Chinese character practice paper (田字格)
The squared paper Chinese children write characters in is 田字格 (tián zì gé): a square split into four quadrants by a faint cross. The cross marks the middle of the square, so you can see where each half of a character belongs before you put a stroke down. There is a printable grid on this page.
What each line is for
A Chinese character occupies a square, and almost every character is built from parts that divide that square in a predictable way. The cross in the middle of 田字格 is the reference for that division:
| Structure | Example | Where the cross helps |
|---|---|---|
| Left-right 左右 | 好 · 的 · 你 | The vertical line is the seam. 女 takes the left half, 子 the right. |
| Top-bottom 上下 | 是 · 苦 · 分 | The horizontal line is the seam. The top part sits above it, the bottom below. |
| Enclosure 包围 | 国 · 问 · 回 | The outer frame touches all four margins; the inside stays inside the cross. |
| Single body 独体 | 水 · 中 · 大 | The centre point of the character sits on the centre of the cross. |
Four structures in the grid: 好 splits down the vertical, 是 across the horizontal, 国 fills the frame, 水 centres on the crossing point.
How to write in it
- Leave a margin. The character fills about four-fifths of the square, centred. Writing to the edges is the habit that makes handwriting look crowded.
- Find the seam before the first stroke. Decide which structure the character has, then place the first component against the correct half.
- Keep stroke order. Top before bottom, left before right, horizontal before crossing vertical, outside before inside, and the enclosing bottom stroke last.
- Write it three or four times, then stop and come back tomorrow. Twenty copies in one sitting turns recall into tracing.
The printable grid
Print this page and everything except the grid drops away. The squares are 20 mm, the size Chinese primary-school exercise books use.
米字格, and when to use it
米字格 (mǐ zì gé) adds two diagonals to the same square, giving eight reference sections instead of four. The extra lines help while diagonal strokes still wander — 人, 又, 大 and anything with a 撇 or 捺 that has to land at a particular angle. Chinese primary schools move children to plain 田字格 once placement is automatic, because by then the diagonals are visual noise.
米字格: the same square with both diagonals drawn.
What to write in it
Practice paper is only as useful as the list you bring to it. The printable reference sheets carry every HSK vocabulary list with pinyin and English, the 120 most productive radicals, and the 200 highest-leverage words in rank order — print one of those beside the grid and you have a session. If you want the characters ordered by what they unlock rather than by frequency, that is the curriculum.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Chinese graph paper with squares called?
田字格 (tián zì gé), literally "field-character grid", because a square divided into four quadrants looks like the character 田. It is the standard paper Chinese children learn to write on. A variant with four extra diagonal lines is 米字格 (mǐ zì gé), named the same way after 米.
What are the lines inside the square for?
They are position references, not writing lines. The vertical and horizontal centre lines tell you where the middle of the character goes, so a left-right character like 好 splits across the vertical line and a top-bottom character like 是 splits across the horizontal one. Nothing is written on the lines themselves.
How big should a character be in the grid?
A character fills about four-fifths of the square, centred, with a visible margin on all four sides. Writing to the edges is the most common beginner habit and it is what makes handwriting look crowded — Chinese characters sit in an even square, and the margin is what keeps that square even.
Is 米字格 better than 田字格?
The eight-section 米字格 gives more reference points, which helps while you are learning where a diagonal stroke should land. Chinese primary schools use 田字格 for most work, because the extra lines get in the way once placement is automatic. Start with 米字格 if diagonals wander; move to 田字格 when they stop.
How many times should you write a character?
Write it three or four times, then come back to it tomorrow and again a few days later. Twenty copies in one sitting is the classic mistake: by copy five you are tracing a shape and no longer recalling one. Spreading the same copies over several days is the spacing effect, and it is why GraphChinese schedules writing practice instead of assigning it.
Do you need to learn handwriting to pass the HSK?
HSK 1 to 6 are computer-based in most test centers, so you type the answers with a pinyin IME and never write a character by hand. Handwriting still pays for itself: the act of writing is what makes the components of a character stick, which is what lets you tell 未 from 末 on a reading paper.
Practise each character on the day it is about to fade. GraphChinese teaches stroke order with a moving brush and schedules every character it teaches, so your writing practice lands where it does the most good. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.
Start at your true level