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Reading Chinese scripts online | Getting wired (or wireless) | For more

Reading Chinese Scripts Online

But you don't have to get that fancy in order just to get the browser to display the scripts for you. The crucial questions: which browser -- and possibly which operating system -- are you are using?

• Windows & Microsoft Internet Explorer will generally offer to pop you on over to the download page for the appropriate fonts the first time you stumble upon a non-Latin script page. Unfortunately, I found that if you say no the first time, you may not get the prompt again, and the right pages aren't easy to find on the Microsoft site. So carpe diem unless you like trouble-shooting. (You may also be informed on the MS site that your browser version is outdated, and not be able to get at fonts unless you update your browser. No comment.) If you plan to be inputting any text in Chinese for search engines and such, you will also need to download the "input method editor" for Chinese in addition to the fonts package. The downloads are for the time being free. If you're having trouble locating what you need, you could try going directly to the "product updates" page (http://office.microsoft.com/ProductUpdates/) and letting Microsoft inventory what you have on your system (if you don't care much about privacy) and suggest updates.  (Please note: this is based on my experience with Win98 and Win2000. I am obstinately refusing to go to XP for the time being.)
• Netscape Navigator in older versions requires plug-ins for reading and/or writing, from third-party providers, and they are generally not free. But you can find some nice affordable plug-ins. My current favorite is from Nanji Star (see below). If you're using Win2000 and a newer version of Netscape, you might be able to get away without the plug-in.
• Opera: If you haven't tried Opera yet, you should. Version 6.0 for Windows came out in December 2001 in both simplified and traditional Chinese character versions. Earlier English versions also worked well with Nanji Star; I haven't tried the newer ones. Opera is also developing versions for Mac, Linux, OS/2, and several other operating systems, though they are not as well tested as the Windows version. You can download for free but eventually they want you to pay for the browser; however, it is very reasonably priced, and there are senior citizen and student discounts. 
• Plug-ins for Chinese (and other Asian) character display:
• Nanji Star. Their "passive" browser product ("CJK Viewer") actually lets you do a little text input as well. It enables you to read Japanese, Chinese, or Korean characters with easy switching between them. It automatically detects the two major Chinese character coding systems, Guobiao and Big-5, and displays them properly without your having to tweak. And it's the only package I have run into that can display characters properly when you have pages that include both coding systems. Nanji Star also offers a nice basic Chinese word processing software, as well as some options bundling that with the CJK Viewer. You can download the software and try it out for free. Be nice and pay after the trial period runs out, to encourage them to keep up the good work. WARNING: I find that on some systems this program will crash a few other applications no matter what (like WordPerfect, so save your work before you try bringing NanjiStar up) and will crash some others if they are brought up after Nanji Star. 
• Anyone have other favorites? Your information would be welcome. 

Getting Wired (or Wireless)

Internet Access. One hot tip for travelers: you can get dialup Internet access from just about anywhere in China without having to sign up for an ISP. It costs a bit more, but the price (compared to some of the hefty broadband charges that hotels seem to be extracting these day) is quite reasonable. The magic number is 163 (although I have found that Shanghai wants you to use 8163 instead, and I had to resort to 169 in Beijing.) This is all you need: it's the phone number you dial, it's your "username," and it is your password. The service is run by ChinaNet - owned by China Telecom - and the per-minute connection charges are billed to the local phone number from which you dialed in. But, full disclosure here: the downside is that you may have to put up with strange interruptions in your downloads of web pages and e-mails if ChinaNet has its nanny filters turned on. Be prepared to access your e-mail (if need be) via a web interface so that you can get at other e-mails even if the filters balk at one piece of mail. (If you're using an e-mail client like Outlook Express, Netscape Communicator, or Eudora, the filter can block every item after the one it takes offense at.) The only consolation I can offer is that the filters operate on just about all Chinese ISPs all over the country, so you'd have the same experience if you signed up for a broadband subscription, too.

For More
Have a browse through the info included on my page on Communications for my Nanjing guide. A lot of the info is relevant well beyond Nanjing, although obviously the addresses and locations mentioned only work for that city. Anybody with good tips (say, for good places to buy discounted IP phone cards in other major cities), please share them.