Basic Rules of Stroke Order

Chinese characters are composed of single strokes or combinations

of simpler components of single strokes. The strokes are written
according to a few fixed rules. There are a total of 17 basic rules as
shown in Handbook of Standard Form of Frequently Used Chinese
Characters, published by the Ministry of Education.
1. From left to right
For characters with side-by-side strokes or components, the
left stroke or component is written before the next one on the
right: 川、仁、街、湖.
2. From top to bottom
For characters with strokes or components at top and bottom,
the top stroke or component is written before the next one
below: 三、字、星、意.
3. Enclosures before contents
Outside enclosing strokes, whether on two sides or three, are
written before insides strokes: 刀、勻、月、問.
4. Horizontal before vertical
When strokes cross, horizontal strokes are written first, then
vertical strokes as in 十、干、士、甘、聿.
5. Right-to-left diagonals before left-to-right diagonals
Write the left-to-right diagonal stroke before the right-to-left
one when they cross or connect each other: 交、人、今、長.
6. Center before outside
Vertical strokes come before those on both sides or at the
bottom: 上、小、山、水.
7. Bottom horizontal strokes last
When a vertical stroke crosses several horizontal strokes, the
horizontal stroke at the bottom is usually written
last: 王、里、告、書.
8. Character-spanning strokes last
A middle horizontal stroke that cuts through other strokes is
written last: 女、丹、母、毋、冊.
9. Bottom strokes of enclosures last
Outside enclosing strokes are written first, followed first by
inside components and then bottom enclosing strokes. For
example, 日、田、回、國.
10.Inside or upper-right dots last
Top or upper-left-top dots are written before inside or upper-
right ones as in卞、為、叉、犬.
11.Radical 戈
In characters based on the radical 戈 , the 戈 component is
drawn in the sequence of the horizontal stroke followed by
the upper-right dot and then the right-to-left
diagonal. 戊、戒、成、咸 are the examples.
12.Right-to-left diagonals
When a right-to-left diagonal is at the top, or when it forms an
upper enclosure together with a horizontal stroke with a
vertical turn and hook (橫折鉤) or a horizontal stroke with a
slanting stroke and hook (橫斜鉤), the right-to-left diagonal
stroke is usually created first. For example, 千、白、用、凡.
13.Crossing strokes with symmetrical parts
When horizontal strokes cross vertical ones and there are
symmetrical components on both sides of the vertical lines,
write the horizontal ones first, then the vertical ones, followed
by the symmetrical components (the left one before the right
one). For example, 來、垂、喪、乘、臿.
14.Shuzhe (豎折) and Shuqugou (豎曲鉤)
A vertical stroke with a horizontal turn to the right (shuzhe)
or a vertical line combined with a level bending stroke with a
hook (shuqugou) is written last when it crosses or connects
with another stroke, or when there is no other stroke
following it. For instance, 區、臣、也、比、包.
15.Radicals and
In characters based on the radicals and , the radicals are
usually written last as in 廷、建、返、迷.
16.Bottom enclosures
For characters which have bottom enclosures, write the upper
part before the bottom enclosure as in 凶、函、出.
17.Center components before side ones
Components between the same or symmetrical parts are
written first, followed by the left part and then the right part
of the symmetrical structure, as in 兜、學、樂、變、贏.