Yi'(疫 yì), which translates to "epidemic, disease," has been voted Malaysia's Chinese Character of 2020 in an annual event jointly conducted by the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia and Han Culture Centre Malaysia.
It headed a top ten list announced on December 6 that also included the Chinese characters for "worry (忧 yōu)," "new (新 xīn)," "illness (病 bìng)," "miserable (惨 cǎn)," "panic (慌 huāng)," "cover (罩 zhào)," "lockdown (封 fēng)," "stranded (困 kùn)," and "chaotic (乱 luàn)." The impact of the epidemic and the subsequent prevention measures was apparent.
Previous winning Chinese characters of the year include those for "deception (骗 piàn)," "change (变 biàn)," "road (路 lù)," and "greedy (贪 tān)."
Malaysia and Japan are among the several countries outside of China that choose Chinese characters of the year.
