Today, I install my Chinese fonts for the 4th time on a fourth computer
Mac comes preinstalled with Chinese fonts. So there is no reason to install more fonts unless you
- Need zhuyin + traditional character fonts
- Need pinyin + simplified character fonts
- Need pinyin + zhuyin + simplified character fonts
- Need hand writing （鋼筆體）fonts
- Need tracing fonts
If you want to find your own fonts, you can Google 字體.
A Word on Fonts
There are various styles of Chinese calligraphy writing. The one that is considered “standard” is the 標楷體 (kai font). This font is great because you can tell where the stroke starts, since it’s written in calligraphy style. It’s also closer to hand writing than 明體 (ming font), which are the default font used on the Mac.
For example, compare these two fonts, with 標楷 (kai), you can see how to start stroke 2 and where it ends. With 明體 (ming), the bottom 一 stroke is slightly above, and not how you hand write.
Do I Need to Use a Specific Font?
Yes actually, if you believe that children unconsciously absorb from their environment. For example, Astroboy insists on writing his 7 with that extra vertical line in front, because it was how he was used to seeing his 7, before I started making my own material.
There are a few major traditional font companies out there. Some of them make simplified fonts. Some have fonts which have simplified+pinyin, traditional+zhuyin, etc. For example, here’s how I would search for 華康 fonts in Google. “華康 簡體字型 下載“, Click on Google Images. I usually follow the images to promising websites.
Macs already come with 標楷體 (Kai font). But you will find it useful because it will sometimes not have a specific character in that font. I’ve always had luck when that happens by trying the 華康 font instead.
In fact, if I had the time, I would NOT use the kai font and instead use the handwriting font when I create my material; I would use the handwriting font. Especially with Chinese, the handwriting font is so different from the block typesetting font. It’s a classic example of children absorbing what they see. Children copy the typesetting font when they write but actually you want them to write closer to calligraphy style, the older they get.
How to Install
Here are the fonts I install on every new Mac. Sorry, I no longer have experience with Windows. What you do is:
- Download them
- Unzip if necessary
- Right click -> Open With -> Font Book
- Click on Install for each font
- Accept any strange errors that occur unless it’s catastrophic
I find that in Word or Excel, the fonts show up in English. In programs like Illustrator and Photoshop, they show up in Chinese.
Some Fonts You May Find Useful
I was originally going to upload each individual font file and link to them. But too many fonts and I’m too lazy. I’ve only gathered the variations of Kai style font (標楷體) and handwriting fonts. There are also other fonts used in textbooks, like a rectangle with zhuyin next to it for fill-in. Those aren’t included here. So:
- Click and Download Font Zip File Here (You need a Google Account I think.)
Here’s a sample of what they look like:
Detailed list of fonts included: They’re group into handwriting, zhuyin/pinyin, stroke order fonts. You can’t quite see the stroke numbers in the stroke order fonts, but it is there.
| Font Type | Chinese Name | English Name in Apps | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fountain Pen font |  | DFPGangBiW2-W5, DFGangBiW2-B5 | |
| Handwriting font |  | DFPYaW3-B3, DFYaW3-B5 | |
| Kai Font |  | DFPBiaoKaiShu-B5, DFBiaoKaiShu-B5 | |
| Trad + zhuyin |  | HanWangKaiMediumChuIn, HanWangKaiMediumPoIn[1-3] | |
| zhuyin only narrow |  | DFPBiaoKaiW5-ZhuyInN, DFPBiaoKaiW5-PoIn[1-5]N | |
| zhuyin only wide |  | DFPBiaoKaiW5_ZhuInW, DFPBiaoKaiW5-PoIn[1-5]W | |
| Trad + zhuyin |  | DFPBiaoKaiW5-Zhuyin, DFPBiaoKaiW5-PoIn[1-5] | |
| Trad + Pinyin |  | DFPBiaoKaiW5-TPinIn[1-3]NLU | |
| Trad + Pinyin + Zhuyin |  | DFPBiaoKaiW5-TZIn[1-3]L | |
| Kai Font outline + stroke order |  | DFBiaoKaiBSE-W5, DFPBiaoKaiShuBSE-W5 | |
| Kai Font tracing ＋ stroke order |  | DFBiaoKaiShuBS-W5, DFPBiaoKaiSHuBS-W5 | |
| Kai Font outline |  | HanWangWCL05 |
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Thank you so much for sharing these fonts!! 😀
oh my goodness this is super helpful! I’ve been using illustrator and google translate to copy and paste pinyin for my printables…..thank you for saving me hours!
Thank you so much for all of your helpful posts, Nancy! Really appreciate you putting this together!
Has anybody tried these fonts in simplified Chinese? The pinyin font gives me incorrect or missing tones, and the stroke order font doesn’t seem to work for all simplified Chinese characters.