On the front page of a magazine sold with an Italian daily, there is a title written in Chinese characters that is supposed to mean "Chinese syndrome" (the same translation in Italian is written in brackets below the characters).
I cannot type the title as it is printed so here is a link where you can see it:
[picasaweb.google.com]

Now here are my questions:
1) why aren't simplified characters used? The article is about the People's Republic of China.
2) I don't understand the use of the third character for zong1. I have looked for the word zong1he2 but it seems that the characters used to write it are either 综合 (simplified) or 綜合 (traditional). What troubles me is the radical 糸 which I could find in the form used in that image only in a Japanese dictionary. Is the use of this character still correct in Chinese or is it an obsolete form that is not used in Standard Chinese?
3) is the title correct or not? Shouldn't it have been written 中国综合症?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/2009 01:18AM by Olive.

1. Not sure why simplified characters are not used. The publishing was probably done on the Italians' part -- thus mixup is possible.

2. 綜合 by itself means "to synthesize", "to be combined/integrated". 綜 by itself has the notion of "to put together" or "to sum up". 綜合症 is a common term for "syndrome" (in a sickness sense). Because the phrase is written in traditional Chinese, the radical 糸 that you find also pertains to that of the traditional characters. I know it looks a bit off, but it's just the font that makes it somewhat confusing. It is correct and is used in the traditional Chinese writing system as a major radical.

3. The phrase is correct. Although I'm more used to hearing it referred to the movie "The China Syndrome". Both 中国综合症 (simplified) and 中國綜合症 (traditional) are correct.