Hundreds of Chinese characters in Northeast Asia

If asked, most Chinese would say they've seldom tried shaoniao, or roasted bird. But, in Japan, the two Chinese characters pronounced as yakitori mean chicken skewers. The skewers, of course, are equally popular in both nations.

Not just in Japan, hanzi (Chinese characters) are also used in South Korea and Vietnam as important tools for cross-culture communication.

In April 2014, media from China, Japan and South Korea jointly held a forum in eastern China's Jiangsu province, where a chart of about 800 Chinese characters was presented to the public.