⚠️ Notice

This post is a draft translation from the Chinese version which have not yet been thoroughly proofread.

Recently, several articles discussing vocational high schools (高職) in Taiwan have appeared on “Wiwi Blog Universe”:

• Eo《後悔讀高職》
• JN《讀高職是我一點都不後悔的事情》
• ikuka《讀高職不代表我成績差》
• 黃碩人《高職 FAQ》

Let me also tell you about Hong Kong’s education system.

In Hong Kong, most mainstream secondary schools allow students to choose their elective subjects for their senior secondary education. After choosing your subjects, you don’t need to ever touch the subjects you didn’t choose again, besides Chinese, English, Mathematics, and Liberal Studies (or later “Citizenship and Social Development”) and two or three elective subjects. So I really didn’t have to worry about what to do with the humanities subjects that I wasn’t good at in my junior secondary.

… Unless the gap in your grades lies in your core subjects. My own situation is that I’m quite good at maths, okay at English, and Chinese and Liberal Studies are the worst, and my grades in maths and various science electives aren’t particularly outstanding either (didn’t get those “star grades” in DSE), which is quite a rare type, and can’t find a place within the Hong Kong education system¹. So after failing Chinese in DSE, I was forced to take English continuing education courses and higher diploma programmes with countless others who failed English instead, even though my original English proficiency wasn’t too bad², which is quite absurd.

🚨 Caution

This article about discussion on the Chinese language itself and is not translated in to English yet (and probably never), please refer to the Chinese version instead.

This page is still work in progress, stay focus for continuous upcoming updates on this page!

聲母

早期中古漢語

• 早期中音漢語大概有 38 個聲母音位。在古代，聲母在寫作韻文時的地位不如韻母重要，導致在韻圖出現之前的文獻往往對聲母不太重視。《切韻》時代的聲母只能靠繫聯法或外語對音等手段推出。不同文獻列出的聲母數量有所出入，從 35 個到 51 個聲母都有。
• 聲母按發音部位傳統上分為「唇舌齒牙喉」五種。有些發音部位還可以再細分形成舌頭、舌上、半舌、齒頭、正齒、半齒等發音部位。
• 唇音、牙音、喉音合稱為鈍音聲母；舌音和齒音合稱為銳音聲母。
• 聲母按發音方式傳統上分為全清、次清、全濁、次濁。這些發音方式的差異在後世通常反映為聲調的分化，保留古代濁塞音和濁塞擦音聲母的現代漢語方言並不多（但不少方言有後起的濁塞音和濁塞擦音聲母，通常從鼻音變來）。
• 牙音聲母「見谿疑」（可能也包括曉母）在某些時期或地域接非三等韻母時，實際發音有可能是小舌音而不是硬腭音，但這兩組發音並不構成音位對立。
• 以下表格為了排列方便，「以來日」的位置被挪了一下。這幾個聲母傳統上的發音部位歸類分別為喉音、半舌音、半齒音。
• 有些材料列出的聲母數量可能有所差異，例如匣母與云母互補、沒多少字的俟母和船母應否獨立等等。

後期中古漢語

• 在韻圖時代，中古漢語的聲母系統發生了變化，形成了廣為流傳的「三十六字母」體系。
• 輕唇音出現，分化條件我寫在韻母的部份裏。/f/ 和 /fʰ/ 的對立在語音學角度來看很不穩定，非敷分立有可能只是形式上的仿古而已。
• 兩組正齒音合併（或者說由於「莊三化二」徹底完成的緣故，莊組與章組變成了互補分佈不再對立），但常母和船母在這個時代應該已經相混。在韻圖中，通常常母歸入禪母，而船母歸入牀母。

韻母

韻母結構

• 一個中古漢語韻母可以分析成介音、韻腹、韻尾三個部份。
• 介音傳統上又被分成「等」和「呼」兩個部份。
  • 「呼」有「開口」和「合口」兩種狀態，大致上可以對應於 /w/ 介音的有無。至於「等」的詳細敘述見下。
• 古代的音韻學文獻很少分析「中古漢語到底有多少個韻腹」這回事，等到「十六攝」的概念出現的時候，整個音系其實已經出現簡化了。在不考慮開合口對立的情況下，中古漢語在大多數情況下擁有五組相互對立的主元音，可以分析成典型的「aeiou」體系。
• 中古漢語的韻尾有八種，連同空韻尾一共有九種狀態。這九種不同的韻尾狀態傳統上分成三類：
  • 陰聲韻：空韻尾、半元音 /i/ 和 /u/
  • 陽聲韻：鼻音 /m/、/n/ 和 /ŋ/
  • 入聲韻：塞音 /p/、/t/ 和 /k/
• 古代韻書有「韻目」的概念，本質上就是把各種「韻母 + 聲調」的組合編成一個個韻目而已。

等

在韻圖時代，各種韻母按照介音劃分成四個「等」。此外也有根據反切材料推定、適用於早期中古漢語的「反切等」。

從切韻時期的擬音來看，三等帶有一個類似於 /i/ 的介音（其實切韻時期的三等介音還可以再細分），而非三等則按照主元音的前後分出一等（後元音）、二等（央元音，早期可能還有捲舌成份）、四等（前元音）。

韻圖等和反切等的一個主要區別是，一部份反切三等被重新歸入韻圖二等或四等：精組反切三等被歸入韻圖四等、「莊三化二」徹底完成、3C 與 3B 合流形成韻圖三等、四等生出 -i̯- 介音與 3A 合流，形成韻圖四等。韻圖等屬於二等或四等的音節、但在反切等屬於三等的音節，稱為「假二等」和「假四等」（儘管重紐四等通常分類成獨立的一類而不視為假四等的一種）。

早期中古漢語的三等韻母非常多，而且部份韻母出現重紐或者其他的一些複雜現象，故可以再細分成幾類。三等 AB 類主元音為前元音，且在唇音聲母後保留重唇音；三等 C 類主元音為央後元音，且在唇音聲母後變為輕唇音。

• 一等：東冬模泰灰咍魂痕寒桓豪歌戈唐登侯覃談
• 二等：江佳皆夬刪山肴麻庚耕咸銜
• 三等 A 類：「支脂祭真仙宵侵鹽」重紐四等、麻三、清韻、幽韻牙音
• 三等 B 類：「支脂祭真仙宵侵鹽」重紐三等、庚三、幽韻唇音
• 三等 C 類：微廢文欣元嚴凡、東鍾之魚虞戈陽尤
• 四等：齊先蕭青添

攝

61 組有單獨名字的韻母，按照韻尾和近似的主元音分類成 16 個「攝」。在廣韻中十六攝的次序是似乎沒啥邏輯的「通江止遇蟹臻山效果假宕梗曾流深咸」。

在韻圖中，「江蟹臻山效假梗咸」被歸類為「外轉」，剩下的「通止遇果宕曾流深」被歸類為「內轉」。只有「外轉」的攝擁有反切二等和反切四等韻。

以下的表格列出了各個攝在韻圖期的擬音。

重韻

同一個攝之內，同一個等的多個韻母稱為「重韻」。這些重韻在後世通常會完全合併以致難以從現代讀音區分。

• 一等重韻三組：東冬、灰咍—泰、覃談
• 二等重韻四組：佳皆夬、刪山、庚二耕、咸銜
• 三等重韻九組：東三鍾、支脂之微、魚虞、祭廢、真諄—文欣、元仙、庚三清、尤幽、鹽—嚴凡

以元音結尾的韻母——果假遇攝

以 /i/ 結尾的韻母——蟹止攝

以 /i/ 結尾的韻母，差不多把所有「介音 + 主元音」都填滿了。不過由於後世演變的差異，上表列出的韻母和攝的具體範圍有點不同。

以 /u/ 結尾的韻母——效流攝

以 /u/ 結尾的韻母均不分開合口。

以 /m/ 結尾的韻母——咸深攝

以 /m/ 或 /p/ 結尾的韻母幾乎均不分開合口，除了嚴韻系在唇音聲母後面會變成互補的合口凡韻系之外。

以 /n/ 結尾的韻母——山臻攝

以 /n/ 或 /t/ 結尾的山臻攝大概是把所有「介音 + 主元音」填得最滿的一組韻母。

以 /ŋ/ 結尾的韻母——宕梗曾通江攝

以 /ŋ/ 或 /k/ 結尾的韻母排列得不甚整齊，同屬二等的江韻和耕韻在位置上衝突了。平水韻把這些韻母劃成了八組韻目，超出其他韻尾的「五元音格局」範圍，也許意味着這組韻目實際上應該再分為兩組不同的韻尾。

宕攝、梗攝和曾攝韻母的開合口，只有牙喉音聲母後面存在對立，其他聲母後面一律只能配開口的韻母；而通攝和江攝的韻母就都沒分開合口。

配列限制

• 唇音聲母一律不分開合口。
• 幫組、見組、影曉母可以配一至四等韻母，但群母只能配三等。
• 端組配一四等，知組配二三等。
• 精組可以配一、三、四等，但邪母只能配三等。
• 莊組只可配二、三等（但俟母只能配三等）；章組、日母、云母、以母均只可配三等。
• 匣母只能配一、二、四等，與群母或云母互補。
• 來母也可以配一至四等韻母，但二等字數較少。
• 「微廢文欣元嚴凡」七個韻系只與鈍音聲母相拼。
• 董韻三等、湩韻一等及駭韻合口少字。
• 「鍾宵鹽」這幾個韻系以及藥韻，幾乎不能配莊組聲母。
• 支韻合口（舉平以賅上去入）不能配莊組聲母。
• 「之魚」韻系無唇音聲母字。
• 佳韻系齒音聲母少字。
• 祭韻 A 類開口無精組聲母字、祭韻 B 類無唇音字。
• 戈韻三等只能配牙喉音聲母；麻韻三等只能配齒音聲母。
• 曾攝合口只在牙喉音聲母有字，且字數不多。蒸拯證三個韻目完全沒有合口，但職韻目有。
• 「齊佳皆夬先陽唐庚耕清青蒸登」等韻系，開合口只在牙喉音聲母有對立。而「支脂祭泰灰咍真諄魂痕寒桓刪山仙歌戈麻」等韻系，其開合口則在舌牙齒喉音聲母都有對立。

反切

• 反切上字決定聲母，反下字決定韻母和聲調。
• 反切上下字一般都是三等或都不是三等。 如果上下字的其中一個是合口字的話，那麼這個發音一般都是合口的，但請注意唇音字的韻母不區分開合口。
• 若反切上字區分重紐，則同上字。
• 鈍音聲母反切時，上字 AB 類不互切，C 類則 ABC 三類皆可切。
• 若反切下字為 A 類、精組、章組、以母，則切音為 A 類；若反切下字為 B 類、莊組、云母，則切音為 B 類；知組及來母則沒有明顯傾向，AB 類皆可混用。

⚠️ Notice

This post is a draft translation from the Chinese version which have not yet been thoroughly proofread.

Alex Hsu recently published two posts in a row discussing the topic of regional variations in Chinese.

• 《The tale of two translation houses》
• 《How Taiwan and China rename English movies (and why it’s a mess)》

Admittedly, from the perspective of “movie title translations,” the discrepancies between translations by distributors in different regions are particularly severe (especially some poorly translated ones, Taiwan seems to favor using “formulas” or even making dirty jokes). Alex has suggested that “film studios should unify their translations”. However, direct translation isn’t always the best approach, since different languages ​​(and even different regions speaking the same language) can have different cultures, and direct translation may not always allow audiences from certain cultures to grasp the film’s theme or the artistic conception of the original language. (Some countries also have a tendency to include spoilers when translating foreign film titles) However, blindly forcing uniformity could also backfire.

Perhaps we should leave the previously established (or “accustomed to mistakes”) names for shit mountain untouched. It would be better to focus on choosing good names for the newly emerging ones.

Annihilating local languages?

I really admire what The Pokemon Company did. In 2016, they unified twenty years of divergent names. Taiwan had been calling it 《神奇寶貝》(“Magical Treasures”), Hong Kong used 《寵物小精靈》(“Pet Elves”), and China called it 《口袋妖怪》(“Pocket Monsters”). They scrapped all three and unified under one name: 《寶可夢》(“Pokémon,” phonetically). I remember thinking the new name sounded terrible. But I agreed with the decision. And time proved them right.

——Alex Hsu《How Taiwan and China rename English movies (and why it’s a mess)》

Pokémon is an example of an attempt to clean up the shit mountains. Alex’s remarks actually overlooked a very important aspect. When Pokémon (and other Nintendo products) were unifying their transliterations, they often tilted at Mandarin pronunciations, leading to accusations of “belittling Cantonese and substituting Mandarin for Cantonese”, which caused a stir in Hong Kong at the time. If you were to say something like that in a Hong Kong community, you’d very likely get a lot of flak. If I had a less favourable impression of Alex, I could immediately launch into a tirade, accusing him of being a Mandarin chauvinist (I really could do that), willing to sacrifice the rationality of local dialect¹ pronunciation and completely deny the value of local dialects in order to achieve his grand unification ideal.

• 妈的，你是不是中国人，是中国人就该讲普通话，别唧唧歪歪讲什么鸟语！
• 不说普通话的是不是辱华废青啊？
• 讲什么狗屁鸟语，等着被统一吧！
• 咱们有推出官方汉化版本，你们就得感恩了！
• XX 人全都是二鬼子，一句普通话不说

——Design dialogue

However, on the other hand, some translations of names made in Hong Kong are also poorly done. Many translations in the sports world are based on the Cantonese pronunciation, but they often misjudge the original pronunciation, and the resulting translations are almost like random translations.

The Romanization school of thought

You say you’re not Chinese? Then don’t use Chinese characters!

——Romanized Taiwanese chauvinists

Tan Kian-Tiong mentioned in his article “葬送的芙莉蓮 EP1-2 語句選”, that he persuaded the team at PTS Taigi Channel to write transliterated foreign words in Latin letters (instead of directly borrowing characters from Mandarin Chinese), arguing that the Ministry of Education’s Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi also uses this format.

Such a mix of Latin characters is not a convention in written Chinese in Hong Kong, except in certain compromises (such as the case of “Pokémon” mentioned above).

The impossible triangle of faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance

One compromise solution that takes all the above arguments into account, is to try to find characters that sound similar in various Chinese dialects¹ when creating new transliterations (unless they deviate too much from established conventions or “accustomed to mistakes”). However, this adds many more issues for translators to consider:

• Faithfulness: Does it accurately convey the pronunciation of the original text?
• Expressiveness: Does it accurately convey the meaning and artistic conception of the original text?
• Elegance: Will the combined translation sound unrefined (in some dialects)?

⚠️ Notice

This post is a draft translation from the Chinese version which have not yet been thoroughly proofread.

💡 BlogBlog Club!

This is my submission article for “BlogBlog Club Party - June 2026”. This month’s topic is “Music and Memory”, hosted by YoZ. If you have your own blog, feel free to join us together!

這個月的 BlogBlog 同樂會我想嘗試早點投稿。按照前幾期的經驗，大概前一個月的 15 號左右就會放主題文出來開始接受投稿，我預好時間開始寫，到時我差不多寫好就可以直接投稿。點知這次 5 月 10 號主題文就出來了，搞到我有點措手不及。我是個想東西比較慢的人，之前那幾期趕着先出了個初稿出來，到現在都還未完全把完整稿給整理好。

學習樂器的經歷

我很小的時候學過一兩年鋼琴（家裏有兄弟姐妹本身也在學），不過當時的我沒啥耐性練琴，在父母和鋼琴老師的建議下就放棄了。不過在學鋼琴的過程中，我就發現了自己有絕對音感（perfect pitch）（雖然我是再大一點才知道有這個名詞）。

你說現在長大了，耐性稍微好了一點（雖然我依然是個沒啥耐性的人），會不會想着重新學，那我就會答你不知道啦。

後來其實我有想過想試一下學吉他，不過截止目前為止仍然未實現~~，明明現在是我有史以來最頹廢的時間~~。但是我並沒有靠音樂來維持生計的資質，所以現在的我，站在現實層面的考量，就未必很有動力去認真學樂器了。

或者，可能會試一下管樂器？某次父母去台灣旅遊的時候，順手買了個陶笛送給了我，那個陶笛應該還在，不過我後來腦子光想着其他事情，就都已經沒怎麼碰過它了。在此之前我唯一碰過的管樂器是直笛（recorder），上手應該還是可以的？

音樂理論 & 作曲之路

小時候家裏有一部 Yamaha PSR 電子伴奏琴，說是買真的鋼琴送的。在看到好和弦之前，我所有的和弦代號知識都是從這部電子琴學得的。

(WIP)

我的聽歌習慣 & 風格

(WIP)

音樂是什麼？

或者，我們可以回來問自己一個最最最本質的問題：音樂是什麼？什麼是音樂？「音樂」和「噪音」之間的分別到底在哪兒？

(WIP)

⚠️ Notice

This post is a draft translation from the Chinese version which have not yet been thoroughly proofread.

My blog currently has three languages: written Chinese, Cantonese, and English. The different language versions are currently distinguished by different paths.

Since I rarely promote this website in circles where people don’t understand Chinese, most of the English content on this site has been roughly translated using machine translation tools, and I’ll proofread it more carefully later when I have time.

JN recently created a tool called IndiePing, which can be used to search for posts in the “BlogBlog Club Universe” that link to your blog. The tool has a minor bug: if your blog is not under the root directory of a subdomain, IndiePing might retrieve the wrong blog name. JN replied that this bug needs to be manually fixed case by case. Currently, this blog doesn’t have its own domain, but perhaps one day I’ll move the entire blog to my own domain. I wonder if, when moving the domain in the future, the three different language versions should maintain directory distinctions, or if, for compatibility reasons with some blog linking tools, I’ll have to assign different hostnames to each language version.

Additionally, noeFly is also developing a blog search engine, but it’s unclear how well it supports non-root directory + multilingual blogs like mine.

Eddie Lv somehow decided to include a link to my English website for some reason on his “Mentions & Discussion” page, even though Eddie’s website is written in Chinese. Perhaps he doesn’t notice that my website actually has a Chinese version.

⚠️ Notice

This post is a draft translation from the Chinese version which have not yet been thoroughly proofread.

Over the past year, some members of the “Wiwi Blog Universe” have started a trend of submitting themselves to nownownow.com, which has made me wonder if I should also try submitting myself to nownownow.com?

However, after thinking about it, I think I shouldn’t submit it for now?

All the members contributing to nownownow.com in the “Wiwi Blog Universe” are from Taiwan. I was born and raised in Hong Kong and have never lived in Taiwan for an extended period, so I’m considered a foreigner in the “Wiwi Blog Universe”. The Hong Kong section of nownownow.com currently has 10 members, and from what I’ve seen, they’re all English websites. It would be a bit awkward if I included myself in it and nobody really reads it.

Furthermore, if you submit yourself to nownownow.com, they will ask you some basic questions about yourself. If you don’t answer them, you’ll be listed in the “missing photo” or “missing profile questions” section, which may affect your visibility. However, firstly, there are some questions I’m not quite sure on how to duel with, and secondly, I’m a person who is a bit values ​​privacy, and I don’t like to reveal too much about my personal information (or information that I would consider too personal) to strangers.

Additionally, this website currently does not have its own domain yet. I don’t know if I will migrate the website to another domain in the future. If I do migrate the domain, it might be a bit troublesome to change the links on websites own by others.

I wonder what opinions my fellow bloggers have on this. Feel free to contact me via email, private messages, or comment (if I ever set up a comment board on this site)!

📌 Update on 2026/05/05

Wiwi later published a new article “NowNowNow World Champion”, in which he mentions that “if everyone in our BlogBlog Club Universe works together, Taiwan can have a chance to break into the top three, or even win the championship¹”. After reading this, I thought that the BlogBlog Club only has about 100 participants, and not all of them are Taiwanese (I myself am actually a foreigner from Hong Kong). Even if all the participants in the BlogBlog Club submitted themselves to NowNowNow, Taiwan still wouldn’t be able to get into the top three. Therefore, Wiwi’s viewpoint is likely exaggerated and flawed, so I immediately wrote an email to Wiwi to discuss about this.

And he responded by saying, “The BlogBlog Club Universe isn’t limited to those who have already submitted posts; it also includes all the readers of these websites, the website owners’ friends, and potential members who will be brought in later²”. Is this an exaggeration?

⚠️ Notice

This post is a draft translation from the Chinese version which have not yet been thoroughly proofread.

This website has been running for two months, but it still doesn’t have its own domain ¹. Today, let’s discuss the topic of choosing a domain name.

Of course, I know that GitHub Pages can be linked to a custom domain, but I haven’t done so simply because I’m too lazy to spend money to buy a new domain.

Preference to .com domains

Many blogs inside the “Wiwi Blog Universe” show a strong preference to .com domain names.

In the internet age, having your .com taken is like having your name taken.

——Alex Hsu “How an engineer dad picks baby names”

• JN has two posts (1, 2) discussing getting domains, himself using a .com domain.
• One of Wiwi’s submissions to the “Pushing the Pit” theme mentioned that he would “set an alarm to wake up in the middle of the night to grab a .com domain”.
• Alex Hsu says that he spent USD $1700 to buy his current .com domain. He also expressed his strong preference to [firstnamelastname].com domains.
• You’ve bought the domain name, and you still need to feed it. Eddie Lv mentioned that maintaining a .blog domain would cost him USD $2600 per year, which made him give up on the idea, and he ended up buying a .com domain instead.

Top-level domain hierarchy

Some people have a “top-level domain hierarchy” in their minds, which looks something like this:

.com > .net/.org > gTLD > ccTLD

By definition, all two-letter top-level domains are “country code top-level domains” (ccTLDs). According to this hierarchy, Lightingale Community is at the bottom of this hierarchy.

Not long ago, 7-zip was found that it has its .com domain name being squatted as a phishing website, this highlights the importance of registering .com domains for services with high brand awareness.

Additionally, if you’re considering setting up your own mail server, you would have to consider the fact that the global email service has been plagued by spam mails for many years as well, creating a trust deadlock that makes sending emails from new domain names very difficult. It’s said that emails sent from .com domains would have a higher deliver rate, while newer domains like .win and .xyz are often used for suspicious purposes, and are more likely to be distrusted by other websites.

My domain plans

Maintaining a domain name is very expensive, and buying a domain name just for a blog isn’t worthwhile. Even if this website eventually has its own domain, I’ll probably put the blog in a subdomain like b.example.com. In fact, I already have a fairly detailed list of subdomains in mind:

• a/ai: Self-hosted privte AI service (if ever made)
• b: Blog
• f: Forum, message board
• g: GitHub Pages／self-hosted Gitea? (if ever made)
• i: Image host
• m/mc: Minecraft server
• ms?: Self-hosted Mastodon? (if ever made)
• s/t?: Tiny URLs
• sx: Self-hosted searx (if ever made)
• v: Self-hosted PeerTube (if ever made)

Choosing a domain name

The question is, what kind of domain name should I choose?

Some people like to use their real names as domain names. Alex Hsu mentioned that he prefers such domain names². I would consider the issue of identity segregation, even if I bought a domain name containing my real name, I wouldn’t use it for this particular blogging identity.

Furthermore, the future of .io is quite uncertain. Until its future is clear, it’s best not to buy a new .io domain.

Dark web domain names

Lightingale Community has members regularly using dark web services, some of them also help the entire community set up dark web domains.

• Tor and I2P have readily available tools for mining domain names. Someone even mined a bunch of .onion domain names starting with yjspi.
• Yggdrasil is essentially a virtual IPv6 address that can be bound to any domain name. I would just have to create a subdomain called y/ygg for it.
• Lokinet may lack readily available domain mining tools.

⚠️ Notice

This post is a draft translation from the Chinese version which have not yet been thoroughly proofread.

I’ve read Alex Hsu’s “The omakase blog: building an opinionated personal site” recently, let me share some of my personal opinions.

Light mode and dark mode

This site currently offers both light and dark themes, with automatic detection by default, but users can also switch between both themes by clicking a button on the menu.

But what if you’re forced to choose one? Alex mentioned he recently removed the light mode entirely, which I think is fine. Conversely, since I’m the kind of person who likes to hide in a dark room late at night to look at my phone, I don’t really like the constanly blindingly bright mode of 廢文小天地 and Wen (that kind of blindingly bright mode is more suitable for e-ink screens or paper reading, maybe I should invest in an e-reader?). In the ancient days before CSS, the default layout was always in light mode, which is why browsers now default to light mode unless colours are specified using CSS.

Simplified/Traditional Chinese conversions

I’ve considered adding a “one-way Simplified/Traditional Chinese conversion” function to this website, but I’m lazy and haven’t implemented it yet.

As for “two-way Simplified/Traditional Chinese conversion”, it’s basically a cancer. A one-to-many conversion in Simplified Chinese often leads to over-conversion.

I was born and raised in Hong Kong. Compared to Taiwan, due to cultural contact and changes in population structure, Hong Kong people have more opportunities to encounter Simplified Chinese in their daily lives. Hong Kong people generally have better reading ability for Simplified Chinese than Taiwanese people, and there are fewer cases of “Simplified Chinese reading difficulties” or “much slower when trying to read Simplified Chinese”. My own fluency in reading Traditional and Simplified Chinese is actually not that different most of the time.

Horizontal and vertical writings

Within the “Wiwi Blog Universe”, there’s a blog that’s uniquely written vertically, that’s “Me” (e89295).

Local language textbooks in Taiwan and Japan share a common feature: they are both written vertically. In contrast, textbooks in mainland China and Hong Kong are all written horizontally (although Hong Kong does have many vertically written Chinese books).

In the past, electronic devices, which are dominated by Westerners who lacked vertical writing traditions, often have poor support on vertical texts. However, the support for vertical text on electronic devices has nowadays improved considerably.

That being said, vertically formatted web pages like “My Blog” might be better viewed horizontally on mobile devices.

Table formatting

Numerous studies have shown that limiting the width of text layouts can improve the reading experience (at least for horizontal text). I have many linguistics articles that include tables. When there are many columns in a table, it often overflows, which is not quite aesthetically pleasing. Perhaps I should look into better table formatting mechanisms, or maybe I should just use images instead?

📌 Want to use it now?

• The source code is here!
• Supporting CSS

A practical little toy developed during the research of Hugo.

Usage

Markdown syntax:

{{< ruby Text Pronunciation >}}

Rendering effect: Text（Pronunciation）

⏳ Current Status

• 🏡 I’ve always been living in Hong Kong.
• 💼 I’m still unemployed. I briefly mentioned this in my “Perfect Days” post.

❓ Recently doing

• ⛪️ I’ve been maintaining my church attendance routine for the past year, but I still have no plans to believe.