# Code page 936 (IBM)

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Superseded Simplified Chinese character encoding, structured similarly to Shift JIS

IBM-936 Alias(es) SHIFTGB[1] Language Simplified Chinese Created by IBM Current status Deprecated Transforms / Encodes GB 2312 Succeeded by IBM-1381 Other related encoding Shift JIS

**IBM code page 936** is a character encoding for [Simplified Chinese](/source/Simplified_Chinese) including 1880 [user-defined characters](/source/Private_Use_Areas#Private-use_characters_in_other_character_sets) (UDC), which was superseded in 1993. It is a combination of the single-byte [Code page 903](/source/Code_page_903) and the double-byte **Code page 928**.[2][3] **Code page 946** uses the same double-byte component, but an extended single-byte component ([Code page 1042](/source/Code_page_1042)).[2][4]

IBM code page 936 should not be confused with [the identically numbered Windows code page](/source/Windows-936), which is a variant of the [GBK](/source/GBK_(character_encoding)) encoding;[2] GBK is called [Code page 1386](/source/Code_page_1386) by IBM. While GBK is a superset of the [EUC-CN](/source/EUC-CN) encoding of [GB 2312](/source/GB_2312), IBM-936 uses a different coded form of GB 2312, more closely resembling the relationship of [Shift JIS](/source/Shift_JIS) to [JIS X 0208](/source/JIS_X_0208).

## History

Except for [Shift JIS](/source/Shift_JIS) itself, the similarly structured code pages for other [CJK](/source/CJK_characters) locales were phased out between 1992 and 2016.

The encoding was in use mainly during the 1980s and early 1990s. While the original IBM PC ([IBM 5150](/source/IBM_5150)) lacked functionality for processing data in [CJK](/source/CJK_characters) languages, the [IBM 5550](/source/IBM_5550) possessed such functionality, and was available in models supporting Japanese, [Korean](/source/Korean_language), [Traditional Chinese](/source/Traditional_Chinese) or [Simplified Chinese](/source/Simplified_Chinese). Code page 936 for Simplified Chinese accompanied [code page 932](/source/Code_page_932_(IBM)) ([Shift JIS](/source/Shift_JIS)) for Japanese, [code page 934](/source/Code_page_934) for Korean and [code page 938](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Code_page_938&action=edit&redlink=1) for Traditional Chinese.

The last revision of IBM-928/936/946 was documented in 1992, and it was superseded in 1993 by the [EUC-CN](/source/EUC-CN)-based [code pages 1380 through 1383](/source/Code_page_1380); code page 1380 encodes the same characters as code page 928, but in a different layout.[5] As of 1998, "some older Chinese packages" still included an algorithm for converting between IBM-936 and other encodings of GB 2312.[1]

## Status

Although chart definitions for Code page 1380 (the document C-H 3-3220-130 1993-11) are provided online by IBM, IBM does not similarly provide the chart definition for the older Code page 928 (the document C-H 3-3220-130 1992-11, i.e. an earlier revision of the same specification).[5][6] [International Components for Unicode](/source/International_Components_for_Unicode) (ICU) does not include an IBM-936 or IBM-946 codec, and uses the Windows code page for the "cp936" label.[7] The ICU project does possess mapping data for IBM-946, which it makes publicly available,[8] but does not ship it with ICU.

## Structure

Code page 928, the double byte component, includes 9,355 characters as double-byte sequences starting with 0x81 through 0xAC and 0xF0 through 0xFA.[9]

The 0x81–AC lead byte range is used for GB 2312 characters: lead bytes 0x81–87 were used for non-hanzi, 0x88–9C are used for level 1 hanzi and 0x9C–AC are used for level 2 hanzi.[1][5][8] Like [Shift JIS](/source/Shift_JIS), trail (second) bytes are in the range 0x40–FC excluding 0x7F, allowing two GB 2312 rows to be encoded per lead byte;[8] unlike Shift JIS, the bytes 0xA0–AC are not excluded from the lead byte range,[5][8] since [JIS X 0201](/source/JIS_X_0201) compatibility was not required. The 0xF0–FA lead byte range is used for IBM extensions: 0xF0 through 0xF9 are used for user-defined characters, and 0xFA is used for additional non-hanzi.[5]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-leisher_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-leisher_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-leisher_1-2) Leisher, Mark (2008) [1998-03-06]. ["SHIFTGB.TXT: Shifted GB2312.1980. Generated from an algorithm provided with some older Chinese packages"](https://web.archive.org/web/20230120125054/http://sofia.nmsu.edu/~mleisher/Software/csets/SHIFTGB.TXT). Department of Mathematical Sciences, [New Mexico State University](/source/New_Mexico_State_University). Archived from [the original](http://sofia.nmsu.edu/~mleisher/Software/csets/SHIFTGB.TXT) on January 20, 2023.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-lunde2009_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-lunde2009_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-lunde2009_2-2) [Lunde, Ken](/source/Ken_Lunde) (2009). "Chapter 4: Encoding Methods (§ Code Pages)". *CJKV Information Processing* (2nd ed.). [Sebastopol, California](/source/Sebastopol%2C_California): [O'Reilly Media](/source/O'Reilly_Media). pp. 278–282. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-596-51447-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-596-51447-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["CCSID 936"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160327035758/http://www-01.ibm.com/software/globalization/ccsid/ccsid936.html). [IBM](/source/IBM). Archived from [the original](http://www-01.ibm.com/software/globalization/ccsid/ccsid936.html) on March 27, 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["CCSID 946"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160326215526/http://www-01.ibm.com/software/globalization/ccsid/ccsid946.html). [IBM](/source/IBM). Archived from [the original](http://www-01.ibm.com/software/globalization/ccsid/ccsid946.html) on March 26, 2016.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-ibm1380_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-ibm1380_5-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-ibm1380_5-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-ibm1380_5-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-ibm1380_5-4) "Table 1: Registration of GCSGID and CPGID for the IBM CH-S Graphic Character Set". [*C-H 3-3220-130 1993-11: IBM Simplified Chinese Graphic Character Set*](https://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/globalization/gcoc/attachments/CP01380.pdf) (PDF). 1993. p. 6.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Code page 928 information document"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160317015802/http://www-01.ibm.com/software/globalization/cp/cp00928.html). Archived from [the original](https://www-01.ibm.com/software/globalization/cp/cp00928.html) on March 17, 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["windows-936-2000 (alias cp936)"](https://ssl.icu-project.org/icu-bin/convexp?conv=cp936). *ICU Demonstration – Converter Explorer*. International Components for Unicode.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-icu946_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-icu946_8-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-icu946_8-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-icu946_8-3) ["ibm-946_P100-1995"](https://github.com/unicode-org/icu-data/blob/main/charset/data/ucm/ibm-946_P100-1995.ucm). *[International Components for Unicode](/source/International_Components_for_Unicode) Data Repository*. [Unicode Consortium](/source/Unicode_Consortium), [IBM](/source/IBM).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["CCSID 928 information document"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160326215312/http://www-01.ibm.com/software/globalization/ccsid/ccsid928.html). Archived from [the original](http://www-01.ibm.com/software/globalization/ccsid/ccsid928.html) on March 26, 2016.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Code page 936 (IBM)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_page_936_(IBM)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_page_936_(IBM)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.