Notes on Writing/Viewing Chinese Characters

Browser settings
- This page is written in Unicode (UTF-8). You should see Chinese characters here: 名廚小舘
- I set moin_config.py::charset = 'utf-8'. This should force browsers to properly display the Chinese characters.
- If you do not see Chinese characters, set the Character Encoding to intrepret the page as Unicode (UTF-8).

I learned Mandarin with traditional characters (fanti zi) and pinyin, and that's my preferred method for entering Chinese characters. I'm sure many students of Mandarin in the United States use a similar combination. In Windows, the Chinese (PRC) IME (input method editor) allows you to type both simplified and traditional characters. This seemed non-intuitive to me-- I would think that for traditional characters, the Chinese (Taiwan) IME would be more appropriate, but no, the Chinese(PRC) input method is definitely the way to go for any pinyin input.

Note to self: ought to include some Print Screen caps here

Install Chinese (PRC) with Microsoft Pinyin IME
- Control Panel->Regional and Language Options
  - Languages Tab->Install files for East Asian languages
  - Click Details
    - Default input language: English (United States)
    - Add Language: Chinese (PRC)
      - Keyboard layout/IME: Chinese (Simplified) - Microsoft Pinyin IME 3.0
      - Ignore the "Chinese (Traditional) - US Keyboard" IME. You don't need this (again, this seemed nonintuitive).
- Reboot
- You should now see "EN" in the corner of your toolbar (near the "system tray").
To switch between english and chinese:
- click on "EN" to switch to "Chinese (PRC)"
- alternately: use LEFTALT + SHIFT
The "Language Bar" lets you switch between traditional characters (fan ti zi) and simplified characters (jian ti zi)
- Click on the "CH" icon to display the "Language Bar" (a toolbar)
To switch between simplified/traditional, click on the jian/fan icon （also marked "Charset").
- (available only under XP?)
- if jian/fan icon not visible, click on the language toolbar options drop-down box (the tiny little arrow on the rightmost edge of the bar). Click "charset."

tests: car(che1) 車 (definitely traditional) car(che1) 车 (simplified)