Hello Rolf, I don't know how to answer your questions precisely but I have been using xcin + gvim in gb2312 (under suse8.1) for quite some time. Can't remember all the installation steps but here is how I start it : LC_CTYPE=zh_CN.gb2312; export LC_CTYPE xcin & XMODIFIERS="@im=xcin-zh_CN.gb2312"; export XMODIFIERS gvim --xim-preedit area --xim-status area & Watch out for the ampersand on the gvim line ! I use the root input style. Overthespot never worked well. Without the options gvim doesn't work (for me at least). I supposed you told xcin which font to use. I have in my file /etc/xcin/xcinrc the following lines ............... (define zh_CN.GB2312 ....... (FONTSET "-sony-*-24-*-iso8859-1,-*-medium-r-*-24-*-gb2312.1980-0") (OVERSPOT_FONTSET "-sony-*-16-*-iso8859-1,-*-medium-r-*-16-*-gb2312.1980-0"))) ................... You may also first install rxvt and try to input some chinese into it with xcin to check that your xcin is working correctly. then you can tune others xcin's clients like gvim, kmail, mozilla, etc. regards, Christine