(shēng): to ascend, to rise, to promote, to elevate, liter

(shēng) is a Chinese character meaning “to ascend.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural). It ranks #837 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to ascend
  2. to rise
  3. to promote
  4. to elevate
  5. liter

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbshàng shēngto rise5
verbtí shēngto promote (to a higher-ranking position)5
verbshēng jíto go up by one grade5
measureháo shēngmilliliter6
verbshēng wēnto become hot5
verbshēng xuéto enter the next grade school6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
zhí shēng jīhelicopter
shēng qǐto raise
zhí shēng fēi jīsee 直升機|直升机[zhi2 sheng1 ji1]
shēng gāoto raise
jìn shēngto promote to a higher position
shēng kōngto rise to the sky
shēng qiānto advance to a higher-level position
shēng huáto sublimate
shēng tiānlit. to ascend to heaven
shēng jiàng jīaerial work platform (e.g. cherry picker or scissor lift)
shēng guānto get promoted
pá shēngto rise
shēng jiàngrising and falling
biāo shēngto rise rapidly
pān shēngto clamber up
80
Total compounds
49
As first character
34
As last character
18
As middle character

appears in 80 compound words: 49 as the first character, 34 as the last, and 18 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.552253,611 co-occurrences
jìn
0.53664,427 co-occurrences
biāo
0.5213,152 co-occurrences
0.51815,030 co-occurrences
0.510173,406 co-occurrences
0.498104,456 co-occurrences
jiàng
0.49172,000 co-occurrences
tái
0.4777,254 co-occurrences
zhí
0.464106,908 co-occurrences
pān
0.4589,155 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

bùbùgāoshēngHSK 5+

to advance step by step (especially in a career)

phrase
gēwǔshēngpíngHSK 5+

prosperous and peaceful

phrase
jīquǎnshēngtiānHSK 7+

When a man gets to the top, all his friends and relations get there with him. / to ride on somebody else's success

phrase
míng shēng àn jiàngHSK 5+

(idiom) to kick sb upstairs

phrase
shēng dǒu xiǎo mínHSK 5+

(idiom) poor people; those who live from hand to mouth

phrase
shēngguānfācáiHSK 6+

to be promoted to a higher position as an official and make a fortune

phrase
sì hǎi shēng píngHSK 5+

(idiom) the whole world is at peace

phrase

Showing 7 of 8 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了解字的来源,有助于理解中国文化。

le xiè shēng zì de lái yuán , yǒu zhù yú lǐ xiè zhōng guó wén huā .

Understanding the origin of the character "升" helps to comprehend Chinese culture.

東方日報Feb 2026

正论:留港消费情已逝 出境外游按年

zhèng lùn : liú gǎng xiāo fèi qíng yǐ shì chū jìng wài yóu àn nián shēng

Commentary: Consumption in Hong Kong is gone, and outbound travel is increasing year-on-year

東方日報Feb 2026

被困晴空塔降机长达5个半小时 约20人全部获救

bèi kùn qíng kōng tǎ shēng jiàng jī cháng dá 5 gè bàn xiǎo shí yuē 2 0 rén quán bù huò jiù

Trapped in the Skytree lift for five and a half hours, about 20 people were rescued

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

通膨上、减重药热销 美食品业降价吸引顾客回流

tōng péng shàng shēng , jiǎn chóng yào rè xiāo měi shí pǐn yè jiàng jià xī yǐn gù kè huí liú

Inflation rises, weight loss drugs are hot, and the price reduction of the US food industry attracts customers to return

公視新聞網 PnnFeb 2026

传统采洗牡蛎费工费时 台南引进洗蚵机提效率

chuán tǒng cǎi xǐ mǔ 蛎 fèi gōng fèi shí tái nán yǐn jìn xǐ 蚵 jī tí shēng xiào lǜ

Traditional oyster washing is labor-intensive and time-consuming, and Tainan has introduced oyster washing machines to improve efficiency

東方日報Feb 2026

哗!近$4,620万买嘉应高W创纪录!

huā ! jìn 4 , 6 2 0 wàn mǎi jiā yīng gāo shēng W chuàng jì lù !

Wow! Nearly $46.2 million to buy Jiaying High W record!

Tatoeba

世界人口有上的趋势。

Shìjiè rénkǒu yǒu shàngshēng de qūshì.

The world's population tends to increase.

Tatoeba

物价一直在稳定上

Wùjià yīzhí zài wěndìng shàngshēng.

Prices have been rising steadily.

Tatoeba

事实上,价格每个星期都在攀

Shìshíshàng, jiàgé měi gè xīngqī dōu zài pānshēng.

As it is, prices are going up every week.

Tatoeba

这个政策导致物价大幅度的上

Zhège zhèngcè dǎozhì wùjià dàfúdù de shàngshēng.

This policy resulted in a great rise in prices.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shēng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 升 (shēng) mean in Chinese?
升 (shēng) primarily means "to ascend." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #837 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 升 and 倒?
升 (shēng) and 倒 (dǎo) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 升 (rise) vs 倒 (fall).
How many strokes does 升 have?
升 is written with 4 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 升?
The radical associated with 升 is 十 (ten). This radical appears in many characters related to ten.
What are the components of 升?
升 is composed of: 十 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 升?
Common words with 升 include: 直升机 (zhí shēng jī, "helicopter"); 上升 (shàng shēng, "to rise"); 提升 (tí shēng, "to promote (to a higher-ranking position)"); 升级 (shēng jí, "to go up by one grade"); 升起 (shēng qǐ, "to raise"). There are over 80 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 升 (shēng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shēng: 生 (to be born), 声 (sound), 牲 (domestic animal), 绳 (rope), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 升 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 升 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.