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Stroke Types
Strokes are traditionally classified into eight basic forms, each appearing in the character "eternally" and
listed below according to their contemporary names. Though somewhat arbitrary, this system has remained
popular for nearly two millenia.
These basic strokes are sometimes combined without the pen leaving the paper. In the above example of "eternally",
strokes 2-3-4 are written as one continuous stroke, as are strokes 5-6. Hence in dictionaries this character is indexed as
having five separate strokes.
Stroke Order
Writing characters in the correct order is essential for the character to look correct. Two basic rules are followed:
These rules conflict whenever one stroke is to the bottom and left of another. Several additional rules resolve many of
these conflicts.
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Despite these conflicts between rules most students quickly acquire a natural feel for the proper stroke order.
Component Order
Most Chinese characters are combinations of simpler, component characters. Usually the two parts are written at top and
bottom
so that the main two stroke order rules readily apply. Occasionally these rules also conflict with respect to components.
When one component is at the bottom-left, and the other at the top-right, the top-right component is sometimes written
first.
When there are several components, top components are written first.
These rules usually imply each component is written in its entirety before another component is written. Exceptions may
arise when one component divides another,
encompasses another,
For detailed stroke orders for thousands of characters, see Ocrat.com. You can access the relevant stroke information at
Ocrat.com from this website by clicking on the large "+" sign accompanying each character entry.
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