Gujinzi(ancient and modern characters) refers to characters in different periods that have different forms and structures but mean the same. Characters used in relatively old times are calledGuzi(ancient characters) and characters that came into being later are calledJinzi(modern characters).
Gujinzifalls into two categories. In the first category,GuziandJinzihave exactly the same meaning such as 
(kuai, both mean block) and
(yin, both mean drink). While in the second category, the meaning ofGuziandJinziis partly the same, such as
(they both have something to with sun ) and
(they both have something to do with picture).
In the first category, eachGuzihas a correspondingJinzi,while this is not the case with the second category.Jinziis the product of differentiation in the evolution ofGuziand it might be evolved from the original meaning ofGuzi, from the extended meaning ofGuzior phonetically borrowed fromGuzi.
Certain characters with over-loaded meaning made communications difficult, whileGujinzihad been created to differentiate meanings. A close relation can be traced betweenGujinziand regularization of Chinese characters: the regularization will not succeed unless it is carried out with the features of Chinese characters as its significant reference.
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