12.03 -12.04

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/12/world/la-fg-china-characters-20100712
12.03
For Ma Silang, the long descent into forgetfulness began after he graduated from high school, went off to London ...

(X)"People don't write anything by hand anymore except for name and address," admitted Ma.

...
Almost any Chinese person you meet will confess to a lapse of memory, almost like a senior moment. The hand clutching the pen or pencil is poised above a sheet of paper about to write a character learned in childhood and memorized in countless repetitions when — suddenly — an embarrassing pause.

12.04
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/12/world/la-fg-china-characters-20100712/2
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In China, the situation rises to the level of a cultural crisis since the characters, more than any other facet of life, epitomize thousands of years of tradition.

Writing, moreover, is not merely about communication — in Chinese culture, it is an art form and spiritual ...

"These characters are in the soul of every Chinese person," said Wang Jianxue, a 38-year-old calligraphy teacher from Harbin who was lovingly leafing through the stacks at a bookstore in Liulichang, a street of quiet shops that sell brushes, ink stones, rubbings, scrolls and curios. "The nation has to maintain its personality through its characters. They are our cultural heritage. The computer is just a tool."

Many young Chinese are sufficiently concerned that they have taken it upon themselves to study calligraphy.

"It will take a lot of effort to preserve our Chinese characters. It is the same way they try to preserve these old hutongs," said Zhu Linfei, 24, a Beijing graduate student, referring to the traditional Beijing alleys, now rapidly succumbing to the wrecking ball.

Zhu, who was touring the old bookstores of Liulichang with her classmates to buy calligraphy books, estimated that she had already forgotten about 20% of the characters she knew in high school.

"But it's not such a big problem," she said. "If I don't know a character, I take out my cellphone to check."