romikgosai/squad_modified huggingface dataset:
Even the Zhonghua Zihai does not include characters in the Chinese family of scripts created to represent non-Chinese languages. Characters formed by Chinese principles in other languages include the roughly 1,500 Japanese-made kokuji given in the Kokuji no Jiten, the Korean-made gukja, the over 10,000 Sawndip characters still in use in Guangxi, and the almost 20,000 Nôm characters formerly used in Vietnam.[citation needed] More divergent descendents of Chinese script include Tangut script, which created over 5,000 characters with similar strokes but different formation principles to Chinese characters.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What does not include characters in the Chinese family?
A: Zhonghua Zihai', '
Q: What is formed by Chinese principles? 
A: Characters', '
Q: What created over 5,000 characters with similar strokes?
A: Tangut script']
The total number of Chinese characters from past to present remains unknowable because new ones are developed all the time – for instance, brands may create new characters when none of the existing ones allow for the intended meaning. Chinese characters are theoretically an open set and anyone can create new characters, though such inventions are rarely included in official character sets. The number of entries in major Chinese dictionaries is the best means of estimating the historical growth of character inventory.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What remains unknowable?
A: The total number of Chinese characters from past to present', '
Q: What becomes developed all the time?
A: Chinese characters', '
Q: What is the best means of estimating the historical growth of character inventory?
A: number of entries in major Chinese dictionaries']
One of the most complex characters found in modern Chinese dictionaries[g] is 齉 (U+9F49) (nàng,  listen (help·info), pictured below, middle image), meaning "snuffle" (that is, a pronunciation marred by a blocked nose), with "just" thirty-six strokes. However, this is not in common use. The most complex character that can be input using the Microsoft New Phonetic IME 2002a for traditional Chinese is 龘 (dá, "the appearance of a dragon flying"). It is composed of the dragon radical represented three times, for a total of 16 × 3 = 48 strokes. Among the most complex characters in modern dictionaries and also in frequent modern use are 籲 (yù, "to implore"), with 32 strokes; 鬱 (yù, "luxuriant, lush; gloomy"), with 29 strokes, as in 憂鬱 (yōuyù, "depressed"); 豔 (yàn, "colorful"), with 28 strokes; and 釁 (xìn, "quarrel"), with 25 strokes, as in 挑釁 (tiǎoxìn, "to pick a fight"). Also in occasional modern use is 鱻 (xiān "fresh"; variant of 鮮 xiān) with 33 strokes.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What is one of the most complex characters in modern Chinese dictionaries?
A: U+9F49', '
Q: What features 33 strokes?
A: xiān', '
Q: What are among the most complex characters in modern dictionaries? 
A: yù']
There are also some extremely complex characters which have understandably become rather rare. According to Joël Bellassen (1989), the most complex Chinese character is /𪚥 (U+2A6A5) zhé  listen (help·info), meaning "verbose" and containing sixty-four strokes; this character fell from use around the 5th century. It might be argued, however, that while containing the most strokes, it is not necessarily the most complex character (in terms of difficulty), as it simply requires writing the same sixteen-stroke character 龍 lóng (lit. "dragon") four times in the space for one. Another 64-stroke character is /𠔻 (U+2053B) zhèng composed of 興 xīng/xìng (lit. "flourish") four times.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What have become more rare?
A: complex characters', '
Q: What is the most complex Chinese character?
A: zhé', '
Q: What is one 64-stroke character?
A: zhèng']
One man who has encountered this problem is Taiwanese politician Yu Shyi-kun, due to the rarity of the last character in his name. Newspapers have dealt with this problem in varying ways, including using software to combine two existing, similar characters, including a picture of the personality, or, especially as is the case with Yu Shyi-kun, simply substituting a homophone for the rare character in the hope that the reader would be able to make the correct inference. Taiwanese political posters, movie posters etc. will often add the bopomofo phonetic symbols next to such a character. Japanese newspapers may render such names and words in katakana instead of kanji, and it is accepted practice for people to write names for which they are unsure of the correct kanji in katakana instead.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: Who is a Taiwanese politician?
A: Yu Shyi-kun', '
Q: What will often add bopomofo phonetic symbols?
A: movie posters', '
Q: What may render certain names in katakana instead of kanji?
A: Japanese newspapers']
The use of such contractions is as old as Chinese characters themselves, and they have frequently been found in religious or ritual use. In the Oracle Bone script, personal names, ritual items, and even phrases such as 受又(祐) shòu yòu "receive blessings" are commonly contracted into single characters. A dramatic example is that in medieval manuscripts 菩薩 púsà "bodhisattva" (simplified: 菩萨) is sometimes written with a single character formed of a 2×2 grid of four 十 (derived from the grass radical over two 十). However, for the sake of consistency and standardization, the CPC seeks to limit the use of such polysyllabic characters in public writing to ensure that every character only has one syllable.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What have been constantly found in religious or ritual use?
A: Chinese characters', '
Q: What seeks to limit the use of polysyllabic characters?
A: CPC', '
Q: What is sometimes written as a single character?
A: bodhisattva']
Modern examples particularly include Chinese characters for SI units. In Chinese these units are disyllabic and standardly written with two characters, as 厘米 límǐ "centimeter" (厘 centi-, 米 meter) or 千瓦 qiānwǎ "kilowatt". However, in the 19th century these were often written via compound characters, pronounced disyllabically, such as 瓩 for 千瓦 or 糎 for 厘米 – some of these characters were also used in Japan, where they were pronounced with borrowed European readings instead. These have now fallen out of general use, but are occasionally seen. Less systematic examples include 圕 túshūguǎn "library", a contraction of 圖書館, A four-morpheme word, 社会主义 shèhuì zhǔyì "socialism", is commonly written with a single character formed by combining the last character, 义, with the radical of the first, 社, yielding roughly 礻义.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What are disyllabic and usually written with two characters?
A: SI units', '
Q: What is a less systematic example?
A: túshūguǎn', '
Q: What is commonly written with a single character formed by combining the last character with the radical of the first?
A: socialism']
A commonly seen example is the double happiness symbol 囍, formed as a ligature of 喜喜 and referred to by its disyllabic name (simplified Chinese: 双喜; traditional Chinese: 雙喜; pinyin: shuāngxǐ). In handwriting, numbers are very frequently squeezed into one space or combined – common ligatures include 廿 niàn, "twenty", normally read as 二十 èrshí, 卅 sà, "thirty", normally read as 三十 sānshí, and 卌 xì "forty", normally read as 四十 "sìshí". In some cases counters are also merged into one character, such as 七十人 qīshí rén "seventy people". Another common abbreviation is 门 with a "T" written inside it, for 問題, 问题, wèntí ("question; problem"), where the "T" is from pinyin for the second syllable tí 题. Since polysyllabic characters are often non-standard, they are often excluded incharcter dictionaries.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What characters are often non-standard?
A: polysyllabic', '
Q: What is a commonly seen example?
A: double happiness symbol', '
Q: What is formed as a ligature?
A: double happiness symbol']
In certain cases compound words and set phrases may be contracted into single characters. Some of these can be considered logograms, where characters represent whole words rather than syllable-morphemes, though these are generally instead considered ligatures or abbreviations (similar to scribal abbreviations, such as & for "et"), and as non-standard. These do see use, particularly in handwriting or decoration, but also in some cases in print. In Chinese, these ligatures are called héwén (合文), héshū (合書) or hétǐzì (合体字), and in the special case of combining two characters, these are known as "two-syllable Chinese characters" (双音节汉字, 雙音節漢字).

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What may be contracted into single characters?
A: compound words and set phrases', '
Q: What can be considered as set phrases?
A: single characters', '
Q: What are logograms?
A: characters represent whole words rather than syllable-morphemes']
Chinese characters are primarily morphosyllabic, meaning that most Chinese morphemes are monosyllabic and are written with a single character, though in modern Chinese most words are disyllabic and dimorphemic, consisting of two syllables, each of which is a morpheme. In modern Chinese 10% of morphemes only occur as part of a given compound. However, a few morphemes are disyllabic, some of them dating back to Classical Chinese. Excluding foreign loan words, these are typically words for plants and small animals. They are usually written with a pair of phono-semantic compound characters sharing a common radical. Examples are 蝴蝶 húdié "butterfly" and 珊瑚 shānhú "coral". Note that the 蝴 hú of húdié and the 瑚 hú of shānhú have the same phonetic, 胡, but different radicals ("insect" and "jade", respectively). Neither exists as an independent morpheme except as a poetic abbreviation of the disyllabic word.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What are primarily morphosyllabic?
A: Chinese characters', '
Q: What are written with a single character?
A: Chinese morphemes', '
Q: What have the same phonetic, but different radicals?
A: 蝴 hú of húdié and the 瑚 hú of shānhú']
In addition to strictness in character size and shape, Chinese characters are written with very precise rules. The most important rules regard the strokes employed, stroke placement, and stroke order. Just as each region that uses Chinese characters has standardized character forms, each also has standardized stroke orders, with each standard being different. Most characters can be written with just one correct stroke order, though some words also have many valid stroke orders, which may occasionally result in different stroke counts. Some characters are also written with different stroke orders due to character simplification.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What are written with very precise rules?
A: Chinese characters', '
Q: What has standardized character forms?
A: Chinese characters', '
Q: What are also written with different stroke orders due to character simplification?
A: characters']
Just as Roman letters have a characteristic shape (lower-case letters mostly occupying the x-height, with ascenders or descenders on some letters), Chinese characters occupy a more or less square area in which the components of every character are written to fit in order to maintain a uniform size and shape, especially with small printed characters in Ming and sans-serif styles. Because of this, beginners often practise writing on squared graph paper, and the Chinese sometimes use the term "Square-Block Characters" (方块字 / 方塊字, fāngkuàizì), sometimes translated as tetragraph, in reference to Chinese characters.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What have a characteristic shape?
A: Roman letters', '
Q: What occupy a more or less space area?
A: Chinese characters', '
Q: What can sometimes be translated as tetragraph?
A: Square-Block Characters']
Regular script typefaces are also commonly used, but not as common as Ming or sans-serif typefaces for body text. Regular script typefaces are often used to teach students Chinese characters, and often aim to match the standard forms of the region where they are meant to be used. Most typefaces in the Song dynasty were regular script typefaces which resembled a particular person's handwriting (e.g. the handwriting of Ouyang Xun, Yan Zhenqing, or Liu Gongquan), while most modern regular script typefaces tend toward anonymity and regularity.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What are commonly used?
A: Regular script typefaces', '
Q: What are often used to teach students Chinese characters?
A: Regular script typefaces', "
Q: What resembles an actual person's handwriting?
A: handwriting of Ouyang Xun"]
The art of writing Chinese characters is called Chinese calligraphy. It is usually done with ink brushes. In ancient China, Chinese calligraphy is one of the Four Arts of the Chinese Scholars. There is a minimalist set of rules of Chinese calligraphy. Every character from the Chinese scripts is built into a uniform shape by means of assigning it a geometric area in which the character must occur. Each character has a set number of brushstrokes; none must be added or taken away from the character to enhance it visually, lest the meaning be lost. Finally, strict regularity is not required, meaning the strokes may be accentuated for dramatic effect of individual style. Calligraphy was the means by which scholars could mark their thoughts and teachings for immortality, and as such, represent some of the more precious treasures that can be found from ancient China.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What is the art of writing Chinese characters?
A: Chinese calligraphy', '
Q: What is one of the Four Arts of the Chinese Scholars?
A: Chinese calligraphy', '
Q: What is not required?
A: strict regularity']
The cursive script (草書(书), cǎoshū, literally "grass script") is used informally. The basic character shapes are suggested, rather than explicitly realized, and the abbreviations are sometimes extreme. Despite being cursive to the point where individual strokes are no longer differentiable and the characters often illegible to the untrained eye, this script (also known as draft) is highly revered for the beauty and freedom that it embodies. Some of the simplified Chinese characters adopted by the People's Republic of China, and some simplified characters used in Japan, are derived from the cursive script. The Japanese hiragana script is also derived from this script.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What script is used informally?
A: cursive', '
Q: What are suggested, rather than explicitly realized?
A: basic character shapes', '
Q: What script is derived from the cursive script?
A: Japanese hiragana script']
The Shang dynasty oracle bone script and the Zhou dynasty scripts found on Chinese bronze inscriptions are no longer used; the oldest script that is still in use today is the Seal Script (篆書(书), zhuànshū). It evolved organically out of the Spring and Autumn period Zhou script, and was adopted in a standardized form under the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. The seal script, as the name suggests, is now used only in artistic seals. Few people are still able to read it effortlessly today, although the art of carving a traditional seal in the script remains alive; some calligraphers also work in this style.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What script is only used in artistic seals?
A: seal', '
Q: What script is the oldest and still in use today?
A: Seal', '
Q: Who work in the style of carving a traditional seal in the script?
A: calligraphers']
The following is a comparison of Chinese characters in the Standard Form of National Characters, a common traditional Chinese standard used in Taiwan, the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters, the standard for Mainland Chinese simplified Chinese characters, and the jōyō kanji, the standard for Japanese kanji. Generally, the jōyō kanji are more similar to traditional Chinese characters than simplified Chinese characters are to traditional Chinese characters. "Simplified" refers to having significant differences from the Taiwan standard, not necessarily being a newly created character or a newly performed substitution. The characters in the Hong Kong standard and the Kangxi Dictionary are also known as "Traditional," but are not shown.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What are also known as "traditional"?
A: characters in the Hong Kong standard and the Kangxi Dictionary', '
Q: What is usually more similar to traditional Chinese characters?
A: jōyō kanji', '
Q: What is commonly used in Taiwan?
A: Table of General Standard Chinese Characters']
In the years after World War II, the Japanese government also instituted a series of orthographic reforms. Some characters were given simplified forms called shinjitai 新字体 (lit. "new character forms", the older forms were then labelled the kyūjitai 旧字体, lit. "old character forms"). The number of characters in common use was restricted, and formal lists of characters to be learned during each grade of school were established, first the 1850-character tōyō kanji 当用漢字 list in 1945, the 1945-character jōyō kanji 常用漢字 list in 1981, and a 2136-character reformed version of the jōyō kanji in 2010. Many variant forms of characters and obscure alternatives for common characters were officially discouraged. This was done with the goal of facilitating learning for children and simplifying kanji use in literature and periodicals. These are simply guidelines, hence many characters outside these standards are still widely known and commonly used, especially those used for personal and place names (for the latter, see jinmeiyō kanji),[citation needed] as well as for some common words such as "dragon" (Japanese kana: たつ, Rōmaji: tatsu) in which both the shinjitai 竜 and the kyūjitai 龍 forms of the kanji are both acceptable and widely known amongst native Japanese speakers.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What did the Japanese government institute? 
A: series of orthographic reforms', '
Q: What was restricted?
A: The number of characters in common use', '
Q: When was the 2136 character reformed?
A: 2010']
The majority of simplified characters are drawn from conventional abbreviated forms, or ancient standard forms. For example, the orthodox character 來 lái ("come") was written with the structure 来 in the clerical script (隶书 / 隸書, lìshū) of the Han dynasty. This clerical form uses one fewer stroke, and was thus adopted as a simplified form. The character 雲 yún ("cloud") was written with the structure 云 in the oracle bone script of the Shang dynasty, and had remained in use later as a phonetic loan in the meaning of "to say" while the 雨 radical was added to differentiate meanings. The simplified form adopts the original structure.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What are drawn from conventional abbreviated forms?
A: majority of simplified characters', '
Q: What was written with the structure in the clerical script?
A: orthodox character', '
Q: What script uses one fewer stroke?
A: clerical script']
The People's Republic of China issued its first round of official character simplifications in two documents, the first in 1956 and the second in 1964. A second round of character simplifications (known as erjian, or "second round simplified characters") was promulgated in 1977. It was poorly received, and in 1986 the authorities rescinded the second round completely, while making six revisions to the 1964 list, including the restoration of three traditional characters that had been simplified: 叠 dié, 覆 fù, 像 xiàng.

Questions and answers:
["
Q: Who issued its first round of character simplifications in two documents?
A: The People's Republic of China", '
Q: When was a second round announced?
A: 1977', '
Q: How was the second round received?
A: poorly']
Although most often associated with the People's Republic of China, character simplification predates the 1949 communist victory. Caoshu, cursive written text, almost always includes character simplification, and simplified forms have always existed in print, albeit not for the most formal works. In the 1930s and 1940s, discussions on character simplification took place within the Kuomintang government, and a large number of Chinese intellectuals and writers have long maintained that character simplification would help boost literacy in China. Indeed, this desire by the Kuomintang to simplify the Chinese writing system (inherited and implemented by the Communist Party of China) also nursed aspirations of some for the adoption of a phonetic script based on the Latin script, and spawned such inventions as the Gwoyeu Romatzyh.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What almost always includes character simplification?
A: Caoshu', '
Q: What is Caoshu?
A: cursive written text', '
Q: When did discussions of character simplification take place?
A: In the 1930s and 1940s']
The use of traditional Chinese characters versus simplified Chinese characters varies greatly, and can depend on both the local customs and the medium. Before the official reform, character simplifications were not officially sanctioned and generally adopted vulgar variants and idiosyncratic substitutions. Orthodox variants were mandatory in printed works, while the (unofficial) simplified characters would be used in everyday writing or quick notes. Since the 1950s, and especially with the publication of the 1964 list, the People's Republic of China has officially adopted simplified Chinese characters for use in mainland China, while Hong Kong, Macau, and the Republic of China (Taiwan) were not affected by the reform. There is no absolute rule for using either system, and often it is determined by what the target audience understands, as well as the upbringing of the writer.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What varies greatly?
A: The use of traditional Chinese characters versus simplified Chinese characters', '
Q: What were mandatory in printed works?
A: Orthodox variants', '
Q: What were adopted for use in mainland China?
A: Chinese characters']
According to the Rev. John Gulick: "The inhabitants of other Asiatic nations, who have had occasion to represent the words of their several languages by Chinese characters, have as a rule used unaspirated characters for the sounds, g, d, b. The Muslims from Arabia and Persia have followed this method … The Mongols, Manchu, and Japanese also constantly select unaspirated characters to represent the sounds g, d, b, and j of their languages. These surrounding Asiatic nations, in writing Chinese words in their own alphabets, have uniformly used g, d, b, & c., to represent the unaspirated sounds."

Questions and answers:
['
Q: Who is John Gulick?
A: Rev', '
Q: Who constantly selected unaspirated characters?
A: Mongols, Manchu, and Japanese', '
Q: Who have followed this method?
A: Muslims from Arabia and Persia']
Although Chinese characters in Vietnam are now limited to ceremonial uses, they were once in widespread use. Until the early 20th century, Literary Chinese was used in Vietnam for all official and scholarly writing. Around the 13th century the Nôm script was developed to record folk literature in the Vietnamese language. The script used Chinese characters to represent both borrowed Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and native words with similar pronunciation or meaning. In addition thousands of new compound characters were created to write Vietnamese words. This process resulted in a highly complex system that was never mastered by more than 5% of the population. Both Literary Chinese and Nôm were replaced in the early 20th century by Vietnamese written with the Latin-based Vietnamese alphabet.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What is now limited to ceremonial uses?
A: Chinese characters in Vietnam', '
Q: What were once in widespread use?
A: Chinese characters in Vietnam', '
Q: What was used in schooling?
A: Literary Chinese']