Hey, I didn't down vote you but based on your question and your edit of an "unsubstantiated claim for which there is conflicting evidence" I think you may have

Hey, I didn't down vote you but based on your question and your edit of an "unsubstantiated claim for which there is conflicting evidence" I think you may have mis-interpreted my comment. Apologies for any confusion. I was not making a claim nor comparing between characters used by PRC vs. Taiwan vs. Hong Kong, in particular I wasn't ranking them as better or worse or easier or harder. I understand there are ongoing differences, posturings and debates between PRC and Taiwan and Hong Kong, including about language, and the whole thing is serious and complicated. Bro, I have no dog in that fight. Good luck y'all. Maybe see my other comment as it goes into more detail. But just on a basic level I think you have mis-interpreted the words "simple" and "easy". A pretty common mistake I have made in the past too. The characters are called "Simplified Chinese Characters" not "Objectively Easier Chinese Characters". The definitions of simple and easy are different. Context matters too. For example: Contributing useful comments to a discussion on Hacker News is very simple. Clearly it is not easy.