Chinese character practice grid: each cell divided by dashed crosshairs for stroke placement.

Free Tianzige (田字格) printable PDF. Chinese character practice paper with dashed crosshair cells for accurate stroke placement.

Tianzige (田字格) | Free Printable Chinese Practice PDF

Tianzige Paper (Chinese Character Practice)

Most hanzi are constructed from components that occupy specific quadrants. 木 sits centred, 林 has two equal halves split by the vertical, 早 has top and bottom halves split by the horizontal. Identify the component layout before writing, then place strokes in the correct quadrants.

Use the crosshairs as proportion guides

A well-formed hanzi sits inside the cell with a small margin. Typically 10–15 % of the cell width around each edge. Characters that touch the cell border look cramped; characters that fill less than 70 % of the cell look lost in space.

Don't fill the entire cell

Writing the same character ten times across a row gives you immediate feedback on consistency. Compare your first and tenth attempts side-by-side; the visible difference reveals what your hand is still learning.

Practice the same character on a single row

Tianzige has four-quadrant crosshairs. Mizige (米字格, 'rice-character grid') adds two diagonal lines for eight-direction reference. Tianzige is right for beginners and intermediate learners; mizige is right when you're working on calligraphy-quality strokes that need diagonal alignment.