HZ - A Data Format for Exchanging Files of Arbitrarily Mixed Chinese and ASCII characters

Most existing computer systems which can handle a text file of arbitrarily mixed Chinese and ASCII characters use 8-bit codes. To exchange such text files through electronic mail on ASCII computer systems, it is necessary to encode them in a 7-bit format. A generic binary to ASCII encoder is not sufficient, because there is currently no universal standard for such 8-bit codes. For example, CCDOS and Macintosh’s Chinese OS use different internal codes. Fortunately, there is a PRC national standard, GuoBiao (GB), for the encoding of Chinese characters, and Chinese characters encoded in the above systems can be easily converted to GB by a simple formula. (* The ROC standard BIG-5 is outside the scope of this article.)