Kǎishū — regular script
Stroke-by-stroke work on the brush actions of regular script: the horizontal, the vertical hook, the right-falling stroke, and the eight principles of 永.
The héng 横: why the three horizontals of 三 are never the same length
三 looks like the easiest character in the language and is one of the hardest to write well. Its three horizontals differ in length, weight and curvature, and every difference is deliberate. This page treats 三 as a measuring instrument: if your three strokes come out the same length, the rest of your regular script will keep flattening out.
The nà 捺 in 大: one wave, three folds, and a foot that presses flat
The 捺 is the only stroke in regular script that ends by travelling broadly sideways, and it is the stroke that decides whether a character looks planted or tilted. In 大 the 捺 crosses the 撇 and carries the whole right side of the character, so every error in it is visible from across the room.
永字八法: eight brush actions hidden inside a five-stroke character
永 has five strokes and, by the classical count, eight methods. The mismatch is the point: three of the five strokes change action partway through, and those changes are what the eight names describe. Learning 永 is not learning a character, it is learning a checklist that applies to every character you will ever write.
米字格 practice sheet: 26 mm cells, 48 characters per page
A 米字格 is a square with a centre cross and both diagonals ruled inside it — the eight guide lines that give it its name. It is the standard grid for regular script because it marks the centre, the four mid-points and the four corners, which is enough to place any stroke in a Chinese character without counting millimetres.
The shù gōu 竖钩 in 水: where the vertical stops and the hook starts
The hook is the single stroke that separates competent regular script from student regular script. Almost every beginner draws the vertical first and then bolts a hook onto the bottom of it; a real 竖钩 is one continuous motion in which the vertical decelerates and the hook is thrown out of that deceleration. 水 is the cleanest place to learn it.