New informaix GLS

We have a new informix 7.2x with the new Global Language support feature. Perviously we had the standard online 4.11 US english version. We use a lot of chinese on the old system (BIG5 multibyte) character set in our 4GL and forms. At first it did not work well but having worded around it uning the \\(slash) character, everything works fine. Porting the software to the new Informax causes a problem because of the built in recognition of multi-byte character now all \\(slash)ed characters cause an error when compling because of the extra \\(slash),[](square brackets),|(pipe) etc. We still intend to use the old informix for development as we can alter the database as much as we like without affecting performance of the actual online server, as well as making more space avaialable on the new server. However having to change all programs an forms after any modification seems a big task. When we contacted Informix support the kindly give use a program for the conversion. However is there a simpler way to disable the multi-byte checking during compilation so we can just rcp the source across to the new server and compile it! Another solution seems to be getting rid of GLS and using the english version,but will the english version react to multi-byte characters the same way even if it cannot display them. Informaix says no but it will take some weeks before we can get an english version due to shipping. Our directors are getting anxious, so a solution and descision is need soon, any help is appriciated. Thanks.