  We introduce a factorized difference operator L(u) annihilated by the
Frenkel-Reshetikhin screening operator for the quantum affine algebra
U_q(C^{(1)}_n). We identify the coefficients of L(u) with the fundamental
q-characters, and establish a number of formulas for their higher analogues.
They include Jacobi-Trudi and Weyl type formulas, canceling tableau sums,
Casorati determinant solution to the T-system, and so forth. Analogous
operators for the orthogonal series U_q(B^{(1)}_n) and U_q(D^{(1)}_n) are also
presented.
