倡 (chàng): to initiate, to instigate, to introduce

倡 (chàng) is a Chinese character meaning “to initiate.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亻 (structural) and 昌 (structural). It ranks #2137 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 倡 someone 亻 who lights the way 昌; 昌 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 亻 (person) appears in many related characters such as 人 (rén, person), 什 (shén, what), 今 (jīn, now).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to initiate
  2. to instigate
  3. to introduce

Etymology & Origin

倡

ideographicSomeone 亻 who lights the way 昌; 昌 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰亻昌 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Practice writing 倡 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 倡

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
提倡verbtí chàngto promote5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
倡导verbchàng dǎoto advocate
倡议verbchàng yìto suggest
倡导者chàng dǎo zhěproponent
倡议书chàng yì shūwritten proposal
首倡verbshǒu chàngto initiate
提倡者tí chàng zhěproponent
倡言者chàng yán zhěproposer
战略防御倡议zhàn lüè fáng yù chàng yìstrategic defense initiative (SDI)
一倡三叹yī chàng sān tànvariant of 一唱三嘆|一唱三叹
倡始chàng shǐto initiate
倡言nounchàng yánto propose
反腐倡廉phrasefǎn fǔ chàng liánto fight corruption and advocate probity
倡狂chāng kuángvariant of 猖狂
14
Total compounds
57
As first character
14
As last character
29
As middle character

倡 appears in 14 compound words: 57 as the first character, 14 as the last, and 29 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 倡 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

提tí
0.54315,850 co-occurrences
导dǎo
0.5307,664 co-occurrences
议yì
0.4716,103 co-occurrences
者zhě
0.3824,812 co-occurrences
捐juān
0.376420 co-occurrences
戏xì
0.36112 co-occurrences
织zhī
0.346360 co-occurrences
廉lián
0.341234 co-occurrences
旨zhǐ
0.323230 co-occurrences
极jí
0.319364 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

反腐倡廉fǎnfǔchàngliánHSK 7+

to fight corruption and uphold integrity; to fight corruption and build a clean government

phrase
一倡三叹yī chàng sān tànHSK 7+

variant of 一唱三嘆|一唱三叹

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

作为倡民,我们有责任保护环境。

zuò wéi chàng mín , wǒ men yǒu zé rèn bǎo hù huán jìng .

As citizens, we have a responsibility to protect the environment.

StheadlineMar 2026

将军澳屡现蛇踪 西贡区议员倡海滨长廊加设“蛇出没”警示牌

jiāng jūn ào lǚ xiàn shé zōng xī gòng qū yì yuán chàng hǎi bīn cháng láng jiā shè shé chū méi jǐng shì pái

Snake tracks appear repeatedly in Tseung Kwan O Sai Kung District councillor advocates adding "snake infestation" warning signs to the waterfront promenade

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

林吉祥倡“马来西亚优先” 团结成就世界级伟大国家

lín jí xiáng chàng mǎ lái xī yà yōu xiān tuán jié chéng jiù shì jiè jí wěi dà guó jiā

Lim advocates "Malaysia first" to unite and achieve world-class great countries

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

业界倡上调基本免税额一成 预算案料难大派糖 吁...

yè jiè chàng shàng diào jī běn miǎn shuì é yī chéng yù suàn àn liào nán dà pài táng xū . . .

The industry advocates raising the basic tax exemption by 10%, and the budget is difficult to distribute sugar.

UnwireFeb 2026

...Games 成立 NGO 组织 转型长期倡议平台推动游戏保护立法

. . . G a m e s chéng lì N G O zǔ zhī zhuǎn xíng cháng qī chàng yì píng tái tuī dòng yóu xì bǎo hù lì fǎ

... Games has established the NGO Transformation Long-Term Initiative platform to push for game protection legislation

東方日報Feb 2026

南亚外佣遭压榨 八成被剥夺权利 工会倡突击查雇主住所

nán yà wài yòng zāo yā zhà bā chéng bèi bāo duó quán lì gōng huì chàng tū jī chá gù zhǔ zhù suǒ

South Asian foreign domestic helpers are oppressed and 80% are deprived of their rights Trade unions advocate raids on employers' residences

Tatoeba

有没有一个国家比美国更提倡爱国主义?

Yǒuméiyǒu yī gè guójiā bǐ Měiguó gèng tíchàng àiguózhǔyì?

Does any other country fan the flames of patriotism as much as America?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced chàng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 倡 (chàng) mean in Chinese?
倡 (chàng) primarily means "to initiate." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2137 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 倡 have?
倡 is written with 10 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 倡?
The radical associated with 倡 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are the components of 倡?
倡 is composed of: 亻 (structural), 昌 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻昌 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 倡?
Common words with 倡 include: 提倡 (tí chàng, "to promote"); 倡导 (chàng dǎo, "to advocate"); 倡议 (chàng yì, "to suggest"); 倡导者 (chàng dǎo zhě, "proponent"); 倡议书 (chàng yì shū, "written proposal"). There are over 14 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 倡 (chàng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chàng: 长 (long), 常 (always), 场 (field, place), 唱 (to sing), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 倡 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 倡 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 倡 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.