For when you want to write China as 中国 and not just Zhong guo, here are a variety of web pages that explain how to do it. It’s really not that hard and once you’ve got it installed it’s very easy to input – and kids love to write things in Chinese on the computer. Different operating systems use different methods to set it up, but the pages below should walk you through it. If you still get lost, hop on one of the MIPC email lists and someone can talk you through your specific program.
For an overview, Wikipedia has an article on Chinese input methods for computers
Windows:
Writing Chinese on the Windows Platform
A nice overview from the East Asian Studies Dept. at the University of the Redlands, Calif.
How to Write With Chinese Characters in Microsoft Word
This article walks you through the set up.
Reading and writing Chinese with Microsoft Windows
Lots of details in this page.
Macintosh:
Character Activation: Chinese Simplified
This article walks you through it page by page.
How to type toned pinyin on a Mac
This article also shows you how to get the tone marks over the vowels.
How do you type in Chinese on a Macbook?
This article has no images, but nice text description of how to set your Mac up to type in Chinese.
Mandarin Immersion Parents Council 
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