Problem  

For example: bug ID 4805328, affects some locales, including Chinese locales. 

Currently, you cannot set the default font for the GNOME Desktop for each locale. As a result, particularly if you are switching between locales, you might find that the default desktop font is either too small or is rendered blank. 

Solution  

To change the default desktop font, perform the following steps:  

• Open a terminal and run the following command:

  gnome-font-properties

• Use the Font Preferences dialog to change font size to appropriate values. For example, in Chinese locales, you can set both Application font and Desktop font to Sans 13.