Simplified to Traditional Chinese Converter
Convert Chinese between simplified and traditional, in either direction, with Taiwan and Hong Kong as separate targets. Every character that had more than one traditional form is marked, tells you what decided it, and can be changed. Nothing you paste leaves your browser.
Taiwan character choices, mainland vocabulary kept as written.
Simplified
Traditional
Everything runs in your browser and the text you paste is never uploaded or stored. We count how often the tool gets used, never what you convert with it.
Why converting to traditional Chinese is hard
Going from traditional to simplified is mostly mechanical: several characters collapse into one, and the answer is rarely in doubt. Going the other way is a different problem, because that collapse has to be undone, and the character alone does not say how.
The classic example is 发. In 头发 it means hair and becomes 髮. In 发展 it means to develop and becomes 發. A converter working one character at a time has to pick one and will be wrong roughly half the time. 干 is worse: it covers 乾 (dry), 幹 (to do, a trunk), and stays 干 in 干涉. So does 台, which is 臺 in 臺灣, 颱 in 颱風 and 檯 in 寫字檯.
The only way through is to look at whole words rather than characters. This tool uses the OpenCC dictionaries, about 49,000 word entries, and tells you which entry made each decision.
Worked examples
Every pair below is a character that could have gone more than one way. These are the real output of the converter on this page, not illustrations.
| Simplified | Traditional | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 头发 | 頭髮 | hair, so 发 is 髮 |
| 发展 | 發展 | development, so 发 is 發 |
| 干燥 | 乾燥 | dry, so 干 is 乾 |
| 树干 | 樹幹 | a tree trunk, so 干 is 幹 |
| 干涉 | 干涉 | to interfere, where 干 stays as it is |
| 皇后 | 皇后 | an empress, where 后 stays as it is |
| 以后 | 以後 | afterwards, so 后 is 後 |
| 台风 | 颱風 | a typhoon, so 台 is 颱 |
| 手表 | 手錶 | a wristwatch, so 表 is 錶 |
| 日历 | 日曆 | a calendar, so 历 is 曆 |
| 历史 | 歷史 | history, so 历 is 歷 |
| 谷物 | 穀物 | grain, so 谷 is 穀 |
| 山谷 | 山谷 | a valley, where 谷 stays as it is |
| 老板 | 老闆 | a boss, so 板 is 闆 |
Each of these characters has a page of its own, with its stroke order, its meaning and the words it appears in: 发, 干, 后, 台, 表, 历, 谷, 板.
Traditional to simplified Chinese
The reverse direction is the easy one, and this tool does it too. Several traditional characters collapse into a single simplified one, so there is almost never a choice to make. 髮 and 發 both become 发. 乾, 幹 and 干 all become 干. Taiwan’s 裡面 and Hong Kong’s 裏面 meet in the same 里面.
| Traditional | Simplified | What merges |
|---|---|---|
| 頭髮 · 發展 | 头发 · 发展 | 髮 and 發 both become 发 |
| 乾燥 · 樹幹 · 干涉 | 干燥 · 树干 · 干涉 | 乾, 幹 and 干 all become 干 |
| 裡面 · 裏面 | 里面 · 里面 | the Taiwan and Hong Kong spellings meet in 里 |
| 臺灣 · 台灣 | 台湾 · 台湾 | the official and the everyday form both become 台 |
| 麵條 · 麪條 | 面条 · 面条 | 麵 and 麪 both become 面 |
| 鐘錶 · 鍾情 | 钟表 · 钟情 | 鐘 and 鍾 both become 钟 |
What you cannot do is undo it. Convert 裏面 to simplified and back and you get 裡面 or 裏面 depending on the target you asked for, because nothing in the simplified text records which one you started from. That is what the round-trip check on the tool is for: it converts its own output back and shows you every place the two do not match.
Taiwan and Hong Kong are not the same target
Most converters offer one traditional button, which quietly assumes there is one traditional Chinese. There is not. Taiwan and Hong Kong differ on individual characters, and they differ again on vocabulary.
| Simplified | Taiwan | Hong Kong |
|---|---|---|
| 里面 | 裡面 | 裏面 |
| 面条 | 麵條 | 麪條 |
| 台湾 | 臺灣 | 台灣 |
| 写字台 | 寫字檯 | 寫字枱 |
On vocabulary, the Taiwan plus vocabulary setting also swaps the words themselves: 软件 becomes 軟體 rather than 軟件, 网络 becomes 網路, 打印机 becomes 印表機 and 出租车 becomes 計程車. Leave that setting off if you want the characters converted but the wording left as the author wrote it.
One case is worth knowing about because it is a judgement rather than a rule. The Taiwan setting converts 台湾 to 臺灣, which is the official form, while everyday writing in Taiwan overwhelmingly uses 台灣. The tool marks it so you can pick the one you want.
What this converter does not do
It converts the script, not the language. A mainland text converted for Taiwan reads as a mainland text written in traditional characters, and turning on the vocabulary setting changes common nouns but not grammar, idiom or tone. Personal names, place names and technical terms are the weakest area for any converter, this one included, so check those before publishing anything that matters.
It also has no opinion about which script you should be using. If you are learning, our HSK 3.0 character lists and the Hanzi Express platform are simplified, since that is what the HSK tests.
More free Chinese tools
If you are working with a Chinese text, the text difficulty checker tells you its HSK level and which characters are above yours. The online Chinese keyboard types characters from pinyin and reads Chinese back as pinyin. To practise writing any of these characters by hand, the character worksheet generator prints stroke-order practice sheets. Every one of them is free and runs in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
Why does one simplified character have several traditional forms?
Simplification merged characters that used to be distinct. 发 stands for both 發 (to send) and 髮 (hair); 干 covers 乾 (dry), 幹 (to do) and itself. Going the other way means choosing, and the choice depends on the word. This converter uses a dictionary of about 49,000 words to make that choice, and tells you which word made it.
Is traditional Chinese the same in Taiwan and Hong Kong?
No, and this is where most converters get it wrong. Taiwan writes 裡面 where Hong Kong writes 裏面, and 麵條 where Hong Kong writes 麪條. Vocabulary differs too: mainland 軟件 is 軟體 in Taiwan, and 網絡 is 網路. Pick the target you actually need rather than a single traditional button.
Can I change a character the converter got wrong?
Yes. Every character that had more than one possible form is marked in the output. Click it to see the alternatives with their meanings and pick a different one. Characters settled by a dictionary word are marked in green, and characters where the converter fell back on the commoner reading are marked in amber, because those are the ones worth checking.
What does the round-trip warning mean?
The tool converts its own output back again and compares it to what you pasted. Where the two differ, something in the middle lost information. That is not always an error, because simplification genuinely merges characters, but it is the fastest way to find the places worth a second look.
Does it convert traditional to simplified as well?
Yes, and that direction is the easy one. Several traditional characters collapse into a single simplified one, so there is rarely a choice to make: 髮 and 發 both become 发, and 裡面 and 裏面 both become 里面. What you cannot do is get the distinction back afterwards, which is what the round-trip check is for.
Which should I learn, simplified or traditional?
It depends on where you are headed. The mainland, Singapore and the HSK exam use simplified. Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau use traditional, and most heritage material printed before the 1950s is traditional. If you are studying for the HSK, learn simplified and use a converter when you need the other script.
How much text can I convert at once?
As much as you can paste. There is no length limit and no file upload, because the whole conversion runs in your browser rather than on a server. Very long texts convert in well under a second.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. The dictionaries are downloaded to your browser and the conversion happens there. The text you paste never leaves the page. We count how often the tool is used, never what you convert with it.
Is this converter free?
Yes, free and with no sign-up. It is one of several free Chinese tools we publish alongside Hanzi Express, our character learning platform.