🚀 Getting Started

Welcome to the Hanping Chinese Dictionary! This guide covers the features and functionality that are available in the app.

Download & Installation

Hanping Chinese Dictionary is now FREE for everyone! Download it from:

• Google Play Store: Hanping Chinese Dictionary

💡 Note: The app is now free, but some features like AnkiDroid export and Import/Export user vocab are available as in-app purchases. Users who previously purchased the app are automatically granted these features.

Permissions

All permissions are optional for core functionality, but some features won't work without them:

• Read and write to AnkiDroid database - for exporting words as flashcards
• Google Play license check - to verify previous purchases
• Google Play billing service - for in-app purchases
• Run foreground service - for voice playback from 3rd party apps
• Show notifications - required when running foreground services
• Network access - for analytics (can be opted out in Settings)

🔍 Search & Lookup

The main search interface is the heart of the Hanping Chinese Dictionary.

Input Methods

Chinese Handwriting Recognition

Tap the paintbrush icon in the search box to use built-in handwriting recognition. This is much more convenient than using a 3rd party IME because it waits for you after each stroke!

Radical Lookup

Tap the 部 icon in the search box to find characters by radical. Radicals are grouped by stroke-count and sorted by frequency within each group.

Voice Recognition

Tap the microphone icon in the search box for voice input. Long-press on this icon to show the configuration dialog where you can choose:

• Chinese (Mandarin)
• English
• System Default

Pinyin Input

When searching using pinyin, there is no need to enter spaces between syllables. However, sometimes it's useful to do so. For example, searching for xi an will not include any of the xian results.

Search Features

Wildcard Search

Hanping supports these wildcard characters:

• * - Multiple syllables (Hanzi & Pinyin). For example, 中*国 & zhong*guo
• @ - Single syllable (Hanzi & Pinyin). For example, 中@国 & zhong@guo
• # - Tone number (Pinyin only). For example, xi#an will match xi1an1 & xi1an4

Long Chinese Phrases

Try searching for long Chinese phrases. If you enter a long phrase (which is not in the dictionary), Hanping will break down the phrase into words. This works really well when combined with voice recognition in Chinese mode!

Character Lookup Within Words

You can lookup Chinese words within dictionary definitions and lookup characters within headwords.

📖 Word Details

The Word Details screen shows comprehensive information about each dictionary entry.

Character Display Options

In the Nav Drawer: Settings / Chinese Settings tap the first item and select either:

• Simplified
• Simp [Trad]
• Traditional
• Trad [Simp]

Hanzi Coloring

The coloring represents the tone of each character. There are different coloring-schemes available. To cycle through them: Menu (within app) > Settings > Colouring by Tones

External Links

External links (only when you are online) allow you to quickly & conveniently look up a word in supported 3rd party websites such as:

• YellowBridge (for detailed word information)
• nciku (for sample sentences)
• Skritter (for stroke animations & writing practice)
• And many more

🧩 Hanzi Decomposition

Understand Chinese characters by breaking them down into their components and understanding their structure.

Character Breakdown

Hanping shows the breakdown of the top 10,000 characters, including:

• Radical identification - Which component is the radical
• Phonetic components - Which component indicates pronunciation (where applicable)
• Character structure - How the character is built from its parts

Phonetic Groups

See which characters have the current character as a phonetic component. This helps you understand pronunciation patterns and character relationships.

Composites View

View all characters that contain a specific component by long-tapping on any component in the decomposition view. You can also long-tap on a composite to see the composites of that composite.

Hanzi Info Dialog

Access a comprehensive summary of decomposition and composites in the Hanzi Info dialog, providing detailed character analysis.

Sentence Decomposition

When you paste or type long Chinese phrases into the search box, Hanping automatically:

• Breaks down the phrase into individual words
• Shows the Pinyin/Zhuyin for each word
• Displays Simplified/Traditional variants (if enabled in settings)
• Shows surrounding text in context (in faint grey)

✍️ Stroke Animations

Learn how to write Chinese characters with animated stroke order demonstrations.

Free Stroke Animations

Hanping includes 839 free stroke animations for the most common characters. These animations show:

• Correct stroke order - Learn the proper sequence for writing each character
• Stroke direction - See which direction each stroke should be drawn
• Character structure - Understand how characters are built from individual strokes

Extended Stroke Animations

For comprehensive coverage, you can purchase access to 8,735 additional stroke animations via in-app purchase. This includes animations for virtually all characters you'll encounter in your studies.

🎵 Soundboard

Practice pronunciation with the built-in soundboard feature.

Individual Syllable Practice

Play individual syllables to practice specific sounds and tones. This is perfect for:

• Tone practice - Focus on getting the correct tone for each syllable
• Pronunciation training - Listen to native speaker audio for each sound
• Character recognition - Associate sounds with characters

Tone Pair Practice

Practice specific tone combinations to master the flow of Mandarin Chinese.

Native Speaker Audio

All audio is recorded by native speakers, ensuring you learn correct pronunciation from the start. The soundboard includes audio for all single syllables plus over 4,000 multi-syllable words via in-app purchases.

📝 Example Sentences

Learn words in context with over 5,000 example sentences.

Comprehensive Examples

Each example sentence includes:

• Chinese characters - See the word used in context
• Pinyin pronunciation - Know how to say the sentence
• English translation - Understand the meaning

Contextual Learning

Example sentences help you understand:

• Word usage - How words are used in real situations
• Grammar patterns - Common sentence structures
• Cultural context - Natural ways to express ideas in Chinese

Accessing Example Sentences

Example sentences are available through external links in the word details screen. You can access them via third-party websites like nciku that specialize in providing contextual examples.

📚 ABC Dictionaries

Enhance your dictionary experience with professional ABC Chinese-English and ABC English-Chinese dictionaries available as in-app purchases.

Intelligent Integration

Both ABC dictionaries are intelligently integrated into Hanping Chinese Dictionary:

• Automatic merging - When you search for a Chinese word, Hanping searches both ABC Chinese-English and CC-CEDICT dictionaries, then merges the results (filtering out duplicates)
• No manual switching - No need to cycle through dictionaries, Hanping does all the work for you
• Enhanced sentence decomposition - When pasting longer Chinese text, Hanping breaks it down using all your Chinese dictionaries, not just one

ABC Chinese-English Dictionary

This dictionary has about twice as many Chinese headwords as the built-in CC-CEDICT dictionary. It's particularly useful if you want to know how to use Chinese words, rather than just get an idea of their meaning.

Features:

• Over 200,000 Chinese headwords including Simplified & Traditional characters as well as Pinyin/Zhuyin pronunciation
• Over 10,000 example sentences including Simplified & Traditional forms and Pinyin/Zhuyin pronunciation
• Grammatical information such as Part of Speech and Measure Words
• Search capabilities - Can be searched by Chinese characters (Simplified & Traditional) or Pinyin but not by English

ABC English-Chinese Dictionary

This dictionary makes a huge difference if you often search for English words. The built-in CC-CEDICT dictionary has an auto-generated English index, so many less-common English terms are missing. ABC English-Chinese Dictionary changes all that because its primary index is English!

Features:

• Over 62,000 English headwords
• Over 7,000 example sentences including Simplified & Traditional forms and Pinyin/Zhuyin pronunciation
• Grammatical information such as Part of Speech
• Search capabilities - Can be searched by English but not by Chinese characters or Pinyin

How to Purchase ABC Dictionaries

Purchasing is done from within the Hanping Chinese Dictionary app:

1. From the main screen, tap the top-left hamburger icon (or swipe in from the left edge) to reveal the navigation menu
2. Tap Add-ons
3. You will see the ABC Chinese-English and ABC English-Chinese add-ons along with tabs for other types of add-ons like audio and stroke animations

Purchase Benefits

• Multi-device access - Once purchased, the dictionary is tied to your Google account and works on all your devices
• Permanent ownership - No subscription fees, you own the dictionary forever
• Automatic updates - Dictionary updates are included at no extra cost

💡 Note: For users in Mainland China, you will need to use a VPN to make purchases through Google Play Store. Please read our Mainland China purchasing guide for more information.

For details of all the abbreviations used within the ABC dictionaries, please read our ABC Dictionary Abbreviations guide.

📚 Vocabulary Management

Organize and manage your vocabulary with starred words, tags, and history.

Starred Words

Star any word (or even a phrase not in the dictionary) for easy recall later on. Your starrings and custom tags appear as labels above every headword and next to every word in all search results.

Tags

Organize words by categories using custom tags. You can also import predefined lists like HSK levels as custom tags:

1. Tap on the Tags tab so that you can see all Predefined Lists
2. Long-tap on HSK 2.0 exam... or HSK 3.0 exam... and tap on IMPORT TAGS
3. Create a new Custom Tag category and tap OK

History

View recently searched words. To clear or edit history, long-tap on any history item (or any date label) to bring up an Action Menu with options to Select All or Delete.

Clipboard Support

Copy any Chinese headword to Clipboard to use outside of the app (e.g. in email/sms app).

🎴 AnkiDroid Integration

Export your vocabulary to AnkiDroid for spaced repetition learning.

Exporting to AnkiDroid

Export your starred words and vocabulary to AnkiDroid as flashcards. This feature requires the AnkiDroid export in-app purchase (automatically granted to previous purchasers).

Tag Filtering in AnkiDroid

Filter by Tag in the Browser

1. Open AnkiDroid
2. Tap the ≡ menu icon (top-left)
3. Tap "Browse"
4. Tap the filter icon (🔍) at the top
5. Tap the tag icon next to the search bar
6. Select one or more tags from the list
7. Tap Apply to see matching cards

Create a Filtered Deck Using Tags

1. From the main screen, tap "Custom Study" at the bottom
2. Select "Study by card state or tag"
3. Choose "Cards with a specific tag"
4. Select the tag(s) you want to review
5. Set the number of cards and tap "Build"

Auto-play Voice

To auto-play voice when a card is shown in AnkiDroid, edit the template by adding document.querySelector('.play_button').click(); just before the </script> tag.

💾 Backup & Restore

Automatically backup your starred/tagged words to keep your data safe.

Local Backup

Hanping automatically backs up your starred/tagged words to your local device. To enable this:

1. Go to the Backup/Restore screen (left Navigation drawer)
2. Specify the Location for new backups
3. Don't specify a folder under /Android/data as it may be deleted when you uninstall apps
4. If local device storage doesn't appear, tap the three-dots icon and tap Show internal storage

Cloud Backup with Google Drive

For cloud backup, you can sync your local backups to Google Drive using apps like FolderSync:

1. Install FolderSync
2. Add your Google Drive account and grant authorization
3. Create a Folderpair with sync type = To remote folder
4. Set appropriate scheduling (e.g., Daily)
5. For conflicting modifications, select Use local file

📱 Companion Apps

Hanping offers additional specialized apps that work together to enhance your Chinese learning experience.

Hanping Chinese Camera

Save time doing dictionary lookups with Chinese OCR! Simply point your camera at Chinese text to get all the English definitions. No need to even touch the screen!

Key Features:

• Instant OCR - Point and shoot to instantly recognize Chinese text
• Works on any image - Including screenshots and photos
• No manual input - No need to type or draw characters
• Compatible integration - Works seamlessly with the main dictionary app

Download: Hanping Chinese Camera

Hanping Chinese Popup

The ultimate solution for quickly looking up Chinese words on your smartphone or tablet, no matter what app you are using.

Key Features:

• Universal access - Works from any app or system screen
• Screen capture + OCR - World's first app to combine in-app screen capture with OCR
• Instant lookups - Quick access to definitions without switching apps
• Seamless integration - Works with the main dictionary app

Download: Hanping Chinese Popup

Hanping Cantonese Dictionary

Learning Cantonese instead? This app combines the best-in-class Cantodict dictionary with Hanping's technology.

Key Features:

• Traditional & Simplified Characters - Suitable for both Hong Kong and Guangdong
• Multiple Phonetic Options - Jyutping (numbered & superscript), Yale (tone-marked and numbered)
• Native Speaker Audio - For all single-syllable sounds
• Cantodict Dictionary - Comprehensive entries differentiating spoken vs written language

Download: Hanping Cantonese Dictionary

🔧 Troubleshooting & FAQ

Find solutions to common issues and frequently asked questions.

Common Issues

License Not Found

If you see a "License Not Found" error:

1. Make sure you're running the latest version of the app
2. Check you're logged into the same Google account used to purchase the app
3. In Play Store app, tap profile icon > Payments and subscriptions > Budget and history
4. Verify the Hanping app is included in your purchase history

AnkiDroid Export Issues

If you're unable to export to AnkiDroid on Android 13+ devices (especially Samsung and Xiaomi), this appears to be an AnkiDroid bug. Check this solution.

Google Play Store Issues

For common Play Store errors:

• Error 403: Clear data on the Play Store app
• Error -101: Remove and re-add your Gmail account

Getting Help

If you can't find what you're looking for, please contact us or check our FAQ page for more detailed troubleshooting information.