Chinese character stroke order.
Every HSK character, stroke by stroke. Watch each one animate, then trace it yourself. The tracing pad checks the order and direction of every stroke as you draw.
HSK 3.0 stroke order
The current nine-level standard (2021), with an official list of 3,000 characters.
HSK 2.0 stroke order
The six-level exam used since 2010 and still the basis of many textbooks.
Why stroke order matters
It’s tempting to treat characters as pictures: if it looks right, it is right. That works until you try to write quickly. Characters drawn in the wrong order come out lopsided, and the joined-up strokes of real handwriting only make sense if you know which stroke comes next.
Stroke order also helps you read and look things up. Handwritten Chinese, from shop signs to a friend’s note, joins and simplifies strokes in predictable ways, and handwriting input on phones recognises characters more reliably when they’re written in the standard order.
There are only a handful of rules, and together they cover the vast majority of characters. Here they are, each with real characters you can click through to practise.
The rules of Chinese stroke order
Horizontal before vertical (先横后竖)
When a horizontal and a vertical stroke cross, write the horizontal first. 十 is the textbook example: across, then down. 干 adds a second crossbar, and both come before the vertical.
Left-falling before right-falling (先撇后捺)
A stroke sweeping down to the left (撇 piě) comes before one sweeping down to the right (捺 nà). 人 and 八 are both just these two strokes, in that order.
Top to bottom (从上到下)
Write the top of a character before the bottom. 三 is three horizontals from the top down, and 京 is written as its top part, then 口, then 小.
Left to right (从左到右)
Write the left before the right, both for single strokes (the three verticals of 川) and for whole components: in 你, the 亻 radical is finished before 尔 begins.
Outside before inside (从外到内)
When a frame wraps around something, write the frame first and then fill it. 月 and 同 start with their outer strokes, then add what goes inside.
Inside before closing the frame (先里头后封口)
A fully enclosed character leaves the bottom of its frame open until the inside is done, then closes it with the last stroke. In 回, the small 口 goes in before the big one is sealed; in 国, 玉 goes in first.
Middle before the sides (先中间后两边)
When a character is symmetrical around a central stroke, write the middle first, then the left side, then the right. 小 and 水 both start with their central vertical.
The basic strokes
Every character is built from a small set of basic strokes (笔画 bǐhuà). Learning their names makes stroke order much easier to follow:
- 横 héng: horizontal, written left to right.
- 竖 shù: vertical, written top to bottom.
- 撇 piě: falling to the left, from top right to bottom left.
- 捺 nà: falling to the right, thickening towards the end.
- 点 diǎn: a short dot.
- 提 tí: a short rising stroke, from bottom left up to the right.
- 折 zhé and 钩 gōu: turns and hooks, written as part of one continuous stroke without lifting the pen.
That last point catches many beginners: the top-right corner of 口 or 日 is one stroke that turns down, not two. Counting turns as separate strokes is the most common stroke-count mistake.
How to use these pages
Each HSK level is split into sets of 25 characters, the same sets as the flashcards. Start with HSK 1, set 1, watch each character once, then switch to Trace. Guided mode shows you where each stroke starts. Once that feels easy, try Ghost and then Memory, which gives you an empty box.
For paper practice, the printable practice sheets follow the same sets. To drill recognition, use the character flashcards.