於 or 于

[mr. fanglang]

On the mainland, is 于 used as a substitute for 於, as in 关于 (關於)?

[Jose]

Yes, 於 is not used at all in simplified characters.

[zhwj]

於 is not used at all in simplified characters

於 is always simplified to 于 with two rare exceptions: 於 pronounced Yū is a surname (于 as a surname is pronounced yú). There's also an older usage pronounced wū in 於戏 (wūhū), which doesn't usually get modernized to (呜呼) in simplified versions of classic texts.

[mr. fanglang]

Thanks. None of the traditional-simplified converters i use (online, software, or book form) converts 於 into 于. Wonder why that is.

[roddy]

I think I have seen 於 as a surname on the mainland, so it may still have some use in simplified - which would explain why it doesn't get converted. Not sure about this though, can anyone confirm?

[malinuo]

於 is converted to 于 on MacOS X Tiger using the built in converter.

[kimichen]

Digression.

于 干 千 have very subtle differences. Don't know if it is a good simplification. No offence just out of academic curiosity.

[skylee]

According to Xiandai Hanyu Cidian (simplifed) and my favourite dictionary (traditional), there are two surnames - 於 (Yu1) and 于 (Yu2).

MS Word changes 於 to 于 when converting from traditional to simplified.

[mr. fanglang]

kimichen, you make a good point and thats one of the things i don't like about simplified.

here's another example:

并

开

井

i find it much easier reading it like this, easier to distinguish:

並

開

井