the debate on traditional chinese characters and simplified chinese characters is an ongoing dispute concerning chinese orthography among users of chinese characters. it has stirred up heated responses from supporters of both sides in mainland china, hong kong, macau, taiwan, and among overseas chinese communities with its implications of political ideology and cultural identity. simplified characters here exclusively refer to those characters simplified by the people's republic of china (prc), instead of the concept of character simplification as a whole. the effect of simplified characters on the language remains controversial for decades after their introduction.