{"id":2248,"date":"2014-08-04T08:39:09","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T08:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/?p=2248"},"modified":"2022-05-04T11:08:43","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T11:08:43","slug":"how-to-improve-your-chinese-handwriting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/how-to-improve-your-chinese-handwriting.html","title":{"rendered":"How to Improve Your Chinese Handwriting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Chinese text is traditionally written from top to bottom in vertical columns, running from the right side of the page to the left side. However, modern Chinese mimics the Western layout of text written from top to bottom, running from the left side of the page to the right side. To allow for the writing to run horizontally, the stroke order of some Chinese characters are changed. Because of this, there are small differences between the characters used in the two layout styles. Both styles, however, were created in order to aid the fluidity, accuracy, and speed of composition. The stroke order\u2019s basic rules are independent of format style.<\/p>\n\n\n
Learning the stroke order rules for Chinese characters will minimize the time and effort you will have to spend looking up individual character stroke order diagrams. Here they are:<\/p>\n\n\n
As an example, the character \u4e8c (two), which has two strokes, is written with the top stroke first and then the lower stroke. This rule applies also to other characters with Above to Below structure, such as \u674e, the top component \u6728 is written before the lower component \u5b50. Click the following characters to see more animated character examples: \u5b57, \u53ea, \u5168, \u5b9d, \u97f3, \u5144, \u9999, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n
Among the first characters usually learned is the number one \u4e00. This character has one stroke, which is written from left to right. Again, this rule applies to all the characters with Left to Right structure such as \u5988 (mother), the left component \u5973 (female), which is a radical, is written first and then the right component \u9a6c (horse). You can view more examples: \u8bed, \u6253, \u8bf7, \u5462, \u6c49, \u4f60, \u8bfe, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n
When strokes cross, horizontal strokes are usually written before vertical strokes. As an example, the character \u5341 (ten) has two strokes. The horizontal stroke \u4e00 is written first, followed by the vertical stroke. The following are more examples: \u4e0b,\u58eb,\u53e4,\u5de5,\u6728,\u5e72,etc.<\/p>\n\n\n
As in \u4eba(person), right-to-left diagonals (\u30ce) are written before left-to-right diagonals (\u4e40). Same rule applies to: \u4e2a,\u6728,\u5927,\u53c8,\u6587,\u516b,\u5929,etc.<\/p>\n\n\n
Outside enclosing strokes are written before inside strokes, for examples \u540c, \u6708, \u95ea, \u5411,\u95ee etc. This rule applies to the characters with Surround from Upper Left structure (\u5de6\u4e0a\u5305\u56f4\u7ed3\u6784), such as\u5386, \u53a6,\u53cb,\u53f3or Surround from Upper Right structure (\u53f3\u4e0a\u5305\u56f4\u7ed3\u6784), such as\u9e1f,\u53e5,\u53ef,\u5305or Surround from Above structure (\u4e0a\u5305\u56f4\u7ed3\u6784), such as\u540c,\u7f51,\u7528,\u51f0.<\/p>\n\n\n
This rule applies to the characters with Surround from Below structure (\u4e0b\u5305\u56f4\u7ed3\u6784), such as\u5c71,\u51fd,\u51f6,\u753bor characters with Surround from Lower Left structure (\u5de6\u4e0b\u5305\u56f4\u7ed3\u6784), such as\u8fc7,\u8fdb,\u5ef6etc.<\/p>\n\n\n
If there is a bottom stroke, the bottom stroke is written last. For an example, for the character \u56e0, the outside enclosing strokes are written first, followed by the inside component \u5927 and then the bottom horizontal stroke. The same pattern you can find in\u56ed,\u56fd,\u56db,\u56e2, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n
For the character \u5c0f, the center\u4e85comes first before the two dots. Same rule applies to character\u529e,\u6c38,\u6c34,\u4e58,etc.<\/p>\n\n\n
Vertical strokes that “cut” through a character are written after the horizontal strokes they cut through, as in\u6765,\u7533,\u4e2d,\u534a.<\/p>\n\n\n
Left vertical strokes are written before enclosing strokes. In the following two examples, the leftmost vertical stroke (\u4e28) is written first, followed by the uppermost and rightmost lines (\u2510) (which are written as one stroke): \u7530 and \u65e5. This rule applies to most of the characters with Full Surround structure, such as\u53e3,\u76ee,\u56fd,\u56f0,\u7530, \u56da, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n
For examples, in character\u4eac,\u516d,\u5e02,\u95e8,\u95ea,\u4e3b,the dots are written before any other strokes.<\/p>\n\n\n
For examples, in character\u6216,\u6211,\u7389,\u72ac,etc., the dots are written last.<\/p>\n\n\n