Cactus Classical Serif is a free Song font for Traditional Chinese by Henry Chan, Tian Haidong and Moonlit Owen, on Google Fonts since 2024. It draws 54,713 Chinese characters, and the English alphabet, in one weight (400).
天地玄黃 宇宙洪荒
01 / Characters
Characters of everyday words
The characters Chinese readers learn first, set in Cactus Classical Serif.
Traditional characters 漢字
Each with its pinyin and meaning
- 永yǒng · eternal
- 天tiān · sky
- 日rì · sun
- 月yuè · moon
- 山shān · mountain
- 水shuǐ · water
- 火huǒ · fire
- 木mù · tree
- 金jīn · gold
- 土tǔ · earth
- 風fēng · wind
- 雲yún · cloud
- 雨yǔ · rain
- 花huā · flower
- 春chūn · spring
- 人rén · person
- 心xīn · heart
- 愛ài · love
- 夢mèng · dream
- 龍lóng · dragon
- 馬mǎ · horse
- 鳥niǎo · bird
- 魚yú · fish
- 飛fēi · fly
- 門mén · gate
- 國guó · country
- 東dōng · east
- 學xué · learn
- 書shū · book
- 字zì · character
02 / Text
As running text
The opening of Lu Xun’s My Old Home (1921), in Traditional characters.
我冒了嚴寒，回到相隔二千餘里，別了二十餘年的故鄉去。時候既然是深冬；漸近故鄉時，天氣又陰晦了，冷風吹進船艙中，嗚嗚的響，從篷隙向外一望，蒼黃的天底下，遠近橫著幾個蕭索的荒村，沒有一些活氣。
我冒了嚴寒，回到相隔二千餘里，別了二十餘年的故鄉去。時候既然是深冬；漸近故鄉時，天氣又陰晦了，冷風吹進船艙中，嗚嗚的響，從篷隙向外一望，蒼黃的天底下，遠近橫著幾個蕭索的荒村，沒有一些活氣。
我冒了嚴寒，回到相隔二千餘里，別了二十餘年的故鄉去。時候既然是深冬；漸近故鄉時，天氣又陰晦了，冷風吹進船艙中，嗚嗚的響，從篷隙向外一望，蒼黃的天底下，遠近橫著幾個蕭索的荒村，沒有一些活氣。
03 / Facts
What it covers
- Characters
- 54,713
- More than the 13,053 of Big5, the standard set
- Set
- Traditional
- As Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau write
- Weights
- 1
- One weight, Regular (400)
- Vertical text
- Yes
- Vertical forms of its own, OpenType’s vert
- Font file
- 27.2 MB
- Its Regular: Google serves it in slices
- Licence
- OFL 1.1
- Free for commercial use
Designed by Henry Chan, Tian Haidong and Moonlit Owen. On Google Fonts since 2024, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.
LatinIt draws the English alphabet too, as in its name:Cactus Classical SerifFonts with Latin like it →
- Noto Serif TC17,677 characters8 weights
- Noto Serif HK17,678 characters8 weights
- Chiron Sung HK31,584 characters8 weights
- UoqMunThenKhung7,932 characters1 weight (400)
- GenYo Min TW29,986 characters7 weights
- GenWan Min TW29,986 characters5 weights
All 47 Chinese fonts →The Song (Ming) fonts for Simplified Chinese →Japanese, Chinese and Korean fonts →
05 / Questions
Questions about Cactus Classical Serif
Answered from its licence and its font file, and each app’s own font list
Is Cactus Classical Serif free for commercial use?
Yes. Cactus Classical Serif is under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 , which allows commercial use at any scale: print, websites, apps, videos and logos, for clients and in products. What it forbids is selling the font file on its own.
How do I download and install Cactus Classical Serif?
FontKind doesn’t host Cactus Classical Serif’s files: it comes free from Google Fonts . On its page there, choose Get font, then Download all, and unzip the file: it holds a single font file. On Windows or a Mac, double-click each font file and choose Install, then restart any app that was open.
Is Cactus Classical Serif Simplified or Traditional Chinese?
Traditional: Cactus Classical Serif draws the Traditional forms written in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, 54,713 characters in all. For the other set, see the Song (Ming) fonts for Simplified Chinese.
How do I use Cactus Classical Serif on a website?
Through Google Fonts: its stylesheet cuts Cactus Classical Serif into about a hundred small files by character, and a browser downloads only those holding the characters a page shows, never the whole 27.2 MB Regular file. To host it yourself, cut it down to the characters your pages use, a step called subsetting, and serve it as WOFF2: the SIL Open Font License allows that, and as Cactus Classical Serif reserves no name, your copy may keep it.
Can Cactus Classical Serif set vertical text?
Yes: Cactus Classical Serif’s file has vertical forms, the OpenType vert feature, so in a vertical line its commas, full stops and brackets turn and move as they should. On a web page, CSS writing-mode: vertical-rl sets a block vertically; Word, InDesign and Illustrator have vertical text of their own.
Can I use Cactus Classical Serif in a game or an app?
Yes. The SIL Open Font License lets you build Cactus Classical Serif into a game, an app or an e-book, sold or free, with no separate licence to buy, as many paid fonts require. Ship its licence with the font files, and don’t sell the font on its own.
Is Cactus Classical Serif in Microsoft Word?
Not until you install it: Cactus Classical Serif isn’t one of Microsoft 365’s cloud fonts. Installed, it is in Word’s font menu and PowerPoint’s. For someone who hasn’t installed it, turn on Embed fonts in the file in Word’s save options: its licence allows that.
Is Cactus Classical Serif in Google Docs?
Most likely. Search for Cactus Classical Serif under More fonts in the font menu of Docs; added there, it is in Sheets and Slides too.
Is Cactus Classical Serif in Figma?
Yes: Cactus Classical Serif is in Figma’s font menu, in the browser and the desktop app, with nothing to install.
How many weights does Cactus Classical Serif have?
Cactus Classical Serif comes in one weight, Regular (400). Ask for bold and most apps thicken the letters themselves: a faux bold, not a drawn one.
Does Cactus Classical Serif have English letters?
Yes: Cactus Classical Serif draws all 52 letters of the English alphabet, so a line that mixes Chinese and English can stay in one font.
Who designed Cactus Classical Serif?
Cactus Classical Serif was designed by Henry Chan, Tian Haidong and Moonlit Owen. It has been on Google Fonts since May 2024.
What fonts are similar to Cactus Classical Serif?
The most used Traditional Chinese Song fonts besides Cactus Classical Serif are Noto Serif TC, Noto Serif HK and Chiron Sung HK. See every Song (Ming) font for Traditional Chinese.