Traditonal and Simplified Chinese Battle

Among people who write in Chinese, there has been an on going dispute/debate/argument/fight/war over which Chinese characters, Traditional or Simplified, is better.

My Opinion: They are both good

Each system has their advantages and disadvantages. Since I'm terrible at writing essays and trying to convey my message to other readers (according to my English teacher, whom I highly respect, but that's another story) I'm going to try organizing my ideas/thoughts/points into some lists.

Simplified Chinese

Advantages
- Faster to hand write; less strokes
- Easier to learn/memorize (according to the majority of people, but I disagree)
- More people use it (Mainland China, and most foreigners)

Disadvantages
- Some characters look too similar; 车 (car), 东 (east), 乐 (happy)
- Loses some of their meaning; 愛(love) minus 心(heart) = 爱 (love, simplified)
- Some of the simplified is pointless; 黃 subtract one stroke = 黄

Traditional Chinese

Advantages
- Aesthetically appealing in calligraphy
- Taiwan and Hong Kong use it (advantage because Taiwan and Hong Kong are cool places)
- Rich in culture and history
- Typing speed is same as Simplified

Disadvantages
- Many more strokes, longer to hand write 個 => 个; 龍 => 龙;

Disclaimer: Yes, these are crappy lists and they are uneven but I don't feel like researching. Don't shoot me.

Post I made in a Facebook group:

I'm pretty sure that was the reason why they deleted the topic awhile ago.

I guess some people don't learn the first time around. >.>

But I'll say this again:
When we talk about "Traditional Chinese" and "Simplified Chinese" we are only merely differentiating between the two standardized Chinese Characters.

If you want to talk about the turtle shell writing, it's not called Traditional Chinese, it's called Oracle Bone Script.

Having said that, I don't think Simplified Chinese is "bad", neither is Traditional Chinese. They both serve their purposes. Traditional is aesthetically appealing and Simplified is efficient to write by hand.

Just like a Chinese proverb which is something like: Don't run before you can walk.
I think that we should learn the Traditional first, so that we can understand the culture and origin of the character. Later on, learning the simplified so that we can write faster.

Just like in math. Learn the long method first so you understand math, later on learning shortcuts and tricks so that you can solve the problems faster.