Miaohong: how to practise with a red tracing copybook

What 描红 means

Literally, “tracing the red”. A traditional practice copybook prints the model character in vermilion and you write over it in black ink. The colours are the point: your own ink always stays distinguishable from the model, so after every character you can see exactly where you followed it and where you drifted.

The grid: 米字格

Each square has a centre cross and both diagonals, so the cell looks like the character 米. It is the grid a beginner is given so that a character can be placed rather than guessed at: where the centre of gravity sits, how far a stroke reaches toward a corner, which parts lean on the diagonals.

Outline tracing: 双钩

A step on from the filled red model is the double outline, 双钩: only the edge of each stroke is drawn in red and the inside is left as paper. You fill the shape yourself, so the copybook tells you where the stroke goes but no longer shows you how heavy it is.

Why 永 comes first

The single character 永 (yong) contains eight fundamental strokes: dot, horizontal, vertical, hook, rising, long left-falling, short left-falling and right-falling. That is why it has always been the first lesson, and why the tradition calls it 永字八法, the Eight Principles of Yong.

Six more to start with

After 永, these are the first characters in the app’s free starter set, each chosen for one thing it teaches:

• 一 (one): The simplest stroke is the hardest to write. Start with a hidden tip, move the brush steadily, and return the tip at the end; write a little slower and watch how the ink enters the paper.
• 心 (heart): Three dots that glance at each other and a lying hook that stretches out. What you are after is not steadiness but the answer between the three dots.
• 静 (still): Each half complete on its own, and each giving way a little to the other.
• 山 (mountain): Three verticals of different lengths, the middle one tallest. It was a small picture to begin with.
• 水 (water): The middle vertical goes straight through in one stroke; the four dots either side divide like water. Centre tip for the vertical, side tip for the dots.
• 月 (moon): Two verticals, a left-falling stroke and a hook; the two inside horizontals do not touch the right side. The empty space matters more than the strokes.

How to use a tracing sheet

1. Go slowly. Speed hides what the brush is doing. Slow down enough to see the ink enter the paper.
2. Follow the red, then look. After each character, compare: where does your black leave the red?
3. Use the grid to place. Check the centre and the diagonals before you start, not after.
4. Move to outlines. When the filled red feels easy, switch to 双钩 and fill the strokes yourself.

A note on the model characters

A tracing model is a model for copying practice. The app’s copybook face covers 8,930 characters (all of modern Simplified Chinese at GB 2312 levels 1–2, plus common Traditional characters). Its glyphs do not represent any particular calligrapher’s hand and are not evidence for dating a style. Where a character is missing, the app says so rather than inventing a shape.

Questions

What does miaohong (描红) mean?

Tracing the red: writing over a model character printed in vermilion, in black ink.

What are the eight strokes in 永?

Dot, horizontal, vertical, hook, rising, long left-falling, short left-falling and right-falling.

What is a 米字格 grid?

A practice square with a centre cross and both diagonals, used to place a character's parts.