Dictionaries · head-to-head
Chinese Character Web vs Chinese Text Project
The Chinese Character Web API (CCDB) is a free, read-only JSON API built on the Unicode Consortium's Unihan Database, covering Mandarin and Cantonese readings, Japanese on'yomi/kun'yomi, radicals, stroke counts, definitions, and simplified/traditional variant mappings for CJK Unified Ideographs, filterable by character-set encodings like GB2312, Big5, and Shift JIS. A live GET against /version returned a real 200 JSON body and Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * on the same Apache-served host.
Chinese Text Project's JSON API resolves opaque CTP URNs into full text, titles, and subsection metadata across its library of pre-Qin and Han-era classical Chinese works, and underpins the site's own browser plugins for text lookup and annotation. Anonymous requests work without any key but are rate-limited; logged-in accounts get a higher ceiling, and academic institutions can arrange a subscription that issues API keys for extended, programmatic access.
| Chinese Character Web | Chinese Text Project | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | None | None |
| Pricing | free | freemium |
| Formats | JSON | JSON |
| CORS | yes | yes |
| HTTPS | No | Yes |
Chinese Text Project is served over HTTPS, while Chinese Character Web isn't — pick Chinese Text Project for a secure connection.