7. Stroke Order

When kids learn Chinese characters at school, they are usually required to write the strokes of a character in a correct stroke order. Teachers usually believe that following the correct stroke order can make kids write a character more aesthetically and smoothly, and understand and remember the structure of a character better. You can decide whether you want to follow the correct stroke order.

Here are some general principles for the correct stroke order.

Write from left to right.

Write from top to bottom.

Write horizontal before vertical.

For Enclosed Structures:

If the top is enclosed, write outside before inside.

If the character has a fully enclosed structure, write inside before closing the enclosure.

If the top is not enclosed, write inside before outside.

If the character is vertically symmetrical with a vertical stroke (丨) in the center, write the vertical stroke (丨) in the center before the strokes on the left and right.

When a downward-to-left stroke (丿) and a downward-to-right (㇏) stroke are put together to form a shape like ✕, write the downward-to-left stroke (丿) before the downward-to-right (㇏)

When a vertical stroke (丨) and a bend (乛) are put together to form a shape like ┌┐ or 口, write the vertical stroke (丨) before the bend (乛).

If the character has a dot (丶) in the corner, especially in the top-right or bottom-right corner, we usually write the dot (丶) last.