Chinese characters are basically logograms constructed with strokes. Over the millennia a set of generally agreed rules have been developed by custom. Minor variations exist between countries, but the basic principles remain the same, namely that writing characters should be economical, with the fewest hand movements to write the most strokes possible. This promotes writing speed, accuracy, and readability. This idea is particularly important since as learners progress, characters often get more complex.
–Stoke Order Wikipedia
(天地玄黄), shows the process and result of this hybridization.
The Thousand Character Classic (Chinese: 千字文; pinyin: Qiānzìwén), also known as the Thousand Character Text, is a Chinese poem used as a primer for teaching Chinese characters to children from the sixth century onward. The first line of the poem is
Tian Di Xuan Huang (天地玄黄) ("Heaven and Earth Dark and Yellow").
The excerpted writings are NOT my originals. Please see References.
