# Writing the Chinese Bible: 6,505,819 Strokes

> Copying out the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) by hand means about 6,505,819 brush or pen strokes — 7.06 strokes for an average character, across 921,149 characters of text.

Question: how many strokes to write the Bible
Answer: 6,505,819 strokes
Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/reference/strokes-to-write-the-chinese-bible

Every Chinese character is written in a fixed number of strokes, and the stroke data for 2,982 of the Bible's 2,996 distinct characters is published openly (Make Me a Hanzi). Multiplying each character's stroke count by how often it occurs gives the total for the whole text: 6,505,819 strokes, covering 100% of the characters on the page.

The averages are the more useful numbers. A character occurrence averages 7.06 strokes, but a *distinct* character averages 9.63 — the gap is the whole story of Chinese frequency: the characters you meet constantly are the simple ones. The most complex characters in the text are 纛 (25), 蠹 (24), 罐 (23), 囊 (22), and between them they occur a handful of times.

For scale: hand-copying the Bible in a year means about 17,824 strokes a day, and the shortest book in it comes to roughly 2,775. This site generates 田字格 practice sheets for any word with animated stroke order, which is the practical version of this number.

## Strokes, by the numbers

| Measure | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Total strokes in the text | 6,505,819 |
| Characters counted | 100% of 921,149 |
| Average per character occurrence | 7.06 |
| Average per distinct character | 9.63 |
| Distinct characters with stroke data | 2,982 of 2,996 |
| Most complex characters | 纛 25, 蠹 24, 罐 23, 囊 22, 蘸 22 |


## Questions

**Is that brush strokes or pen strokes?**

The same count either way: a stroke here is one continuous pen movement as taught in stroke-order instruction, not a measure of ink or effort.

**Which characters are missing from the count?**

14 rare characters have no published stroke data, together accounting for a fraction of a percent of the text — the coverage figure states exactly how much.

**Can I practise writing these?**

Yes. Every word page has a printable 田字格 sheet with animated stroke order, and the printable worksheets do the same for whole passages.

## Method

- Text: 和合本 (Chinese Union Version), simplified script — public domain
- Words: forward maximum matching against CC-CEDICT (this site's own segmentation)
- HSK levels: HSK 3.0 levels from the complete-hsk-vocabulary list; band 7 covers HSK 7-9
- Reading times: 260 characters a minute (an assumption)
- Computed: 2026-09-22

These are reproducible counts over a public-domain text, not a peer-reviewed study. Difficulty ranks are one stated formula, not a validated readability score.


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- Definitions: CC-CEDICT, licensed CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
- If you share this file onward, keep this notice and share alike.
- Character data: Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License / LGPL).
- Bible text: public domain — 和合本 · World English Bible · Louis Segond 1910.
- Built with https://chinese-bible.com