10 common mistakes in Chinese stroke order

There was a small piece in one of the Qingdao newspapers the other day about Chinese characters that are commonly written with incorrect stroke orders. I can't remember which paper now, unfortunately, but I've listed the characters and their correct stroke orders here.

有一期青岛报纸上刊登了一篇关于常见汉字书写错误的文章，我不记得那份报纸的名字，但在此，我已列举出这些汉字以及其正确的书写顺序。

方 (fāng)

How most people write it:

大部分人写"方"字的顺序如下：

How it should be written:

正确的书写顺序：

Yep, that ㇆ stroke comes before the 丿. The 丿stroke is called 撇 ('slant'), and the ㇆ stroke is called 横折钩 ('right angle hook'). The right angle hook should be written before the slant, despite most people doing it the other way round.

是的，虽然很多人都是先写一撇，再写横折钩。实际上正确的书写顺序应是先写横折钩"㇆"，最后写一撇"丿"。

万 (wàn)

Characters with this as a component are frequently written in the wrong order:

人们在写带有这种结构的汉字时笔画顺序通常都是错误的：

Again, you should write the ㇆ before the 丿, like this:

像写"方"字一样，应先写"㇆"，再写"丿"：

火 (huǒ)

Apparently, a lot of people write 火 in this order:

很明显，很多人书写"火"字的顺序是这样的：

The correct order is in fact:

实际上正确的书写顺序应该是：

The strokes in 火 are 丶 ㇀｜ 丿㇏, called 点, 提, 竖, 撇 and 捺 respectively.

"火"字的笔画有点、提、竖、撇和捺。

车 (chē)

There seems to be some debate about the correct stroke order for 车, but according to the newspaper article you don't write it like this:

关于"车"字的正确的书写顺序存在一些争议，但是，根据报纸上的文章介绍，以下书写顺序是错误的：

The correct order is in fact:

正确的书写顺序：

The article also pointed out another common mistake involving 车. Play spot the difference with these two versions of 轻:

那篇文章还指出关于"车"字的另一常见错误。请找出下面两个"轻"字的不同点：

When 车 appears as a radical in other characters (e.g. 转, 较, 载), the final 一 stroke actually turns into a ㇀. As far as I know this upward slant is purely aesthetic, and just helps to balance the character; you might be able to improve your handwriting a little if you pay attention to this!

当"车"字作为其他字（例如：转，较，载）的偏旁部首时，其最后一画"一"应写成"㇀"，这样能使那些字看起来更美观。如果你关注这一点，你的汉字可能会越写越漂亮。

里 (lǐ)

This one really surprised me, and I still can't get used to it. I always thought that 里 was written in this order:

"里"字的正确书写顺序着实让我吃了一惊，我到现在都还没有习惯他的正确写法。我一直以为"里"字的书序顺序是这样的：

You're actually supposed to write 甲 first then just add two lines, like this:

但实际上，其正确的书写顺序应是先写"甲"字，然后再加上两横：

快 (kuài)

Previously I'd been writing 快 like this:

以前，我写"快"字的笔画顺序是这样的：

The 忄 radical is actually written in a different order:

实际上，"忄"的笔画顺序应是：

This applies to any character containing the 忄 radical, of course: 情, 性, 怀 etc.

任何带有"忄"的字都适用这种笔画顺序，例如"情"、"性"、"怀"字等。

母 (mǔ)

Apparently some people write 母 like this:

很显然，有些人写"母"字的顺序是这样的：

The first stroke of 母 is actually ㇄, making five strokes in total:

实际上，"母"字的第一画应是"㇄"，总共有五画：

及 (jí)

Strictly speaking, the following order is wrong:

严格来讲，以下书写顺序是错误的：

You're supposed to write the 丿 stroke first, like this:

正确的书写顺序应是先写"丿"：

So the correct order is 丿㇋㇏. The same thing applies for similar looking characters, like 九, which should be 丿 then ㇈.

因此，及字的书写顺序应是先写"丿"，再写"㇋"，最后写"㇏"。这一书写顺序适用于其他类似结构的字。例如"九"，其书写顺序应是先写"丿"，再写"㇈"。

义 (yì)

There are definitely a lot of people that write 义 in the 'wrong' order, as the technically correct one does seem a little strange. First up, the incorrect stroke order:

肯定有很多人写"义"字的时候，书写顺序都是错误的，因为"义"字正确的书写顺序看起来有点奇怪。首先，我们来看一下错误的书写顺序：

It's actually supposed to be written like this, though:

然而，其正确的书写顺序应该是这样的：

The dot (丶) should be written first, followed by the criss-crossing strokes.

应先写点，再写一撇一捺。

爽 (shuǎng)

And finally, a slightly less common character that often gets written in the wrong order. It's tempting to write 爽 like this:

"爽"字没有以上提到的几个字那么常见，但是人们写该字的时候，书写顺序也通常是错误的。人们倾向于这样写"爽"字：

But according to the newspaper article, 爽 should actually be written like this:

但是根据报纸上的文章介绍，"爽"字的正确书写顺序应该是这样的：

Translated from: eastasiastudent

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