Looks like Chinese school students might need a little skrittering practice.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14693677

it seems to me like most Chinese people aren't very interested in Chinese characters. Every time I've ever mentioned traditional Chinese characters to mainland Chinese people, they don't seem the least bit interested in them, and refer to them as an obsolete thing of the past. I know that most Taiwanese people despise simplified characters, so I personally think it's safe to say that there isn't a lot of widespread love for Chinese characters by Chinese people themselves.

I guess it would be safe to say that many people are simply indifferent to Chinese characters. They have grown up using characters and probably don't find them as particularly fascination as someone who has a vested interest in studying them (like us). However, you do run into some people who take pride in knowing how to write in traditional and simplified Chinese, and who still know how to put pen to paper. They are just like the spelling and grammar nerds in English.

If you asked someone in the U.S. about ABCs what kind of response might you get? With that being said, I don't think that Chinese people would change the way they communicate. There is a deep sense of cultural pride that come from Chinese characters. In very few other languages can you look back into thousands of years of history and find a strong linguistic connection between the writing of now and then.

A quick aside, I found the article posted to be very bold about China/ Taiwan relations/ distinction. Especially when using the caption: "Chinese-speaking countries such as Taiwan display colourful calligraphy at Lunar New Year."

I noticed this with my language partner. He is Taiwanese and he doesn't know Simplified Chinese characters but he does know Traditional. He was pretty impressed that I'm learning to write the characters and not just read them and spent some time trying to convince me to learn Traditional instead. ;)

Anyway, it's kind of funny when we converse in Chinese we also type phrases or words that we have a difficult time understanding (if I say something he can't understand, I type it in the chat box below - and then he kindly provides the proper pronunciation - and if he says something I can't understand he types it so I can see... usually I recognize characters more quickly then I can 'hear' the words) and I noticed I can type in Chinese faster then he can. ;)

Silly thing to mention but it kind of amuses me.