3,171 characters and 9,706 words are included in the website together with six supplementary lists of four-character expressions, idiomatic phrases, words used in classical Chinese, terms and proper nouns, transliterated loan words and characters used in names.

• The characters below are ordered by their frequency of use. For example, this first page includes the top 200 most commonly used Chinese characters. Frequency data source

• Knowing just 1,000 Chinese characters will enable you to understand approximately 90% of written communication. With 2,500 you'll understand around 98% of written Chinese, and knowing all the 4000 we have listed on these page will enable you to understand virtually 100%. With that, even a native Chinese would be considered literate.