Creeping Simplification

Who is supposed to be the mainlander, who the HK guy in this photo, advertising a big fiscal cooperation between the two entities? Who knows. But they will make shitloads of money, with the help of Hang Seng Bank. Oh, and the Hong Kong guy will have to learn simplified characters…

Welcome to Hang Seng Bank, home of my company account. I had to leave HSBC because it was just too, too crap. Little did I know that Hang Seng would be on the simplified bandwagon and emblazon the fact all over their headquarters in Central! So is this advert
1. Only for mainlanders? In which case it’s discriminatory and insulting.

2. For HK people? In which case they must now learn simplified characters which are not the official writing in Hong Kong.

Also, the mainlanders who come here to set up some economic enterprise will know normal characters. I have travelled in the mainland for 23 years but I’ve never come across a single one who couldn’t read normal characters. Never. Simplified characters cheapen the adverts and make them look mainland-y, corrupt and fake. Mainland people come to Hong Kong to get real stuff, not more of the stuff they have at home! Mainland restaurant frequently use normal characters on their wall signs to look more high-class. (This is illegal but they don’t care.)

I have written to Hang Seng Bank and complained. Last month there was a brouhaha about an Agnes B cafe in Tseung Kwan O, the menu of which was only simplified characters, or ‘crippled’ characters as people call them now. (Excellent pun in Chinese.) People wrote to complain and Agnes B immediately promised to change the writing to normal! It works. And for what it’s worth, I think the mainland will eventually return to normal characters. They know they’re more beautiful and make much more sense.