Chinese For Dummies Read Online Free PDF Page B

you don’t have to master the art of Chinese calligraphy to write beautiful characters. All you have to do is press a key on a computer, and the character magically appears.
    Rule 1
    The first rule of thumb is that you write the character by starting with the topmost stroke.
    For example, among the first characters students usually learn is the number one, which is written with a single horizontal line: 一 . Because this character is pretty easy and has only one stroke, it’s written from left to right.
    The character for two has two strokes: 二 . Both strokes are written from left to right; the top stroke is written first, following the top-to-bottom rule. The character for three has three strokes ( 三 )and follows the same stroke-making pattern.
    In the case of more complicated characters (for example, those with radicals that appear on the left-hand side), the radical on the left is written first, followed by the rest of the character. For example, to write the character meaning tree — 树 ( 樹 ) shù (shoo) — you first write the radical on the left ( 木 ) before adding the rest of the character to the right of the radical. To write the character meaning thunder — 雷 léi (lay) — you have to write the radical that appears on top ( 雨 ) first before writing the rest of the character underneath it.
    Rules 2 through 9
    Don’t worry; the remaining rules require a lot less explanation than rule 1 does:
    Rule 2: Write horizontal strokes before vertical strokes. For example, the character meaning ten ( 十 ) is composed of two strokes, but the first one you write is the one appearing horizontally: 一 . The vertical stroke downward is written after that.
    Rule 3: Write strokes that have to pass through the rest of the character last. Vertical strokes that pass through many other strokes are written after the strokes they pass through (like in the second character for the city of TiānjÄ«n: 天津 [tyan-jeen]), and horizontal strokes that pass through all sorts of other strokes are written last (like in the character meaning boat: 舟 zhōu [joe]).
    Rule 4: Creatediagonal strokes that go from right to left before writing the diagonal strokes that go from left to right. You write the character meaning culture — 文 wén (wuhn) — with four separate strokes: First comes the dot on top, then the horizontal line underneath it, then the diagonal stroke that goes from right to left, and finally the diagonal stroke that goes from left to right.
    Rule 5: In characters that are vertically symmetrical, create the center components before those on the left or the right. Then write the portion of the character appearing on the left before the one appearing on the right. An example of such a character is the one meaning to take charge of: 承 chéng (chuhng).
    Rule 6: Writethe portion of the character that’s an outside enclosure before the inside portion, such as in the word for sun: 日 rì ( ir ). Some characters with such enclosures don’t have bottom portions, such as with the character for moon: 月 yuè (yweh).
    Rule 7: Make the left vertical stroke of an enclosure first. For example, in the word meaning mouth — 口 kǒu (ko) — you write the vertical stroke on the left first, followed the horizontal line on top and the vertical stroke on the right (those two are written as one stroke) and finally the horizontal line on the bottom.
    Rule 8: Bottom enclosing components usually come last, such as with the character meaning the way: 道 (dào) (daow).
    Rule 9: Dots come last. For example, in the character meaning jade — 玉 yù (yew) — the little dot you see between the bottom and middle horizontal lines is written last.
    Which Way Did Those Characters Go? Unraveling Character Order
    Because each Chinese character can be a word in and of itself or part of a compound word, you can read