Should Horizontal Writing of Chinese Be from Left to Right or from Right to Left?

繁體中文 zh-TW

This Web Site uses UTF-8 encoding.
2004-10-08

Ancient Chinese uses vertical writing and printing with words from top to bottom in a column and column changes from right to left. When a column has one row of word only, it is horizontal writing from right to left. This system of traditional vertical writing is still used often in Taiwan. The People's Republic of China rarely uses the system of traditional vertical writing.

Most Western languages use horizontal writing and printing with words from left to right in a row and row changes from top to bottom. This system of new horizontal writing is also used in modern Chinese and promoted by the People's Republic of China. Modern Chinese writing often uses Arabic-Indian numerals, Latin texts and special symbols along, so the system of new horizontal writing is better. However, when writing single row of Chinese, the system of traditional vertical writing from right to left and the system of new horizontal writing from left to right have conflicts.

In response to the problem, the Republic of China has issued in Taiwan the Unified Rule of the Way to Write and Print Chinese. When the same version has both horizontal and vertical layouts, the horizontal way is generally from left to right. Chinese written horizontally alone and traditionally one word per column, such as the national names, office names, steles, memorial arches, inscriptions, etc., maintain the principle from right to left. The ways to write Chinese with special rules or habits follow such rules or habits accordingly. For example, Chinese written horizontally on both sides of a vehicle may be written from its front to the rear. Governmental institutions of the Republic of China usually follow the Rule, but many people do not know the Rule and cause chaos. The Republic of China is considering whether to change public documents from the system of traditional vertical writing to the system of new horizontal writing.

There should not be both horizontal and vertical layouts in the same version. If misunderstanding is likely, one should try vertical writing of single column and avoid horizontal writing of single row. If it is unclear whether horizontal writing of single row Chinese should be from left to right (the system of new horizontal writing) or from right to left (the system of traditional vertical writing), it may cause serious misunderstanding.

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1