How to Write the Chinese Character for Love
The Chinese writing system uses characters instead of a phonetic alphabet, so a concept such as "love" is represented in Chinese using a single character. Chinese characters can also be written using the Latin alphabet. The system for doing this is called pinyin, and the Chinese character for love is spelled "ai." It is pronounced like the English word "I."
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Easy
Instructions
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Write the Character for Love in Chinese
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1
Chinese characters are written in imaginary boxes, but for beginners, it's best to write your characters in real boxes. To start out, you'll want your box to be fairly large, so use your ruler to block out an area on your graph paper that is four squares long and four squares wide. Number the squares across the top one through four from left to right, and letter the squares from top to bottom A through D along the left edge of the box.
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2
Now you can begin writing your character. Place your pen or pencil at the top right corner of box 3A and draw a line from there to the middle of the left side of box 2A. Your line should be horizontal and slightly curved upward.
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3
Now draw three short strokes that begin just above the bottom of the first row of boxes and reach up toward the horizontal line like blades of grass. Draw a short diagonal stroke from the middle of box 2A (starting just beneath the horizontal line) to the bottom right corner of box 2A (once again, not quite touching the lines). Draw another short diagonal stroke that begins at the middle of the line between boxes 2A and 3A, just below (not touching) the horizontal stroke, and ends just above the bottom right corner of box 2A. Your last blade of grass will begin at the midpoint of the right side of box 3A and end at the midpoint of the bottom of that box.
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4
Draw a short stroke from the midpoint of the top of box 1B to the midpoint of the left side of box 1B. Then, draw a straight horizontal line from the middle of that stroke all the way to the right edge of box 4B. At the right end of this line, add a small, sharp hook that curves back to the left.
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5
Draw another horizontal line from the top left corner of box 2C to the top right corner of box 3C. Then, draw a long, upward-curving line from the middle of the right side of box 2B to the bottom left corner of box 1D. Your next stroke is a horizontal one that starts at the point where your upward-curving line crosses the top of the last row of boxes. It stops at the top right corner of box 3D and then angles sharply back to the bottom left corner of box 2D. Your very last stroke is an upward-curving diagonal line beginning at the point where your upward-curving line crosses the top of the last row of boxes (just like the last stroke). It ends at the bottom right corner of box 4D.
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1
Tips & Warnings
You can find a picture to guide you by visiting the website in the "Resources" section of this article.
There are two different writing systems used for the Chinese language. The character described here uses the simplified Chinese writing system, which is popular on the Chinese mainland. A slightly more complicated version is used in Taiwan.
