Cangjie method

Cangjie input method
Coding of "倉頡輸入法" (i.e. Cangjie method) in traditional Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese	倉頡輸入法
Simplified Chinese	仓颉输入法
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Cāngjié Shūrùfǎ Gwoyeu Romatzyh Tsang Jye Shuruhfaa Wade–Giles Ts'ang1-chieh2 Shu1-ju4-fa3 IPA [tsʰáŋtɕjě ʂúɻûfà] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Chōng Kit Syūyahpfaat Jyutping Cong1 Kit3 Syu1 Jap6 Faat3 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Chhong-kiat Su-ji̍p-hoat

The Cangjie input method (Tsang-chieh input method, sometimes also Changjie, Cang Jie or Changjei) is a system by which Chinese characters may be entered into a computer using a standard keyboard. Invented in 1976 by Chu Bong-Foo, the method is named after Cangjie (Tsang-chieh), the mythological inventor of the Chinese writing system; the name was suggested by Chiang Wei-kuo, then Defence Minister of Taiwan. Although the input method was initially based upon traditional Chinese characters, it has since been revamped so that Cangjie and the simplified Chinese character set can interact.

Chu Bong-Foo gave up the patent of Cangjie in 1982 as he thought that it belongs to Chinese cultural heritage. Therefore, Cangjie has become free for anyone to use and modify, making Cangjie ubiquitous on every computer system that supports traditional Chinese.

In filenames and elsewhere, the name Cangjie is sometimes abbreviated as cj.

Unlike pinyin, Cangjie is based on the graphological aspect of the characters: each basic, graphical unit is represented by a basic character component, 24 in all, each mapped to a particular letter key on a standard QWERTY keyboard. An additional, "difficult character" function is mapped to the X key. Within the keystroke-to-character representations, there are four subsections of characters: the Philosophical Set (corresponding to the letters 'A' to 'G' and representing the sun, the moon and the five elements), the Strokes Set (corresponding to the letters 'H' to 'N' and representing the brief and subtle strokes), the Body-Related Set (corresponding to the letters 'O' to 'R' and representing various parts of human anatomy), and the Shapes Set (corresponding to the letters 'S' to 'Y' and representing complex and encompassing character forms).

The basic character components in Cangjie are usually called "radicals"; nevertheless, Cangjie decomposition is not based on traditional Kangxi radicals, nor is it based on standard stroke order; it is in fact a simple geometric decomposition.