Christian Wittern's Web Space

What's New
[17.4.99: NEW!] A99/Alcarta databases with Chinese data. A first look at how to use the new Windows programs A99 and Alcarta with Chinese data.
Here is a short resume
Kurzer Lebenslauf und Schriftenverzeichnis
WWW Database of Chinese Buddhist texts, Release 2.0 (updated Feb 1st, 1998). There are two versions for a Chinese system environment and for a Japanese setup:
Chinese Version (encoded in BIG5)
Japanese Version (encoded in Shift-JIS)
WWW Database of Chinese Buddhist texts (Unicode Version) Soon to come
02/19/1999: Apologies to Kanjibase on the Web users. Kanjibase is currently undergoing a revision and can not be accessed. KanjiBase on the Web This is the largest Chinese Character Dictionary on the Web with over 48000 characters available on your fingertips - with any browser, without any specialised software. Many of the characters have additional information including English definitions, turning the KanjiBase into a veritable Chinese-English dictionary!

KanjiBase

Abstract:KanjiBase is a database of Chinese characters. It's main purpose is to provide a common reference to all characters missing from coding systems currently in common use. This 'reference' can be used to encode a character missing from the codeset in use, and allows for viewing and printing of the character. It is just a first step to provide a solution to a problem felt by most scholars working with (ancient) Chinese texts. Usage is still painful and messy, but will hopefully improve as this method gets used. If you are new to KanjiBase, get some background here.

I (Christian Wittern) developed this method during a research stay in Kyoto, Japan from 1992 to 1995. The work was done to solve some problems and remove some obstacles the research team at Hanazono University's International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism lead by Urs App met when moving Zen-texts from paper to the computer-screen. My research received generous support from the Institute under its former director Yanagida Seizan, for which I am most grateful. Most of the material here is either linked to, or mirrored from the IRIZ Home Site The Electronic Bodhdharma.

Introduction to KanjiBase, a Chinese Encoding Framework
Updates and bugfixes for the ZenBase CD
Example of using KanjiBase codes: The Linji lu (electronic version first published on the ZenBase CD)

You did not find your character? Chinese characters are countless, therefore KanjiBase is extendable.
Related Information

Author: Christian Wittern

cwitter at gwdg.de

Last updated: April 17, 1999