National Fervor for Writing Chinese Characters

The Chinese Character Dictation Contest aims to arouse the public’s love for characters. Watching the game is actually “a self-education course for the whole country,” according to linguist Jiang Lan-sheng. “Such education does not place people under pressure but is fairly effective.” Guan Zhengwen hopes that the game will go on for 50 years or longer, and that getting stuck into Chinese characters will become an annual festivity.

Pupils take part in a Chinese character dictation contest in Handan, Hebei Province on September 13, 2014.