"By indexing ancient characters, I've gradually become familiar with the evolution of a character from its original shape, which is closer to the Chinese language's initial ideogram principle. That is easy for me as a learner to understand the original meaning behind each character," he said. "For example, suddenly I can realize why a particular character has those kinds of strokes.

"With the advantage of computerized etymology, I can do all kinds of Chinese character and text analysis, and this ongoing online research project can help me better identify the errors or discrepancies, and they can be corrected much easier in a systematic way."

Charmed by the Chinese language during his first visit to Taiwan in 1972 when he was just 22, Sears decided to learn it. During his studies, he said he felt daunted by the prospect of learning to write around 5,000 characters and 60,000 character combinations, many of which have no apparent logic in their stroke formations.

He said the lack of even a single book in English that could explain the etymology spurred him to create his own website.

Yet, it was not until a life-or-death incident that he finally started the work.

"In 1994, I had a severe heart attack . . . that nearly took my life. At that moment I had this urge to realize my dream of setting up the website. What if there was only a year for me to live?" he recalled. "Fortunately, after successful bypass surgery, I survived and began to digitalize Chinese characters by hiring people to scan them for me."

The costs involved in realizing the project - including books, wages and travel - were not easy. In 2002, he ran out of money and had to sell his house to move into a one-room apartment. The project has so far cost him $300,000 and his marriage, he said.

Last year he moved to Tianjin and later secured work at Beijing Normal University as a physics teacher.

"To me as a foreigner, these symbols mean an exoticism and a different cultural heritage that is beyond the boundaries of nationality."

Related: No crisis of character