HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Places

东方 dōngfāng “the East” in Chinese

Traditional 東方

What 东方 means

  1. the East

How to say 东方

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale东dōng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale方fāng1st tone, high and level

东方 in a sentence

  1. 飞机飞向东方。

    Fēijī fēi xiàng dōngfāng.

    The plane flew east.

    Sentence #353631 from Tatoeba

  2. 太阳总是从东方升起。

    Tàiyáng zǒngshì cóng dōngfāng shēngqǐ.

    The sun always rises in the east.

    Sentence #895825 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 上海被称为东方的巴黎。

    Shànghǎi bèi chēngwéi dōngfāng de Bālí.

    Shanghai is called the Paris of the East.

    Sentence #795015 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 东方 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 东 (dōng) with each of its parts in a different colour
东dōngeast
  • 七seven · qī
  • 小small · xiǎo

Memory aidSimplified from 東, drawn from a sack tied at both ends. It was borrowed for “east”.

The character 方 (fāng) drawn as one shape
方fāngsquare

方 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 东方

东 5 strokes · 方 4 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

东方 (dōngfāng) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 东方 (dōngfāng). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 东方

Words with 东

Words with 方

More words: Places & Getting Around

FAQs

东方 (dōngfāng) means “the East”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it dōngfāng: dōng with a 1st tone, then fāng with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 东方 is written 東方. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type dongfang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 东方 from the suggestions. Typing dongfang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
东方 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 5 word list. It is not on the older HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.