Chinese characters are the written form of the Chinese language. They have been in use for thousands of years and are one of the oldest continuously-used writing systems in the world. Unlike alphabetic languages, which use a small number of letters to represent sounds, each Chinese character represents a unique meaning.
Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese are two written forms of the Chinese language that are used in different parts of the world. While they are based on the same characters, known as Hanzi, there are some significant differences between the two forms.