Kanji and Chinese characters Today I had a weird conversation with a person who could not understand that Kanji (hanzi) are Chinese characters, that the Kan in Kanji is the same character as Han, which refers to the main chinese character users of China, the Han Chinese. I agree that there are variations in writing chinese characters and Kanji sometimes and some Kanji in Japanese have different meanings from their Chinese counterparts, but I thought it was strange that someone could get so pissed that I used Chinese pronounciation to read the Kanji in her name. Yes, they are pronounced differently, I know, but they clearly come from China... Denying that is just as ridiculous as pretending that 2+2=5.... And swearing at me to put one`s point across is not that mature. So, Can anyone give me proof that Kanji and Chinese characters are different?