Jarvik7 Wrote:I think why I and maybe others find simplified hanzi ugly is because it takes something that is aesthetically pleasing and turns it into something more like our alphabet. I believe that even mainlander Chinese think the same. You don't see them practicing <whatever the Chinese word for 書道 is> with simplified.

You most certainly do see them practicing 书法 in simplified. In fact, many simplified forms come from 书法 styles that have been accepted well before the reform.

Jarvik7 Wrote:The original reason for simplification was wrong anyways. People were illiterate because of war, famine, and economic/political instability, not because the characters were too complex. Once life became more stable they found that further simplifications produced no increases in literacy and actually had the opposite effect due to too many characters being too similar and having no logical construction (this is why the 3rd set of simplifications was recalled).

Interestingly, communists did the same in Russia, just after the revolution. It seems like new world orders enjoy imposing new writing systems.

議論　＝　win
议论 = fail

not even sure that's how it's written in chinese but still...
it illustrates my point pretty well I think

I really like the Kanji that use the 'sow' primitive. It looks complicated, but is surprisingly smooth to write. Same goes for the 'brush' primitive.
For specific Kanji, I agree that dream/yume is indeed particularly nice. There's just something about the balance of that one, and the pleasant combination of meaning and imagery doesn't hurt either.
I also like 'illuminate', as the combination of primitives appears to make sense, and they fit together perfectly. 'Heaven' will always be a personal favorite too, for its simple elegance, and the fact that it was my first (thanks to the videogame Okami, which even taught how to write it correctly).

As for ugliest, 'admonish' gets my vote. How are you supposed to get the proportions right for that thing? >_< 'burn' can be kind of a pain too, though that may well be the fault of my handwriting. Also dislike the more complicated 'fiesta' primitive ones.

Yay, I think I just picked up a couple of extra Kanji with no effort. How many writing systems can manage to be sexist? XD I love these things.

Machine_Gun_Cat Wrote:議論　＝　win
议论 = fail

not even sure that's how it's written in chinese but still...
it illustrates my point pretty well I think

There is much fail in your fail category, but your win category is demonstrating an amazing lack of win.

(I'm beginning to think that just all very dense left-right kanji are ugly, but I'd have to spend some time with a list to be sure.)

~J

woodwojr Wrote:

Machine_Gun_Cat Wrote:議論　＝　win
议论 = fail

not even sure that's how it's written in chinese but still...
it illustrates my point pretty well I think

There is much fail in your fail category, but your win category is demonstrating an amazing lack of win.

(I'm beginning to think that just all very dense left-right kanji are ugly, but I'd have to spend some time with a list to be sure.)

~J

I used to think that 義　and any kanji containing it looked a bit ugly but I have come to love this Kanji, I really like the stroke order( I have whole pages of notes at school with
議　scattered all over them)

I don't like 雌 I can't seem to write it in a way that looks balanced rather than crammed together. Some favorites: 列 残 死 骨 過 I like the bone elements...

I used to dislike the simplified chinese hanzi for a while, from just seeing them in a computer font. Once you get it into a more handwritten form, it looks a bit better, but still, traditional looks better. Right now though, I can't really think of any that I don't like.

One kanji that I've always liked the look of is 狼. There's just something about it. Other than that, I also like the characters that stems from 水 (永,氷,泳,泉 etc).
As for the 竜 vs 龍, I like 龍 better. Other random characters that I like are 残,者,園,淡,遠,道,長,原,東,方... I could go on, but I'll stop here. :3

龍 always reminds me of the duck-dragons from Adventure. 竜 at least has some feeling of dignity to it.

~J

woodwojr Wrote:龍 always reminds me of the duck-dragons from Adventure.

Oh, man. I knew that shape looked familiar!

I'm not sure what I was on when I called 鼎 "hideous". It's... weird, but pretty nice.

woodwojr Wrote:龍 always reminds me of the duck-dragons from Adventure.

Oh my god, you're so right.

Harrow Wrote:I don't like 雌 I can't seem to write it in a way that looks balanced rather than crammed together.

Why do females always have to be difficult?

My suspicion: This kanji represents the confusion inside a *man's* head in contemplating the feminine ... Stop? Go? Spoon? Turkey Chick? As opposed to the modest male self-representation as brains + brawn 男 Okay, so there is also 雄 but I don't find that nearly as ugly as 雌

It is interesting the kanji for 厷:　コウ　(Forearm)　"ムarm"
It takes a 雄masculine turkey to have forearms like that!

警
There's just too much squished above 言. It looks too lopsided for me.

All kanji are ugly (and completely unnecessary, particularly in proper names).
What's so beuatiful about 原爆, 広島, 長崎, or 福島 for that matter?

The only ones that somehow appeal to me are 恋 and 愛.
I like 恋 in 恋愛 but intensely dislike it in 失恋.