Who owns the chinese language and script?

[skeptic_yank]

who owns the chinese language? i know in france there is a gov’t department that keeps things properly French and puts the kabosh on vulgarisms such as “big mac” and other corrupting influences.

i can recall some years back reading about a similar government organ at play in china and how it was putting “wi ta men” (vitamin) on the sidelines for something more “sinitic”. is anyone familiar with the name/locale of this department? they have royally gummed up the chinese script with this simplified, half-baked script and it looks like i am gonnna have to go over there and explain to em how chinese characters work. anybody else wanna come along?

[cranky_laowai]

A few years ago when the registration of domain names in Chinese characters was about to start happening, Beijing said something along the lines that only companies accredited by the PRC government should be able to offer such registration services because hanzi “belonged” to China (or something like that).

I wish I’d been able to hear, say, Japan’s reaction to that.