Interesting initiative. I understand about preserving their beauty and recognizing their historical significance, but, aside from a nice title, what will achieving this status do for them? True, they are not a dead language, and though they have lost some luster and following, they are not without fans. Is this a useful/necessary step?
[quote]Taiwan plans to apply for world heritage status for the complex Chinese characters that China stopped using after 1949 but Taiwan continues to use today…
Taiwan plans to set up a task force in February to prepare for making the application to UNESCO, the United Daily News quoted Premier Liu Chao-Shiuan as saying.
…the Chinese Nationalist Government, which lost the civil war and fled to Taiwan to set up its government-in-exile, preserved the complex characters in the name of preserving the Chinese culture, and today Taiwan is the only place in the world, besides Hong Kong, where the complex characters are still being used.
Liu said that if one knows the complex characters, it is easier for one to read ancient Chinese characters used 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. “So complex Chinese characters are like a living fossil,” he was quoted as saying.
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http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/arts-&-leisure/2008/12/19/188328/Taiwan-to.htm