Stroke order (ma, biao, chang)

Hello there,

I was wondering about the stroke order of some characters. For example in the radicals ma (horse, radical 187), biao (radical 190) and chang (radical 168) I see different stroke orders on various recourses. Some begin with the horizontal and others start with the vertical. Which one is correct? Or is there no “correct” and is it culturally/region dependent?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Unlike Japanese, there isn’t a standard “correct” stroke order for some characters and so there are some acceptable variances. With these three radicals you’ve mentioned though, it should begin with the vertical stroke first before the horizontal!