Chinese stroke order rules
The eight rules for writing Chinese characters, each with how often it shows up in HSK 1-3 and examples drawn from the data.
How we counted
We took the 655 characters of HSK 1, 2 and 3 (2025 syllabus) and their strokes and part splits from Make Me a Hanzi. For rules about parts we read the decomposition and which strokes belong to which part; for rules about single strokes we measured the direction of each stroke's center line. The share is how often a rule shows up, not how often it is obeyed: wherever the data breaks a rule, the exceptions are listed.
1. Top before bottom
Write the upper part of a stacked character before the lower part. 184 of the 655 HSK 1-3 characters are split top and bottom in Make Me a Hanzi; in 100% of them the top part is written first.
2. Left before right
Write the left part before the right part. 292 characters are split left and right; the left part comes first in 291 of 292.
Exceptions in the data: 成.
3. Horizontal before vertical
When a horizontal and a vertical cross, the horizontal usually comes first. 284 characters (43%) have a horizontal stroke followed directly by a vertical that crosses it.
4. Left-falling before right-falling
Of a pair of sweeps that meet, the one to the left goes first. 192 characters (29%) have a left-falling sweep followed directly by a right-falling one that starts near it.
5. Outside before inside
A frame that covers a part from above or around is started first. 45 characters have such a frame; it is started before the inside in 100%.
6. Inside before closing
A box is opened, filled, and closed with its bottom stroke last. 8 characters have a full frame whose last stroke comes after everything inside it.
7. Middle before the sides
When a central stroke has smaller strokes on both sides, the middle comes first. 8 characters start with a central vertical followed by a stroke on the left and one on the right.
8. Bottom-left wraps last
辶 and 廴 are written after the part they carry. 16 characters have 辶 or 廴 wrapping the bottom left; it is written last in 100%.
When the rules disagree
Rules are a summary of practice, not the other way round: a character can follow one rule and break another, and the national standard decides. That is why each character page here animates the data itself rather than applying rules. Japan set its school order in a 1958 Ministry of Education guide and mainland China in its 1997 stroke-order standard for GB 13000.1 characters; the characters where the two part are in Japanese vs Chinese stroke order.