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Asked: 2026-06-02T09:04:46+00:00

I’m trying to create a webpage in Chinese and I realized that while the

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I’m trying to create a webpage in Chinese and I realized that while the text looks fine when I run it on browsers, once I change the Character Encoding, the text becomes gibberish. Here’s what’s happening:

  1. I create my html file in Emacs, encoded in UTF-8.
  2. I upload it to the server, and view it on my browsers (FF, IE, Chrome, Opera) – no problem.
  3. I try to view the page in other encodings via FF > View > Character Encoding > All those different Chinese encoding systems, e.g. Chinese Simplified (HZ)
  4. Apart from UTF-8, on every other encoding the text becomes gibberish.

I’m assuming this isn’t a problem – i.e. browsers are smart enough to know which encoding the page is in, and parse the content accurately. What I’m wondering is why I can’t read the Chinese text anymore once I change encoding – is it because I don’t have Chinese fonts installed on my OS? Should I stick to UTF-8 if my audience are Chinese or should I choose among one of their many encoding systems?

Thanks in advance for your help/opinions.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    UTF isn’t a ‘catch-all’ encoding. It’s designed to contain international language character symbols for ease of use, but it is still an encoding, just like the other encodings you’ve selected. You would have to retype the text in each encoding to make it appear correctly when viewed with that encoding.

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