A i^    Lesson 6
— x S^ftliR    Notes on Chinese characters:
a^W^li(ra)     Strokes(4):
We have since learnt most of the 30 odd strokes in the previous 5 lessons and now we sum up them briefly as under:
Strokes
Names
Examples
Strokes
Names
f'J     ¥ Examples
héng
shůzhé
m
héngzhé
<%
shůtí
snů
*
/
piězhé
&
piě
/V
ř.
piědičn
#
v
no
/V
héngpiě
*t
dián
#
héngzhégôu
ill
tí
Ä
«WH héngzhétí
*
hénggôu
*
t
héngzhéwängôu
4i
shugôu
*t
héngzhéwängôu
*P
V
xiegôu
■Ä
héngzhéwänpié
Ü
pínggôu
4
u.
shuwängou
te
wangou
Ť
4
^ÍTrílT^l shuzhézhégôu
<%
18
Out of the above strokes, the following 8 are the basic ones:
— héng                  i   shu
/   piě                     v na
*  diän                 '   tí
"* göu                  i zhé
Note that the horizontal stroke is by no means written from right to left,the vertical stroke is never written from bottom to top, the down stroke to the right should not be written from bottom-left to top-right and the down stroke to the left should not be written from bottom right to top-left. The combined strokes are written in the same way as the basic
ones.
The first step to good handwriting of characters is to grasp the strokes. Ä í Étä4i ^ (—): The Hand-writing of Chinese character^ 1):
The strokes of Chinese characters are roughly straight and that is different from Latin alphabet. However, the strokes are not as straight and rigid as sticks, because they are written with a Chinese brush. Only in recent times, did it become more and more popular to write with pens, pencils or ball-pointed pens. The Chinese brush with which the characters are written are made of weasel or sheep hair. Strokes written with a Chinese brush are not evenly of the same thickness and so they look nice and vigorous. Beautiful handwriting is an artistic creation. We should pay attention to the strength we use and proper, thickness of each stroke, though we use pens or ball-pointed pens to write characters nowadays .
19
— x 5Ě ^ Ä    Table of new characters:
1	-fc	—   -t
2	iL	;    *,
3	+	-   +
4	*	-   r   r   *
5	Jfc	i
		-fc
6	#	*    -^  t  #
7	if;	—
		tg( \       a     f?     ff?     ti?)
		L-/    (l__          UV )
8	Ä	*('      í     -í)
		i (*    r   č   t)
9	M	í c    *    í )
		Ŕ. C    C     é-    ä.)
10	tf	-f
		+
11	á	/
		A u   -á)
12	#p	*F
13	Ž	—>
		*(*           '           i-       jf.       *)
14	!SJ	i     n   pi   0
20
— n CS)Í$    Read the following:
(-)
A: ŽM-ttA? B: &Ji$*fto A: ož^i^ de (possessive particle )Hx*ft?
B: ž^nóetmo
(-)
A: ÄÄfl-4?
B: ÄJÜifto
A: iŽÄffc de lifiW?
B: ^^o
A: ^Jl^lffiOčoshOdeli«?
B: ^ft!U(zhídao)o
C: JŽ^Ji^!^(láoshT)de M,&^U!£ de ijffio
(H)
A: #±9PJL?
B: Hc±iß^itk^,^m^o
A: Älfe±j8ßJL,^li«o
0xS^    Exercises:
1. M£m:
Write the strokes:
"L					
l					
2. SJS-fM«^ ^WT^ÄWsr:
Write characters in the brackets containing the following components:
D i        (       )  (       )
2) A,-f       (              )    (              )
3) A            (             )    (             )
\l ilfc     Lesson 7
— x SLÍDÍŠ    Notes on Chinese characters:
a^WHäli) Strokes (5):
In addition to the grasp of basic strokes, the following points are to be noted in learning the characters:
"*'(f0)o
The shape of a stroke: A character is composed of fixed strokes which can not be altered freely, e.g. , the first stroke of 5Č is a horizontal one and if it is substituted by / , the character will turn into A which is pronounced yÔO.
The length of a stroke and interval between strokes are also important, e.g. ,  if J in A is shortened, the character will turn into A which is read rů.  If you put them in separation, the character becomes A ( bo) .
It is also important to make clear whether a stroke crosses or touches another, e.g. , if the /    in ^C crosses the first horizontal stroke (—), the character becomes A(fÜ) .
2. mmtämg:%i-¥^£ö?mm,&fi-fe#mfe,%-%^u-,'p-m
Number of strokes in a character: The number of strokes is {"wed and no addition nor omission is allowed, e.g. , if you add a horizontal stroke (—•) to A, you will get ^Č or ^ and if you omit one, you will get A.
<t*w(täi) + M,Ŕ,in*^PJS±#,fl!ÄT^,,(quän)1'-
Position of stroke:   The strokes are arranged in a fixed way and if you make it other-22
vsím , the character will turn wrong or into quite another one, e.g. ,  if you arrange the Inn components of nrß in another way,  the character qß turns into ßp (péi),  and if you put the dot in A(tái) on the top-right, the character is read quán it meaning "dog", t JIM (H)     Rules for stroke- order( 3):
We have learnt the basic rules for stroke order: the horizontal before the vertical, the down stroke to the left before that to the right, from left to right, from top to bottom and the containing before the contained.
However, they are not absolute rules but relative and mutually conditioned, e.g. , the general ride is to write the horizontal stroke before the vertical stroke, but if the vertical is to the left of the horizontal, the vertical precedes the horizontal, therefore, the first stroke of Jb and M is the vertical one. The horizontal stroke in the middle and prominent position should be written last, e.g. , the one in ÍZ .
"n\Ä^MiäMÍ^.*^^iaTW«,í$ír'»±7P,Ä^»«AÄTní#
m   ill:
Vi rite the enclosing strokes first and then those enclosed and finally the sealing horizontal stroke at the bottom. This ride is figuratively stated as "Close the door after you have rntered the room".  Examples:
El :   I	n	Fl	HI			
E? :    1	n	vi	1*7	E9		
H):    1	n	n	FI	řl	n	isi
Zx£^
Table of new characters:
1	EJ	1      n	r?	n	n	
	*	ť ( '	ss	-ž-	f-)	
		n (i	n	F)	F)      F4 )	mü eye
23
3	&	* r	jL,	*   £   *)	
		a			
4	it	* C		■*  *  *)	shöu
		^			
5	#6	*('	<	á    ň    é)	
		*)       ('	1	*0	
6	#	■*■ r	S*	*    -*-)	
		S			
7	*	/         i-	U	ŕ=     Js.    ^.	
8	*	/-  (-	n		
		H			
9	ft	>    (  -	«	n	
		JtC	n.	5"    Jt)	
10	t	A                      T->	t		
II	x	-=-	ř	ü	
12	Ä	i			
		iL (1	n	n   pi   i)	qiě
13	t	i         r?	&	0           %	
14	Ä	í  (•	7	7       í   )	(m) shi
		& (i	n	z1    JL)	jián see
Hx $|j£    Read the following:
(-)
A: ÄfitöOÜ«^?
24
B: *Ä,ÄS:£íRo SÄiftW«?
C: ftÜl^F^Üo
D: £*ffl*»ÔMIÍo
(-)
A: MM,?í##(read)#^ + ^lÍÍBo
B: fro ffcF# *ÍPÍ?
A: fJc^W»f^^^E!   (ba a modal particle expressing a moderate command)
Es %"S\    Exercises:
Give characters containing the following strokes:
1)  -
2)   L
Transcribe the following characters:
DJW   (            )
2) t   (        )
3)  t    (          )
Answer the following questions in characters:
1)  Ní sháng túshuguän ma?
2)  Ní mái shénme?
25
A Ü|c     Lesson 8
— s S ^ Si ÍR    Notes on Chinese characters:
^JiMDIlJ ( m ) Rules for stroke- order (4) •
The middle stroke before the strokes on both sides: When a vertical stroke is in the middle and prominent position and it doesn't cross other stroke; or there is a stroke under it,  it should be written first.  Examples:
'J'
t
I
,j     ,y
p*
t
J-; :    I       J-      J-í  (shän mountain) 7j<-:   J      7]       y\     7JC (shui water)
However, if it crosses other stroke or there is no stroke under it, the vertical stroke
should be written last.  Example:
rb .   \         r->        c?        cb
The basic rules for the order to write the strokes of a character are summarized following table:
m
the
Examples	m    m Stroke-order	Rules
+	-       +	The horizontal before the vertical
A	J      A	The down stroke to the left before that to the right
—	—	From lop to bottom
26
#	■i     if	From left to right
n	n  n	The outer strokes before the inner strokes
B	n  s  s	The enclosing strokes first, then the enclosed and finally the sealing horizontal stroke
»J«	J     -J      'b	The middle stroke before those on both sides
->É?i    Table of new characters:
1			B (1	n	B)		TI sun
	m	BS					
			3 C	n	5)		
		<"*    í   /               n		tw	-)		
2	*	*   ('      f		t	* )		m Ú wood
		a					
3	&	*					
		>Ci					
4	%	\					
		*	*('	+-	•**       -Ü.)		
			0				
5	n	i					
		q n  "J		3)			
6	*	i        n      f=7		*r	#?        jfe        jfe	*	
7	*t	"1   (i	■I )		
		t ('	a    ý	*)	
8	*	-7              =*	*    f	*■   #■   *	
9	*	á-(  •	>                       n	*    á.)	
		B			
10	*t	í			
		JL			JUi
11	£	k.   k			
JZ.X Klä    Read the following:
(-)
A: ^»Ü«PJLÄffl*1t^? B: ftÜ! föfeffirfl-^*?
A: SS« + *iSA,flbínííHi?
B: W,ffeínW##(gé zhöng all kinds^&o
A: Xiěxie jfo!
(-)
A: «tf,$Sfrŕi^*,tni?
B: ^,<MS(yäo want)***^? A: &W^X$,x\ěx\ejfc\
(H)
28
EU *S>J    Exercises:
1.  M\tiTV\))LŤM%-m:
Give the first stroke of each character:
1)*(           )                      3)*(            )
2) i (           )                      4) *. (            )
2.  iR5amgEg*ftiÍ«-ttJ«&:
Write the name of your country and the name of your native language:
M Example: Ť S           ^X
Name of country	Name of language
	
29


ýh Üic    Lesson 9
— x SI ^ ftl iR    Notes on Chinese characters:
K^lMWlít"-"*! Structure of Chinese characters (1):
Most characters are compound ones, i.e., they are composed of two or more components . It is imperative to know thoroughly the structure of a compound character in grasping the writing of characters. The compound characters roughly have three forms of structure :left-right structure, top-bottom structure and outer-inner structure. (The figures in the following examples indicate the order to write the components.)
ÍĽfc^ifä: Left-right structure:
ft:   \      ft
1	2
1	2
1	2
±T£n$J: Top-bottom structure:
*f:  •*       #
*P
*P
*
*
jJl       yr_*       jju
*   .     £       *
30
rt^h^ot^I :The outer-inner structure:
I		
	2	
		
	1 2 3	
		
	1 2	
a: n    S    S
H: n    H
Usually the outer component is written before the inner one(s) . But there are exceptions, e,g.
s&:   *     j£
There are other forms of structure of compound characters, most of which are the combinations or variants of those basic forms we learnt. The order to write them follow the same rules of "from top to bottom" , "from left to right" , and "from the outer component (s) to the inner one(s)" . Examples:
*■§•:   Í       i*-     ié
	1
2	
	1 -	2
		3
		
	1	-3
	2	
		
	1	
	2	3
		
	1	2
	3	
Häp:
*:
Jí           J
*f
r  %
#:  4       1*     %
31
— x í?f    Table of new characters:
1	*	& ŕ "	\	T~f                  wf                  T"*                   St    \	
		-k			
2	#	*   C	-	lit)	h é standing grain
		t			
3	JI	J     A.			
4	ft	f"	n	ŕ)    ft	
5	*	/             /"v	*		
6	*	&			
		*•(-	-r	ir    *tr)	
7		i (-	+	í)	
		»tt			
8	*	y ('	v)		
		- ('	r>	v*            ^   ^	
		*.			mů wood
9	Ť	"     T	Ť		
10	4E	*			
		e r	—ř	3     E)	
11	*	* *■			
12	&	r c»	—	ľ)	gučng
		*			
13	m	^ c	■3	3)	
		* r	s	-ř    #)	
32
14	á*	i				
		$ r	t	f	í	*)
15	3	i  i	n			
z:N ĚSii!    Read the following:
(-)
/Lt*;*e      Ä'MA      A1^±
(-)
A: f£il±f§íj£(shángdiän shop)0 B: »H^frÁ?
B: *,$±^/£(book store)o A: ftJcfrA?
B: £/l**£M,JL#^fé&^o
(H)
A: SW-**Ť,-K*fM-Miío «W tóngwú tfeW-**í ,-*
B: Ml&^fôŤCyízi chair)? A: W,W,8#,fl!H&#o
E3> S?I    Exercises:
Give examples of the following structures from characters you learnt:
1) A^#*J:
(Left-right)___________________________________________
33
2)   JlTÄ*: (top-bottom)
3)  rt^h»*l: (outer-inner)
2. T9JÄ*«*! ±ĚiI»Wa#M?
What are the rules to follow in writing the following characters?
1)   *
2)  S
3)  it
4) m

34

~h iífv     Lesson 10
— s JXí ÄliR    Notes on Chinese characters:
/l^tfj^^ ( —): The hand-writing of Chinese characters (2);
A character may be said to be written correctly if you have get the correct strokes, stroke-order and position of strokes. But if you want to write good, neat, balanced and beautiful characters, the following are to be observed:
The horizontal stroke should be level and the vertical stroke upright. The horizontal and vertical strokes are basic ones, and only by making the horizontal stroke level and the vertical stroke upright, can the whole character look upright. These two strokes should not be dipped, nor tipped, nor zigzagged. If the horizontal stroke is not level or the vertical not upright, the character looks like one which is scrabbled. If these two strokes are zigzagged , the character doesn' t look vigorous.
In writing compound characters, attention should be paid to the structure, number of strokes in each component and the length of each stroke.
In order to write a character in good balance and symmetry,  it is imperative to put
the character on its bisector. Component with fewer strokes take a smaller space and that
with more strokes a bigger space. Examples:
35
M   M   W\   W
W\   m

#
Characters are to be written in the middle of the checks if you use checked paper, not inclined to any side and the size should not be too big, nor too small.
Characters with many strokes should be compact and those with fewer strokes should be loose,so that you can write every character in about the same size.  For example:
Zl x *fe ^ Ji    Table of new characters:			
i	*	i (-   -r   i)	
		^ U    a)	
2	1f	"*..?■*	
3	4rp	*   C     +    ■*-   *■   *)	zhě
		P	
36
4	«i	% ("*	*   /*	r-	p- %)	jü
		') ('     '])				
5	%	* (-	+   i )			tu earth
		*  ( 5	5   *)			
6	*	J   (i	1   4 )			
		b   ( -	b)			bi
7	$	N                         -------	-š-    -f	n		
8	#	""   r	n   n	n	#	
9	JL	•    n	P     JL			
10	*	ť-	f   -f	&		
11	n	r				cháng
		T				ding
12	9ř	o				
		/f C	r   ŕ	tt)		jln
.=.^ I^lift    Read the following:
(-)
A: *Ž^*#^a?
B: Ä^*,Ä*4tÄíŕ^Jfilrŕír*o
A: «Žl-»»J«#MJSIo  SJÄL! B: HiíL!
(-)
A: »ŽWJL?
B: Hcufcjjí;*:^^^ dÔXUé university)0
37
B: £,3c*iUL#W^*§(guó)^£o Ek Í&>J    Exercises:
Give three characters of each structure and transcribe them:
I          __________(             )    __________(             )     __________(             )
(             )    _________(             )    _________(             )
(             )    _________(             )    _________(             )
2. 3|amféT?'m3f)ltt^,#tfi£^*i$-^:
Give characters containing the following components and a word including each character:
D n :_______(           )    _______(           )    _______(           )
2) =f   : ______(            )     ______(            )    ______(            )
.(               )    ________(               )    ________(               )
.38
h^ijfc     Lesson 11
— > S^ÄliR    Notes on Chinese characters:
Ä^fôíiflg(-)     The sides (1):
l. ÍX?Í^J:^^Í#?^^?M^^o
Structurally characters fall into two categories: the single-component characters and the multi-component characters.
The single-component characters are those that can not be divided into components indicating either meaning or pronunciation, for example:
The multi-component characters are those including at least two components with one indicating meaning, one pronunciation or both the meaning, for example:
The components that compose the above characters are:
Components that can be combined into characters are known as the sides of characters.
In the beginning, all sides were characters by themselves but with the evolution of characters, some sides are no longer used as independent characters, for example:
"!SKH"tW"aw        □ in E*, S,etc.
"&.E"t^"C"        C in ß.,E,etc.
"^ft«"^"    ^in^,t,etc.
Some single-component characters change their forms when used as sides , for exam-
39
pie:
-f (shöu hand) -* h Or) #(zhú bamboo) — ** (46) ^(huöfire)        — - (ft)
Some si'ť&.v that stem from single-component characters change their forms considerably when they are simplified, for example:
t~*t   -* Í    ("*£)
*-**->*  m)
4M* —f     (flt)
(yánzipáng)o S«*H,H9^^(»^.»^«»WP "^#^*, WD"?*« #^^,-tfi.^-^ltW^,^^^"P^#"(kouzipáng)o
The origin and development of Chinese characters tell us that the characters are se-masiographie in nature. In a multi-component character, usually one of the components, i.e. the sides , indicates a certain meaning. For example, the side i , which is simplified from ô , means language or speech, so characters with \ such as 1$-, ij£ , in , i^I, if§, etc. have something to do with language or speech and i is named the " speech side ".
The side P means "mouth" and characters with P such as^MM^Mtä, etc. are related to the mouth in meaning, so P is called the "mouth side".
It is of great help to learn the sides if one wants to memorize and write characters and to consult a Chinese dictionary.
— > jfe ^ M    Table of new characters:
i	£	Á				
		£('	-3-             t=	Ť	i)	zhú
2	£	/('	/)			
		1				
		i				
40
3	é	ř (*    -		>      ľ)		hu door-leaf
		#(<        ""		-f   Hr)		fang
4	fá]	n				
		g				ri
5	€	*				
		i~				
6	*	í				
		#	#.('	"    f    ßr	*.)	
			*			
7	*	a				
		T (-    T.)				
8	Ž	* r   *		t)		
		*				
9	•y	i   .i   .;-		•y		
10	#	i				
		*		•		shé tongue
II	%k	Ä  ( '     7"		*)		shí strone
		*				mä
z:N HÍÍ    Read the following:
(-)
A: &£!   %lX\
41
B: 1k&,W?\   íft*ÍUL?
A: «Ž#*/f»yŕíŕ^o
B: fä&ffi£:|t;fr{£J£(fändiän hotel)«}?
A: Jt,«ftZlO-fc-ÄISI,lraffiA-§-«^?
B: ^Jt,Ätt^#«HEíLRrHi,«;W*a-t^ji^^?
A: ÄH^jEHO-bAo  #JÄL! B: #JÄL!
(-)
A: fi^á^**^?
B: fJcWW&^Ťo A: »íf£4>$fcíK? B: Ä# + »íft0 A: flb^^^^li»? B: ffe^^L*lÍÍRo
PS x ^>J    Exercise:
Choose an appropriate word from the list to fill in the blanks:
1. 44.______#*#?
2. __________te__________o
3.  **__________^**?
4.  &J£j&__________ÄÄo
5.  te*ffl*#4lt-/L&______?
H>~h_^ÍH    Lesson 12
— n SíflliR    Notes on Chinese characters:
Ä^Ü^(~) The sides (2):
The position of a side may be varied in different characters, e. g. , P in 1^, 9fé, N,IP,etc. is on the left, it is at the top in -*§■, at the bottom in ^ ,and in £fl it is on the right, though they all are characters with P .
What is to be noted is that the position of the side in one particular character is fixed, e.g. , if the two components of nf5 change their positions, the character turns into ^ which is pronounced péi. Therefore, in learning characters, you should learn the poši I ion of the sides as well as the sides themselves.
2.   í5     $^(shuäng' ěrpáng) The "double -ear side" .
Examples:
-nÍ?|    Table of new characters:
1	*	i			
		#			qlng
2	Ü	#(- -	-   f-	*)	
		i^			
43
3	*	X A	
		i	
4	H	D	
		H	
5	£	*	
		o	
6	4*	*-	
		Ť	
7	t	3Z-     f    *             _*. \	
		Ä (J     n    j/i    ju)                             běi	
8	*	-í	
		í  ( '         *-       *=       *       4.)                                  shéng	
9	*	a	
		«	<£>
			<*)('         *}      >J      *J      9)
10	*	~C       *"      ~)	
		A	
		*	

11	£	/■*■»				
		&	X			
			a			
12	ta	;	A-	^	*	
— x fôliS    Read the following:
(-)
«: Wiä     »4*     fil«l*    *f     »Itf     AIÄCshuO speak)
(-)
A: iŽÄ**/f 1^? B: Ä.fltÄ!
(H)
(Míin)
A: Ä*^«^? B: ^o
A: UcŽtlfl^o B: «Já!
A: (í^ f! Knocking at the door.) B: Tjf&!   fé*,^!
A: \m,mi-\
B: ^«iÉI^Kkäfeí coffee)^? A: *,$^nIo B: «S & HB (ba a particle)! A: ff(OK)! ÄW(xiôxie)*! B: ^g^,^£^!
45
0N ££>J    Exercises:
Fill in the blanks with characters in the structures shown by the checks and give their pinyin transcriptions:
__________(         )    __________(         )    __________(         )
(         )    __________(         )    __________(         )
2. ^ti&%Tmfä&Mi5LŤ,#&m-^mš•.
Write out characters with the following sides and give words containing them:
#']     Example:   a • ^     9j-frfc ;
Di:____   ____;____   ____;
_____________________      _____________________»_____________________       _____________________o
2)   D;__________      __________;__________      __________;
_________________________           _________________________» _________________________           _________________________O


46