A visual approach to the acquisition of Chinese characters is proposed to account for the fact some of the Deaf in Taiwan manage to overcome the cumbersome Chinese characters, thereby to read Chinese with a high level of proficiency. This approach is built up three hitherto little explored threads of thought. Frist, the Chinese characters have a grammar which shares structural principles with signed and spoken languages. Second, both external and internal iconicity in Taiwan Sign Language can be applied to Chinese characters. Third, the Deaf employ visual awareness, rather than phonological awareness, to learn Chinese characters. In conclusion, additional hurdles for the Deaf to read Chinese are briefly sketched in hopes of unraveling the reading ability of Chinese by the Deaf in Taiwan.