{"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

Learn the Chinese character stroke order rules<\/span><\/h2>\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

1. From top to bottom (\u4ece\u4e0a\u5230\u4e0b)<\/h3>\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

2. From left to right (\u4ece\u5de6\u5230\u53f3)<\/h3>\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

3. Horizontal before vertical (\u5148\u6a2a\u540e\u7ad6)<\/h3>\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

4. Diagonals right-to-left before diagonals left-to-right ( \u5148\u6487\u540e\u637a)<\/h3>\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

5. Outside before inside (\u4ece\u5916\u5230\u5185)<\/h3>\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

6. Inside before outside (\u4ece\u5185\u5230\u5916)<\/h3>\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

7. Inside before bottom enclosing (\u5148\u91cc\u5934\u540e\u5c01\u53e3)<\/h3>\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

8. Center verticals before outside “wings”( \u5148\u4e2d\u95f4\u540e\u4e24\u8fb9)<\/h3>\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

9. Cutting strokes last ( \u76f8\u4ea4\u7b14\u753b\u540e\u5199)<\/h3>\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

10. Left vertical before enclosing (\u5148\u5de6\u7ad6\u540e\u5c01\u53e3)<\/h3>\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

11. Top or upper-left dots first ( \u70b9\u5728\u4e0a\u8fb9\u6216\u5de6\u4e0a\u5148\u5199)<\/h3>\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

12. Inside or upper-right dots last ( \u70b9\u5728\u53f3\u4e0a\u6216\u91cc\u8fb9\u540e\u5199)<\/h3>\n\n\n

For examples, in character\u6216,\u6211,\u7389,\u72ac,etc., the dots are written last.<\/p>\n\n\n

Follow stroke order diagrams<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"1\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

At times, it is not easy to determine whether you have used the correct stroke order to write a Chinese character. In this case, you should check it to make sure you have the stroke order right. If you don\u2019t check it, then you risk starting a habit of writing a particular character using the wrong stroke order, which could be difficult to remedy after some time. When in doubt, look up the stroke order diagram for the individual characters, and then follow this order. This will aid you in writing Chinese characters in nice, smooth handwriting.<\/p>\n\n\n

Chinese handwriting books<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"2\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n


A book like this is excellent to help you improve your Chinese handwriting. It gives you the opportunity to practice writing Chinese characters using tracing paper; in fact, Chinese schoolchildren use these kinds of books for this very purpose. In addition to learning to write characters in a more neater, more precise manner, you can also increase your Chinese vocabulary from studying the characters that you see while practicing your writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can you best utilize this learning tool? First of all, it is better to use a pen than a pencil when you write the characters. It is better to choose a thin pen (less than half a millimeter) if you only have gel pens; then you can use several weights to write the strokes. Secondly, it will help you to learn the strokes first, then the radicals, and finally the complete characters. This gives you a solid foundation so that when you are at the stage of writing complete characters, they will look much better.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[178,1],"tags":[80,89,85],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-2248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-characters","category-learn-mandarin-online","tag-self-study","tag-tips-and-suggestions","tag-writing","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Improve Your Chinese Handwriting<\/title>\n <meta name=\"description\" content=\"Are you learning Chinese Handwriting and find it very hard? 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