Barbara Demick, China worries about losing its character(s); More and more
Chinese are realizing they can't remember exactly how to write a given
character. Los Angeles Times, July 12, 2010.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-characters-20100712,0,6032882.story
("Chinese is the oldest continuously used writing system in the world")
My comment:
(a) A Chinese-language report is based on this LA Times report:
中国年轻人汉字书写能力渐退化. BBC Chinese, July 15, 2010.
http://www1.voanews.com/chinese/news/20100715-WRITING-ABILITY-98502754.html
(b) The "character(s)" in the title refers to two (2) definitions:
(i) Chinese characters 中国字 (with an "s" at the end), and (ii) "2a: one of
the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual * * *
c: the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often
individualizing a person, group, or nation <the character of the American
people>"
(c) muss (n): "a state of disorder: MESS"
Both definitions above are from www.m-w.com.
(d) Liulichang 琉璃厂
(e) Forgetting how to write Chinese characters are common. In my youth in
Taiwan, at various times I often found certain--but different--Chinese
characters alien, so much so that I felt the characters were not quite right.