Chinese Writing Strokes Order: A Complete Guide to Write Characters (With Rules & Examples)

Mastering the Chinese writing strokes order can be a daunting task for beginners of the Chinese language. Chinese characters may look like an unrecognizable mass of squiggles and dots, but every Chinese character has a set of basic strokes and follows clear rules of stroke order.

Learning to write Chinese characters may seem challenging, but understanding the basics of Chinese character stroke order can make the process much easier. Mastering the basic rules of Chinese character stroke order is an important prerequisite when you are writing Chinese characters.

In this guide, we’ll break down the basic rules and techniques you need to know to write Chinese characters accurately. We’ll also walk you through the basics of Chinese stroke order, explain its importance, and provide practical tips and resources to help you master it. Whether you are a beginner or are improving your Chinese writing skills, this guide will help you take the next step in learning Chinese!

What is Chinese Stroke Order?

The stroke order of Chinese characters refers to the order in which the individual strokes of a Chinese character are written. Each stroke follows specific rules developed over thousands of years to ensure consistency, balance, and clarity of writing. Following these rules not only makes your writing look professional but also ensures that others can read your characters correctly.

For Chinese learners, the order of strokes is the basis for understanding the construction of Chinese characters. Using the correct order will make your writing process smoother over time.

Why is Chinese writing stroke order important?

• Better writing and character balance: When you write Chinese characters in the correct stroke order, your characters look more proportional and beautiful. In Chinese culture, handwriting is an art, and the correct order of strokes ensures that your writing is both beautiful and legible.
  

  For example, the character “书” (shū) means “book”, and if you don’t write the character in stroke order, it will look awkward and untidy. Writing according to the rules ensures that each part of the character is proportionally and visually consistent.

• Easier recognition by handwriting input tools: Handwriting recognition tools rely on the correct order of strokes. Characters written in the wrong order can confuse these tools, making it difficult to enter characters accurately.
  

  With the correct stroke order, you can ensure that handwritten characters are effectively recognized, saving time and reducing frustration when using digital learning or translation tools.

  
  
• Enhanced Memory and Cognitive Comprehension: When you write characters in the correct order, you activate both motor skills and visual memory, making it easier to remember difficult or complex characters.

8 Basic Strokes in Chinese Characters

Chinese characters are complex, but their complexity becomes easier to deal with once you break them down into their basic strokes. Learning these basic strokes in Chinese characters is essential for mastering Chinese writing strokes order, as they determine the order and structure of every character. For beginners, knowing these basic strokes can make learning Chinese characters less difficult and provide a solid foundation for advanced writing.

Here are the eight basic strokes:

1. Horizontal Stroke (横, héng): A straight horizontal line written from left to right. Examples: “一” (yī), “二” (èr).
2. Vertical Stroke (竖, shù): Vertical lines written from top to bottom. Examples: “十” (shí), “下” (xià).
3. Left-falling Stroke (撇, piě): A diagonal line from the upper right to the lower left. Examples: “人” (rén), “文” (wén).
4. Right-falling Stroke (捺, nà): A diagonal line from the upper left to the lower right. Examples: “八” (bā), “入” (rù).
5. Dot Stroke (点, diǎn): A small downward dot or tick. Examples: “小” (xiǎo), “心” (xīn).
6. Rising Stroke (提, tí): A short upper stroke written from left to right. Examples: “我” (wǒ), “打” (dǎ).
7. Hook Stroke (钩, gōu): A stroke with a small hook at the end, which can be connected to a horizontal, vertical, or vertical stroke. Examples: “马” (mǎ), “你” (nǐ).
8. Bend Stroke (折, zhé): A stroke that changes direction drastically, e.g. from horizontal to vertical. Examples: “田” (tián), “口” (kǒu), “日” (rì).

Basic Rules of Chinese Writing Stroke Order

The writing of Chinese characters follows a set of logical rules to ensure balance, clarity, and ease of writing. These rules have been developed over centuries and are essential for anyone learning the stroke order of Chinese characters. After all, the Chinese character is an art form, and stroke order rules are especially important when writing Chinese calligraphy. However, you can think of these instructions as a guide to basic writing stroke order rather than the universal rules of Chinese writing.

You can write the characters with a pen, pencil, or brush and ink. At first, some of the rules may seem complicated or even contradictory. However, with a little practice, they soon become intuitive. After a while, you will no longer need to think about these rules.

Please note that there are slight differences in stroke order between the simplified Chinese characters widely used in mainland China and the traditional Chinese characters used in other regions.

1. Top to bottom

One of the most basic rules of Chinese character stroke order is that strokes are generally written from top to bottom. In other words, start writing from the top of a character and work your way down.

For example, the character “言” (yán) is written from the topmost stroke and then downwards. Here is the animated stroke order of the character “言”.

2. Left to right

After following the “top to bottom” rule, the next most important rule is to write from left to right. When elements of a character are next to each other, the character is written from left to right.

For example, in the character “位” (wèi), the left stroke is written first and then moved to the right stroke.

3. Horizontal before vertical strokes

Whenever a horizontal and vertical stroke crosses, write the horizontal stroke first, then the vertical stroke. If a vertical line crosses a horizontal line, write all the horizontal lines first.

For example, “丰” (fēng), horizontal strokes are always written before vertical strokes.

4. First right-to-left diagonals, then left-to-right diagonals

The rule states that when both strokes appear in the same character, the left-hand side should be written before the right-hand side. The left-hand side is usually the longer or more prominent stroke, so writing the left-hand side first creates a solid foundation for adding the right-hand side.

This rule sounds complicated, but it’s quite simple. That is, for diagonal downward strokes, write the right-to-left diagonal (丿) first, then the left-to-right diagonal (㇏).

Example characters: “八” (bā), “人” (rén), “交” (jiāo).

5. Center comes first in vertically symmetrical characters

When you write a character that is centered and roughly symmetrical (but not stacked from top to bottom), the general rule is to write the center front first. See the character “小” (xiǎo), which means “small”.

6. Move from outside to inside and close frames last

You want to create the frame of the character before filling it in. So, with the character “固” (gù), you write the outer enclosure first, then the little box, then the line at the bottom that “shuts the door”.

7. Character-spanning strokes last

Strokes that span all other strokes are usually written last. For example, the character “半” (bàn) means “half”. The long vertical line is written at the end because it runs through the rest of the character.

8. Top or upper-left dots first, inside or upper-right dots last

Even if Rule 1 (top to bottom) and Rule 2 (left to right) are violated, write the dot at the top or upper left first. The inner or upper right dot is written after the other strokes.

For example, in the character “玉” (yù), the stroke order of the Chinese character is to write two horizontal, then one vertical 丨. Then a horizontal at the bottom, and finally the dot 丶.

The Importance of Chinese Writing Strokes Order

Although few people in China today use handwriting input methods to enter Chinese characters, typing by stroke order is still one of the fastest ways to enter Chinese characters, such as the five-stroke input method. In many cases, knowing the stroke order of Chinese characters is essential, even though people now rely on their smartphones for most Chinese tasks. For those who are slightly interested in Chinese calligraphy or Chinese culture, learning the rules of Chinese character stroke order is even more important.

Nowadays, many apps and tools include animated Chinese character stroke order diagrams, and this article provides you with many of them. They show the stroke order of Chinese characters and the process of writing Chinese characters. Following the stroke order animation can help you internalize the rules of Chinese character stroke order and greatly improve the efficiency of Chinese character learning.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What Chinese character has the most strokes?

If we consider only Chinese characters, then the character with the most strokes is the word “𰻝” (biáng), which has 58 strokes in the traditional form!

2. Any other tips for learning Chinese stroke order?

In addition to the basic strokes and rules of Chinese characters mentioned above in this article, you can also use the following tips:

• Using lined or grid paper: Liner or grid paper is a useful tool for keeping your lettering neat and proportional. The lines will guide your strokes to a consistent height, width， and character spacing. Some learners find that grid paper, with its even boxes, is especially helpful for learning to balance strokes.
• Practice Writing with Consistency: To write Chinese characters well, practice is essential. You can start by copying from a textbook or model text, and then gradually practice writing Chinese characters from memory. The more you practice, the smoother and more natural your writing will become. A good choice is a character calligraphy copybook.

Conclusion

Understanding the basics of Chinese writing stroke order is crucial for anyone starting to learn kanji. Mastering the stroke order not only improves the clarity of your writing but also helps to strengthen the memorization of kanji during the learning process. It lays a solid foundation for being able to write beautiful, accurate Chinese characters.

To learn more about Chinese character writing and Chinese culture, you can also join the WuKong Chinese course and explore the Chinese world more deeply together!