Stroke+Order

toc Stroke Order  The stroke order in writing Chinese characters follows certain rules. Characters written in this way look better, and because strokes and components recur in all the characters, it is much easier to learn them if you use the correct stroke order. 1) See below an explanation (taken from [|www.zhongwen.com]). 2) See below an explanation of component order (taken from [|www.zhongwen.com]). 3) See below a nice illustration of stroke order (in Chinese). 4) See below live examples 5) To see live stroke order examples of any character you input, plus meaning and other options, go here, or for for a wiki with animated stroke of over 2000 characters, try bishun.wikispaces.com 6) To test your understanding, go here: http://www.dragonwise.hku.hk/dragon2/schools/archives/stroke.php

Stroke Order
 Writing characters in the correct order is essential for the character to look correct. Two basic rules are followed:  1. Top before bottom  2. Left before right

 These rules conflict whenever one stroke is to the bottom and left of another. Several additional rules resolve many of these conflicts.  3. Left vertical stroke (usually) before top horizontal stroke

 4. Bottom horizontal stroke last

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> 5. Center stroke before wings

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> 6. Horizontal strokes before intersecting vertical strokes

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> 7. Left-falling strokes before right-falling strokes

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> A final rule can contradict the others: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> 8. Minor strokes (often) last

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Component Order
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Most Chinese characters are combinations of simpler, component characters. Usually the two parts are written at top and bottom <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> or left and right <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> so that the main two stroke order rules readily apply. Occasionally these rules also conflict with respect to components. When one component is at the bottom-left, and the other at the top-right, the top-right component is sometimes written first. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> When there are several components, top components are written first.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> These rules usually imply each component is written in its entirety before another component is written. Exceptions may arise when one component divides another, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> encompasses another, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> or the individual components are no longer discernible in modern writing.