{"type": "body", "content": "", "style": "color: white; background: #0982A7; font: 14pt \"Slabo 27px\"; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0; padding: 0", "bbox": [0, 25, 1280, 2013], "children": [{"type": "div", "content": "", "style": "color: #0982A7; margin: auto; width: 40em; max-width: 80%", "bbox": [266, 25, 746, 2013], "children": [{"type": "h1", "content": "The Roman typefaces used in Chinese and Japanese text", "style": "color: white; font-family: \"Oswald\"; font-weight: normal; text-align: center", "bbox": [266, 25, 746, 104], "children": []}, {"type": "div", "content": "", "style": "background: white; display: block; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em; clear: both; padding-top: 1em", "bbox": [266, 154, 746, 1883], "children": [{"type": "a", "content": "Rae Knowler", "style": "position: absolute; top: 20px; left: 30px; color: white", "bbox": [30, 20, 98, 26], "children": []}, {"type": "div", "content": "22 Feb 2015, 5:45 p.m.", "style": "text-align: center", "bbox": [304, 173, 672, 26], "children": []}, {"type": "div", "content": "", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 217, 672, 78], "children": [{"type": "p", "content": "", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 217, 672, 78], "children": [{"type": "a", "content": "an interesting comment thread", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 246, 598, 47], "children": []}]}]}, {"type": "div", "content": "", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 315, 672, 1373], "children": [{"type": "p", "content": "", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 315, 672, 78], "children": [{"type": "a", "content": "QQ", "style": null, "bbox": [331, 369, 26, 21], "children": []}, {"type": "a", "content": "website", "style": null, "bbox": [363, 369, 57, 21], "children": []}]}, {"type": "div", "content": "", "style": "clear: both; text-align: center;", "bbox": [304, 412, 672, 327], "children": [{"type": "a", "content": "", "style": "margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;", "bbox": [536, 715, 208, 21], "children": [{"type": "img", "content": "", "style": null, "bbox": [536, 412, 208, 320], "children": []}]}]}, {"type": "p", "content": "", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 757, 672, 182], "children": [{"type": "a", "content": "Ask MetaFilter post", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 786, 634, 47], "children": []}]}, {"type": "p", "content": "", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 959, 672, 104], "children": [{"type": "a", "content": "this page", "style": null, "bbox": [397, 961, 66, 21], "children": []}]}, {"type": "p", "content": "When I worked at DataCo, I saw a lot of the first typeface on Japanese and Chinese university departments' webpages. I looked at some of those for an example for this post but not patiently enough to find one: the universities' English front pages are, of course, all very smart and purpose-written. You need to drill down to individual professors' pages to find the good stuff. That was where I got my taste for it.", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 1082, 672, 130], "children": []}, {"type": "p", "content": "", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 1232, 672, 130], "children": [{"type": "a", "content": "This useful page", "style": null, "bbox": [457, 1260, 123, 21], "children": []}, {"type": "a", "content": "inputting Chinese text", "style": null, "bbox": [475, 1312, 164, 21], "children": []}]}, {"type": "p", "content": "On the Mac, I like \u7d30\u660e\u9ad4_HKSCS:", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 1381, 672, 26], "children": []}, {"type": "div", "content": "", "style": "clear: both; text-align: center;", "bbox": [304, 1426, 672, 59], "children": [{"type": "a", "content": "", "style": "margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;", "bbox": [408, 1461, 464, 21], "children": [{"type": "img", "content": "", "style": null, "bbox": [408, 1426, 464, 52], "children": []}]}]}, {"type": "p", "content": "and \uff2d\uff33 \u660e\u671d:", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 1504, 672, 26], "children": []}, {"type": "div", "content": "", "style": "clear: both; text-align: center;", "bbox": [304, 1548, 672, 69], "children": [{"type": "a", "content": "", "style": "margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;", "bbox": [403, 1593, 473, 21], "children": [{"type": "img", "content": "", "style": null, "bbox": [403, 1548, 469, 62], "children": []}]}]}, {"type": "p", "content": "but there are more I haven't tried yet. I wonder how irritated people would get with me if I wrote all of my reports in this ugly, charming style.", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 1636, 672, 52], "children": []}]}, {"type": "ul", "content": "", "style": "list-style: none; display: inline; margin: 30px 0; padding-left: 0", "bbox": [304, 1709, 122, 21], "children": [{"type": "li", "content": "", "style": "display: inline", "bbox": [304, 1709, 33, 21], "children": [{"type": "a", "content": "i18n", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 1709, 33, 21], "children": []}]}, {"type": "li", "content": "", "style": "display: inline", "bbox": [341, 1709, 84, 21], "children": [{"type": "a", "content": "typography", "style": null, "bbox": [341, 1709, 84, 21], "children": []}]}]}, {"type": "form", "content": "", "style": null, "bbox": [304, 1763, 672, 255], "children": [{"type": "input", "content": "", "style": "", "bbox": [304, 1767, 177, 21], "children": []}, {"type": "p", "content": "", "style": "display: inline", "bbox": [304, 1789, 672, 49], "children": [{"type": "label", "content": "Commenter:", "style": "display: inline; display: block", "bbox": [304, 1789, 672, 26], "children": []}, {"type": "input", "content": "", "style": "", "bbox": [304, 1820, 177, 21], "children": []}]}, {"type": "p", "content": "", "style": "display: inline", "bbox": [304, 1842, 672, 49], "children": [{"type": "label", "content": "Email:", "style": "display: inline; display: block", "bbox": [304, 1842, 672, 26], "children": []}, {"type": "input", "content": "", "style": "", "bbox": [304, 1872, 177, 21], "children": []}]}, {"type": "p", "content": "", "style": "display: inline", "bbox": [304, 1894, 672, 98], "children": [{"type": "label", "content": "Text:", "style": "display: inline; display: block", "bbox": [304, 1894, 672, 26], "children": []}, {"type": "textarea", "content": "", "style": "display: block; width: 36em; height: 5em;", "bbox": [304, 1920, 486, 72], "children": []}]}, {"type": "input", "content": "", "style": "", "bbox": [304, 1997, 177, 21], "children": []}]}]}]}]}
<!DOCTYPE html>

<html><head><title>The Roman typefaces used in Chinese and Japanese text</title></head><body><div id="page"><h1 id="page-title">The Roman typefaces used in Chinese and Japanese text</h1><div id="all-content"><a class="parent-link">Rae Knowler</a><div id="date">
        22 Feb 2015, 5:45 p.m.
    </div><div id="lead"><p>This blogpost about Chinese and Japanese typefaces was originally published a few years ago on an old blog. It was recently posted to Hacker News, where it spawned <a>an interesting comment thread</a>, so I've decided to repost it here.</p></div><div id="content"><p>I wondered why pieces of English text written in China or Japan often used the same, awkward but oddly appealing, typeface. You can see what I mean in this screenshot from the <a>QQ</a> <a>website</a>:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tgZ8b0GwzEY/T6kaGSITWVI/AAAAAAAAA44/MWmWQLVsT4Y/s320/Screen+shot+2012-05-08+at+3.03.48+PM.png" width="208"/></a></div><p>It took a while to find the answer. It was much easier to come by information on how to write Chinese/Japanese with a Roman font than the other way around! From this <a>Ask MetaFilter post</a>, it seems that the Roman letters are tacked onto fonts almost as an afterthought, for when you need to interject a few words of English into your Chinese website, for example. Hence, they aren't really optimised for the eye of a non-Chinese writer, or perhaps aren't optimised much at all, and usually look like this. It's not one specific font as I thought.</p><p>I also found <a>this page</a>, explaining/complaining about another common feature of Roman letters in Japanese: stubby ascenders and descenders. If letters that fit neatly into a square box can't be found, sometimes the y or the g stands up on its tail next to the bs and cs - quite an odd effect!</p><p>When I worked at DataCo, I saw a lot of the first typeface on Japanese and Chinese university departments' webpages. I looked at some of those for an example for this post but not patiently enough to find one: the universities' English front pages are, of course, all very smart and purpose-written. You need to drill down to individual professors' pages to find the good stuff. That was where I got my taste for it.</p><p>If you crave the look of Chinese Roman characters like I do and want to use them yourself, never fear. <a>This useful page</a> will tell you which Chinese fonts are installed by default on Mac and Windows computers, and where to get open source and proprietary fonts as well. Actually <a>inputting Chinese text</a> is more complicated (I assume this is similar for Japanese and Korean) but you can just type away to get English letters.</p><p>On the Mac, I like 細明體_HKSCS:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uHSASiuvgW8/T6kjCjIo8RI/AAAAAAAAA5E/rFKj66x9aLc/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-05-08+at+3.42.22+PM.png"/></a></div><p> and ＭＳ 明朝:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ps9jurYBu08/T6kjEHvowgI/AAAAAAAAA5M/KptAWDY_mJw/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-05-08+at+3.42.01+PM.png"/> </a></div></p><p>but there are more I haven't tried yet. I wonder how irritated people would get with me if I wrote all of my reports in this ugly, charming style.</p></div><ul id="tags"><li class="tag"><a>i18n</a></li><li class="tag"><a>typography</a></li></ul><ul id="comments"></ul><form id="comment-form"><input/><p><label>Commenter:</label> <input id="id_commenter"/></p><p><label>Email:</label> <input id="id_email"/></p><p><label>Text:</label> <textarea id="id_text"></textarea></p><span id="captcha"><div class="g-recaptcha"></div></span><input/></form></div><div id="descendents"><ul id="descendents-list"></ul><div id="descendents-spinner"></div></div></div><style>body {
    color: white;
    background: #0982A7;
    font: 14pt "Slabo 27px";
    line-height: 1.4;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0
    }
#page {
    color: #0982A7;
    margin: auto;
    width: 40em;
    max-width: 80%
    }
#page-title {
    color: white
    }
h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, a.descendent-link {
    font-family: "Oswald";
    font-weight: normal
    }
#descendents-list {
    list-style: none;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0
    }
.descendent, #all-content {
    background: white;
    display: block;
    margin-bottom: 1em;
    padding: 2em;
    padding-bottom: 1em;
    clear: both
    }
#all-content {
    padding-top: 1em
    }
#page-title {
    text-align: center
    }
a.parent-link {
    position: absolute;
    top: 20px;
    left: 30px;
    color: white
    }
#comments {
    margin: 30px 0
    }
#comment-form label {
    display: inline
    }
#comment-form p {
    display: inline
    }
#comment-form textarea {
    display: block;
    width: 36em;
    height: 5em
    }
label {
    display: block
    }
#tags {
    list-style: none;
    display: inline;
    margin: 30px 0;
    padding-left: 0
    }
.tag {
    display: inline
    }
#captcha {
    display: none
    }
#date {
    text-align: center
    }</style></body></html>