Subject: BIG5 Information Needed

From: Rupert Zhu <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 00:53:50 EST

In the BYX Editor version 1.1, there is a file named GUOBIAO,
which is a complete table of GUOBIAO coding.  Somebody called
it "shifted GuoBiao".  Now I am trying to find similar information
about BIG5 coding.

>From the conversion program of Lee and Yeung, it seems that BIG5
coding also have its high bit set to 1, or at least one byte of
the two has high bit 1.  But a moment ago I checked files in
ahkcus.org site.  They have suffix  .big5, but the contents are
all ASCII characters (in random order).  In other words, the
contents do not have high bit set.  The contents are not in
BTOA format either.  I am confused.   Are there also
"pure BIG5" and "shifted BIG5"  ?

-- Rupert

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 23:52:21 MST

Here is some info on the three coding methods in popular use:

A. GB2312-1980 (GuoBiao) PRC standard
   GB is a seven bit standard that requires two bytes per
   character.  It is most often used with the high (most
   significant) bit set on each byte of the character to
   distinguish the Chinese text from other seven bit text.
   The 8-bit usage is used in CCDOS implementations and newer
   versions of the Chinese Macintosh OS.
   CODE RANGE: 0xA1A1-0xFEFE

B. Shift-GB
   Shift-GB is a mixed seven and eight bit coding, with the
   first byte always having the high (most significant) bit set
   to distinguish it from other seven bit text.  Shift-GB was
   used by the Chinese Macintosh OS until recently.
   NOTE: I'm not sure if it is an official standard.
   CODE RANGE: 0x8140-0xAFFC (excluding 0x7F as a second byte)

C. Big5
   Big5 is a mixed seven and eight bit coding, with the first
   byte always having the high (most significant) bit set to
   distinguish it from the other seven bit text.  Big5 is at
   least a de facto standard in places like Hong Kong and
   Taiwan where Traditional Chinese is used.
   NOTE: Rumor has it that Big5 is, or will be a standard in
         Taiwan.  I don't have any facts on this yet.
   CODE RANGE: 0xA140-0xF9FE

Please feel free to send me any corrections to this info.
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