Abstract: An apparatus and method for encoding and decoding Chinese characters comprises converting the strokes of a Chinese character in a sequence conforming at least initially with the Chinese handwriting rules to a sequence of predefined basic stroke elements of three types and determining the initial order of occurrence and the total number of occurrence of each type of basic stroke element in the character. A multiple element character stroke code indicative of the initial order of occurrence and the total number of occurrence of each of the basic stroke element types in the character is then derived, and each character of a stored character set which corresponds to the character stroke code is displayed, along with a respective additional code element associated with each character being displayed if the character stroke code corresponds to more than one character in the character set.