This free tool generates blank Chinese writing grid paper — 田字格 (tián zì gé), 米字格 (mǐ zì gé), and 井字格 (jǐng zì gé) — sized for A4 or US Letter and ready to print or download as a PDF in one click. No signup required, and every style includes a name line at the top of the page.
Choose a grid style and paper size, then download your PDF. For example, if you select 田字格 (tián zì gé), the tool produces a full page of blank grids with a name line at the top. You print it and start writing. You can also pick 米字格 (mǐ zì gé) or 井字格 (jǐng zì gé) — all three styles come sized for either A4 or US Letter, so the paper fits whatever printer you have.
Chinese Writing Grid Paper is built for learners, parents, and teachers who need blank hanzi practice paper without building a full worksheet. You get clean, printer-ready grid paper with a name line at the top — no vocabulary lists, no pinyin headers, just empty cells waiting to be filled. It's ideal for free writing practice, character dictation, or homework assignments where you already know which characters to write. Parents can print a stack for weekend practice; teachers can hand out pages for in-class character drills.
Once you've printed your grid paper and practiced writing characters by hand, you can hand off your results to live speaking practice with Mei Lin. You can also explore the full index of free SayMei Chinese learning tools, use the HSK Gap Checker to see which words you still have to learn, or pull example sentences from the Chinese Example Sentence Bank to practice writing characters in context.
A square practice box with a dashed cross through the middle, dividing it into four smaller boxes — the shape of the character 田 (tián, field). It is the standard handwriting grid in mainland Chinese primary schools: teachers say where a stroke goes by naming the 横中线 (héng zhōngxiàn), the 竖中线 (shù zhōngxiàn), or one of the four boxes, so children learn proportion before they write freehand.
Use 田字格 (tián zì gé) for everyday practice and 米字格 (mǐ zì gé) when you need the diagonals. 米字格 (mǐ zì gé) adds two diagonal guides on top of the cross, which helps with calligraphy and with characters that have a long 撇 (piě) or 捺 (nà). More guides help earlier; the usual progression is 米字格 (mǐ zì gé) or 回字格 (huí zì gé) → 田字格 (tián zì gé) → blank squares.
Nine equal cells are made by two horizontal and two vertical lines, like the character 井 (jǐng, well). The centre cell is the 中宫 (zhōnggōng), and the drill is to make the body of the character fill it. It trains 间架结构 (jiānjià jiégòu), the internal proportions of a character, so it is a structure grid rather than a beginner grid.
A square sits inside the outer square, like 回 (huí). The inner square marks how much of the box the character body should occupy, so it is the quickest fix for characters that come out too big, too small, or off-centre. It is explained here as a learning stage; the printable tool currently offers 田字格 (tián zì gé), 米字格 (mǐ zì gé), 井字格 (jǐng zì gé), and blank squares.
Use bigger boxes for younger or newer writers and smaller ones once you are drilling volume. A standard 田字格本 (tián zì gé běn) box is roughly 15–20 mm, and the default 10 × 12 grid on A4 lands in that range. Box size is capped by whichever runs out first — the columns across or the rows down — so reduce both together when you want noticeably bigger boxes.