Why Japan and China Cannot Abolish Kanji/Hanzi

It's quite simple.
If they stop using Chinese characters, they won't be able to write Japanese or Chinese.
LOL
The following is just something I copied from ChatGPT.
1. Japan: If Kanji is abolished, the entire Japanese writing system must change.
Mixed writing system of Japanese
Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana are used together.
The semantic distinction function of Kanji
Words with the same pronunciation can be distinguished by the characters alone.
① The biggest difficulty in abolishing Kanji in Japanese lies in pronunciation. There are many cases where different words are read with the same pronunciation.
Kanji notation
Reading
Meaning
橋
hashi
bridge
箸
hashi
chopsticks
端
hashi
edge, end
以上
ijō
more than, above
異常
ijō
abnormal, unusual state
If Kanji is removed and only Hiragana is used, one would have to judge whether "hashi" means bridge or chopsticks through context. While this isn't a huge problem in short sentences, ambiguity can increase in professional, legal, or technical documents.
Of course, even if Kanji is abolished, a significant portion of this can be resolved using context and spacing. Therefore, one cannot say that the abolition of Kanji is impossible solely due to homonyms.
② Japanese speakers are accustomed to recognizing words centered around Kanji
Japanese uses a mix of Kanji and Kana to visually reveal the semantic structure of words.
For example, the word 国際経済政策 (International Economic Policy) allows one to immediately grasp the semantic units of "international," "economy," and "policy" through Kanji. If written only in Kana, it becomes こくさいけいざいせいさく, making it difficult to identify word boundaries at a glance.
In particular, Japanese does not use spacing as a basic principle of standard sentence notation. In this environment, Kanji also performs the function of marking word boundaries.
③ Japanese Kanji is different from Chinese Hanzi
Japan did not simply import Kanji; they modified it to suit the Japanese language.
Kun-yomi (訓読み): Attaching native Japanese pronunciations to Kanji
On-yomi (音読み): Using pronunciations derived from Chinese
Hiragana and Katakana, which evolved from Kanji
In other words, Kanji is not an external decoration attached to Japanese. The vocabulary and writing conventions of Japanese have developed around Kanji over a long period.
From the Meiji era through the post-war period, Japan pursued Kanji restrictions and simplification of notation. Even now, through systems like the Joyo Kanji (Common Use Kanji), the scope of usage is adjusted, but instead of total abolition, they chose the direction of reducing Kanji and standardizing notation.
2. China: If Hanzi is abolished, the historical and regional integration system of the Chinese language will be shaken.
Chinese Simplified Characters
Complex characters were simplified, but the basic system of Hanzi was maintained.
Hanyu Pinyin
An auxiliary system that transcribes pronunciation using the Roman alphabet.
In China, discussions about abolishing Hanzi are more directly linked to the issue of national script reform than in Japan. Especially in the early 20th century, arguments to abolish Hanzi and replace it with the Roman alphabet gained significant influence.
① It is difficult to distinguish numerous vocabulary words through Chinese pronunciation alone
Chinese also has the problem of homonyms. For example, in Standard Mandarin, the following characters are all pronounced as "shi":
Kanji
Meaning
是
to be
事
matter, affair
市
city, market
世
generation, world
試
to test
Even when distinguishing by tones, multiple characters with the same pronunciation exist.
Of course, since Chinese uses not only monosyllabic words but also many compound words of two or more characters, a considerable level of communication is possible with Romanized notation alone. In fact, it is not technically impossible to transcribe Chinese using the Roman alphabet.
However, if Hanzi is abolished, problems arise regarding how to transcribe existing vocabulary, how to distinguish new technical terms, and how to connect countless existing literary works.
② China has connected different dialect regions through a single writing system
This is a particularly important issue in China.
In addition to Standard Mandarin, there are linguistic varieties in China such as Cantonese, Wu, and Min, which have significantly different pronunciations and vocabularies. They are not all read with the same pronunciation as Standard Mandarin.
However, even if pronunciations differ, Hanzi has enabled a high level of written communication through the meaning of the characters. That said, modern common written Chinese is based on Standard Mandarin, and Hanzi itself does not automatically guarantee communication between dialects.
If Hanzi were abolished and Romanization were implemented based on Standard Mandarin pronunciation, an additional learning burden might arise between existing written forms and the new notation in other dialect regions. Conversely, if the pronunciations of all dialects were reflected, there is a possibility that writing systems would diverge by region.
Therefore, Hanzi has functioned as more than just a script in China. It has been a means of maintaining a common written tradition without completely eliminating the linguistic differences between different regions.
③ China actually considered abolishing Hanzi but chose simplification instead
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, script reform had the practical goals of literacy eradication and the spread of education.
The main policies pursued by the Chinese government were three-fold:
Simplification of Hanzi
Dissemination of Standard Mandarin
Establishment and dissemination of Hanyu Pinyin
In 1956, the Simplified Character Scheme was promulgated, and in 1958, the Hanyu Pinyin Scheme was approved by the National People's Congress. Hanyu Pinyin was used for pronunciation education and the spread of Standard Mandarin, but it was not transitioned into an official writing system to replace Hanzi.
This choice carries significant meaning. While recognizing the need for script reform, China determined that lowering the learning cost of the existing system was more socially feasible than discarding the entire Hanzi system.
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In short, it's not that they won't do it, but that they can't do it anymore.
LOL
They just have to live clinging to that kind of writing system.
LOL