Abstract: A layout of five stroke shapes for inputting Chinese characters in a device is disclosed. The layout is Cross-shaped with relative positions of the five strokes being helpful to users knowledgeable in Chinese writing. Further, the layout arrangement is accompanied with a lyric which helps users remember and memorize the locations of the five strokes on the keypad. The relative locations of the five strokes are: Pie at the left of the cross, Dian at the right, Heng at the top, Zhe at the bottom, and Shu at the center. The lyric describes the shapes of the strokes and the relative locations of the strokes in the Cross-shaped configuration. For example, the lyric may be “left slash, right gash, upper over, lower turn with one down in the middle.” The lyric may have a tune to become a song and may be burned in a ROM of a device, such as a mobile phone.