Cangjie

Cangjie input method, or Cangjie, is a logographic Chinese character input method that encodes characters by describing their constituent graphical components. Each character is decomposed into a set of basic shapes or radicals, which are then mapped to a sequence of keys on a standard keyboard. The method is named after Cangjie, a legendary figure credited in traditional Chinese literature with creating Chinese characters by recording animal tracks.

Developed in Taiwan in the 1970s by Chu Bong-Fu, Cangjie became one of the early widely used computer input methods for Chinese, alongside stroke-based systems. The encoding relies on a fixed radical-key set (often described as 24- or 26-key components) and a dictionary that resolves input sequences to characters. Because a character can be described by multiple components, the system relies on heuristics and dictionary data to choose the correct hanzi, and users may input additional keys as needed to disambiguate.

Over time, several revisions and variants of Cangjie have been released, and modern implementations often label versions as Cangjie 2, 3, 4, or 5. It remains in use in various Chinese computing environments, especially among users who prefer shape-based input methods or who learned Cangjie earlier. Modern platforms provide Cangjie alongside other methods such as Wubi and pinyin, with options to customize key mappings and dictionaries.