Enable the desired Chinese language input on a computer with a Microsoft Windows platform. On a computer with a Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows Vista or Microsoft Windows XP operating system, access the Control Panel and then Region and Language or Regional and Language Options. Click on the tab Keyboards and Languages, or Languages in Windows XP, and then click on the button "Change keyboards," or "Details" in XP. Click on "Add" to install Chinese. For simplified Chinese, which is used in the People's Republic of China (PRC), install "Chinese (Simplified, PRC) - Microsoft Pinyin IME."
Access the language bar on your computer's desktop, which appears as the button "EN." It is on task bar at the bottom or top of the computer screen, and it appears only after you successfully installed another language input. Click on the button "EN" to toggle between English and Chinese. Verify the button is switched to "Zhong," not "Ying," to input Chinese characters; Ying results in English input.
Type Hanyu pinyin in either your computer's Internet browser or other word-processing software. If you type "ma," for instance, a bar of characters with the pinyin "ma" will display. Choose your desired character by clicking on it or by pressing the corresponding number.
Click on System Preferences on an Apple computer with Mac OS X operating system. Open International or Language and Text, depending on the computer's version of the Mac OS X operating system.
Click on Input Menu or Input Sources, and select your desired Chinese input language.
Click on the flag in the upper right corner of the computer's desktop to switch language input to Chinese.
Go to an online Chinese dictionary website. Two are linked in the Resources section.
Type the pinyin in the website's look-up query, and complete the look-up process. The method may vary among websites.
Scan the results from the look-up process, and select the desired Chinese character.