Cangjie method
Chinese characters may be entered into the computer. Invented in 1979 by Chu Bangfu (朱邦復, 朱邦复), the method is named after Cangjie, the man historically attributed with the invention of the first writing system of China. Although the input method was initially based upon Traditional Chinese characters, it has since been revamped such that interoperability between Cangjie and the Simplified Chinese character set was made possible.
Unlike pinyin, Cangjie is based on the morphological aspect of the characters wherein each basic, graphical unit is represented by a letter from the Roman alphabet. Within the letters-to-characters representations, there also exists four subsections of characters: the Philosophical Set (comprised of the letters 'A' to 'G' and representing the elements), the Strokes Set (comprised of the letters 'H' to 'N' and representing the brief and subtle strokes), the Body-related Set (comprised of the letters 'O' to 'R' and representing various parts of the human anatomy), and the Shapes Set (comprised of the letters 'S' to 'Y' and representing complex and encompassing character forms).
In order to input using Cangjie, one must be learned in the construction of each character and its basic mnemonics. A lead character serves as an anchor by which other mnemonics will attach themselves to (in most instances these are radicals). For example, in order to enter the character "車" (Che1), meaning "vehicle", one would input 十 田 十 (which corresponds to JWJ on the computer keyboard.) It is a difficult skill to master because the way to break down a characters into subsections is not always as obvious as the previous example. For example, the character "謝" is broken down into 卜口竹竹戈 or YRHHI on the keyboard.
See also: Chinese input methods for computers
