diff --git a/maca_common/include/char16.h b/maca_common/include/char16.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a46a23425d1815fb3e704f25c4f3265d55e680a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maca_common/include/char16.h
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#ifndef __CHAR16__
+#define __CHAR16__
+
+typedef short char16;
+
+int     utf8_strlen(char *utf8_string);
+char   *char16toutf8(char16 *char16_string);
+int     char16_strlen(char16 *string);
+char16 *utf8tochar16(char *utf8_string);
+
+#endif