I doubt phonics isn't fundamental to reading Chinese, though. I've learned how to read Japanese, which uses a mix of their own characters and Chinese characters

I doubt phonics isn't fundamental to reading Chinese, though. I've learned how to read Japanese, which uses a mix of their own characters and Chinese characters. If you're reading Japanese and you don't know how to read a written word, you're basically screwed. You might be able to vaguely infer what the words mean based on the meaning associated with the characters, but that's not the same as knowing its exact definition. I guess it would also be the same for Chinese.