ZCOOL XiaoWei is a free Song font for Simplified Chinese by Li Dawei, on Google Fonts since 2018. It draws 6,763 Chinese characters, and the English alphabet, in one weight (400).
天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒
01 / Characters
Characters of everyday words
The characters Chinese readers learn first, set in ZCOOL XiaoWei.
Simplified characters 汉字
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
- 风fēng · wind
- 云yún · cloud
- 雨yǔ · rain
- 花huā · flower
- 春chūn · spring
- 人rén · person
- 心xīn · heart
- 爱ài · love
- 梦mèng · dream
- 龙lóng · dragon
- 马mǎ · horse
- 鸟niǎo · bird
- 鱼yú · fish
- 飞fēi · fly
- 门mén · gate
- 国guó · country
- 东dōng · east
- 学xué · learn
- 书shū · book
- 字zì · character
02 / Text
As running text
The opening of Lu Xun’s My Old Home (1921).
我冒了严寒，回到相隔二千余里，别了二十余年的故乡去。时候既然是深冬；渐近故乡时，天气又阴晦了，冷风吹进船舱中，呜呜的响，从篷隙向外一望，苍黄的天底下，远近横着几个萧索的荒村，没有一些活气。
我冒了严寒，回到相隔二千余里，别了二十余年的故乡去。时候既然是深冬；渐近故乡时，天气又阴晦了，冷风吹进船舱中，呜呜的响，从篷隙向外一望，苍黄的天底下，远近横着几个萧索的荒村，没有一些活气。
03 / Facts
What it covers
- Characters
- 6,763
- The 6,763 of GB 2312, the standard set
- Set
- Simplified
- As mainland China and Singapore write
- Weights
- 1
- One weight, Regular (400)
- Vertical text
- No
- No vertical forms: its marks stay where lines across put them
- Font file
- 6.0 MB
- Its Regular: Google serves it in slices
- Licence
- OFL 1.1
- Free for commercial use
Designed by Li Dawei. On Google Fonts since 2018, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.
LatinIt draws the English alphabet too, as in its name:ZCOOL XiaoWei
05 / Questions
Questions about ZCOOL XiaoWei
Answered from its licence and its font file
Is ZCOOL XiaoWei free for commercial use?
Yes. ZCOOL XiaoWei 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 ZCOOL XiaoWei?
FontKind doesn’t host ZCOOL XiaoWei’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 ZCOOL XiaoWei Simplified or Traditional Chinese?
Simplified: ZCOOL XiaoWei draws the Simplified forms written in mainland China and Singapore, 6,763 characters in all. For the other set, see the Song (Ming) fonts for Traditional Chinese.
How do I use ZCOOL XiaoWei on a website?
Through Google Fonts: its stylesheet cuts ZCOOL XiaoWei into about a hundred small files by character, and a browser downloads only those holding the characters a page shows, never the whole 6.0 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, under a name of your own if the font reserves its name.
Can ZCOOL XiaoWei set vertical text?
ZCOOL XiaoWei can, but without vertical forms: its file has no OpenType vert feature, so set vertically, its commas and full stops stay where horizontal text puts them. A browser turns its brackets itself. For vertical text, these fonts of its style have them: Noto Serif SC and Zhuque Fangsong.
Can I use ZCOOL XiaoWei in a game or an app?
Yes. The SIL Open Font License lets you build ZCOOL XiaoWei 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.
How many weights does ZCOOL XiaoWei have?
ZCOOL XiaoWei comes in one weight, Regular (400). Ask for bold and most apps thicken the letters themselves: a faux bold, not a drawn one.
Does ZCOOL XiaoWei have English letters?
Yes: ZCOOL XiaoWei draws all 52 letters of the English alphabet, so a line that mixes Chinese and English can stay in one font.
Who designed ZCOOL XiaoWei?
ZCOOL XiaoWei was designed by Li Dawei. It has been on Google Fonts since December 2018.
What fonts are similar to ZCOOL XiaoWei?
The most used Simplified Chinese Song fonts besides ZCOOL XiaoWei are Noto Serif SC and Zhuque Fangsong. See every Song (Ming) font for Simplified Chinese.