Chinese is often even indecipherable to the Chinese and because of this there have been many attempts to simplify it.
There is a subset that people actually use and the rest is avoided.
This is a similar case with languages like C++, Ruby and Python. The languages are terrifyingly complex, but the subset that most people use is reasonably usable.
If you stray outside this subset there be dragons.
I see your point about C++, but I don't think anything in Ruby or Python could be described as "terrifyingly complex". They give you plenty of rope to hang yourself in various ways, but that's a different issue than language complexity.
This is a similar case with languages like C++, Ruby and Python. The languages are terrifyingly complex, but the subset that most people use is reasonably usable. If you stray outside this subset there be dragons.