Basics of Chinese Characters

 Getting started with Chinese characters ( 字 zi4)  Strokes ( 笔划 bi3hua4)  Order of Strokes( 笔顺 bi3shun4)  Radicals ( 部首 bu4shou3 literally: "section header")

 Well-established systems for more than 3000 years, still used by more than 1.3 billion people  Try to render the antiquity through a manner sticky to the young minds (90- 后 hou4)  Here is an example: “You can write with a pen…”  This is my version: “Let’s start from the very beginning…” RE1#view=detail&mid=A417F9E06B1AEEE6D5CBA417F9E06B1AEEE6D5CB RE1#view=detail&mid=A417F9E06B1AEEE6D5CBA417F9E06B1AEEE6D5CB

 Learning to write is easy for …  But how can you write ten thousand this way?

 一二三四五六七八九十百千万亿兆 Zhuan style 說文小篆 (100 AD) Bronze inscriptions 金文 (1300 BC) Oracle bone script 甲骨文 (1300 BC) Chu style on Slips/Silk 楚系簡帛 (300 BC) mil

 It’s like the “alphabet” for Chinese words

 A total of 27 strokes as in this table.

 The scripts are 2-d in nature. How do I know how to write the strokes in the right order?  Here are the rules: Horizontal and then vertical Left diagnose & then right From top down From left to right

 The rules (continued…)  (Well, there are still some exceptions.) Build the walls before move in Close the door after all is inside Get the entry then put it on the plate Work from the center to sides

 It’s time to know me by my Chinese name In “Simplified” characters In “Traditional” characters

 A Chinese radical (Chinese: 部首 ; bù4sh ǒ u3; literally: "section header") is a graphical component of a Chinese character under which the character is traditionally listed in a Chinese dictionary.ChineseChinese character  semantic indicator semantic indicator  phonetic component phonetic component

 There are 6 ways ( 六书 )  象形 (pictorial)  指事 (indicative)  会意 (associative)  形声 (picto-phonetic)  假借 (borrowing)  引申 (interchange)