Basic Types of Strokes: 笔画Bǐhuà

You might feel that there are lots of lines, curves, turns, hooks, dots, and squiggles in Chinese characters. Yes, you are right. Actually, they are called strokes (笔画Bǐhuà). To a certain extent, strokes in Chinese symbols are like the letters in a word in alphabetic languages. If you are wondering how to write the strokes correctly, you can practice writing character 永 (yǒng, forever), which is a very important character when you learn to write Chinese calligraphy. What makes this character unique is that you can find all the eight basic strokes are in it. Please grab a pen and write along with it. 

Here are the rules of how we write each of the basic strokes:

1. héng – a horizontal line. You put the pen down on the paper, start from the left side, and pull the pen, and once you get the end of the stroke you pick it up. When you write this horizontal line, please apply the pressure all the way through the stroke. Then, the stroke looks evenly thick at both ends.
2. shù – a vertical line. Like writing heng, you apply the pressure all the way through the stroke from top to the bottom.
3. piě—a sloping line. You apply pressure at the beginning and pull the pen while decreasing the pressure towards the end of the stroke. So you can see the stroke is thick at the beginning and and thin at the end. The stroke can have many different variations. It can be very short. It can also be very long, starting almost vertically and finishing diagonally, with a sharpened tip at the end.
4. nà—a long slant line, starting top left and finishes at the bottom right.  Note that there should be a long extended, wide, and slightly thick shape at end of the stroke towards the bottom right.
5. diǎn – a dot starting top left and finishing at the bottom right.  
6. tí—a short diagonal line. You put the pen down at the beginning and write it from the bottom upwards. As you pull it from bottom left to top right. You raise the pen and release it at the end. As you finish it, you can see a sharpened edge at the end.
7. gōu – a small hook. You do a little flick of the pen at the end of heng, shu, or pie, but make sure you do it in the right direction :P
8. zhé—a sharp turn. It looks like the corners of a box. You usually use it to combine a horizontal and vertical stroke.
9. wān – a curve bend towards certain directions.

piě nà zhé gōu tí Wān
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Reference:

When you write Chinese characters, you not only want to write correctly without missing a single stroke, but also try to make it look beautiful and balanced by following the right sequence and structure. Hence, when you copy the character, please pay attention to the shape, length, angle, and thickness of the strokes, as well as its position in the characters. Good luck! 

Quiz: Filling the blanks:

1.                   héng – a ________ line. You put the pen down on the paper, start from the left side, and pull the pen, and once you get the end of the stroke you pick it up. When you write this horizontal line, please apply the pressure all the way through the stroke. Then, the stroke looks evenly thick at both ends.

2.                  shù – a ________  line. Like writing heng, you apply the pressure all the way through the stroke from top to the bottom.

3.                  piě—a ________   line. You apply pressure at the beginning and pull the pen while decreasing the pressure towards the end of the stroke. So you can see the stroke is thick at the beginning and and thin at the end. The stroke can have many different variations. It can be very short. It can also be very long, starting almost vertically and finishing diagonally, with a sharpened tip at the end.

4.                  nà —a ________   ________  line, starting top left and finishes at the bottom right.  Note that there should be a long ________ , wide, and slightly thick shape at end of the stroke towards the bottom right.

5.                  diǎn – a ________  starting top left and finishing at the bottom right.  

6.                 tí—a short ________   line. You put the pen down at the beginning and write it from the bottom ________  . As you pull it from bottom left to top right. You raise the pen and release it at the end. As you finish it, you can see a sharpened edge at the end.

7.                  gōu – a small ________  . You do a little flick of the pen at the end of heng, shu, or pie, but make sure you do it in the right direction :P

8.                 zhé —a sharp ________  . It looks like the corners of a box. You usually use it to combine a horizontal and vertical stroke.

9.                  wān – a ________  bend towards certain directions.

http://fluentinmandarin.com/content/how-to-learn-to-write-chinese-characters-part-1/
http://www.clearchinese.com/chinese-writing/strokes.htm