How to Draw Chinese Characters

Posted by Fifi Yang 17618

A lot of Chinese learners don't wanna start to learn Chinese characters as they thought it's too complicated and difficult. A mount of characters contain too many strokes that makes the learners don't know which stroke should be the first. For them, the characters maybe many similar special paintings which are made of different lines. Actually you can find the logic, values and culture of the Chinese. There are some principles that can help you to write Chinese characters easier, faster and more beautiful.

1. The Basic Strokes of the Chinese Characters

First of all, you need to know that Chinese characters are different from the letter languages, they are written in a shape of square. Most characters consist of many different parts, you should write them together. You also need to know the basic strokes of Chinese characters: 一(horizontal stroke),丨(vertical stroke), 丿(the left falling), 乀(the right falling), 丶(the dot), ╭(the rising stroke). Other types of strokes are derived from the strokes mentioned above, and known as the derived strokes. Each stroke should be written in certain directions. For example , "一" should only go from left to right, "丨""丿" can only be written from top to bottom.

2. The Principles of Writing Chinese Characters

The principle of the stroke order is a guiding rule for writing Chinese characters. The right order helps learners write them fast and beautifully. Here are the basic principles of the stroke order for writing Chinese characters:

A horizontal stroke should be written before a vertical one.
十：一，十
A left falling stroke should be written before a right falling.
人：丿，人
An upper stroke should be written before a lower one.
三：
A left component should be written before given before a right one.
州：
Outer strokes should be completed before an enclosing stroke of a frame.
月：
A middle stroke should be written before strokes on both side.
小：

What has been stated above is only basic principle. All Chinese characters are divided to two kinds, one is single characters, another is combined characters. Sometimes two or more rules may be applied to the writing of a single characters. For example:

去：

The combined characters consist of two or more than two parts. The structures are: left and right, upper and lower, outside and inside. Generally, we write one part after another part. We also have the order for the combined characters, the principles are : from left to right, from up to down, inside should be first and then outside. For example:

妈：

要：

这：

3. The Combination of the Strokes

There are three ways to put all the strokes when you write Chinese characters：

Two strokes are separated, such as "三", "八".
Strokes link up with one another , for example "人", "工".
Two strokes go across one another like "十".

Most characters contain more than two of the three combinations above such as "风", "火".

Chinese people like the beauty of symmetry and balance. These characters embody the Chinese people's aesthetic.

Now you know the principles of writing Chinese characters, you can also download some Chinese learning Apps that you can write the characters on it.

If you want to learn more about Chinese character stroke order and learn how to writer Chinese characters, check out our online Chinese reading and writing course.