Cangjie - A visual journey through Chinese characters

Hi Product Hunt!

I'm Isabella, creator of Cangjie.

Cangjie is a visual interactive learning app for Chinese characters, named after the creator of Chinese writing and the God of Writing in Chinese mythology.

Cangjie takes you on a visual journey exploring the fascinating world of Chinese characters through illustrations and animations, sourced historical forms, and interactive writing practices. Learn the meanings behind each character, modern pinyin pronunciations, and traditional and simplified forms.

As a child, I learned that Chinese characters originated from pictures of things in the world around us, and that fascinated me. As I grew older, my love of reading, writing, and history kept bringing me back to these characters and the stories behind them.

I've wanted to build Cangjie for a long time: a visual and interactive guide that shows the origins of Chinese characters and how their forms have evolved throughout time. GPT-6 Astra finally helped me bring this idea to life, and I'm excited to share it with you!

Start with 山 Mountain and 馬 / 马 horse, and watch object illustrations transform into selected historical forms, including the Oracle Bone Script, and compare them with today's Traditional and Simplified Chinese characters. You can look closely at the shapes, inspect their sources, hear the pronunciation, and try writing the character yourself.

I want the experience to be playful and thoughtful. The animations help you compare shapes, while the sources and explanations keep the historical evidence visible, including where our knowledge is incomplete.

Cangjie is free for everyone to explore. I built it for beginners, native speakers, academics, and anyone who is curious.

Product Hunt: https://www.producthunt.com/products/cangjie

Cangjie website: https://hellocangjie.com

Demo: https://youtu.be/SeVe3XmO6qg

Sign up and try Cangjie out, I would love your feedback: What helped you understand the characters? What could I make clearer? How could I  make the experience more enjoyable? I'll continue to add characters and improve Cangjie, and will keep you updated along the way.

Thank you for exploring Cangjie with me. :)

To curiosity and the love of learning!

Isabella