1.   Chinese characters are just meaningless symbols to me.

2.   Along with it, he used a six-inch piece of bamboo, inscribed with Chinese characters, to mark and measure points along the log.

3.   Also, since many Chinese characters resemble each other or share a sound, it is easy to mistake one for another.

4.   And few cities outside Beijing and Shanghai bother to transliterate street signs into pinyin, the Latin equivalent of Chinese characters that enables westerners to follow a map.

5.   At the train station near Turfan, nearly all signs were in Chinese characters, as was the posted schedule, not very helpful to the Uighur majority.

6.   A Chinese character on the plate indicated the van was a military vehicle.

7.   A similar slogan is painted in white Chinese characters on a red banner stretched across one of the bustling thoroughfares in town.

8.   Again, the visual rhythm is enhanced by the counterpoint between cursive Japanese script and bold Chinese characters against a pattern of gold leaves.

9.   All around are groupings of markers graced with painterly Chinese characters.

10.   Chinese characters, ethnic symbols such as the Italian flag or a shamrock, and tribal patterns that are native motifs from cultures around the world.