Chinese Handwriting: How to Align Components in Regular Script 楷書 | 楷书
By John Renfroe
There's a lot that goes into making your handwriting look nice in any language, and that's definitely the case with Chinese characters too. Much like with pronunciation, it isn't enough to just "know" how something should be done—it requires a lot of practice to etch things into your muscle memory so that you can reliably produce nice-looking characters without having to think about it too much.
That being said, there is an analytical side of things too, and as with most things, understanding the underlying principles can make your practice much more effective and efficient. So in this post, I'm going to talk about how to align components when writing in regular script, or 楷書 | 楷书 kǎishū. This will guide you in your handwriting practice so you know what to look for when imitating nice handwriting (or evaluating your own). Let's get to it!
Introduction
Something to keep in mind when reading this article is that handwriting is all about surface structure. If you've taken our Chinese Character Masterclass, you'll know what I mean when I say "surface vs deep structure." At Outlier, we generally focus more on deep structure when explaining character forms, but when talking about handwriting, it's all surface, baby! So we're going to start with strokes.
Strokes
There are a lot of different strokes. Some people will say there are as few as 5 kinds, but really, if you take into account all of the different ways a stroke can start and end, plus the basic stroke shapes, plus variations on those shapes, there are literally dozens of different stroke shapes! Of course, it isn't necessary to learn all of them in order to have nice handwriting, so let's just look for now at some of the most common (note that all images in this article have been provided by Harvey Dam):
Now, while brush writing is fun and fascinating, most of us aren't writing with a brush on a regular basis. So here are those same strokes written with a pencil:
We'll only look at pencil writing for the rest of this article!
Components
When we talk about Chinese character components, we're usually talking about functional components—those that have a function within a character, like expressing meaning or sound. But that's deep structure! Since handwriting is all surface structure, when we talk about "components" here, we're really just talking about groups of strokes. Here are a few groups, or components:
I'm sure you'll notice that the third image is basically just the first two "components" (groups of strokes) put together. It isn't a character in its own right, but it does basically form the left side of 旗.
Now usually, we'd break 旗 into 㫃 (semantic) and 其 (sound). But since on the surface, this looks like a character with a "left" component and a "right" component, the two strokes over 其 actually get grouped with 其 for alignment purposes, rather than with 方.
How components are aligned
Ok, so how do you align components with each other within a character? Basically in two ways: vertically or horizontally.
That may seem a bit oversimplified, because as you know, some components "wrap around" each other, as in 區. But even those can be looked at in terms of vertical and horizontal—remember, we're talking about two dimensions here!
All components have a center. The center of a component can be identified by the types of strokes that compose it, their intersections, and the spaces between them. Components within a character are aligned when their centers are aligned, either vertically or horizontally. Keep in mind that horizontal strokes in regular script go up a bit as the stroke goes toward the right, rather than being perfectly horizontal, and so horizontal alignment will also tend in that direction. Vertical alignment, however, is pretty much vertical. Note that it doesn't have to be exact, but it should be "visually aligned."
Now, the point here is to show you what to look for when analyzing "good writing," so you can know how to adapt it into your own writing. So I won't be showing you hundreds of character components and their centers. What I'll do instead is show some components and mark their centers (with a red dashed circle 
), and then show you how those centers align with each other in good handwriting. This way, you know what to look for when you're looking at examples of good handwriting, like the regular script 楷書 | 楷书 kǎishū of Ōuyáng Xiū 歐陽修 | 欧阳修 or Yán Zhēnqīng 顏真卿 | 颜真卿, for example.
Note that the center of a component doesn't necessarily have to be the perfect "geographic" center—it's more about the visual "center of gravity."
Ok, let's put those two together and see how they should be aligned.
Notice that the centers are pretty much perfectly aligned vertically. Note also that 其 is "squashed" a bit to accommodate the top two strokes. Now, let's add 方.
Notice that the center of 方 and the center of the left side are aligned horizontally, with the left side's center being slightly higher due to the shape of "horizontal" strokes in regular script.
How is this information useful? Well, since there are only two ways that two components can be aligned, upon encountering a new character, you can more easily understand how its components are arranged. For example, 森 is not an arrangement of three components, but two: 木 on the top and 林 on the bottom, aligned vertically.
This one happens to conform to the character's actual etymology. Many people will say that 森 is "three trees 木," but it's actually 木 (meaning component) + 林 (sound + meaning). And those two components are vertically aligned here.
This is a historical variant of 往. Note that instead of a dot, the vertical line of 王 is simply extended higher. Also notice that the two components, 彳 and 主, are aligned horizontally (with 主 again being a bit higher).
Interestingly, if you get the alignment correct, you can "fudge it" a bit on other elements and still end up with nice-looking handwriting. Let's change the shape of a few strokes in 往 and see what happens.
In this version, the second stroke of 彳 is a bit longer, the top two horizontal strokes in 王 are a bit longer, and the bottom horizontal stroke of 王 is a bit shorter. However, because the alignment is correct, the character still looks correct.
Ok, let's look at a few more characters and at their alignment.
Note that while we know today that 我 is a single, unbreakable component, traditionally it was considered to be 手 + 戈, hence the two "components" each having their own circle. Remember: we're talking surface structure here!
The center of each 夕 component in 多 is actually the space in the middle. Don't be tempted to only look at the strokes themselves—also look at the spaces!
The same is true of 名—the spaces are the centers.
It might be tempting to think the "center" of 辶 is somewhere else, but take note of this one, and keep it in mind when you see characters containing this component.
For purposes of talking about character structure, 成 is 戊 + a variant of 丁. But when thinking calligraphically, you should break it into 戈 + "the rest."
Both components' centers are in the same place in the case of 區, hence a single circle.
Another one that conforms to its actual etymology: 吳 is a person with a tilted head (夨), with their mouth (口) emphasized. The centers of those two components are, of course, vertically aligned.
I hope that was informative and useful! Of course, there's a TON that can be said about this topic, but just like with practicing pronunciation, imitation is the best way to practice handwriting! This article should give you some things to think about when you're looking at examples of good regular script 楷書 | 楷书 kǎishū to imitate, and when analyzing your own handwriting.
Now, I think I'm going to go practice my own handwriting. Compared to these images, it's abysmal!
Images provided by Harvey Dam.