Skills · 字
How many Chinese characters are on the HSK syllabus?
Name the list. Level 1 recognition on the November 2025 syllabus is 246 numbered rows, and writing is a second list.
Written October 4, 2026. Count the list that matches the job in front of you.
How many Chinese characters are on the HSK syllabus? Name the list: the Level 1 recognition list in the HSK syllabus PDF is 246 numbered rows, and writing is a second list. If you are at zero, say one line on the sentence bank before you count either list.
Level 1 recognition is its own list
The HSK syllabus PDF writes: “HSK（一级）认读字”. That list is numbered from 1 through 246 rows.
Writing for levels 1 and 2 is one list
The HSK syllabus PDF writes: “HSK（一级）~（二级）书写字”. Levels 1 and 2 share this one list. It has 100 numbered rows.
The contents give writing one heading for levels 1 through 9. The pages after that heading print separate lists, and each of those lists starts again at 1.
Later bands restart at 1
Later lists in the HSK syllabus PDF start again at 1. Read the last number on the list you are counting.
| Level | Recognition rows | Writing rows |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 246 rows | 100 writing rows, shared with level 2 |
| 2 | 125 rows | it shares the 100-row list above |
| 3 | 284 rows | 150 writing rows |
| 4 | 441 rows | 150 writing rows |
| 5 | 431 rows | 150 writing rows |
| 6 | 413 rows | 150 writing rows |
| Levels 7 to 9 | 1148 rows | 500 writing rows |
Three thousand stays on the characters page
The 3,000-character benchmark stays on should I learn Chinese characters. The file these lists belong to is which HSK should I study.
A spoken line is still the sentence bank
If you are at zero, open how to start learning Chinese and say one sentence-bank line before you count a list.
Questions about the lists
How many Chinese characters do I need to know?
Name the list. The Level 1 recognition list in the HSK syllabus PDF is 246 numbered rows.
How many Chinese characters should I learn a day?
Name the list first. The Level 1 recognition list in the HSK syllabus PDF is 246 numbered rows. That figure is the size of the list. A stack for this morning is a different choice. If you are at zero, say one sentence-bank line before you choose a stack.
How many Chinese characters to be fluent?
The 3,000-character benchmark stays on should I learn Chinese characters. The row counts here are the size of each list. Read that benchmark before you treat a row count as fluency.
How many characters do I need to write for HSK 1?
Levels 1 and 2 share one writing list in the HSK syllabus PDF. That list has 100 numbered rows.
Sources
- Center for Language Education and Cooperation, HSK syllabus PDF (read 4 October 2026).
Open the list you are counting, and read the number it reaches on its own.
Version 1. Recheck when the syllabus reprints a character list, or every six months.