The Music Of Achievement

Let’s trace the number of Chinese characters from Han Dynasty 汉朝 (206 B.C. to 220 A.D.)

说文解字 (Shuwenjiezhi) - The first complete dictionary that listed all Chinese character was published in Han Dynasty 汉朝 at around 100 A.D. It was regarded as the the origin of Chinese characters. It included 9,353 characters.

康熙字典(Kangxi) - the well known classic of Chinese dictionary was published in 1716 of Qing Dynasty 清朝. The Kangxi dictionary included about 46,964 characters compiled in 42 booklets. Most of the characters were unused and rare variant accumulated over the centuries. Those characters were regrouped under 214 radicals still in use today in many dictionaries to classified characters in traditional form.

The first official simplified form characters were published in 1956 by the People’s Republic of China. Many additions and modifications to the original list were adopted since. The list included 6,500 simplified characters.

Nowadays the simplified form characters are used in China and Singapore, the traditional form characters are still used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and most of the overseas Chinese communities.

In 1952, literacy for peasants was defined as knowledge of 1,500 characters and literacy for labour workers as knowledge of 2,000 characters.

A well educated person can probably recognize more than 6,000 characters.

Since Chinese words are generally composed of two or three characters, a few thousand characters can be used to understand hundreds and thousands of words.

The Chinese computerized fonts for words processor include 6,500 characters of the simplified form and 13,500 of the traditional form.

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Rosie From Learn Chinese Language Online (http://www.learn-chinese-language-online.com)

The goal of Learn Chinese Language Online (LCLO) is to reduce the Mandarin Learning curve, promote and introduce the most efficient way to grasp the broad foundation of Chinese language.

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It used to be very difficult to find sheet music online especially for solo instruments. Before people started selling sheet music online, you had to rely on music and music instrument stores to carry everything that you need.

This was fine if you played the Piano or the Violin. But, what happens if you wanted to get sheet music for the Oboe, Viola or other instruments that are not at the top of the teenager choir list? And even if you could locate a store, would you have the time to check out their items?

Now the internet has taken some of the guess work out of the process. You can type “buy sheet music” into any search engine and come up with a long list of sites that will have what you need. The internet has opened up such a wide range of possibilities that you can even get sheet music that was custom designed for a single instrument or to take a choral performance and trim it down for a solo, or a small group.

The internet also gives you the ability to comparison shop. Music is possibly one of the most expensive hobbies around. If you take into account the cost of tutoring, engagements, musical instruments (and their various replacements if you have children), maintenance, repairs and sheet music, it can cost a small fortune to keep up your skill.

The last thing you need to worry about is where can I find good, accurate sheet music. Now, you don’t have to depend on local retailers since you can look all over to find better deals music stores all over the country. If you live in a small city or suburban area, you might have a choice of two or three sources for musical supplies.

However, if you get online and start checking for availability, you can often find small music shops in saturated markets like big urban areas. They can afford to offer great deals on musical supplies including sheet music, as well as more variety in the number and types of musical products sold to the public.

Another thing that helps in your search is that more shops are including detailed pictures and even mini digital files with musical samples so that you can see if you are getting the right sheet music.

These mini downloads are especially important if you want the sheet music for just one instrument out of an entire performance piece. Also, if you want rare or classical pieces, the online demos will really help before you spend all of your cash.

The best places to start your search is via the Google or Yahoo search engines, or check in their directories under musical supplies. In a few minutes you can find an entire list of music shops that can accommodate your needs.

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Syd Johnson
Editor