clreq

Recommended System Font Mappings for Generic Chinese Font Families

Last verified: 2026-07-21

Table of contents

• Purpose and scope
• Recommended mappings
  • Microsoft Windows
  • macOS
  • iOS and iPadOS
  • Linux desktop distributions
  • Android Open Source Project (AOSP)
  • HarmonyOS / OpenHarmony
• Implementation guidance
• Maintenance

Purpose and scope

This document is intended primarily for implementers of browser engines and typesetting software. It provides a reference for selecting system fonts for Simplified and Traditional Chinese when implementing CSS generic font families or similar mechanisms. For each supported platform and generic family, it identifies a verified system font mapping and documents its availability status.

CSS defines serif as corresponding to Song for Chinese, sans-serif as corresponding to Hei, and introduces the writing-system-specific families generic(fangsong) and generic(kai). The specification delegates the choice of a concrete system font for each generic family to the implementation. This document supplies that choice on a per-platform, per-generic-family basis, backed by official vendor inventories, OS configurations, or distribution-package records.

Each font is classified with one of the following availability labels:

• Built-in/system: the cited platform inventory or configuration identifies the font as part of the system baseline.
• OS optional/downloadable: the OS vendor supplies the font, but it may be absent until a language feature or font asset is installed.
• Document-based app support: the OS vendor supplies the font through document-based apps rather than as a general system or downloadable font; do not assume it is available to browsers or other applications.
• Distribution package: an official Linux distribution repository supplies the font; this does not imply that a default desktop installation includes it.
• No mapping: the checked official inventory or configuration contains no suitable face.

The Chinese-name column reports the localized alias.

Recommended mappings

Microsoft Windows

The Windows 11 inventory separates its core font list from optional Features on Demand (FOD) font packages. Some fonts might be in the Simplified or Traditional Chinese supplemental-font sections and should not be assumed to exist on every installation. MS-W11

CSS generic	Language/region	Chinese/localized family name	English family name	Availability	Evidence and notes
serif (Song)	Simplified Chinese	宋体	SimSun, NSimSun	Built-in	Windows 11 core list; Microsoft describes SimSun as a Simplified Chinese Song font. MS-W11 MS-NAMES
serif (Song)	Traditional Chinese	新細明體	PMingLiU	OS optional	Traditional Chinese supplemental font. Microsoft describes the MingLiU family as Traditional Chinese mincho/serif. MS-W11 MS-NAMES
sans-serif (Hei)	Simplified Chinese	微软雅黑	Microsoft YaHei	Built-in	Windows 11 core list and Microsoft font-family documentation. MS-W11 MS-NAMES
sans-serif (Hei)	Simplified Chinese	等线	DengXian	OS optional	Simplified Chinese supplemental font. MS-W11
sans-serif (Hei)	Simplified Chinese	黑体	SimHei	OS optional	Simplified Chinese supplemental font. MS-W11 MS-NAMES
sans-serif (Hei)	Traditional Chinese	微軟正黑體	Microsoft JhengHei	Built-in	Windows 11 core list and Microsoft font-family documentation. MS-W11 MS-NAMES
generic(fangsong)	Simplified Chinese	仿宋	FangSong	OS optional	Simplified Chinese supplemental font; the Microsoft family page identifies it as Simplified Chinese. No Traditional-Chinese-specific Fangsong family was verified in the Windows 11 inventory. MS-W11 MS-NAMES
generic(kai)	Simplified Chinese	楷体	KaiTi	OS optional	Simplified Chinese supplemental font. MS-W11 MS-NAMES
generic(kai)	Traditional Chinese	標楷體	DFKai-SB	OS optional	Traditional Chinese supplemental font. MS-W11

macOS

Apple’s current font inventory distinguishes system font, downloadable, and document-based app support. A dash in the CSS-generic column means that the family is available but is not recommended as a neutral default for one of the Chinese generic families covered by this document. APPLE-FONTS

Most of the additional families are downloadable rather than system fonts in Apple’s terminology.

CSS generic	Language/region	Chinese/localized family name	English family name	Availability	Evidence and notes
serif (Song)	Simplified Chinese	宋体-简	Songti SC	System font	Apple inventory and OpenType localized family-name records. APPLE-FONTS
serif (Song)	Simplified Chinese	华文宋体	STSong	System font	APPLE-FONTS
serif (Song)	Simplified Chinese	—	SimSong	Downloadable	Apple lists Regular and Bold faces. APPLE-FONTS
serif (Song)	Traditional Chinese	宋體-繁	Songti TC	System font	Apple inventory and OpenType localized family-name records. APPLE-FONTS
serif (Song)	Traditional Chinese	儷宋	LiSong Pro	Downloadable	APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Simplified Chinese	黑体-简	Heiti SC	System font	Stable built-in candidate. APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Simplified Chinese	兰亭黑-简	Lantinghei SC	Downloadable	Apple lists Demibold, Extralight, and Heavy faces. APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Simplified Chinese	苹方-简	PingFang SC	Downloadable	APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Traditional Chinese	黑體-繁	Heiti TC	System font	Stable built-in candidate. APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Traditional Chinese	蘭亭黑-繁	Lantinghei TC	Downloadable; Extralight has document-based app support	APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)	蘋方-繁	PingFang TC	Downloadable	Regional Taiwan family. APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong)	蘋方-港	PingFang HK	Downloadable	Regional Hong Kong family. APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Traditional Chinese (Macao)	蘋方-澳	PingFang MO	Downloadable	Regional Macao family. APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Chinese; region not identified by the inventory label	—	Hei	Downloadable	Apple lists Hei Regular as a separate entry from the system Heiti SC and Heiti TC faces. APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Chinese; region not identified by the inventory label	—	STHeiti	Downloadable	APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Chinese; region not identified by the inventory label	—	STXihei	Downloadable	APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Traditional Chinese	—	Apple LiGothic	Downloadable	Apple lists the face as Apple LiGothic Medium. It is a separate Apple inventory entry from LiHei Pro. APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Traditional Chinese	儷黑	LiHei Pro	Downloadable	APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Traditional Chinese	—	Hiragino Sans TC	Downloadable	Apple lists W3 and W6 faces. APPLE-FONTS
generic(fangsong)	Simplified Chinese	华文仿宋	STFangsong	Downloadable	Do not assume presence before the asset is installed. APPLE-FONTS
generic(kai)	Simplified Chinese	楷体-简	Kaiti SC	Downloadable	Do not assume presence before the asset is installed. APPLE-FONTS
generic(kai)	Traditional Chinese	楷體-繁	Kaiti TC	Downloadable	Do not assume presence before the asset is installed. APPLE-FONTS
generic(kai)	Chinese; region not identified by the inventory label	—	Kai Regular	Downloadable	APPLE-FONTS
generic(kai)	Chinese; region not identified by the inventory label	—	STKaiti	Downloadable	APPLE-FONTS
generic(kai)	Traditional Chinese (Taiwan/Hong Kong)	—	BiauKaiTC, BiauKaiHK	Downloadable	Regional Traditional Chinese Kai candidates. APPLE-FONTS
generic(kai)	Traditional Chinese	—	DFKaiShu-SB-Estd-BF	Downloadable	APPLE-FONTS
—	Simplified and Traditional Chinese	—	Yuanti SC, Yuanti TC	Downloadable	Rounded sans families; Apple lists Light, Regular, and Bold faces. APPLE-FONTS
—	Multi-script	—	Arial Unicode MS	System font	CJK-capable but not region-specific; it should not be used to infer Simplified- or Traditional-Chinese glyph conventions. APPLE-FONTS
—	Simplified and Traditional Chinese	—	Xingkai SC, Xingkai TC	Downloadable	Semi-cursive calligraphic families, not neutral generic(kai) defaults. APPLE-FONTS
—	Simplified and Traditional Chinese	—	Baoli SC, Baoli TC	Downloadable	APPLE-FONTS
—	Simplified and Traditional Chinese	—	Hannotate SC, Hannotate TC	Downloadable	Handwriting families; Apple lists Regular and Bold faces. APPLE-FONTS
—	Simplified and Traditional Chinese	—	HanziPen SC, HanziPen TC	Downloadable	Handwriting/pen families; Apple lists Regular and Bold faces. APPLE-FONTS
—	Simplified and Traditional Chinese	—	Libian SC, Libian TC	Downloadable	Clerical families. APPLE-FONTS
—	Simplified and Traditional Chinese	—	LingWai SC, LingWai TC	Downloadable	Handwriting families. APPLE-FONTS
—	Simplified and Traditional Chinese	—	Wawati SC, Wawati TC	Downloadable	Handwriting families. APPLE-FONTS
—	Simplified and Traditional Chinese	—	Weibei SC, Weibei TC	Downloadable	Stele families. APPLE-FONTS
—	Simplified and Traditional Chinese	—	Yuppy SC, Yuppy TC	Downloadable	Handwriting families. APPLE-FONTS

iOS and iPadOS

In Apple’s current public inventory, the Chinese families below are all marked downloadable on iOS/iPadOS, not system font. They are therefore verified OS-supplied candidates but not a safe assumption for an already-installed browser mapping. Apple/WebKit confirmation is needed for any non-public or automatically activated system fallback used internally by iOS. APPLE-FONTS

CSS generic	Language/region	Chinese/localized family name	English family name	Availability	Evidence and notes
serif (Song)	Simplified Chinese	宋体-简	Songti SC	Downloadable	Verified in Apple’s inventory and font metadata; not tagged as an iOS system font. APPLE-FONTS
serif (Song)	Traditional Chinese	宋體-繁	Songti TC	Downloadable	Verified in Apple’s inventory and font metadata; not tagged as an iOS system font. APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Simplified Chinese	苹方-简	PingFang SC	Downloadable	Heiti SC / 黑体-简 is also listed as downloadable on iOS. APPLE-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Traditional Chinese	蘋方-繁	PingFang TC	Downloadable	Heiti TC / 黑體-繁 is also listed as downloadable on iOS. APPLE-FONTS
generic(fangsong)	Simplified Chinese	华文仿宋	STFangsong	Downloadable	No built-in-tagged iOS Fangsong face was verified. APPLE-FONTS
generic(kai)	Simplified Chinese	楷体-简	Kaiti SC	Downloadable	No built-in-tagged iOS Kai face was verified. APPLE-FONTS
generic(kai)	Traditional Chinese	楷體-繁	Kaiti TC	Downloadable	BiauKaiTC / 標楷體-繁 is another downloadable candidate. APPLE-FONTS

Linux desktop distributions

Linux has no single system-font inventory. The following entries are verified examples from Debian’s official repository and should be treated as package-dependent candidates. Other distributions may package the same fonts under different package names, versions, or fontconfig rules.

CSS generic	Language/region	Chinese/localized family name	English family name	Availability	Evidence and notes
serif (Song)	Simplified Chinese	—	Noto Serif CJK SC	Distribution package (fonts-noto-cjk)	Debian explicitly lists the SC and TC serif families. The checked OpenType zh-CN name record repeats the English family name. DEBIAN-NOTO
serif (Song)	Traditional Chinese	—	Noto Serif CJK TC	Distribution package (fonts-noto-cjk)	Regional Traditional Chinese face. DEBIAN-NOTO
serif (Song)	Traditional Chinese	cwTeX 明體	cwTeXMing	Distribution package (fonts-cwtex-ming)	The package is derived from cwTeX Traditional Chinese fonts. DEBIAN-CWTEX-MING
sans-serif (Hei)	Simplified and Traditional Chinese	文泉驿正黑	WenQuanYi Zen Hei	Distribution package (fonts-wqy-zenhei)	Debian documents Simplified and Traditional coverage; the localized family name occurs in the font metadata for both language systems. DEBIAN-WQY
sans-serif (Hei)	Simplified/Traditional Chinese	—	Noto Sans CJK SC / Noto Sans CJK TC	Distribution package (fonts-noto-cjk)	Use the face matching the content language. DEBIAN-NOTO
generic(fangsong)	Traditional Chinese	cwTeX 仿宋體	cwTeXFangSong	Distribution package (fonts-cwtex-fs)	Debian identifies this as a Traditional Chinese FangSong font; paired names are in the OpenType name table. No equivalent cross-distribution default was verified. DEBIAN-CWTEX-FS
generic(kai)	Traditional Chinese	cwTeX 楷書	cwTeXKai	Distribution package (fonts-cwtex-kai)	Debian identifies this as a Traditional Chinese Kai font; paired names are in the OpenType name table. No equivalent cross-distribution default was verified. DEBIAN-CWTEX-KAI

Android Open Source Project (AOSP)

The AOSP fonts.xml maps the zh-Hans and zh-Hant fallback families to indices 2 and 3 of NotoSansCJK-Regular.ttc; each group also has the same-index NotoSerifCJK-Regular.ttc face marked fallbackFor="serif". The AOSP configuration contains no Kai or Fangsong family. AOSP-FONTS

CSS generic	Language/region	Chinese/localized family name	English family name	Availability	Evidence and notes
serif (Song)	Simplified Chinese	—	Noto Serif CJK SC	AOSP system fallback	TTC index 2, selected for zh-Hans and serif. AOSP-FONTS
serif (Song)	Traditional Chinese	—	Noto Serif CJK TC	AOSP system fallback	TTC index 3, selected for zh-Hant and serif. AOSP-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Simplified Chinese	—	Noto Sans CJK SC	AOSP system fallback	TTC index 2, selected for zh-Hans. AOSP-FONTS
sans-serif (Hei)	Traditional Chinese	—	Noto Sans CJK TC	AOSP system fallback	TTC index 3, selected for zh-Hant. AOSP-FONTS
generic(fangsong)	Chinese	—	—	No mapping	No Fangsong face or alias occurs in the checked AOSP font configuration. AOSP-FONTS
generic(kai)	Chinese	—	—	No mapping	No Kai face or alias occurs in the checked AOSP font configuration. AOSP-FONTS

HarmonyOS / OpenHarmony

OpenHarmony’s checked font configuration uses HarmonyOS Sans SC for zh-Hans and HarmonyOS Sans TC for zh-Hant. Its generic serif family is Noto Serif, but the Chinese locale fallbacks are the HarmonyOS Sans faces; no Chinese Song, Fangsong, or Kai face is configured. Commercial HarmonyOS device images can differ, so device/vendor additions should be documented separately. OHOS-CONFIG

CSS generic	Language/region	Chinese/localized family name	English family name	Availability	Evidence and notes
serif (Song)	Chinese	—	—	No verified Chinese mapping	The checked configuration supplies no Chinese Song face; Chinese fallback is HarmonyOS Sans. OHOS-CONFIG
sans-serif (Hei)	Simplified Chinese	鸿蒙黑体	HarmonyOS Sans SC	OpenHarmony system fallback	The official system resource and font configuration use /system/fonts/HarmonyOS_Sans_SC.ttf; the zh-CN name record is 鸿蒙黑体. OHOS-RESOURCES OHOS-TYPEFACE
sans-serif (Hei)	Traditional Chinese	鴻蒙黑體	HarmonyOS Sans TC	OpenHarmony system fallback	The official system resource and font configuration include HarmonyOS_Sans_TC.ttf; the zh-TW name record is 鴻蒙黑體. OHOS-RESOURCES OHOS-NAMES-TC
generic(fangsong)	Chinese	—	—	No mapping	No Fangsong face or alias occurs in the checked OpenHarmony font configuration. OHOS-CONFIG
generic(kai)	Chinese	—	—	No mapping	No Kai face or alias occurs in the checked OpenHarmony font configuration. OHOS-CONFIG

Implementation guidance

Do not treat an optional, downloadable, document-based app support, or distribution-package font as already installed and available to CSS. generic(fangsong) and generic(kai) are allowed not to match on a system without a suitable local face. CSS-FONTS-4

Browser vendors should document any private, hidden, automatically activated, OEM-specific, or version-specific mappings in additions to this table.

Maintenance

A contribution adding or changing a mapping should include:

• the exact OS or distribution version;
• an official vendor inventory, OS source/configuration, or distribution package reference proving availability;
• the font file name and family name;
• the English and Chinese localized family-name records, or an explicit statement that the Chinese-language record repeats the Latin-script name;
• the availability class: built-in, optional/downloadable, document-based app support, distribution package, or OEM-specific;
• the language/region whose glyph conventions the face implements.

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