The Basic Rules of Writing Chinese

1. Write héng before shù: horizontal stroke before the vertical stroke, for example, the character   of "十."

2. Write piě before nà: the left-falling stroke before the right-falling stroke, for example, "人."

3. Write from top to bottom. The upper part of a character usually is written before the lower part, for example: "工" 

4. Write héng before piě, for instance," 左."

5. Write left first and then right, for example, "沙"

6. "The door is closed last," for example, "口"

7. Write the outside before inside; for example,日 (rì, means sun)

8. Write the middle verticals before two sides, for example, "小."

9. When a horizontal stroke is in the middle, write the horizontal stroke last, for example, "子."

10. These rules should be applied flexibly; for example, rule 1 is horizontal stroke before vertical, but the character "上" is written with vertical stroke first, which follows rule 5: Write left first and then the right part.