Online archive of questions on various topics answered by our experts. You can also ask a question (registration is required)

Related questions

How does Chinese writing, which uses pictographic characters instead of a phonetic alphabet, facilitate the organization and filing of information?

+31 votes
How does Chinese writing, which uses pictographic characters instead of a phonetic alphabet, facilitate the organization and filing of information?
by (4.5k points)

3 Answers

+18 votes
 
Best answer
Well nowdays Chinese people file stuff by how many 'strokes of a pen' need to write a character. So the simple words come first, then the more complicated ones.
by (4.5k points)
selected by
0 votes
By aesthetic appeal. How is that decided? Well, in the old days, each word was rated by the Emperor. The highest rating went first in the filing cabinets. But, after the Emperor and the ruling class were deposed by Mao and his friends, the rating system was thrown out also. This left China without a filing system, which, as we all know, is a crippling blow to any buracracy. It actually led to the Fantastic File Fire of 1965 (the alliteration was just an accident, as such things do not exist in Chinese).
by (4.2k points)
0 votes
Actually the pictures represents sounds. They use latin characters so I am sure that is how they file things...but I could be wrong.
by (4.3k points)
...