Is the art of handwriting on way to death?

It is almost inevitable that typing will replace handwriting as the world becomes more computerized. In China, the invention of the Pinyin input method has made typing Chinese characters very convenient, both on computers and phones; one only has to choose the right character from a few that pop up on the screen. The more electronic gadgets people use, the less often they go through the elaborate sequence of strokes that make up Chinese characters.

The dependence on electronic gadgets like computers and smartphones has become so pervasive that many people often cannot write even familiar characters without the help of the "pop-ups". According to a survey conducted by HorizonKey in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan last year, 94.1 percent of the respondents had encountered the tibiwangzi syndrome (forgetting words while writing with a pen), and 26.8 percent often faced such embarrassment. HorizonKey is an independent research organization, specializing in public polls, and social and cultural studies.

Chinese people's increasing inability to write has prompted some people to urge the authorities to take measures to reverse the situation. A few have even warned that, if things are not changed, it could lead to a crisis in Chinese culture. Considering the unique composition of Chinese words, which instead of alphabets are made up of one, two or multiple characters, their vicissitudes over time and their contribution to human history, such concern is not misplaced.

The creation of Chinese characters and calligraphy, which eventually led to typeface and printing, is believed to be one of China's main contributions to human civilization. It carries the same value as the creation of paper, gunpowder and perhaps silk. Chinese characters, the epitome of China's millennia-old civilization, can be traced to pictographs inscribed on bones and turtle shells in 1,200 BC.

For Chinese people, calligraphy, or the art of writing Chinese characters, has long been viewed as a mirror to a person's behavior. Such a perception reflects the importance the Chinese have traditionally attached to handwriting. It's our cultural heritage, our national treasure, and we have to protect it.

The authorities, however, have already noticed the worrisome trend. In 2008, the Ministry of Education conducted a survey covering 3,000 teachers across the country, and 60 percent of them complained about the declining ability of students to write Chinese characters. To correct the situation, the ministry launched a writing competition the next year, which attracted 10 million participants, and promoted pilot programs to popularize the art of handwriting among students. In this context, primary school students across the country are demanded to practice calligraphy using both hard and soft pens.

That the authorities' efforts are bearing fruit is evident from the popularity of some TV programs on uncommon Chinese characters and handwriting competitions, which usually test viewers' knowledge of Chinese.

In this era of computerization, it is not possible for all the people to write Chinese characters equally well. Given their increased exposure to (rather dependence on) electronic gadgets, even highly educated people could fumble with or forget some Chinese characters. So the education authorities should introduce a mandatory Chinese handwriting course for students to help carry forward a heritage that has been passed from one generation to another.

We should, however, not be too worried about the decline in people's ability to write in Chinese using pen and paper, because that is one of the inevitable side effects of the age of electronics and digitization in which computer and smartphone screens have replaced paper to become the main carrier of language. And that should be seen as social progress, despite a decline in our ability to write with pen on paper, computerization has helped broaden our visions considerably.

The author is a writer with China Daily.