DECLARE @nstring nchar(8) SET @nstring = N'你好' SELECT UNICODE(SUBSTRING(@nstring, 2, 1)), NCHAR(UNICODE(SUBSTRING(@nstring, 2, 1))) /* Result is: ----------- ---- 22909 好 (1 row(s) affected) Where 22909 = 0x597D, which is in fact the code of the string's 2nd character: "好" (hao3). */