When I first started learning Chinese, I copied characters by trying to write them like letters.
This was a mistake…
Chinese people even laughed when they saw me try.
This is because you need to use strokes to write Chinese characters. This is the same whether you are writing with a pen or a calligraphy brush.
But luckily, unlike the Chinese language, these strokes can be learned quickly!
Let’s look at the basic strokes that make up the art and practice of Chinese calligraphy.
What is a Chinese character stroke?
A stroke is a basic unit of a Chinese character. Each stroke is essentially a single contact between brush and paper.
To outsiders, Chinese characters look incredibly complicated.
In fact, they are actually relatively simple to write.
This is because they are all made up of the same small set of strokes, which can be grouped into three main categories:
- Dots
- Lines
- Hooks
The 8 basic brush strokes of Chinese calligraphy
Using a Chinese brush
Naturally, these 8 strokes used for both calligraphy and writing.
So, everything you see here done with a brush, can also be done with a pen, pencil, western paintbrush, etc.
The main difference is that these other tools don’t give as much flexibility to each stroke.
For example, pens and pencils will usually produce a more a more rigid version of it.
‘Eternity’: All 8 strokes in one character
Chinese brush strokes can by categorised in several different ways.
The most studied way is by using the eight components of the character for ‘eternal/eternity’（yǒng 永).
This method is said to have been first put forward by the great Jin dynasty calligrapher Wang Xizhi (303 – 361AD).
Below are the 8 main brush strokes divided into the three main groups.
As noted below, there are very slight variations of each stroke. But ultimately these basic strokes are what are used.
1. Dot stroke (点)
The dot stroke (also known as the ‘sideways’ [侧] stroke) is a small dash created using short downward motion.
It begins high up, flows downwards for a very brief moment, and then whips back up to an abrupt finish.
The result is a small droplet-shaped figure.
2. Horizontal stroke (横画)
The horizontal stroke (also known as the ‘bridle’ [勒] stroke) is created by brushing ink from left to right.
At the very beginning and the very of the stroke, the brush should briefly reverse direction.
The result doesn’t have to be a perfectly horizontal line.
Horizontal strokes are often slightly risen on the right side – this gives them a slightly more artistic and free-flowing appearance.
3. Vertical stroke (竖画)
The vertical stroke (also known as the ‘striving’ [努] stroke) is created with a simple downward motion that ends by essentially flicking off to the left.
4. Hook stroke (钩)
Hooks (also known as the ‘jumping’ [趯] stroke) are the part of the strokes that turns back on itself.
5. Rising stroke (提)
The rising stroke (also known as the ‘horsewhip’ [策] stroke) travels upwards.
It creates a shape not unlike a fang pointing upwards – thicker at the base and then sharpening down into a point.
The brush leaves the paper like a place taking off a runway.
6. Curved stroke (弯)
The curved stroke (also known as the ‘sweeping past’ [掠] stroke) begins with an almost blotched point (where the brush first makes contact with the paper) and then swerves downwards.
The brush is simply raised off paper at the end.
7. Left-falling stroke (撇)
The left-falling stroke (also known as the ‘peck’ [啄] stroke) starts with a small blotch and then sharply draws downward before finishing on a sharp point.
8. Right-falling stroke (波)
The right-falling stroke (also known as the ‘wave’ [波] stroke or ‘dismemberment’ [磔] stroke – named after a method of execution) draws to the right downwards.
It widens out as goes, like a wave expanding as it spills across the shore.
All strokes stick to the same 5 directions
All Chinese strokes can be seen as starting at a central point and moving in one of five directions.
These include everywhere from north-east to south-west (so not including west, northwest or north).
Or, to think of it like a clock: everywhere from 2 o’clock to 7 o’clock.
Stroke order is essential!
Once you know the strokes, the next thing to learn will be stroke order. This is the order strokes must be written in for each character.
In general, stroke orders usually start high up on the left and move rightwards and downwards.
Or: top before bottom, left before right.
This might sound complicated, but trust me: once you have practiced writing your first 20 or 30 characters, it becomes very easy and intuitive.
Within days or weeks of practice, you’ll often immediately be able to correctly guess most characters’ stroke order.
(Remembering the strokes without seeing the character in front of you is the real challenge!)
Different scripts
There are several different types of Chinese script styles.
The basic one is regular script (also known as standard script). Characters written slightly faster (i.e., more cursively), are categorised as running script. And those written even faster become cursive script (also known as grass script).
Each other these scripts can be further subdivided into different styles based on the models famous calligraphers left behind.
For example, you can have ‘Ou-style’ regular script based on the work of famous Tang dynasty calligrapher Ouyang Xun (557 AD – 641 AD).
For each style, emphasis will be placed on different aspects of strokes.
So for regular script, horizontal stokes (number 2, above) are evenly angled (close to 90 degrees) and proportioned. Whereas in running script, they may be more slanted and unevenly-proportioned.
And in Ou-style regular script, one of the many features is an emphasis on the short upturned (hooked) endings of strokes.
The eight defective strokes (bā bìng [八病]) in Chinese Calligraphy
At intermediate and advanced levels of calligraphy, the precise shape of each stroke is often emphasised and scrutinised.
It varies according to what style of calligraphy is being used. But generally speaking the precise dimensions of each stroke should be thick and thin in the right places.
How to correct your Chinese calligraphy strokes
Correcting your strokes comes with practice of the correct form.
It’s important to make sure that you are holding the brush properly, that your posture and focus are optimal.
Just like with playing an instrument, or a sport, it takes many years of practice to achieve mastery.
And if you aren’t a native Chinese speaker, it will be more difficult because you will probably be learning the characters as you go along.
Chinese calligraphy comes from Chinese writing
Before modern pens, Chinese was written with brushes.
People who wrote simply needed ‘the four treasures of the scholar’s studio’:
- Brush: Chinese calligraphy brush tips are uniquely shaped to absorb and steadily release ink when pressure is applied
- Ink: Chinese ink was made from a mixture of materials which are then moulded into a hard cylinder-like shape
- Inkstone: Hard ink is ground in inkstones and mixed with water to become usable
- Paper (sometimes silk): Paper was invented in China nearly 2,000 years ago
So, these tools were used for writing – and soon the art of calligraphy emerged from this.
(Traditional Chinese painting also used the same tools).
From brushes to pens to pinyin
Then things switched around… Chinese people began using modern pens to write with.
Naturally, they used the same stroke order that had been used with brushes.
And nowadays, like everywhere else in the world, the Chinese mainly use phones and laptops to write.
To do this, they largely use a form of predictive text, where they write out the character’s pinyin (it’s Romanised/Latin character sound) and then select the character from a list.
The main difference is that most pens don’t give as much flexibility to each stroke, so they will usually produce a more a more rigid version of it.
What range of strokes do Chinese characters have?
The simplest character has one stroke. It is, the character for ‘one’ itself: 一 yī.
The character with the most strokes is the word for ‘verbose’, which has 64 strokes:
However, most characters only require a single digit number of strokes.