Topics · Primary Chinese · Picture Composition (看图写话)
看图写话: writing the story in the pictures
Four pictures in a row, and a story to be written from them. The pictures are not decoration — they are the plan, and every one of them has to appear in what you write.
- 124 exam papers analysed
- appears in 50% of P3 Chinese papers
- ~3 min read
01 One picture, one paragraph
The four pictures are the four paragraphs. That is the whole structure, given to you before you start.
Look at all four before writing. The last one tells you how the story ends, and knowing the ending changes how you write the first.
Every picture must appear. Skipping one loses content marks even if the story still makes sense without it.
Do not add a fifth event. The story is the one in the pictures.
02 Reading a picture properly
A picture holds more than the action. Papers award marks for the details pupils walk past.
| Ask | Words it gives you | |
|---|---|---|
| Who | how many people, how old, what are they wearing | 小明, 一位老人, 两个同学 |
| Where | indoors or out, school or park or home | 在公园里, 在教室里 |
| When | sun, rain, clock, dark | 一个晴朗的早上, 放学后 |
| Doing | the action in the middle of the picture | 正在踢球, 摔倒了 |
| Feeling | the faces — this is where the marks are | 很着急, 很开心, 皱着眉头 |
03 Writing it up
Start with time and place, not with the action. 一个晴朗的早上，小明和小华在公园里踢球。
Join the paragraphs with time words — 接着, 突然, 最后. They are what make four descriptions into one story.
突然 belongs at picture three. That is where the problem happens, and the word signals it.
Write what people said where the picture shows them talking. A line of dialogue with correct 引号 is worth more than another description.
End with a feeling or a lesson. 他们都很高兴, or 我明白了助人为快乐之本. It closes the story properly.
04 Checking
All four pictures used? Count your paragraphs against the panels.
Same tense and same people throughout. A story that starts with 小明 and drifts to 我 loses marks.
Punctuation in the squares. Chinese punctuation is full-width, one mark per square, and 。，？！ all count.
Characters you are sure of. If you cannot write a word, choose a simpler one. A wrong character costs; a plainer word does not.
05 How to say them
These are words most children have never said out loud, and a word you cannot say is a word you avoid using. The respelling is Hanyu Pinyin, with the tone marked over the vowel. Tap the speaker to hear it.
- 看图写话saykàn tú xiě huà
Picture composition — writing a story from a row of pictures.
- 图画saytú huà
The pictures. Four of them, and each one is a paragraph.
- 突然saytū rán
Suddenly. The word that marks the third picture, where the problem happens.
- 接着sayjiē zhe
Next, then. It joins one picture's paragraph to the next.
- 最后sayzuì hòu
Finally. It opens the last paragraph.
- 神情sayshén qíng
The expression on someone's face. Describing it is where the marks are.
06 What each level is tested on
The same topic, asked differently as it goes up. The percentage is the share of papers at that level in which it appears.
- P2
Writing one or two sentences about each picture, saying who and what.
Practise P2 Chinese Picture Composition (看图写话) — 8 questions →29% of P2 Chinese papers
- P3
Four paragraphs joined by time words, with a beginning and an ending.
Practise P3 Chinese Picture Composition (看图写话) — 8 questions → Practise P3 Higher Chinese Picture Composition (看图写话) — 8 questions →50% of P3 Chinese papers
41% of P3 Higher Chinese papers
- P4
Description of feelings as well as actions, and dialogue where the pictures show it.
Practise P4 Chinese Picture Composition (看图写话) — 8 questions →19% of P4 Chinese papers
- P5
Fuller compositions from the pictures, with idioms and a closing lesson.
Practise P5 Chinese Picture Composition (看图写话) — 8 questions →19% of P5 Chinese papers
- P6
Picture prompts used as the basis for a full-length composition judged like any other.
Practise P6 Chinese Picture Composition (看图写话) — 8 questions →30% of P6 Chinese papers
07 Mistakes worth knowing about
Each of these is wrong. Decide why before you open it.
“I started writing from the first picture.”
Look at all four first. The last picture is the ending, and knowing it changes how the first paragraph is written.
“I skipped a picture because the story worked without it.”
Every picture carries content marks. Four pictures, four paragraphs.
“I described what happened but not how anyone felt.”
The faces in the pictures are there to be described, and that is where the marks that separate compositions are.
“I added an extra event I thought of.”
The story is the one in the pictures. An invented fifth event is off the task.
“I wrote it as four separate descriptions.”
Join them with 接着, 突然 and 最后. Without those it is a list, not a story.
Now try it
40 questions across 5 levels, marked as you go with the working shown.