The Character of the Year

As we are approaching the year's end, it seems to be a good time to do a review on what we have been through, so far, in 2012.

In many Chinese-spoken societies (or places where Chinese characters are adopted), people do it by voting for the "Character of the Year," a single character that can best represent the collective memory of the country be it a disaster, sports event or political scandal. First started by Japan in 1995, the nomination of "Character of the Year" soon spread to China, Singapore and Malaysia.

On December 12, Japan's character of the year was revealed to be 金 (pronounced kin in Japanese, jīn in Chinese, meaning gold) with 9156 votes. Reasons for 金's election include a few events that made the headlines of the nation in 2012: the annular solar eclipse on May 21(which was given the name of "golden ring eclipse"); the opening of the Sky Tree, the highest tower in the world on May 22; the Japanese delegation's wonderful performance in the London Olympics and Professor Shinya Yamanaka's reception of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, all deserved the gold.

Singapore also started their character nomination, last year. Organized by "Lianhe Zaobao" (《联合早报》, "United Morning Paper"), the activity is called "字述一年" (Zì Shù Yìnián, let the character tell the story of the year). On December 11 it was decided that 色 (sè, color literally, also associated with sex) was nominated as their character of the year, referring to a series of sex scandals that occurred throughout the year.

The voting for character of the year in Malaysia is still undecided at present, with the deadline sets on December 19. People are currently choosing from the following ten candidates: 等 (děng, to wait), 改 (gǎi, to change or revise), 静 (Jìng, quiet), 乱 (luàn, chaotic), 贪 (tān, corrupt or greedy), 选 (xuǎn, to choose or elect), 一 (yī, one), 忧 (yōu, anxious or worried), 涨(zhǎng, to rise of prices) and 争 (zhēng, dispute or struggle). From these candidates, 2012 seems a rather unsettling year for Malaysia. The final result will be revealed on December 22.

In China, the vote for this year's character is also still in progress. Organized by 互动百科 (Hùdòng Bǎikē, Interactive Encyclopedia, the biggest Chinese online encyclopedia), the nomination also features ten candidates: 平 (píng, peace or justice), 曝 (bào, to expose),海 (hǎi, sea), 争 (zhēng, dispute or struggle), 稳 (wěn, stable), 开 (kāi, to open), 改 (gǎi, to change or revise), 移 (mobile or to migrate), 新 (new) and 正 (positive). If you were keeping up with news in China, you may already notice the major events represented by these candidates: various cases of corruption exposed, the conflicts between the Philippines and China with regard to the Huangyan Island in the South China Sea, the election of Xi Jinping, and economic reform and development.