HSK 3.0 Handwriting Characters: The List You Must Write by Hand
HSK 3.0 separates two skills HSK 2.0 mostly blurred together: characters you must be able to read, and a shorter list you must be able to write by hand. The handwriting list starts at level 2 and grows by about 150 characters a level. Here is how big it is at each level, where it comes from, and how to practise so that writing stops being the part of the exam you dread.
About the numbers: we could not read the official syllabus directly, so the per-level counts below come from several published guides that agree with each other. Small differences (100 or 101, 400 or 403) are noted. We do not reproduce the official list itself here; see the section on where to find it.
The Short Answer
Level 1: no characters to write by hand.
Level 2: about 100 characters.
Level 3: about 250 characters in total (150 new).
Levels 4–6: about 150 more per level, reaching about 700 by level 6.
The list is short on purpose: you read far more characters than you write. Level 3 asks you to recognise roughly 650 characters but write only 250 of them.
HSK 3.0 Handwriting Characters per Level
Totals are cumulative: the level 3 figure includes the level 2 characters. The recognition column (characters you must be able to read) is given for scale.
| HSK 3.0 level | Write by hand (total) | New at this level | Recognise (total, approx.) | Word list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | none | - | about 250 | Level 1 words |
| 2 | about 100 | about 100 | about 370 | Level 2 words |
| 3 | about 250 | about 150 | about 650 | Level 3 words |
| 4 | about 400 | about 150 | - | Level 4 words |
| 5 | about 550 | about 150 | - | Level 5 words |
| 6 | about 700 | about 150 | about 1,950 | Level 6 words |
| 7–9 | not reliably reported | - | - | Levels 7–9 words |
Some guides give slightly different totals: 101 for levels 1–2, 403 at level 4, 554 at level 5 and 705 at level 6. That is consistent with lists of about 150 new characters per level, give or take a character. We found no figure we trust for the 7–9 band, and some older articles claim handwriting only starts at level 5 or that level 1 requires 100 characters: those describe earlier drafts or are simply wrong for the 2025 syllabus.
A dash in the recognition column means the guides we checked disagree too much to quote a number.
Where the List Comes From
HSK 3.0 is built on a national standard published in 2021, the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education (GF0025-2021). That standard already had a handwriting list: 1,200 characters in three bands, 300 for the elementary band (levels 1–3), 400 for the intermediate band (levels 4–6) and 500 for the advanced band (7–9). We checked these band sizes against an openly licensed copy of the 2021 character list.
The HSK exam syllabus published in November 2025 is the document that sets what each exam level tests, and it gives the handwriting list level by level instead of band by band. Its numbers are not the same as the 2021 bands (about 250 by level 3, not 300), so the 2021 list cannot simply be relabelled as the exam list.
Read vs Write: How the Lists Relate
The handwriting list is a selection from the characters you already read. You will never be asked to write a character that is not in the vocabulary of your level or below.
The overlap with the earliest vocabulary is large. Our HSK 3.0 level 1 word list uses 248 different characters; 209 of them are on the 2021 standard's elementary handwriting list. In practice, the characters you meet first are the ones you will be asked to write first: 一 yī, 人 rén, 大 dà, 好 hǎo and the like.
Learn to write the character with the word. Practise 学 xué inside 学生 xuésheng and 学习 xuéxí, not alone. You remember the shape and its use together, and that is how you will need it in a sentence.
A Safe First Set to Write
These 24 characters are HSK 3.0 level 1 words and appear on the 2021 standard's elementary handwriting list, so they are a reliable place to start before level 2. This is a sample, not the official list. Tap any character for its stroke-order animation and writing quiz.
- 一 yī - one
- 二 èr - two
- 三 sān - three
- 人 rén - person / people
- 大 dà - big / large
- 小 xiǎo - small / little
- 国 guó - country / nation
- 我 wǒ - I / me
- 你 nǐ - you
- 他 tā - he / him
- 好 hǎo - good / well
- 是 shì - to be (is / are)
- 不 bù - not / no
- 有 yǒu - to have / there is
- 来 lái - to come
- 去 qù - to go
- 吃 chī - to eat
- 喝 hē - to drink
- 看 kàn - to look / watch
- 说 shuō - to say / speak
- 家 jiā - home / family
- 天 tiān - sky / day
- 年 nián - year
- 月 yuè - month / moon
To practise them on paper, search for them in Print and export a copybook, or print blank grid paper (田字格 tiánzìgé) and copy from the animation.
How to Practise Handwriting
- Learn the stroke-order rules once - Top before bottom, left before right, horizontal before vertical, outside before inside, close the box last. A handful of rules covers almost every character, and correct order makes your writing faster and more legible.
- Learn components, not just strokes - Most characters are built from a small set of components and radicals. Once you can write 女 nǚ and 子 zǐ, 好 hǎo is a combination, not a new shape; 口 kǒu turns up again in 吃 chī, 喝 hē and 叫 jiào.
- Copy first, then write from memory - Trace or copy a new character a few times on grid paper, then cover the model and write it from memory. Recall is what makes it stick.
- Come back on a schedule - Writing fades faster than reading. Short reviews spaced over days and weeks beat one long session.
- Write words and short sentences - Once a character is familiar, write it in the words where you meet it. That is also closer to what the exam's writing tasks ask for.
On HanziBook: read the stroke order rules and the guide to writing characters, learn the common radicals, then use the writing quiz on any character page. It checks each stroke and counts your mistakes, and the words you practise come back in the writing mode of your review queue after 1, 3, 7 and 21 days.
A Weekly Plan
About 150 new characters per level sounds like a lot, but spread over a few months it is a small daily habit.
- Choose a pace - 10 characters a week covers level 2's 100 characters in 10 weeks; 15 a week covers the 150 new characters of each level from 3 to 6 in 10 weeks.
- Day 1: learn the week's characters - Watch the stroke animation, copy each character five times, then write it once from memory.
- Days 2–6: ten minutes a day - Do your writing reviews, and write each new character in one word you know.
- Day 7: test yourself - Write all of the week's characters from their pinyin and meaning, without looking. Anything you miss goes into next week.
Start before your exam level requires it. If you are aiming at level 3, begin writing in your level 1 and 2 months. Writing practice also makes reading faster.
Where to Find the Full List
The handwriting list for each level is part of the official HSK syllabus (考试大纲 kǎoshì dàgāng) published by Chinese Testing International. Check the official HSK website, chinesetest.cn, or ask your test centre for the syllabus of your level.
We have not published the list here because we could not obtain the 2025 version in a form we could verify and reuse. Openly available character lists online are mostly the 2021 standard's three bands, which differ from the exam's per-level list. Until we can check a copy against the syllabus, a sample and honest counts are more useful than a list that might be wrong.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to write characters for HSK 3.0 level 1?
No. Level 1 has no handwriting list; the list starts at level 2 with about 100 characters. Practising a few from the start still makes level 2 much easier.
How many characters do I need to write for HSK 3.0 level 3?
About 250 in total: roughly 100 from level 2 plus about 150 new ones. You need to recognise many more, about 650.
Is the handwriting list the same as the vocabulary list?
No. The vocabulary list counts words; the handwriting list counts single characters, and it is a much smaller selection of the characters used in the words of your level and below.
Do I have to write from memory, or only copy?
Published guides disagree on how the writing tasks are set at each level, and on paper and computer sittings writing may be done differently. Prepare to write the list from memory: if you can, copying is easy.
Is stroke order tested?
We have not seen a source that says stroke order itself is marked. It still matters: correct stroke order is what keeps fast handwriting legible, and it makes characters much easier to remember.
Where can I download the official HSK 3.0 handwriting list?
It is part of the official HSK syllabus from Chinese Testing International (chinesetest.cn). HanziBook does not reproduce it yet; the counts on this page come from published guides.
Sources
Checked on 20 October 2026. We could not open the syllabus PDF itself; these are the sources the counts rely on.
Per-level handwriting counts: several school and test-centre pages; Wikipedia, "Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi"
2021 standard's handwriting bands (300 / 400 / 500): character list in github.com/ivankra/hsk30 (hsk30-chars.csv, MIT licence), from the Ministry of Education's GF0025-2021 document
HanziBook HSK 3.0 word lists: github.com/drkameleon/complete-hsk-vocabulary (MIT licence)
HSK 3.0: everything in one place → · Switching from HSK 2.0 to HSK 3.0 → · Stroke Order Rules → · Free Chinese Grid Paper →