Stroke order - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Stroke order
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stroke order (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: bshn; Japanese: hitsujun or kaki-jun; Korean: "pilsun" or "hoeksun") refers to the order in which the strokes of a Chinese character are written. A stroke is a movement of a writing instrument on a writing surface. Chinese characters are used in various forms in Chinese, Japanese, and in Korean. They are known as hanzi in Chinese, kanji in Japanese, and hanja in Korean.

Contents
1 Development 2 Stroke order per style 2.1 Ancient China 2.2 Imperial China 2.3 Cursive styles and hand-written styles 3 Stroke order per polity 4 General guidelines 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 External links

Development
Because most Chinese characters have many strokes, certain stroke orders were recommended to ensure speed, accuracy, and legibility in composition. In the twentieth century, simplification of Chinese characters took place in mainland China, greatly reducing the number of strokes in some characters, and a similar but more moderate simplification also took place in Japan. In some cases the character was unchanged, but the stroke order changed; the basic rules of stroke order within each region, however, remained the same. Because writing characters in the official stroke order can greatly facilitate learning and memorization, children are required to learn and use it in school; adults, however, may ignore or forget it for certain characters, or develop idiosyncratic ways of writing. While this is rarely a problem in day-to-day writing, incorrectly ordered or written strokes can produce illegible or incorrect characters. Also, the accuracy of handwriting recognition software may be reduced when entering strokes out of order. The Eight Principles of Yong ( Pinyin: yngz b f; Japanese: eiji happ; Korean: , yeongjapalbeop, yngjap'albp) uses the single character , meaning "eternity", to teach eight of the most basic strokes in Regular Script.

Stroke order per style

Ancient China
In ancient China, the Jigwn characters carved on ox scapula and tortoise plastrons showed no indication of stroke order. The characters show huge variations from piece to piece, sometimes even within one piece. During the divination ceremony, after the cracks were made, the characters were written with a brush on the shell or bone (to be carved in a workshop later). Although the brush-written stroke order is not discernible

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after carving, there exists some evidence that it was not entirely idiosyncratic: a few of the characters, often marginal administrative notations recording the provenance of the shells or bones, were not later recarved, and the stroke order of these characters tends to resemble traditional and modern stroke order[1]. For those characters (the vast majority) which were later engraved into the hard surface using a knife, perhaps by a separate individual, there is evidence (from incompletely engraved pieces) that in at least some cases all the strokes running one way were carved, then the piece was turned, and strokes running another way were then carved[1].

Imperial China
In the early Imperial China, the common script is the Xiaozhuan style. About 220 BCE, the emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first to conquer all China, imposed the Li Si's character uniformisation, a set of 3300 standardized Xiozhun characters[2] Its graphs on old steles some dating from 200 BCE start to reveal tiny indications of the stroke order of the time. However, stroke order could still not yet be ascertained from the steles, and no paper from that time is extant. The true starting point of stroke order is the Lsh style (clerical script) which is more regularized, and in some ways similar to modern text. In theory, by looking at the Lsh style steles' graphs and the placement of each stroke, one can see hierarchical priority between the strokes, which indicates the stroke order used by the calligrapher or stele sculptors.[citation needed] Kish style (regular script) still in use today is more regularized, allowing one to more easily guess the stroke order used to write on the steles. The stroke order 1000 years ago was similar to that toward the end of Imperial China.[citation needed] For example, the stroke order of is clear in the Kangxi dictionary of 1716; but in a modern book, the official stroke order (the same) will not appear clearly. The Kangxi and current shapes have tiny differences, while current stroke order is still the same, according to the old style[3]. However, the stroke orders implied by the Kangxi dictionary are not necessarily correct.

Jigwn

Jnwn

Dzhun

Xiozhun

Cursive styles and hand-written styles

Lsh Cursive styles such as Xngsh (semi-cursive or running script) and Cosh (cursive or grass script) show stroke order more clearly than Regular Script, as each move made by the writing tool is visible.

Stroke order per polity

Cosh The modern governments of mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan have standardized official stroke orders to be taught in schools. These stroke order standards are prescribed in conjunction to each government's standard character sets. The various official stroke orders agree on the vast majority of characters, but each have their differences. No governmental standard matches traditional stroke orders completely. The differences between the governmental standards and traditional stroke orders arise from a lack of adequate understanding of calligraphy on the part of those who standardize stroke orders, and accommodation for schoolchildren who may be overwhelmed if the rules about stroke orders are too detailed, or if there are too many exceptions. The differences listed below are not exhaustive.

Xngsh

Kish

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(trad.)

Kish (simp.)
The character " " in different script styles

Traditional stroke order: Widely used in Imperial China, currently used in the Sinosphere secondary to each region's governmental standards. Practiced mainly by informed scholars of calligraphy. Also called "calligraphic" stroke order. These stroke orders are established by study of handwritten documents from pre-Republic China, especially those of notable calligraphers. These stroke orders are most conservative regarding etymology, character construction, character evolution, and tradition. Many characters have more than one stroke correct form. Stroke orders may vary depending on the script style. Unlike the other standards, this is not a governmental standard.

Traditional stroke order of , from black to red.

ROC stroke order (Li & al. 1995): Prescribed mostly in modern Taiwan. The standard character set of the ROC Ministry of Education is the Standard Form of National Characters. This standard diverges from the traditional stroke order in that the upper-right dot of the component is written second to last. The vertical stroke in (http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin /GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=5FC4&useutf8=false) is written second. starts with the horizontal. Also, the (http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin /GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=20087&useutf8=true) component, as seen in and , is written with the horizontal stroke first in all instances, while the traditional stroke order differentiates the stroke order of (http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=20087& useutf8=true) according to etymology and character structure. Japanese stroke order: Prescribed mostly in modern Japan. The standard character set of the MEXT is the Jy kanji, which contains many characters reformed in 1946. The MEXT lets editors freely prescribe a character's stroke order, which all should "follow commonsensical orders which are widely accepted in the society"[citation needed]. This standard diverges from the traditional stroke order in that the two sides of the grass radical () are joined, and written with three strokes. Also, this standard is influenced by semi-cursive script, leading to some vertical strokes to precede intersecting horizontal strokes if the vertical stroke does not pass through the lowest horizontal stroke, as in and . is written with the top dot first, while the traditional stroke order writes the first.

ROC and Hong Kong stroke order of , from black to red.

Japanese stroke order of , from black to red.

PRC stroke order excluding Hong Kong: Prescribed mostly in modern mainland China except Hong Kong. In 1956, government of the PRC introduced many newly created characters and substitutions, called Simplified Chinese characters, which form part of the PRC Ministry of Education's standard character set, the Xindi Hny Chngyng Zbio. This in turn reformed the stroke order of many characters. Besides these characters, this standard diverges PRC stroke from the traditional stroke order in characters with the order of , (http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=8279& from black to useutf8=true) radical, merging both sides like the Japanese standard. Also, the red. horizontal stroke of the (http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin /GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=20087&useutf8=true) component is written first in all instances. ends with . starts with the horizontal. Hong Kong stroke order: Prescribed mostly in modern Hong Kong. The standard character set of the Hong Kong Education Bureau is the List of Forms of Frequently Used Characters. The standard stroke order differs from the traditional stroke order in that the (http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin /GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=8279&useutf8=true) radical is written vertical, horizontal, vertical, horizontal. The traditional stroke order ends (http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin /GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=8279&useutf8=true) with the right vertical stroke. starts with the horizontal.

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General guidelines
Note: There are exceptions within and among different standards. The following are only guidelines.

1. Write from top to bottom, and left to right. As a general rule, strokes are written from top to bottom and left to right. For example, among the first characters usually learned is the number one, which is written with a single horizontal line: . This character has one stroke which is written from left to right. The character for "two" has two strokes: . In this case, both are written from left to right, but the top stroke is written first. The character for "three" has three strokes: . Each stroke is written from left to right, starting with the uppermost stroke: This rule also applies to the order of components. For example, can be divided into two. The entire left side () is written before the right side (). There are some exceptions to this rule, mainly occurring when the right side of a character has a lower enclosure (see below). When there are upper and lower components, the upper components are written first, then the lower components, as in and .

2. Horizontal before vertical When horizontal and vertical strokes cross, horizontal strokes are usually written before vertical strokes: the character for "ten," , has two strokes. The horizontal stroke is written first, followed by the vertical stroke . In the Japanese standard, a vertical stroke may precede many intersecting horizontal strokes if the vertical stroke does not pass through the lowest horizontal stroke.
The Chinese character meaning "person" ( , Chinese: rn, Korean: in, Japanese: hito, nin; jin). The character has two strokes, the first shown here in dark, and the second in red. The black area represents the starting position of the writing instrument.

3. Character-spanning strokes last Vertical strokes that pass through many other strokes are written after the strokes through which they pass, as in and . Horizontal strokes that pass through many other strokes are written last, as in and .

4. Diagonals right-to-left before diagonals left-to-right Right-to-left diagonals () are written before left-to-right diagonals (): . Note that this is for symmetric diagonals; for asymmetric diagonals, as in , the left-to-right may precede the right-to-left, based on other rules.

5. Center before outside in vertically symmetrical characters

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In vertically symmetrical characters, the center components are written before components on the left or right. Components on the left are written before components on the right, as in and .

6. Enclosures before contents Outside enclosing components are written before inside components; bottom strokes in the enclosure are written last if present, as in and . Enclosures may also have no bottom stroke, as in and .

7. Left vertical before enclosing Left vertical strokes are written before enclosing strokes. In the following two examples, the leftmost vertical stroke (|) is written first, followed by the uppermost and rightmost lines () (which are written as one stroke): and .

8. Bottom enclosures last Bottom enclosing components are usually written last: , , .

9. Dots and minor strokes last Minor strokes are usually written last, as the small "dot" in the following: , , .

See also
Chinese character CJK strokes East Asian calligraphy Horizontal and vertical writing in East Asian scripts Chinese characters description languages Radical (Chinese character)

Notes
1. ^ a b Keightley 1978 2. ^ Fazzioli 1987, p. 13 3. ^ Kangxi 1716, p. 41 See by example the radicals , or . The 2007 common shape for those characters don't allow clearly to "guess" the stroke order, but old versions, visible on the Kangxi Zidian p.41 clearly allow us to guess the stroke order.

References
Traditional stroke order (2004), , : , ISBN 7530525875 , , , ISBN 7543836688 ROC stroke order Li, Xian (); al. (1995), (ROC-Taiwan standard shapes and stroke

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orders of commonly used characters) (http://www.edu.tw/files/site_content/M0001/bishuen /c8.htm?open) , Taiwan Ministry of Education, ISBN 957-00-7082-X, http://www.edu.tw/files /site_content/M0001/bishuen/c8.htm?open (Authoritative) PRC stroke order (PRC-China modern Chinese commonly used characters standard stroke orders) (http://www.china-language.gov.cn/gfbz/scanning/bsgf/bsgf.htm) , Beijing: (Language and Literature Press), 1997, pp. 453, ISBN 7801262018, http://www.chinalanguage.gov.cn/gfbz/scanning/bsgf/bsgf.htm, retrieved 2010-09-02 (Authoritative) Japanese (Hitsujun shid no tebiki), 1958 (Authoritative from 1958 to 1977). Hadamitzky, Wolfgang & Mark Spahn. A Handbook of the Japanese Writing System. Charles E. Tuttle Co. ISBN 0-8048-2077-5. Henshall, Kenneth G. A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters. Charles E. Tuttle Co. ISBN 0-8048-2038-4. O'Neill, P.G. Essential Kanji: 2,000 Basic Japanese Characters Systematically Arranged for Learning and Reference. Weatherhill. ISBN 0-8348-0222-8. Pye, Michael, The Study of Kanji: A Handbook of Japanese Characters, Hokuseido Press, ISBN 0-8934-6232-2 Includes a translation of the Japanese Ministry of Education rules on Kanji stroke order. Hong Kong (Hong Kong Standard Characters Shape and Stroke orders of Commonly Used Characters), Hong Kong Department of Education (Authoritative) Archaic characters Keightley, David N. (1978), Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age China, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-02969-0 Others issues Fazzioli, Edoardo (1987), Chinese calligraphy : from pictograph to ideogram : the history of 214 essential Chinese/Japanese characters, calligraphy by Rebecca Hon Ko, New York: Abbeville Press, ISBN 0896597741 Kangxi (1716), (http://www.kangxizidian.com) Kangxi Zidian, http://www.kangxizidian.com

External links
PRC Animated stroke order (http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/azi/page1.htm) , from the California State University, Long Beach ROC Learning Program for Stroke Order of Frequently Used Chinese Characters ( ) (http://stroke-order.learningweb.moe.edu.tw) with animated stroke order, by the Ministry of Education, R.O.C. (Taiwan). Hong Kong

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(http://www.cchar.com/education/hong-kong-student/chinese-for-hongkong-student.php) - stroke orders following the Hong Kong Department of Education's List of Commonly Used Characters Japanese Kanji Stroke Order (http://infohost.nmt.edu/~armiller/japanese/strokeorder.htm) , from the Engineering Department of New Mexico Tech, Socorro. Kanji alive (http://kanjialive.lib.uchicago.edu) , a free interactive online tool for learning Japanese kanji with stroke order animations, from the University of Chicago. SODER Project (http://www.kanjicafe.com/license.htm) , 1,513 Japanese kanji stroke order diagrams and animations, freely downloadable under license. Kakijun (http://kakijun.main.jp/) Kanji stroke order animations.(Japanese) Kanji Stroke Order Font (http://www.nihilist.org.uk) , 6,373 Japanese kanji stroke order diagrams presented as a TrueType font. JLPT List (http://www.yosida.com/en/kanji.html) , List of kanji for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). Animated GIF, meaning and readings. Korean hanja.naver.com (http://hanja.naver.com/) , () with stroke order diagrams (Korean) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke_order" Categories: Calligraphy | Orthography | Chinese language | Japanese writing system | Korean language | Ordering This page was last modified on 26 December 2010 at 12:37. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

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