Abstract: Apparatus and method for controlling and ordering Chinese characters wherein a Chinese character is formed from a set of form-strokes and the strokes which form the characters are divided into four basic stroke subsets. The stroke subsets include a horizontal stroke subset, a vertical stroke subset, a sloping stroke subset and a dot stroke subset along with associated turn and curve strokes. Strokes are further divided into two twin subsets, which are the elements of the Chinese ideograms. Ordering and controlling Chinese characters from the form-strokes permits the design and construction of simplified Chinese word processing, printing and communication devices and retrieval of information from mass storage of Chinese characters.