"They lived in the L.T., which according to Harv was short for Leased Territories in letters. Nell already knew the mediaglyphics for it. Harv had also taught her the sign for Enchantment, which was the name of the Territory they lived; it was a princess sprinkling golden specks onto some gray houses, which turned yellow and bright were the specs touched them."
-- The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson
I had to look it up -- I remembered the mediaglyphs as being part of the narrative in Snow Crash, not Diamond Age.
I absolutely think the Chinese "were on to something" -- it might not be commonly known, but one of the reasons for why Chinese (language) uses signs, is so that you can read text written by someone with whom you don't share a (oral) language. An efficient way to control an Empire that spans some 5-600 languages. Contrast with teaching all officials to speak and write Latin for example.