Tianzige vs Mizige: Which Chinese Practice Grid Should You Use?

If you have seen Chinese practice notebooks, you have probably noticed the grid lines inside every square. There are two common layouts — tianzige (田字格) and mizige (米字格) — and the choice between them affects how your characters turn out.

What is tianzige?

Tianzige divides each square into four quarters with a simple dashed cross. The name comes from the character 田 (field): the cell is the field, and the character is the crop planted inside it. The cross gives you reference lines for horizontal and vertical placement.

What is mizige?

Mizige adds two diagonal lines to the cross, dividing the square into eight triangles. The diagonals form the character 米 (rice) in the middle. Those extra lines are there for one reason: characters with slanting strokes.

The key difference

• Tianzige: a cross only. Cleaner to read, easier for beginners to place strokes.
• Mizige: cross + diagonals. The extra lines help with slanting strokes but take a moment to get used to.
• Both grids keep one character per cell, so the proportions you learn transfer directly to writing without a grid.

Which one should you use?

If you are just starting, use tianzige — fewer lines means less noise while you learn where strokes go. Once your characters look reasonably balanced and you start practicing characters with strong 撇 and 捺 strokes (人, 大, 走, 迷), switch to mizige and let the diagonals do the work.

Many teachers use tianzige for the first months, then move to mizige as a gentle step toward writing on plain paper.

Try both today

The fastest way to decide is to write the same character on both grids. We made both papers free to print — no account needed.