The Complete Guide to Chinese Handwriting

For example, when you are writing the character 森 (sēn) - which means "a lot of trees", (or "forest") - by hand, you have to write 木 (mù), 木 (mù), and 木 (mù) separately. As you write it, you’ll realize: “Ok, 木 (mù) means “wood” or “tree.” And a place with so many trees is a forest.” 

Since many Chinese compound characters take some part of their meaning from its components, writing by hand is a great way to review what you’ve learned, and create a deeper understanding of the relationship between character’s structure and its meaning.  

3. Feel more empowered as a student of Chinese

Being able to write Chinese by hand will improve your confidence in your own Chinese abilities and give you another layer of connection to Chinese culture. 

Whether it’s helping your friends create and write their names in Chinese, or simply passing a note to a Chinese person, you will begin to feel that Chinese is a more integrated part of your life, rather than just a hobby in its own bubble.  Going out and having real world experiences using your Chinese is one of our key tips for successful Mandarin self-study.

4. Relaxation and Stress Relief

Believe it or not, writing Chinese character by hand can be a relaxing and fulfilling activity! It such an amazing feeling when you are able to find the time to sit down, open up a fresh sheet in your practice book, grab a pen, and focus solely on improve your handwritten characters stroke by stroke.

The writing almost feels like a meditative experience in that it clears your head and takes you away from the stresses of daily life.

I would compare handwriting practice to the stress-relieving adult coloring books that are so popular nowadays. You can see the similarities, right?

5.  Appreciation of Calligraphy - a traditional Chinese Art

Lastly, being able to write Chinese by hand will give you a new appreciation of the traditional art of Chinese calligraphy.  You probably know the calligraphy is one of the most revered traditional Chinese art forms, but if you've never handwritten Chinese characters it's hard to appreciate its beauty.

As you get better at writing, you’ll see first hand the work it takes to turn writing into expressions of art. Some calligraphers are known for their wild and brash styles, and some are known for being graceful and understated. 

You may even connect with a certain calligrapher’s work, and begin to incorporate that into your own personal style!

Stroke Order is Essential

The proper stroke order of writing Chinese characters has been honed over thousands of years to create characters that are balanced and harmonious. When characters are written in an incorrect order, it disrupts the “flow” of the character, and the resulting hand writing usually looks “off.” In fact, if a Chinese teacher catches you writing in the wrong stroke order, he/she will usually tell you that you wrote the character wrong, and tell you to start from scratch.

There are some general rules when it comes to stroke order, such as writing “from top to bottom” and “left to right.” However, the exact stroke order of each character needs to be learned and memorized individually. In our Yoyo Chinese character courses, you’ll get a stroke-by-stroke demonstration of each new character you learn, making it super simple for you to visualize the “flow” and remember the correct stroke order.

If you're taking the Yoyo Chinese Character Course, Yangyang shows you the correct stroke order for each character in the video lesson, but you can also download the Lecture Notes and check out the Handwriting Practice section for a detailed breakdown.

You can download the Lecture Notes from the free lessons at the beginning of the Chinese Character Course, and try it yourself!

Practice Makes Perfect

There really is no shortcut to having good handwriting. In China, many students take calligraphy lessons from a young age to improve their handwriting. To start, you would buy a calligraphy practice book, which usually consists of pages divided into squares for you to repeat the given examples over and over again.

The basics of good handwriting are simple: the characters should be neat, cohesive, and proportional, with no part of the character dominating the others. When you first start practicing your handwriting, your character will be a bit “boxy” looking, a result of the square calligraphy boxes. Make sure to follow the right stroke order as you practice your handwriting!

The important thing here is that you don't need to become a master calligrapher to get all the benefits of practicing handwritten Chinese.  Anyone scratching out characters on a piece of paper will get the boost to your Mandarin and character recognition, the improved focus and concentration, and the stress relief and relaxation.

Different Styles/Cursive

Once you have a good basic handwriting, you can begin to experiment with different styles. Just like in English, when people choose to write in “bubble letters” or small caps, you can choose to find your own style in Chinese as well.

Most people of an older generation will write in 草体字 (cǎo tǐ zì), which is the Chinese version of cursive handwriting. Here, the characters will lose their “boxy” shape, and it will be harder for the untrained eye to read. This is quite advanced but also extremely interesting, since people’s styles will really show in their cursive handwriting. 

You can see below for different calligrapher’s unique takes on the character 心 (xīn).

One interesting thing to note: the 心 (xīn) in the top left corner is actually the calligraphy of 毛泽东 (máo zé dōng) - Chairman Mao Zedong!

If you've never learned this character 心 (xīn), check out this lesson from Unit 2 of our Chinese Character Course:

How do I read handwritten Chinese?