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Chinese alphabet is not an alphabet at all but a

collection of ideograms that "consists instead of thousands of

different characters" (791). Thus, in order for a Chinese to be

literate, he or she must memorize a large set of basic, unique, and

nonrepetitive characters. In the Western tradition, on the other

hand, one memorizes, then uses and reuses the same 26 letters in a

wide variety of configurations. This does not require memory work

so much as following specific rules or conventions about the

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