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Someone wrote an article called "Chinese is probably indeed dead", which attracted widespread attention. I praise this article in the circle of friends, my praise lies in the insight of the article, the phenomenon of vulgarization of various languages mentioned in the article is indeed intensifying, and it is worth thinking about.
As for whether to flood the Internet with terms such as "yyds, absolutely desperate, sheep, copying homework", or whether more and more people communicate with low-grade, salivating words, and then worry about "Chinese is dead", I think it is not necessary.
In fact, the topic of "Chinese dead" is nothing new at all. Since entering the Internet era, there has been a wave of big discussions every few years.
Around 2000, several online literature represented by "The First Intimate Contact" came out, and these online literature appeared in large numbers of online words such as "Wow, I lean, dinosaur, rookie", which was popular for a while, and also caused great controversy in that year, and also triggered a discussion similar to "Chinese is dead".
Around 2005, the forum community continued to be popular, and some new words were born. "Big hero" has become "prawn", "sister" has become "crush", "I" has become "even", "moderator" has become "spotted bamboo", etc., QQ chat on the popular "886 (bye bye)", "521 (I love you)" and other words. At that time, there was a big discussion similar to "Chinese is dead".
Around 2008, non-mainstream culture, Martian literature, audition, etc. were also all the rage, young people's hairstyles and outfits were strange, saliva songs appeared in an endless stream, and at that time, they also triggered discussions such as "Chinese are dead".
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See, the "Chinese dead" discussed today has been discussed a lot in the past 20 years. The angle and intention of the discussion were similar, and there was no breakthrough. In another 5, 10, 20 years, there may be a wave of discussion, and there will certainly be more new and bizarre words and phrases.
Sometimes I wonder, is there a fundamental difference between words such as "wow", "dinosaur", "crush" and the current "yyds" and "absolutely perfect"?
Even 100 years back, in the new cultural period, there has been a big discussion similar to "Chinese is dead". At that time, Hu Shi hoped to replace the vernacular with the vernacular and elaborate on the advantages and disadvantages between the two: one is that it must be reasonable. Second, do not imitate the ancients. Three, we must pay attention to grammar. Four days, not a sick groan. Five days, do not abuse clichés. Six, no. Seven days, do not talk about the battle. Eight days, do not avoid the vulgar words.
Hu Shi's earth-shattering words caused great controversy in that year, and even Professor Huang Kan "greeted" Hu Shi's female family. At that time, everyone thought that if they went on like this Chinese wouldn't they be doomed? It turned out that the vernacular movement not only did not lead to the "Chinese is dead", but on the contrary, it revived the Chinese.
In addition, there has been a recent discussion about the vulgarization, simplification, and salivation of the lyrics, and I remember that when "Two Butterflies" and "Mouse Loves Rice" were popular, they were also discussed for a wave. Some people say that "Two Butterflies" and "Mouse Loves Rice" are vulgar, networked, simple, and have no connotation, and are fast food songs. The views discussed in "Two Butterflies" and "Mice Love Rice" can be applied to music such as "Treading Mountains and Rivers", "Learning Cat Calling", and "Desert Camel".
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For the past 20 years, or even the last 100 years, we've been going in circles and repeating the discussion of "Chinese dead."
Discussions come and go, Chinese is not dead, as if it had a magical purification mechanism.
Words such as crush, wow, bamboo, prawn and other words that were popular at that time are rarely used now, indicating that the products without vitality are only short-lived after all. Words such as power, cottage, thunder man, pit daddy and other words that were popular at that time are still used, whether it means that the products with vitality have a long survival time.
Again, speaking of music. Now it seems that the "Two Butterflies" and "Mouse Love Rice" of that year are almost no longer popular today, and the "Qilixiang" and "Jiangnan" of the same period still have considerable room for circulation. Whether this can also be considered that good things will be handed down and bad history will automatically be eliminated, we don't need to worry.
The same is true of cultural carriers such as literature, movies, and television dramas.
I have a friend who believes that words are tools, the ultimate purpose is to be used by people, serious words are good, networking is not indispensable. The big waves are sandy, and the words and expressions with vitality will eventually stay.
4
When discussing "Chinese dead", I also discussed "Chinese correction" because some words were used in the opposite direction and needed to be corrected.
The most typical case is the word "strange". From the Han Dynasty to 2000 years ago, "qibao" was a positive word, its original meaning originally referred to strange and beautiful flowers, and was later often used as a metaphor for unusual excellent literary and artistic works or very outstanding characters, and was often used to praise beautiful architecture and excellent cultural relics. For example, Zhao Zhou Bridge is a strange flower in the history of mainland bridge construction, "Roselle Futu" is a strange flower in the history of literature, and so on.
Today, the word "strange" is a derogatory term in most scenarios. If someone says that your painting is a strange flower, that you are really a strange person, you will not be happy, and even you think that the other party is cursing you.
Do we want to restore the historical positive meaning of "strange things", or should we apply them according to the current conventional pejorative meanings? I think it may be more convenient for us to use the latter.
Similarly, there are those who believe that the Chinese characters with surnames such as "Xiao" and "Xiao", "Fu", "Fu", "Yan" and "Yan" are essentially one characters and need to be changed back. Remarks: On the basis of simplified characters, there was also a two-character movement in the last century, and there were many new characters that were more simplified than the current simplified characters, and later the movement was stopped. For example, the "仃" for parking is a two-word word, which is rarely used now. However, the vitality of individual characters is very strong, and they have survived, including our common surnames such as "Xiao", "Fu", "Yan", and "Dai".
For this view to change back, it is difficult for the legal, medical, and educational levels to work. For example, from the current legal level, if your ID card is surnamed Xiao, then you are surnamed Xiao, not surnamed Xiao, it is difficult to change. If you forcibly change Xiao to Xiao, your hospital medical records, dissertations, etc. may have an impact.
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From oracle bones to stone drum text, from small seals to lishu, from brush characters to AI voice input, the reason why Chinese culture and Chinese characters can come to this day is that it continues to evolve, from carrier to form, from inner meaning to external performance, it is constantly advancing with the times and serving people's life and work.
If we follow the views of Liu Shipei, Huang Kan and others, we are now stuck in the past, most people are still illiterate, and a small number of elites continue to control the absolute right to speak and the right to interpret culture.
The author of "Chinese is indeed indeed dead" misses the era when Jia Dao deliberated, the era of "two sentences and three years, one groan and two tears", and the era of "autumn wind is clear, autumn moon is bright, fallen leaves are gathered and scattered, and jackdaws are perched and shocked". --Perhaps the author overlooked that in that era, most Chinese did not go to school, and daily communication was also vernacular communication, and words such as "Jackdaw Perch" also belonged to niche culture and niche language in that era.
Another reason why Chinese culture and Chinese characters have come to this day is that Chinese culture is inclusive, from the history of Han Fu to the literature of the Six Dynasties, to the Tang poems and Song Dynasties, and the literary revival of the 80s. With such a broad Chinese culture, why not let the words YYDS, Absolute Son, I Rely on, and Give Force take turns on the stage?
We must believe in the resilience of Chinese culture and Chinese characters.
Written at the end: "YYDS, Absolute Son" and other popularity, "China in the Classics" is popular, "Readers" is hot, and Mengman's Tang poetry is also on fire. So, what else is there to worry about?