welcome
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Learn to type Chinese by seeing it
Type Pinyin and Wubi right here — watch every character break into strokes, roots and keys as you go.
Three ways to type Chinese
Pinyin Practice
Type how it sounds. The default for most learners.
Wubi Practice
Type how it is built. The fastest way — and a character workout.
Draw Characters
Write it by hand when you can see it but cannot pronounce it.
How to use this site
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1. Enable a Chinese input method
Both macOS and Windows ship with Pinyin built in — it takes about two minutes and no extra software. Our guide shows every click.
Setup for Mac & Windows → -
2. Start typing in the demo above
The demo uses Wubi codes: each key you press lights up the strokes and roots it stands for. Esc skips a character; A–Y are the keys.
How Wubi encoding works → -
3. Track your accuracy, then go further
The stats bar keeps your progress and accuracy. When you are ready for the full course and more tools, this site grows every week.
See what is coming →
Why practice typing Chinese?
Typing is how Chinese lives on a computer
Everything you do in Chinese — chat, search, essays, work — goes through an input method. Practicing typing is practicing Chinese the way you will actually use it.
Shape-based typing teaches you characters
Pinyin typing can quietly erode your ability to write characters. Wubi does the opposite: every code you type is a decomposition of the character, so practice doubles as character study.
Muscle memory beats memorization
Five minutes of typing a character sticks better than staring at flashcards. That is why the demo shows strokes lighting up under your fingers, not a list of rules.
FAQ
What is Wubi input?
Wubi (五笔) is a shape-based Chinese input method: characters are typed from their components, not their pronunciation. Each key stands for a group of strokes or radicals, so typing Wubi feels like building the character on your keyboard. It has almost no homophones and supports very fast blind typing.
Pinyin vs Wubi — which should I learn?
Learn Pinyin first if you know pronunciations — it works in minutes. Pick up Wubi if you type a lot of Chinese or want typing practice to double as character study: typing Wubi forces you to know how each character is constructed, stroke by stroke.
How long does it take to learn to type Chinese?
Pinyin typing takes minutes if you already know pronunciations. Comfortable Wubi speed typically takes a few weeks of deliberate practice — this homepage demo walks you through the core idea in about five minutes.
All pages
Coming soon: Pinyin converter, online Chinese keyboard, stroke-order writer, simplified/traditional converter, per-character typing pages.