A Review and Prospects of Chinese Character Research in the Last Thirty Years

Abstract

At this stage, the study of Chinese characters is undergoing a transformation of modern applications and technology, and research in this field is both deeply rooted in the traditional Chinese study of script and flourishing with new vitality. This paper analyses the five major components of Chinese character research, namely, the study of archaic characters, the study of the phonology, morphology and meaning of Chinese characters, the study of the application of Chinese characters in the computer field, the study of the cognitive processing of Chinese characters, and the study of Chinese character teaching, and the three methods of Chinese character research, namely, exegetical examination, corpus database and empirical research methods. This paper summarizes the literature on Chinese character research, analyses the trends in Chinese character research, and summarizes the review and outlook of Chinese character research in the past thirty years.