The Correct Stroke Order for Chinese Characters

When writing Chinese characters, it’s not just about knowing which strokes should be used - it’s also important to know the order of each stroke.

Besides being the “right” way to write the character, following the correct stroke order can also help you learn characters faster over time, while maintaining good handwriting when writing Chinese characters as well.

For some people, handwriting Chinese characters is a hobby, or even a bit therapeutic, like with writing calligraphy, while for others it’s a necessity when taking exams, like the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK exam), or for work notes during important business meetings conducted in Chinese.

Mastering the stroke order will definitely help you with learning how to write in Chinese!

Below is a handy infographic containing the most important stroke order rules, starting with the most fundamental ones. Don’t worry too much about memorizing the rules, just use them as a reference when writing, and over time it’ll come naturally to you, without having to think about it!

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Learn More

If you want to know why learning to write Chinese characters is important - and how logical Chinese characters are - check out this compilation of our best blog posts about writing Chinese characters.

To get started learning how to write Chinese characters from zero, and how to use them, check out this lesson from our Chinese Character Course. 

In the course, we teach you how to write the 300 most common Chinese characters, stroke by stroke, along with how to pronounce them, what they mean, cool images to associate with them for remembering them, and words and phrases they’re commonly used in. There are even printable worksheets for you to practice your handwriting and comprehension! 

These 300 characters combine to form 64% of all written Chinese (that's a LOT!):

The first few lessons are totally FREE, so you’ve got nothing to lose!