遵循文字的规范，使用规范汉字，不能随便使用被简化了的繁体字和被淘汰的异体字，也不能使用不规范的简化字。使用规范的简化字以1964年编印的《简化字总表》为准。具体要求如下：

　　1．报纸、杂志、图书、大中小学教材应严格使用规范汉字；

　　2．电影电视的片名、演员职员表和说明字幕要使用规范汉字；

　　3．文件、布告、通知、标语以及商标、广告、招牌、路名牌、站名牌、街道胡同名牌等要使用规范汉字；

　　4．汉字信息处理要使用规范汉字；

　　5．提倡书法家书写规范的简化字；

　　6．凡使用汉语拼音，拼写应当准确。

　　我们拟根据以上要求，会同有关部门分别制订各方面用字管理办法。

　　以上请示当否，请批示。

国家语言文字工作委员会

一九八六年二月二十五日

Second Stage Simplifications: Table 1

In the tables below the column labelled "Erjian" gives the second stage simplified form for the standard form character or characters shown in the column labelled "Standard". The second stage simplified forms in the "Erjian" column are displayed using the "BabelStone Erjian 1" font.

Table 1 Subtable 1 : Individual Simplifications (168 entries)

第一表: 一、不作简化偏旁用的简化字

This table lists individual simplifications that should not be automatically extended to other characters.

Table 1 Subtable 2 : Component Simplifications (21 entries)

第一表: 二、可作简化偏旁用的简化字

The simplifications in this table are extendable to any other character which has the standard form of the character as a component. Common derived simplifications based on this table are listed in Table 1 Subtable 3.

Table 1 Subtable 3 : Derived Simplifications (55 entries)

第一表: 三、应用21个可作简化偏旁用的简化字类推简化得出来的简化字

This table lists common derived simplifications based on the simplified components listed in Table 1 Subtable 2.

Second Stage Simplifications: Table 2

In the tables below the column labelled "Erjian" gives the second stage simplified form for the standard form character or characters shown in the column labelled "Standard". The second stage simplified forms in the "Erjian" column are displayed using the "BabelStone Erjian 2" font.

Table 2 Subtable 1 : Homophonic Substitutions (79 entries)

第二表: 一、同音代替字

This table lists individual simplifications to existing characters with the same pronunciation.

Table 2 Subtable 2 : Phonetic Simplifications (116 entries)

第二表: 二、形声字

This table lists individual simplifications with new phonetic components.

Table 2 Subtable 3 : Idiosyncratic Simplifications (32 entries)

第二表: 三、特征字

This table lists miscellaneous individual simplifications.

Table 2 Subtable 4 : Outline Simplifications (24 entries)

第二表: 四、轮廓字

This table lists individual simplifications where the outline of the standard character is maintained but internal strokes are omitted.

Table 2 Subtable 5 : Cursive Simplifications (16 entries)

第二表: 五、草书楷化字

This table lists individual simplifications based on existing cursive forms of characters.

Table 2 Subtable 6 : Semantic Simplifications (6 entries)

第二表: 六、会意字

This table lists individual simplifications where a completely new character is created from semantic components.

Table 2 Subtable 7 : Symbolic Simplifications (5 entries)

第二表: 七、符号字

This table lists individual simplifications where a complex component is replaced by a simple component which does not have a semantic or phonetic relatonship with the character.

Table 2 Subtable 8 : Generic Simplifications of Components (40 entries)

第二表: 八、简化偏旁

This table is divided into two parts. The first 24 entries are simplifications of components which are also characters in their own right (可作简化偏旁用的简化字), and the last 16 entries are components that are not commonly used as individual characters (不能单独成字的简化偏旁). 348 examples of characters that should have derived simplifications are listed in the table (336 characters in total, as some characters have two simplifiable components), although the actual simplified glyphs are not given in the published table.

Sources

Below are links to images of the sources for second stage simplifications.

Draft Plan for the Second Stage of the Simplification of Chinese Characters (1977)

《第二次汉字简化方案（草案）》

• Page 1
• Page 2
• Page 3
• Page 4
• Page 5
• Page 6

Appendix to General Table of Simplified Characters (1977)

《简化字总表》（第二版）附《第二次汉字简化方案（草案）》第一表

• Page 33
• Page 34
• Page 35
• Page 36

Unicode Mappings

The table below lists the Unicode characters corresponding to second stage simplified forms, in Unicode code point order. Derived simplifications listed in Table 2 Subtable 8 are only included if there is a Unicode mapping.

Unencoded Characters

The table below lists those primary second stage simplified forms that are not encoded in the Unicode Standard (as of Unicode version 14.0). Derived simplifications listed in Table 2 Subtable 8 are omitted.

Download

BabelStone Erjian is free to download and use for personal or commercial purposes. A WOFF version of the font is also available to download. If you wish, you may freely host the WOFF file on your website in order to display BabelStone Erjian characters on your website without users needing to actively install the font.

For use on your computer or mobile device please download and install the TTF file. The WOFF and WOFF2 files are for web use only, and are not required by most users.

If you find this font useful, please consider making a small donation to help support the continued development of BabelStone fonts by clicking on the PayPal link below:

paypal.me/babelstone

BabelStone Fonts