Abstract: Among other things, a method for use in causing Chinese characters that comprise shape elements to be constructed by an electronic device is described. A user is enabled to enter any of a set of Chinese characters sufficient to enable typical communication to a Chinese reader. The method comprises associating groups of shape elements with respective non-numerically associated touch locations of the electronic device, and upon receipt of an indication that one or more of the touch locations have been invoked, constructing a Chinese character based on the shape elements associated with the invoked touch locations. The shape elements are a complete set of shape elements from which all Chinese characters in the set are formed. Every one of the shape elements belongs to one of the groups. All shape elements in each group resemble each other in shape.