is very good for explaining the neurological reasons why NO writing system could possibly operate that way.
To say that Chinese characters unify a nation of high illiteracy whose citizens in many cases cannot converse with one another in person or on the telephone
is much like saying that writing in Latin unifies the continent of Europe by providing a common means of communication among scholars from Basque Country to Finland. Each statement is about equally true, and each is about equally irrelevant to current language policy.
Again, I invite you to look at
http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Language-Fantasy-John-DeFranci...
to see why that is not quite true. A newer book,
http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Brain-Science-Evolution-Invent...
is very good for explaining the neurological reasons why NO writing system could possibly operate that way.
To say that Chinese characters unify a nation of high illiteracy whose citizens in many cases cannot converse with one another in person or on the telephone
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/07/content_5812838...
is much like saying that writing in Latin unifies the continent of Europe by providing a common means of communication among scholars from Basque Country to Finland. Each statement is about equally true, and each is about equally irrelevant to current language policy.