The Ideographic Research Group (IRG) is a subgroup of Working Group 2 (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 2/WG 2) of Subcommittee 2 (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 2) of Joint Technical Committee 1 (ISO/IEC JTC 1) under ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission). The IRG is primarily tasked by WG 2 to develop and review Han ideograph (aka Chinese character) repertoires that consist of submissions from member bodies and liaison organizations. These repertoires are referred to as IRG working sets, which eventually become encoded and harmonized across both the ISO/IEC 10646 (Universal Coded Character Set) standard and the Unicode Standard as new CJK Unified Ideographs extension blocks. The IRG also accepts and reviews other documents that deal with Han ideographs, such as Urgently Needed Character (UNC) proposals, horizontal extension proposals, disunification proposals, and representative glyph change proposals.
Upcoming Meetings
The IRG meets twice a year. The Spring meeting is virtual (Webex), and the Fall meeting is hybrid, which requires a host for in-person attendees. If there is no host, the Fall meeting shall be virtual. The following are the upcoming meetings in chronological order:
IRG meetings are attended by experts appointed by member bodies, along with individual experts. The table below lists the active and inactive IRG member bodies:
The following table lists the recent IRG working sets in reverse chronological order with links to their Online Review Tools (ORTs), their status, their corresponding CJK Unified Ideographs extension blocks (if standardized), and the submissions from IRG member bodies:
The tables in this section list the current and future IRG source prefixes for each IRG member body. Click a Unihan database property name in the second column of the first table to view all of its details in the current version of UAX #38 (Unicode Han Database), such as its complete syntax.
G0 — GB/T 2312-1980 (formerly GB 2312-80)
G1 — GB/T 12345-1990 (formerly GB/T 12345-90)
G3 — GB/T 13131 (unpublished GB/T 7589-1987 unsimplified forms)
G5 — GB/T 13132 (unpublished GB/T 7590-1987 unsimplified forms)
G7 — General Purpose Hanzi List for Modern Chinese Language, and General List of Simplified Hanzi
G8 — GB/T 8565.2-1988 (formerly GB 8565.2-88)
GE — GB/T 16500-1998
GK — GB/T 12052-1989 (formerly GB 12052-89)
GS — Singapore Characters
G4K — Siku Quanshu (四庫全書)
GDZ — Geographic Publishing House Ideographs (地质出版社用字)
GGH — Gudai Hanyu Cidian (古代汉语词典)
GRM — People’s Daily Ideographs (人民日报用字)
GWZ — Hanyu Dacidian Publishing House Ideographs (漢語大詞典出版社用字)
GXC — Xiandai Hanyu Cidian (现代汉语词典)
GXH — Xinhua Zidian (新华字典)
GZH — ZhongHua ZiHai (中华字海)
GBK — Chinese Encyclopedia (中國大百科全書)
GCH — Ci Hai (辞海)
GCY — Ci Yuan (辭源)
GHC — Hanyu Dacidian (漢語大詞典)
GKX — Kangxi Dictionary ideographs (康熙字典) 9th edition (1958) including the addendum (康熙字典)補遺
GHZ — Hanyu Dazidian ideographs (漢語大字典)
GHZR — 汉语大字典编辑委员会:《汉语大字典（第二版）》, 武汉: 湖北长江出版集团崇文书局 & 成都: 四川出版集团四川辞书出版社, 2010, ISBN 978-7-5403-1744-7
GCE — Names of newly-discovered chemical elements as assigned by the China National Committee for Terms in Sciences and Technologies and the China National Language and Character Working Committee" (全国科学技术名词审定委员会，国家语言文字工作委员会); the value is the atomic number of the element
GFC — Modern Chinese Standard Dictionary (现代汉语规范词典第二版。主编:李行健。北京:外语 教学与研究出版社) 2010, ISBN:978-7-5600-9518-9
GIDC — Supplementary Characters of the Public Security Population Information Special Font (公安人口信息专用字库补充汉字) of PRC; the value is the original PUA code point in hexadecimal
GIDC23 — ID system of the Ministry of Public Security of China, 2023
GOCD — Oxford English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary (牛津英汉汉英词典。主编:Julie Kleeman, 于海江。牛津:牛津大学出版社。2010年。ISBN:978-0-19-920761-9)
GXHZ — Xinhua Da Zidian (新华大字典)
GH — GB/T 15564-1995
GHF — 鄭賢章:《漢文佛典疑難俗字彙釋與研究》(Hànwén Fódiǎn Yínánsúzì Huìshì Yǔ Yánjiū; Explanation and Research on Difficult Vulgar Characters in Chinese Buddhist Classics), 成都: 巴蜀書社, 2016, ISBN 978-7-5531-0700-4
GLGYJ — ZhuangLiaoSongsResearch,《壮族嘹歌研究》2008年广西民族出版社, ISBN78-7-5363-5069-4
GPGLG — Zhuang Folk Song Culture Series - Pingguo County Liao Songs (壮族民歌文化丛书•平果嘹歌) 2004-2006, ISBN 7-5363-[4820-7 | 5012-0 | 5013-9 |5014-7 | 5015-5]
GT — 标准电码本（修订本） (Standard Telegraph Codebook (revised)), 1983
GCYY — Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping Ideographs (中国测绘科学院用字)
GJZ — Commercial Press Ideographs (商务印书馆用字)
GKJ — Terms in Sciences and Technologies (科技用字) approved by the China National Committee for Terms in Sciences and Technologies (CNCTST)
GZFY — Hanyu Fangyan Dacidian (汉语方言大词典)
GZJW — Yinzhou Jinwen Jicheng Yinde (殷周金文集成引得)
GZYS — Chinese Ancient Ethnic Characters Research (中国民族古文字研究), 1984
GFZ — Founder Press System (方正排版系统)
GGFZ — Tongyong Guifan Hanzi Zidian (通用规范汉字字典)
GLK — 《龍龕手鑑》（續古逸叢書）
GZ — Ancient Zhuang Character Dictionary, (古壮字字典) 1989, ISBN 7-5363-0614-8
GXM — Characters for use in personal names in China. Source from Public Order Administration, The Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China.
GZA-1 — A Vibrant and Unbroken Transmission—Filial Piety and Zhuang Funeral Songs生生不息的传承•孝与壮族行孝歌之研究, 2010年北京民族出版社, ISBN 978-7-1051-0648-6
GZA-2 — Annotated Long Zhuang Morality Songs壮族伦理道德长诗传扬歌译注, 2005 年广西民族出版社, ISBN 7-5363-4922-X
GZA-3 — Compendium of Old Zhuang Folksong Texts—Wooing Songs vol. 1—Liao Songs壮族民歌古籍集成•情歌（一）嘹歌, 1993广西民族出版社, ISBN 7-5363-2714-5
GZA-4 — Compendium of Old Zhuang Folksong Texts—Wooing Songs vol. 1—Fwen Nganx壮族民歌古籍集成•情歌（二）欢𭪤, 1997年南宁广西民族出版社, ISBN 7-5363-3298-X
GZA-6 — Zhuang Proverbs from China中国壮族谚语 2015 广州世界图书出版广东有限公司, ISBN 978-7-192-0492-1
GZA-7 — Ancient Remembrance—Zhuang Creation Myth Songs远古的追忆•壮族创世神话古歌研究, 2012 年北京民族出版社, ISBN 978-7-1051-2242-4
GDM — Place name characters from the Public Order Administration, Ministry of Public Security, People’s Republic of China
GU — The source reference for this ideograph has been moved; the value is its code point.
H — Hong Kong Supplementary Character Set – 2008
HB0 — Big-5: Computer Chinese Glyph and Character Code Mapping Table, Technical Report C-26, 電腦用中文字型與字碼對照表, 技術通報C-26, 1984, Symbols
HB1 — Big-5, Level 1
HB2 — Big-5, Level 2
HD — Hong Kong Supplementary Character Set – 2016
HU — The source reference for this ideograph has been moved; the value is its code point.
J0 — JIS X 0208-1990
J1 — JIS X 0212-1990
J4 — JIS X 0213:2004 level-4
J3 — JIS X 0213:2004 level-3
J3A — JIS X 0213:2004 level-3 addendum from JIS X 0213:2000 level-3
J13 — JIS X 0213:2004 level-3 ideographs replacing J1 ideographs
J13A — JIS X 0213:2004 level-3 ideograph addendum from JIS X 0213:2000 level-3 replacing J1 ideographs
J14 — JIS X 0213:2004 level-4 ideographs replacing J1 ideographs
JA — Unified Japanese IT Vendors Contemporary Ideographs, 1993
JA3 — JIS X 0213:2004 level-3 ideographs replacing JA ideographs
JA4 — JIS X 0213:2004 level-4 ideographs replacing JA ideographs
JARIB — Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB) ARIB STD-B24 Version 5.1, March 14 2007
JH — Hanyo-Denshi Program (汎用電子情報交換環境整備プログラム), 2002-2009
JK — Japanese KOKUJI Collection
JMJ — Moji Joho Kiban Project (文字情報基盤整備事業)
K0 — KS X 1001:2004 (formerly KS C 5601-1987)
K1 — KS X 1002:2001 (formerly KS C 5657-1991)
K2 — KS X 1027-1:2011 (formerly PKS C 5700-1 1994)
K3 — KS X 1027-2:2011 (formerly PKS C 5700-2 1994)
K4 — KS X 1027-3:2011 (formerly PKS 5700-3:1998)
K5 — KS X 1027-4:2011 (formerly Korean IRG Hanja Character Set 5th Edition: 2001)
K6 — KS X 1027-5:2021
KC — Korean History On-Line (한국 역사 정보 통합 시스템)
KU — The source reference for this ideograph has been moved; the value is its code point.
MA — HKSCS-2008 code point in hexadecimal
MB — Big Five code point in hexadecimal
MC — MSCS reference
MD — MSCS horizontal extensions
MDH — HKSCS-2016 horizontal extension
V0 — TCVN 5773:1993
V1 — TCVN 6056:1995
V2 — VHN 01:1998
V3 — VHN 02: 1998
V4 — Kho Chữ Hán Nôm Mã Hoá (Hán Nôm Coded Character Repertoire), Hà Nội, 2007
VN — Vietnamese horizontal extensions; the value is its code point
Future IRG Source Prefixes
Member Body
Unihan Database Property
Source Prefix
Syntax
Description
Status
China
kIRG_GSource
GCA
GCA-[A-Z]\d{4}
Culture and Art Publishing House Ideographs (文化艺术出版社用字)
Unicode Version 17.0
GCCPP
GCCPP-\d{5}
Place-name characters, person-name characters, dialectal characters, and other characters seen in Chinese classics from Tencent’s Chinese Character Protection Project (汉字守护计划)
IRG Working Set 2024
GCESI
GCESI-\d{5}
Characters collected by China Electronics Standardization Institute (中国电子技术标准化研究院)
Unicode Version 17.0
GCW
GCW-\d{5}
Rare place-name characters and some other important characters collected by the Center for Toponym Research of Sichuan International Studies University (四川外国语大学地名研究中心)
IRG Working Set 2024
GGT
GGT-\d{5}
Characters collected by the National Library of China (中国国家图书馆)
Unicode Version 17.0
GWY
GWY-\d{5}
Cultural Heritage Ideographs (文化遗产用字)
GZHSJ
GZHSJ-\d{4}
Characters collected by the Zhonghua Book Company (中华书局)
GZK
GZK-\d{5}
Characters collected by the Chinese Characters Repertoire (中华字库) project
IRG Working Set 2024
SAT
kIRG_SSource
SATM
SATM-\d{5}
SAT manuscript collection for Buddhist studies
Unicode Version 17.0
TCA
kIRG_TSource
T9
T9-[0-9A-F]{4}
TCA-CNS 11643 9th plane (pending new version)
Unicode Version 17.0
Accessing Older IRG Documents
It will take considerable time and effort to migrate older IRG documents to the new IRG document register. The migration, which will be done incrementally, is expected to be done in reverse chronological order. To access older IRG documents, use the previous IRG home page, which will no longer be updated. If, for any reason, the previous IRG home page goes down or is otherwise unavailable, the Internet Archive Wayback Machine is an alternate way to access older IRG documents.
History
The CJK Joint Research Group (CJK-JRG), which was established in 1990, was charged with developing the original CJK Unified Ideographs block that included 20,902 Han ideographs in the range U+4E00 through U+9FA5. The Ideographic Rapporteur Group (IRG) was formed on 1993-05-28 per Resolution 3 (WG 2 Ideographic Rapporteur Group) on page one of document SC 2 N2466 (Resolutions of 4th JTC 1/SC 2 Plenary Meeting held in Athens on May 27–28, 1993). The title of IRG Rapporteur was changed to IRG Convenor in 2018. The IRG acquired its current name, Ideographic Research Group, on 2019-06-21 per Recommendation M68.17 (IRG Name Change) on page four of document WG 2 N5054 (Recommendations from WG 2 meeting 68), which was instigated by document IRG N2381 (Jenkins & Lunde) and Recommendation IRG M52.12 (Renaming of IRG) on page four of document IRG N2360. The table below lists the history of the IRG Convenors and IRG Rapporteurs in reverse chronological order:
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