Chinese Writing System

1
Chinese Writing System

• ??- traditional
• ??- simplified
• hànzì pinyin

2
Chinese Characters

• pictographic - ?,?, ?,?
• evoled from pictures
• pictophonetic ?,?,?,?,
• ?,?, ?,?,?,?,?,?
• a radical phonetic element
• radical ? meaning
• phonetic element ?pronunciation

3

• 6 categories of Chinese characters

• Pictographic characters ?? xiàngxíng
• ?,?,?, ?, ?,?, ?
• Simple indicative characters ?? zhishì
• ?,?,?,?, ?
• Associative compounds ?? huìyì
• ? wood, ? two trees? grove,? three trees?
  forest
• ? ??bright lights
• Pictophonetic characters ?? xíngsheng
• (with one element indicating meaning and the
  other sound)
• ?,?,
• Mutually explanatory characters ?? zhuanzhù
• ?,?
• Borrowed characters ?? jiajiè
• ?,?

4
Basic strokes
5
Stroke Order

• From left to right ?,?
• From top to bottom ?,
• Horizontal before vertical ?
• From outside to inside ?
• Middle before two sides ?
• Inside before closing ?,?

6
214 Kangxi radicales
7
40 Often Used Radicales