The Overseas Spread of Chinese Characters

More than 2,000 years ago, Chinese characters were gradually introduced to regions such as the Korean Peninsula, Japan, and Vietnam, and became the official written language commonly used at the governmental level during specific historical periods in these areas. This spread trajectory led to the gradual formation of a distinctive Chinese-language cultural circle across the vast region from Northeast Asia to Southeast Asia.
 
The influence of Chinese characters is particularly profound in the Korean language system. Relevant statistical data show that Chinese-derived vocabulary accounts for approximately 60% of Koreans' daily spoken language and written expressions. According to historical records, in 285 AD, Wang Ren, a scholar from the Korean Peninsula, traveled to Japan to give lectures, bringing with him the Confucian classic The Analects of Confucius. Many researchers infer from this that the use of Chinese characters on the Korean Peninsula began no later than that year. By the early 5th century AD, learning to write Chinese characters even sparked a wave of enthusiasm locally, becoming a prevalent cultural trend.
 
The eastward spread of Chinese characters along with Chinese classical works was a key channel for Japan's exposure to Chinese characters. Around the 3rd century AD, The Analects of Confucius—as the first Chinese classical text introduced to Japan—marked the start of the spread of Chinese characters in the country. Later, the Japanese discovered that Chinese characters could be used to record their native language, and thus developed two distinctly different pronunciation systems for Chinese characters in Japanese, enabling Chinese characters to better adapt to Japanese expression.
 
In 1945, the Japanese government officially issued the List of Commonly Used Chinese Characters, standardizing the scope of Chinese characters' usage. To this day, about 2,000 Chinese characters are still widely used in various publications in Japan, such as primary and secondary school textbooks and popular reading materials, continuing to play a role in communication and record-keeping.