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sign translated (inaccurately) into English. Well, you
get the picture! |
Different
Strokes
Strokes are a series of standardized lines, curves and dashes
that make up a character. There are 11 of them. They are
the building blocks of learning to write Chinese characters.
Chinese characters are the ideograms, or "pictures"
you see in the written Chinese language.
Unlike
an alphabet, these strokes do not represent sounds, they
merely provide a way to write a character correctly. Although
Chinese people have a unique signature like we do, and there
are different fonts and styles available, most have a standard
characteristic.
Here
they are:
Dian-
called a dot, but it looks more like a dash.
Heng- horizontal stroke written from left to right.
 Shu-
vertical stroke written from top to bottom.
 Pie-
written from top to bottom, slanting left.
 Na-
written from top to bottom, slanting right.
Ti- small dash written bottom to top, slanting right.
Henggou- left to right, then hooking back left.
Shugou- straight, top to bottom, hooking up and left.
Xiegou- Top to bottom, slanting right, hooking up.
Hengzhe- Left to right, then straight down.
Shuzhe- Top to bottom, then straight right.
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Stroke order
Do you remember what you learned in grade school, that there
was a certain way to write the alphabet? For example, when we write
the letter "s" we start at the top and write to the bottom.
For the letter "i" we write the line first and then the
dot. It is the same way in Chinese, except much more complicated.
The rules:
Middle before sides- Write the middle strokes before you
write the side strokes.
Top to bottom- Always write the top strokes before you write
the bottom strokes. from top to bottom
Left to right-
Write the left strokes before you write the right strokes.
Horizontal
before vertical-
Write a horizontal stroke before you write a vertical stroke. For
example a "t" is written vertical before horizontal. In
Chinese, you would write it the opposite way.
Inside before
outside- Some strokes are inside other stokes. It may look like
a rectangle with strokes inside. You would write three sides, write
inside then close the rectangle with one final stroke at the bottom.
Outside to
inside- Write the outside of the character before the inside
of the character.
Top left
corner first- Start at the top left corner of the character
and move down, right or diagonally.
Cutting strokes
last- Vertical
strokes that "cut" through a character are written last.
Horizontal strokes that cut through a character are written last.
Diagonals
right-to-left before left-to-right- Right-to-left diagonals
are written before left-to-right diagonals.
Dots written
last- Just like dotting an "i" or crossing a "t,"
these minor strokes are written last.
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