1565: Alphabetization in Chinese Mar 28, 2019

Alphabetization is a prevalent and in some cases expected form of organization, but for some peoples this is not possible. Most languages are standardly written using an alphabet—or an alphabet-like system—but for iconographic writing systems like that of hanzi in Chinese or kanzi in Japanese, this can be trickier. In this case, the so-called 'radical and stroke' system is used, in which a certain word will be understood to have a base common to multiple words called a radical. However, these radicals are not always easy to discern, and don't necessarily bear much significance in the individual words. After that the number of pen-strokes are counted and that is how the words are organized thereafter, but there is no regard for which types of strokes necessarily, so it is not as easy to quickly scan for something.
Here's a Word Theory about this sort of topic: https://www.patreon.com/posts/why-chinese-is-21530910