I recently posted a list of Chinese character variants and the Taiwanvore blogger posted an additional pair of variants to the list in the comments section – one in very common usage in Taiwan, specifically 裡 (for Cangjie fans that is 中田土) and 裏 (卜田土女). This variant pair is quite a rare example in modern Chinese as both are in regular usage, although according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, 裡 is the standard character (正體) and 裏 is the variant (異體).
I decided to scour my bookshelf for examples of each, to see if one was more popular with certain publishers than the other.
聯經(2011):
聯經(2007):
三民書局 (2007):
卬刻文學 (2012):
麥田出版 (2011):
麥田出版 (2005):
麥田城邦文化出版 (2007):
寶瓶文化 (2011):
社會研究雜誌出版 (2012):
無限出版 (2012):
教育測驗出版社 (2001):
爾雅 (1960):
遠流 (2003):
Which one do you prefer? Can you find any examples of different usages? What about public signs and government notices?
My Chinese teacher simply pointed out that 裏 was an older variant of 裡, so I never sought to understand beyond that, but you’re sure digging into the subject, haha.
According to Wenlin, “裡 is treated as the “full” form, and 裏 as a “variant”, in accordance with the Big5 standard”, whatever this Big5 standard implies…
When writing, I prefer 裏 but it often ends up looking like a big blob, so I usually end up going with 裡, that is when I can remember if the radical should be 衤or 礻. Fun stuff
Actually, to phrase it more correctly, Wenlin is merely following the Big5 standard, which was instituted by the Taiwense government in the mid-1980s. I guess one would have to go knock on the door of the Taiwan’s Ministry of Education to know how/why they decided to make one the variant of the other.
Ah – thanks for that – I didn’t know the history of the decision to adopt Big5. Interesting stuff!