Do you mean the dot? did I understand well? Absolutely not, in some zi's you have to draw it in both senses: http://www.archchinese.com/chinese_english_dictionary.html?find=火 PS - you can see in my link, that the chinese font is clearly right-to-left, but the hand-written version shows both directions ------------ PS - 2: I'm sure this appears a bit controversial question to Chinese people even. Lastly, it can be solved by admitting that, as in many cases, >> "there are more than one way to obtain the same result." Actually, if we only could use such "codified strokes", there would be no Calligraphy -- and everybody knows (or should do) how much Calligraphy is important in Chinese artistic cultural heritage. In the case of 火, this is a very good example of "limit case". We have those two "dots" on each side; the site Archchinese calls both "点"(dián) but only the left one appears to be an "authentic 点" -- as the right-hand one actually looks much more like a short “撇”(piě). Then I also made you notice that the web-font draws them both, as the "short 撇(piě)" version. Therefore I think we're back to the main idea that we simply live in a world of "References" -- some are more strict, some are less, and they always can change, more or less, for a long time, or "just as needed" -- and the last one is likely the solution you asked for. Moral of the tale: 点 is ONLY the left-to-right dot. --- BUT. Sometimes, for writing convenience, and for a PERSONAL HABIT, those Dot can be "interpreted" in the right-to-left version. I guess, quite sure, that Chinese scholars have a name for this ...kinda "hybrid". Best.

Yes it goes from left to right only. In the example it's a 点.

PS: After reading the comment below, let me clarify. If it is a short dot which we call “点”, it ONLY goes from left to right. If it's a longer left-to-right stroke, we call it “捺”(nà). If it goes from right to left, it is a “撇”(piě).

Agree with AP - there is a 左點, too. Otherwise, how do you make the first stroke in 情 or the first stroke in 心 ? Definitely right to left as you go down.

yep! and the short one is a点，the long one is a 捺