Chinese Fonts and Gua

LloydWilliams · Nov 17, 2012

I am looking for help on how to type Chinese characters and hex in the middle of text. I journal on my computer as I continue my Yijing studies and would like to incorporate the Chinese characters and GUA (Hexagrams) and Trigrams.

I use a Mac and have activated Pinyin Simplified and Pinyin Traditional on my keyboard, but when I type in Lu for 56 I see many choices but none look like the character I see in the text. I type in LU1 but it is not correct either.

I would also like a way to insert a True Type Hex and Trigram that I can resize with the surrounding fonts.

Is there a tutorial somewhere or can someone explain how you are incorporating these into your post and typing. Thank you.

Also, it is good to be back on the forum. I have taken a hiatus for a while after we returned home to Nova Scotia and now I am back to by studies. Best to everyone.

LloydWilliams · Nov 17, 2012

I just found how to type the Trigrams and Hexagrams with i Ching Maru and Futo fonts. I typed all the characters on a sheet an wrote in the corresponding key and GUA ##.

Still do not understand how to type the correct Chinese characters.

LloydWilliams · Nov 17, 2012

I can type the I Ching Futo font, but it is not a True Type and does not print correctly.

So I am still trying to find a True Type Hex and Trigram font. I will check out the one on LiSe's site.

Any other suggestions?

leandroscardoso · Nov 17, 2012

I don't know if a special font will work because the other person must have the same font (I think). To type Chinese characters I use google ime http://www.google.com/intl/zh-CN/ime/pinyin/ install the language on windows languages toolbar, change with alt+shift, type the pinyin and type the number corresponding to the character (up and down give more options). I found somewhere the trigrams (but not the hexagrams). on the list of characters supported, you should find it in a list of unicode characters and access with a combination of alt + number combination. But everybody refers to the hexagram by the number in the king wen 文王 sequence (1 qiang 2 kun etc..) altough I prefer refer to their names and correspondent characters.

LloydWilliams · Nov 17, 2012

Downloaded LiSe's Hex and Chinese fonts from her website http://www.yijing.nl/i_ching/index.html (bottom of page). They are True Type and should print fine. Hex works great but still can not figure out how to type the Chinese.

LloydWilliams · Nov 17, 2012

leandroscardoso Thank you, but the Google app only seems to work on Windows, I am on a Mac.

1eleven · Nov 17, 2012

Give DejaVu Sans a shot. Here are some nice files I came across utilizing this font.
http://www.meetup.com/DallasYiJing/messages/8999841/

LloydWilliams · Nov 17, 2012

1eleven I downloaded the DejaVu Sans from their web site: http://dejavu-fonts.org/wiki/index.php?title=Download

But it look Persian and not Chinese.

charly · Nov 17, 2012

Hi, Stuart:

Chinese Text Project says:

Fonts and Compatibility

In order to view the Chinese text on this site, you will need to have a Chinese font and compatible web browser installed. In addition, because the ancient texts on this site incorporate many now obsolete and rarely-used characters, you will need to install a Unicode font which provides support for such characters (often referred to as CJK Extensions A through D). A suitable font is the freely downloadable "Hanazono" font; "Han Nom" also includes many (though not all) of the required characters. To confirm whether your system properly supports these characters, please see the Font test page. Proper support for Unicode (including so-called 'surrogates') is also needed, which may cause additional problems for users with older operating systems.

http://ctext.org/

I believe that the GUA belong to the extended Unicode characters, goto the page of Sturgeon and will be able for loading the fonts and running the tests.

I use to tipe piyin and take de character from a list with this application:

Chinese Input Method Editor
(IME) - Free Online Tools
This tool allows you to write Chinese on your computer without installing any software. This Online Chinese input editor is based on pinyin.

http://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/ime.html

When the list is not complete, i look for the character in a dictionary and make copy/paste. The following application
must function also for Macs. Ibelieve, nobody´s perfect.

Yours,

Charly

LloydWilliams · Nov 17, 2012

Hi Charly, Thanks, but I really want to type them while in my editor and not cut and paste for an outside app. All the formats make it difficult. I just have to get the right combination of fonts, and input method. Thanks.

bradford · Nov 18, 2012

All my work is drag & drop from worksheets or online Chinese dictionaries.
For the gua and bagua figures I drag from a sheet I made from
Mac's Text Edit > Edit > Special Characters > Symbols > Divination Symbols
which has all the figures in Unicode.

LloydWilliams · Nov 18, 2012

Thank you Bradford.
Is that how everyone does it? If you have a long passage that seems like a lot of dragging. Is there no simple way to type the The Chinese Characters from the Input module built into preferences?

Sparhawk · Nov 18, 2012

Hi Lloyd,

It is beyond me why 旅 (I typed this on my Mac) is not in the Pinyin keyboard of the Mac. I've no straight answers but I suggest a two step process:

1. Add the Cangjie keyboard to your Chinese input options;
2. look for the character in YellowBridge then look at the Cangjie keystroke combination for the character, 'ysohv' in this case, type it and hit enter and your character will appear.

I wish I had a better answer.

Sparhawk · Nov 18, 2012

Mind you, 旅 is an odd ball amongst the Pinyin input options on a Mac. I don't think you'll find these kinds of problems very often.

LloydWilliams · Nov 18, 2012

I typed lu3 into yellow bridge and received the following. I do not see the GUA.

LloydWilliams · Nov 18, 2012

There must be a better way. If I want to type an entire line of Chinese, say a Changing Line, it would take forever, one character at a time cut and paste, or lookup and retype. I have loaded a half dozen input options and half the GUA I have typed from Bradford's coding do not show up. Even when I count the strokes I can not find them.

How would a PhD candidate type them, there is way too much to cut and paste, with long passages in Chinese. And what about the native Chinese, must be a better way.

LloydWilliams · Nov 18, 2012

The track pad manual input found Lu3 on first attempt. That calligraphy practice may have a practical application after all.

bradford · Nov 18, 2012

wlloydw said:
Thank you Bradford.
Is that how everyone does it? If you have a long passage that seems like a lot of dragging. Is there no simple way to type the The Chinese Characters from the Input module built into preferences?

People type in Chinese all the time. I just never learned how to do it.
You can select, copy and paste whole lines at a time if you have a reliable text.
The most reliable one for the Zhouyi is Steve Marshall's
http://www.biroco.com/yijing/zhouyi.htm

LloydWilliams · Nov 18, 2012

Bradford and Sparhawk check this out: http://www.laoshilink.org/laoshilink/QIM.html

初六。旅锁锁。斯其所取災。

Was able to type straight pinyin. Fast and you can user define the size of the font in the selection window. Bigger is better, to see the small lines.

LloydWilliams · Nov 18, 2012

To get 56:

A Note on Typing the ü Sound in Chinese：
U vs.ü
Type v for ü when ü is preceded by L or N , e.g.：
nv for nü (女), lv for lü (绿)
However, use u for ü after J, Q, X, Y, e.g.
yu for the sound yü (鱼 =yu/fish); qu for the sound qü (去＝qu/go)

Chinese Fonts and Gua

visitor

visitor

visitor

visitor

visitor

visitor

visitor

visitor

visitor

visitor

(deceased)

visitor

One of those men your mother warned you about...

One of those men your mother warned you about...

visitor

visitor

visitor

(deceased)

visitor

visitor