Simplified or Traditional Chinese: which font do I need?

Simplified characters are written in mainland China and Singapore, Traditional ones in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. A font draws one set’s forms, so pick from the set your readers use: 18 fonts here are Simplified and 29 Traditional. Hong Kong’s editions follow Hong Kong’s own forms of some characters.

What are Song, Hei and Kai?

The three styles of Chinese type. The serif of Chinese, from the woodblocks of the Song dynasty: thin horizontals, thick verticals and triangular ends. Books, newspapers and formal text; Taiwan and Hong Kong call it Ming. The sans serif: strokes of one weight with square ends. Screens, signs, interfaces and headlines. Regular script, the brush hand every child learns to write: clear and warm, for textbooks, quotations, invitations and subtitles.

Are these Chinese fonts free for commercial use?

Yes, all 47: every one under the SIL Open Font License, which let you use a font in print, on the web, in apps, videos and logos, for clients and in products, at no cost. What they forbid is selling the font file on its own. Each font’s page links its licence file.

Which free Chinese font has the most characters?

Cactus Classical Serif, with 54,713 Chinese characters. Most fonts here hold 7,000 to 20,000, more than any text needs: the 3,500 most common characters cover nearly all of what is written.

How do I use a Chinese font on a website?

A Chinese font holds thousands of characters, often 5 to 20 MB. From Google Fonts it comes cut into a hundred or so small files, and a browser loads only those with the characters a page shows. A font from its maker’s repository should be cut down to the characters you need before you serve it: the OFL allows that, under a name of your own if the font reserves its name.

Chinese fonts

47 free fonts for Chinese: 18 in Simplified characters, for mainland China and Singapore, and 29 in Traditional, for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, each filed by style: Song (Ming), Hei, Kai, Yuan (rounded), Calligraphy, Display and Pixel. 29 from Google Fonts and 18 from their makers’ own repositories, every one under the SIL Open Font License.

中文 · Zhōngwén

Simplified Chinese

Traditional Chinese

The line on every card

The opening of the Thousand Character Classic, the sixth-century primer that uses a thousand characters once each: “Heaven is dark and earth is yellow; the universe is vast and boundless.”

Free fonts: 47; 29 on Google Fonts, 18 from their makers
Commercial use: 47 of 47; Every one under the OFL
English letters: 47 of 47; Draw all 52 letters of the alphabet
Weights: 22 of 47; Come in two weights or more

02 / All 47

Every Chinese font

Ordered by use: Google Fonts’ ranking first, then the open fonts most starred on GitHub.

Simplified Chinese

18 fonts · mainland China, Singapore

Song (Ming) 宋体

The serif of Chinese, from the woodblocks of the Song dynasty: thin horizontals, thick verticals and triangular ends. Books, newspapers and formal text; Taiwan and Hong Kong call it Ming. · 3 fonts

Hei 黑体

The sans serif: strokes of one weight with square ends. Screens, signs, interfaces and headlines. · 2 fonts

Kai 楷体

Regular script, the brush hand every child learns to write: clear and warm, for textbooks, quotations, invitations and subtitles. · 2 fonts

Yuan (rounded) 圆体

Strokes of one weight with rounded ends: friendly, for apps, packaging and signs. · 1 font

Swei Gothic SC30,020 characters6 weights

Calligraphy 书法

Brush calligraphy, from careful regular script to running and wild cursive: for titles, posters and anything that should look written. · 4 fonts

Display 美术字

Playful, heavy and decorated faces for headlines, posters and covers. · 5 fonts

Pixel 像素

Built from square dots, as characters were on early screens and in games. · 1 font

Fusion Pixel 12px SC21,943 characters1 weight (400)

Traditional Chinese

29 fonts · Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau

Song (Ming) 明體

The serif of Chinese, from the woodblocks of the Song dynasty: thin horizontals, thick verticals and triangular ends. Books, newspapers and formal text; Taiwan and Hong Kong call it Ming. · 7 fonts

Hei 黑體

The sans serif: strokes of one weight with square ends. Screens, signs, interfaces and headlines. · 8 fonts

Kai 楷體

Regular script, the brush hand every child learns to write: clear and warm, for textbooks, quotations, invitations and subtitles. · 6 fonts

Yuan (rounded) 圓體

Strokes of one weight with rounded ends: friendly, for apps, packaging and signs. · 5 fonts

Display 美術字

Playful, heavy and decorated faces for headlines, posters and covers. · 1 font

WDXL Lubrifont TC12,149 characters1 weight (400)

Pixel 像素

Built from square dots, as characters were on early screens and in games. · 2 fonts

03 / Questions

Before you use one

What people ask before they set a page in one of these fonts.

Simplified or Traditional Chinese: which font do I need?: Simplified characters are written in mainland China and Singapore, Traditional ones in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. A font draws one set’s forms, so pick from the set your readers use: 18 fonts here are Simplified and 29 Traditional. Hong Kong’s editions follow Hong Kong’s own forms of some characters.
What are Song, Hei and Kai?: The three styles of Chinese type. The serif of Chinese, from the woodblocks of the Song dynasty: thin horizontals, thick verticals and triangular ends. Books, newspapers and formal text; Taiwan and Hong Kong call it Ming. The sans serif: strokes of one weight with square ends. Screens, signs, interfaces and headlines. Regular script, the brush hand every child learns to write: clear and warm, for textbooks, quotations, invitations and subtitles.
Are these Chinese fonts free for commercial use?: Yes, all 47: every one under the SIL Open Font License, which let you use a font in print, on the web, in apps, videos and logos, for clients and in products, at no cost. What they forbid is selling the font file on its own. Each font’s page links its licence file.
Which free Chinese font has the most characters?: Cactus Classical Serif, with 54,713 Chinese characters. Most fonts here hold 7,000 to 20,000, more than any text needs: the 3,500 most common characters cover nearly all of what is written. Cactus Classical Serif →
How do I use a Chinese font on a website?: A Chinese font holds thousands of characters, often 5 to 20 MB. From Google Fonts it comes cut into a hundred or so small files, and a browser loads only those with the characters a page shows. A font from its maker’s repository should be cut down to the characters you need before you serve it: the OFL allows that, under a name of your own if the font reserves its name.

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