In the early stage of foreign element words entering the Chinese system, the translator of Huaxue Jianyuan has established the translation principle of element names. It mainly uses monosyllable and phonetic Chinese characters. It determines 48 transliteration elements either by referring to the transliteration of element names in Jinshi Shibie or by self-formulation. 47 out of 48 characters are ligatures, 21 of which are newly-formed, and 26 are borrowed from unfamiliar inherent Chinese characters. It presents the characteristics of high proportion of new characters, strong systematicness and applicability. There are 48 transliterated element names with recorded characters used by translators, 34 of which are still in use today. The transliteration principles established by translators and the selection or creation methods of transliterated element name characters have a great influence on the subsequent element name characters.

Since China announced the “Chinese Character Simplification Scheme” in 1956, two sides of the straits have had different usage of Chinese characters, which is Traditional or Simplified. This situation has been there for 60 years and we have noticed that, although simplified characters make it easy to remember and write, some original concepts of the characters, such as Chinese culture or how the character was created, have been lost. As Chinese characters consist of “format”, “sound”, and “meaning”, which are closely connected with one another, simplified Chinese have made it inconsistent with the original Chinese characters as they have become simple lines and symbols. When people are learning Chinese, they are not able to understand the close relationship between the format and the meaning or the rich Chinese culture carried by the character. The research motive is from the trend in the survey of university students about their concepts of the usage of traditional and simplified characters. The research will further explain how the format and the meaning of ancient Chinese characters were closely connected.

The Wangmang’s Xin dynasty is the special period in Chinese history, the Wangmang’s governing philosophy and cultural awareness had great influence on both the structure and the usage of the Chinese characters. We make a comprehensive collection of these script materials. This paper has reviewed the special usage of Chinese characters during the Wangmang’s Xin dynasty from three points of view: the shapes of Chinese characters, the construction of Chinese characters, the functions and usages of Chinese character. Further, we hold the opinion that the reform of writing system was the Xin dynasty’s basic policy. And the special usage of Chinese characters during the Wangmang’s Xin Dynasty is important references for division of cultural relic and literature history into periods.