How to Type Chinese on Mac and MacBook (Pinyin + Handwriting)
On macOS, Chinese typing is an input source. Add it once in System Settings and you can switch to it anywhere — including on a MacBook trackpad, which also supports handwriting recognition.
Add a Chinese input source
Open System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources, then click the + button.
Choose Chinese, Simplified and add Pinyin (Simplified). Add Handwriting as well if you want to write characters with your finger.
The input menu in the menu bar shows the current source; tick “Show Input menu in menu bar” if you do not see it.
Switching keyboards
Control + Space cycles to the next input source. On newer Macs the Globe key does the same thing, and Caps Lock can be assigned to switching in the Input Sources settings.
To type pinyin letters, switch to ABC. macOS composes pinyin into characters inside the input method, so a Latin keyboard is what you want for practice.
Trackpad handwriting
With the Handwriting input source active, write a character on the trackpad with your finger and macOS proposes candidates.
It is slower than pinyin but useful when you can recognise a character and cannot recall its reading.
Typing ü and practising
macOS follows the same convention as every other pinyin IME: type v for ü (女 → nv).
Before a TypingChinese session, switch to ABC so each letter reaches the page and gets graded individually.
- 女 → nv
- Switch to ABC before practising
Now practise it
Your keyboard is set up. Type pinyin, get graded letter by letter, and let spaced repetition bring back the words you miss. No account.
Other guides
TypingChinese is open source — view the code on GitHub.