煽 (shān): to fan into a flame, to incite

煽 (shān) is a Chinese character meaning “to fan into a flame.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 火 (structural) and 扇 (structural). It ranks #2788 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 煽 to fan 扇 the flames 火; 扇 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 火 (fire) appears in many related characters such as 火 (huǒ, fire), 灯 (dēng, lamp, light), 烟 (yān, smoke).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to fan into a flame
  2. to incite

Etymology & Origin

煽

ideographicTo fan 扇 the flames 火; 扇 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰火扇 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
煽动verbshān dòngto incite
煽动性shān dòng xìngprovocative
反革命宣传煽动罪fǎn gé mìng xuān chuán shān dòng zuìthe crime of instigating counterrevolutionary propaganda
煽风点火phraseshān fēng diǎn huǒ(idiom) to fan the flames
煽动颠覆国家政权shān dòng diān fù guó jiā zhèng quánincitement to subvert state power (criminal charge used to gag free speech)
煽动颠覆国家罪shān dòng diān fù guó jiā zuìcrime of conspiring to overthrow the state
煽阴风shān yīn fēngto raise an ill wind
煽情verbshān qíngto stir up emotion
8
Total compounds
88
As first character
0
As last character
13
As middle character

煽 appears in 8 compound words: 88 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 13 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 煽 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

惑huò
0.6021,406 co-occurrences
颠diān
0.522340 co-occurrences
动dòng
0.4595,854 co-occurrences
叛pàn
0.454628 co-occurrences
乱luàn
0.436434 co-occurrences
嫌xián
0.435394 co-occurrences
覆fù
0.433526 co-occurrences
刊kān
0.432333 co-occurrences
恨hèn
0.421230 co-occurrences
仇chóu
0.408262 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

煽风点火shānfēngdiǎnhuǒHSK 7+

to incite and stir up trouble

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

消防员迅速赶到,扑灭了熊熊大煽。

xiāo fáng yuán xùn sù gǎn dào , pū miè le xióng xióng dà shān .

Firefighters arrived swiftly and extinguished the raging blaze.

奇客SolidotAug 2026

中国账户试图悄悄煽动美国反数据中心情绪?

zhōng guó zhàng hù shì tú qiǎo qiǎo shān dòng měi guó fǎn shǔ jù zhōng xīn qíng xù ?

Are Chinese Accounts Trying to Quietly Stir Up Anti-Data Center Sentiment in the U.S.?

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

在内容选择上,应减少强反转、猎奇煽情类视频,优先选择知识讲解、自然风景等慢节奏内容。

zài nèi róng xuǎn zé shàng , yīng jiǎn shǎo qiáng fǎn zhuǎn , liè qí shān qíng lèi shì pín , yōu xiān xuǎn zé zhī shí jiǎng jiě , zì rán fēng jǐng děng màn jié zòu nèi róng .

When selecting content, we should minimize videos featuring dramatic plot twists, sensationalism, or sensational content, and prioritize slow-paced content such as educational explanations and natural scenery.

RfiApr 2026

联合国谴责煽动言论 警告蓄意攻击平民构成战争罪

lián gě guó qiǎn zé shān dòng yán lùn jǐng gào xù yì gōng jī píng mín gòu chéng zhàn zhēng zuì

The United Nations condemns incitement and warns that deliberate attacks on civilians constitute war crimes

BastillepostMar 2026

据悉“一拳书馆”涉售《黎智英传》等煽动刊物 负责人及职员被捕

jù xī yī quán shū guǎn shè shòu lí zhì yīng chuán děng shān dòng kān wù fù zé rén jí zhí yuán bèi bǔ

It is reported that "One Punch Bookstore" was involved in selling inflammatory publications such as *The Biography of Jimmy Lai*; the store's manager and staff have been arrested.

Hk01.comFeb 2026

六旬翁FB发布130则煽动帖文 求情称是固执长者的宣泄 囚8月

liù xún wēng F B fā bù 1 3 0 zé shān dòng tiē wén qiú qíng chèn shì gù zhí cháng zhě de xuān xiè qiú 8 yuè

The sixty-year-old posted 130 inflammatory posts on FB, pleading for catharsis from stubborn elders, and was imprisoned for 8 months

Tatoeba

仇恨言论会煽动私刑。

Chóuhèn yánlùn huì shāndòng sī xíng.

Hate speech incites lynchings.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shān

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 煽 (shān) mean in Chinese?
煽 (shān) primarily means "to fan into a flame." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2788 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 煽 have?
煽 is written with 14 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 煽?
The radical associated with 煽 is 火 (fire). This radical appears in many characters related to fire.
What are the components of 煽?
煽 is composed of: 火 (structural), 扇 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰火扇 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 煽?
Common words with 煽 include: 煽动 (shān dòng, "to incite"); 煽动性 (shān dòng xìng, "provocative"); 反革命宣传煽动罪 (fǎn gé mìng xuān chuán shān dòng zuì, "the crime of instigating counterrevolutionary propaganda"); 煽风点火 (shān fēng diǎn huǒ, "(idiom) to fan the flames"); 煽动颠覆国家政权 (shān dòng diān fù guó jiā zhèng quán, "incitement to subvert state power (criminal charge used to gag free speech)"). There are over 8 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 煽 (shān)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shān: 山 (mountain), 善 (good (virtuous)), 闪 (to flash, to dodge), 扇 (to fan), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 煽 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 煽 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 煽 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.