Frequently asked questions
Last updated: September 1, 2026
What is Hanzi Constellation?
A visual map of Chinese characters. Characters are broken into their components and connected three ways: what they contain (structure), how they sound (phonetic families), and the words they build. Instead of memorizing 3,000 isolated characters, you learn the network — see 青 once and you hold the key to 清, 晴, 請, 情, 精, and 睛. You can browse the families page by page, or by 部首 radical.
Is it a subscription?
No. You pay once and own it. The free web version includes the most common characters; a single one-time purchase unlocks the full3,000-character map. Optional expansion packs (advanced levels, vocabulary decks, audio) are also one-time purchases — buy the ones you want, skip the ones you don’t.
Does it work offline?
Yes — that’s the point. The mobile app ships with all of its data on the device: no account, no server, no connection needed. It works on a plane, in the MRT, anywhere. The web explorer works offline too: once you’ve opened the site, the map and your sky keep working without a connection, and you can install it to your home screen from the browser menu.
Do I need an account?
No. There are no accounts. Your progress is stored on your own device, and purchases are restored through the App Store on iPhone, or your license key in any browser on the web.
Traditional or simplified characters?
Traditional first, with zhuyin and pinyin, and the official Taiwan proficiency band (TBCL) on every character it covers. TOCFL and HSK labels are not shown — TBCL is the banding TOCFL is aligned with, and we would rather show the band we actually have than imply an exam mapping we have not verified. Simplified-character support is on the roadmap and the data is already structured for it.
Is this a flashcard / SRS app?
No. Excellent SRS apps already exist. Hanzi Constellation is the map those apps don’t give you: the reference you return to when you want to know why a character looks and sounds the way it does. You mark characters as learned at your own pace, and the map keeps score — characters known, and the words those characters unlock. And the two work together: any chart or study set exports as an Anki-ready TSV — the whole thing, or only what you haven’t learned yet. How to import →
What is a “star chart”?
The built-in learning plan. The full map is divided into 16 charts, ordered so that every new character maximizes the number of new words you can read with the characters you already know. Finish them all and you have covered 99.7% of everyday text. Coverage is measured against a corpus of Taiwan film and television subtitles — the closest public match to everyday Mandarin.
Can teachers use it?
Yes — study sets can be built from any level, component, or pasted text, free and without an account. Exporting them as printable PDF handouts for the classroom comes with the full map.
If you teach Chinese and the price is in your way, email support@hanzi-constellation.app and we will send you a free license. No form, no proof, no limit on how many teachers ask — a classroom using the map is worth more to us than the license fee.
Where does the data come from?
Open data: the Unihan database, CC-CEDICT, and open character decomposition projects, with attributions listed in the app. Example sentences are AI-generated and labeled with a small “AI” tag. The speaker button plays your device’s built-in Taiwan-Mandarin system voice; a clearly labeled AI voice, tone-checked against reference readings, arrives in a free update. We won’t call something a native speaker unless it is one.
Is the vocabulary suitable for children?
Mostly, but not entirely. The map is built from real-world Chinese, so a small number of words are crude, sexual, or insulting — the kind of language you would meet in a film or on the street, defined here the way a dictionary defines it. A family-friendly filter that hides those entries is built in and on by default; entries it hides sit behind an explicit “show more” when it is off.
Taiwan or mainland Chinese?
Traditional characters, with vocabulary drawn from a Taiwan corpus — so you get 計程車 and 腳踏車 rather than 出租車 and 自行車. Readings are Taiwan’s: 期 qí, 危 wéi, 垃圾 lèsè, and where a character is read differently on each side the card shows both, labeled. Where the Ministry of Education’s standard and everyday speech differ, we print the standard. One honest caveat while we finish the job: the word list comes from a traditional-script subtitle corpus rather than a Taiwan-authored one, so some mainland-flavored vocabulary is still in the mix.
Can I use it now?
Yes. The web map is live: open it free in any browser, no account, and unlock the full 3,000 characters whenever you like. The iPhone app is on the App Store — free to start, with its own in-app unlock.