Home/ Questions/Q 313269
In Process

The Archive Base Latest Questions

Editorial Team
  • 0
Asked: 2026-05-12T08:05:33+00:00

I often use simple Chinese phrases like 你好 to test that my code can

  • 0

I often use simple Chinese phrases like “你好” to test that my code can handle non-ascii characters. Whenever I enter Chinese characters directly into Emacs, they just come out as question marks.

Emacs can sometimes display characters properly if I open a premade text file but not always. For example, if I create a simple text file in Notepad with “你好” in it, the 好 displays fine but 你 just shows a box. Can Emacs handle Chinese characters? If so, how do I set it up?

I’m running Emacs 22.3.1 on Windows with the Courier New font, but I’m also curious about having this work on Linux. I have all the needed Eastern Language packages installed. I can edit in Chinese in Notepad with no problem.

Share

Leave an answer

You must login to add an answer.

Need An Account,

1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    The Emacs 23 release solves the problem I was having on Windows. Chinese characters work properly with no fussing or hacking. I can write Chinese directly in a buffer or open a file with no issues. Emacs’s unicode support wasn’t fully implemented until version 23.

    Emacs 23 Release Notes

    • 0