How to create a node with a vertical Chinese text

Question

I want to create a node with Chinese text written in vertical direction. Of course, I don't want the characters to be rotated! Is that possible?

MWE:

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usepackage[UTF8]{ctex}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[draw,inner sep=2pt] at (0,0) {文章内容。};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

EDIT: I am using PdfLaTeX and I need only a couple of short vertical text nodes that will fit into a single column.

Answer 1

Please use XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX!

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{expl3}
\setmainfont{FandolSong-Regular.otf}
\begin{document}
\ExplSyntaxOn
\cs_new:Npn __map_function #1 {
    \tl_put_right:Nn \l_tmpa_tl {\noindent #1 \par}
}
\cs_new:Npn __map_function_centering #1 {
    \tl_put_right:Nn \l_tmpa_tl {\centering #1 \par}
}
\newcommand{\verticaltext}[1]{
    \str_set:Nn \l_tmpa_str {#1}
    \tl_clear:N \l_tmpa_tl
    \str_map_function:NN \l_tmpa_str __map_function
    \tl_use:N \l_tmpa_tl
}
\newcommand{\verticalcentertext}[1]{
    \str_set:Nn \l_tmpa_str {#1}
    \tl_clear:N \l_tmpa_tl
    \str_map_function:NN \l_tmpa_str __map_function_centering
    \tl_use:N \l_tmpa_tl
}
\ExplSyntaxOff
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[draw,inner sep=2pt,text width=7mm] at (0,0) {\verticaltext{文章内容。}};
\node[draw,inner sep=2pt,text width=7mm] at (1,0) {\verticaltext{abcde}};
\node[draw,inner sep=2pt,text width=7mm] at (2,0) {\verticalcentertext{文章内容。}};
\node[draw,inner sep=2pt,text width=7mm] at (3,0) {\verticalcentertext{abcde}};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document} 

Answer 2

A XeLaTeX approach, note that this is a pseudo vertical typesetting.

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usepackage[UTF8]{ctex}
\tikzset{
  pseudo vertical/.style={
    % 1\ccwd is the width of one Chinese character, see user manual of ctex pkg
    text width=1\ccwd,
    % reduce line spacing and allow linebreak before Chinese period punct (。)
    % c.f. user manual of xeCJK pkg
    font=\linespread{1}\selectfont\xeCJKDeclareCharClass{CJK}{`。}
  }
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \node[draw, inner sep=2pt, pseudo vertical] at (0,0) {文章内容。};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Answer 3

I can't read or write Chinese, then I don't know if this is the right way to write it.

I just specified a width to the text text width=1.5em so that each character is displayed one under the other.

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usepackage[UTF8]{ctex}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[draw,inner sep=2pt,text width=1.5em] at (0,0) {文章内容。};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Answer 4

You can use system fonts, like the Noto series. That way you are not tied to particular font packages for specific systems.

This variation of an answer uses tikz positioning, so useful for short texts.

Compile with xelatex\lualatex.

MWE

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{Noto Serif}
\newfontface\zhfont[Scale=2.5,Colour=blue]{Noto Serif SC}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\ \marginpar{
\begin{tikzpicture}[inner sep=3pt,node distance=0mm,font={\zhfont}]
  \node (a) {文};
  \node (b) [below=of a] {章};
  \node (c) [below=of b] {内};
  \node (d) [below=of c] {容};
  \node (e) [below=of d] {。};
\end{tikzpicture}} \lipsum[2]\lipsum[2]
\end{document}

---

Addendum:

Alternatively, question Vertical Chinese text with XeTeX provides a 'rotate the glyphs' solution for fonts with the feature. The minipage box they are in is also rotated, so the characters come out vertical.

This could be adapted to tikz.

MWE

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx} % for \rotatebox
\usepackage{xeCJK}
\newfontlanguage{Chinese}{CHN}
\setCJKmainfont{Noto Serif CJK SC}
\setCJKfamilyfont{songvert}[RawFeature={vertical;+vert},Script=CJK,Language=Chinese,Vertical=RotatedGlyphs]{Noto Serif SC}
\setmainfont{Noto Serif}
\newcommand\CJKmovesymbol[1]{\raise.35em\hbox{#1}}
\newcommand\CJKmove{\punctstyle{plain}% do not modify the spacing between punctuations
  \let\CJKsymbol\CJKmovesymbol
  \let\CJKpunctsymbol\CJKsymbol}
\newcommand\sampletext{『文章内容』。}
\begin{document}
\sampletext\  This is some sample text.
\begin{center}
\rotatebox{-90}{\fbox{\begin{minipage}{10em}
\CJKfamily{songvert}\CJKmove
\sampletext \
\sampletext \
\sampletext \
\sampletext \
\end{minipage}}}
\end{center}
\sampletext\  This is some sample text.
\end{document}

---

A tikz node inline, containing rotated glyphs and their box:

MWE

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{graphicx} % for \rotatebox
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{xeCJK}
\newfontlanguage{Chinese}{CHN}
\setCJKmainfont{Noto Serif CJK SC}
\setCJKfamilyfont{songvert}[RawFeature={vertical;+vert},Script=CJK,Language=Chinese,Vertical=RotatedGlyphs]{Noto Serif SC}
\setmainfont{Noto Serif}
\newcommand\CJKmovesymbol[1]{\raise.35em\hbox{#1}}
\newcommand\CJKmove{\punctstyle{plain}% do not modify the spacing between punctuations
  \let\CJKsymbol\CJKmovesymbol
  \let\CJKpunctsymbol\CJKsymbol}
\newcommand\sampletext{『文章内容』。}
\begin{document}
\sampletext\  This is some sample text.
\tikz \node {\rotatebox{-90}{\colorbox{red!4}{
\CJKfamily{songvert}\CJKmove
\sampletext}}};
\sampletext\  This is some sample text.
\end{document}