title: Significance of sequence of strokes in Chinese handwriting examination.
abstract: This paper reports a statistical study on the sequence of strokes of 61 commonly encountered Chinese radicals and characters written by 372 invited subjects. The distribution of different writing sequence of these Chinese radicals and characters was examined. Comparison of the sequence of strokes executed by the subjects with the standard rule of writing these Chinese radicals and characters revealed that around 60% of the subjects wrote in the correct sequence. Pair comparison of sequences of strokes in Chinese handwriting among the 372 subjects was also performed. The results demonstrated that no two individuals wrote all the 61 radicals and characters with the same sequence of strokes. The findings indicate that, despite some basic rules governing the writing sequence of Chinese characters, writers tend to develop their own habits. The findings also support the hypothesis that the handwriting of experienced writers is individual.
authors.affiliation: Questioned Documents Section, Ho Man Tin Government Laboratory, 88 Chung Hau Street, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China. ckli@govtlab.gov.hk
authors.forename: Chi-Keung
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Chi-Ting
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Nai-Leung
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.forename: Wing-Kam
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Fung
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D007803:Language Arts; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires