Online Resources for Chinese
The proliferation of the internet over the past decade and a half has brought with it an exponential rise in the amount of Chinese materials available online. The selections below represent merely a starting point for the serious Chinese student.
A well-maintained and current list of Chinese resources can be found at the UHM library's China Collection Online Resources. Another thorough and annotated listing of Chinese resources online can be found at Marjorie Chan's China Links site.
For websites related to courses in the Chinese section at UH, please check out the courses page.
Modern Chinese Dictionaries
www.dict.cn
A collaborative dictionary maintained by Chinese students at Indiana University as an attempt to help newcomers to America.
Contains both a traditional and a simplified version, with many example sentences. Chinese-English and English-Chinese.
| MDBG Chinese-English dictionary | |
| An online searchable version of CC-CEDICT, a continuation of the CEDICT project. Shows both traditional and simplified versions of characters, and includes both a character dictionary and a word dictionary. Also includes a specially sized version which is browsable on a mobile phone. Chinese-English and English-Chinese |
|
Chengyu Dictionary
A dictionary of Chinese idioms with meaning, explanation, and examples, mostly in simplified Chinese.
Some entries have an English definition. Searchable by pinyin or by characters.
| Zhongwen.com | |
| Rick Harbaugh's genealogical dictionary of Chinese characters. In addition to the dictionary, there is also a chat function and a set of classical texts which have been linked into the character dictionary. |
|
Taiwanese Ministry of Education's Revised Dictionary
This is a traditional character, Chinese-Chinese dictionary that allows you to search for words or characters
by entering the character, Zhuyin (bopomofo), or the character's radical.
Online Newspapers
China Gate (Wenxue City)
Community portal for overseas Chinese in both simplified and traditional characters. Contains collected
news articles, blogs, and discussion forums.
Sina.com
News in traditional characters, simplified characters, and English.
Repositories of Chinese Texts
Wikisource (traditional,
simplified)
A growing collection of classical and modern texts, wiki-style.
Yasue
A collection of calligraphy, paintings, and classical Chinese texts in traditional characters.
Free Chinese-Related Software Tools
Chinese
Perapera-kun: Chinese Popup Translator 0.2.2
A Firefox add-on that pops up a definition of unknown Chinese words/characters when you
mouse over them. Entries may also be exported to an external file.
Chinese-Tools.com
This site contains everything from dictionaries and annotated texts to traditional-simplified
converters to fun cultural activities.
Mandarintools.com
A collection of Chinese-related software tools and links to Chinese materials.
Chinese Character Input Methods
Google IME
A free, easy-to-use pinyin input method for Windows. Supports the input of both traditional
and simplified characters. Also includes a stroke-by-stroke input method in cases where
you do not know how to pronounce a character.
Unispim (紫光华宇输入法)
Another free, pinyin-based input method for Windows, popular in mainland China.
Mouse Drawing Input
This web page allows you to draw an unknown character with your mouse, then select it from a list
of possible characters. A quick way to look up characters you don't know how to pronounce. (requires
Java to be installed on your computer)