process; course
HSK level
过程 is written with 18 strokes (过: 6, 程: 12). The animation replays automatically.
过程 (guòchéng) is the Chinese noun for 'process' or 'course' — the sequence of steps, stages, or developments through which something moves from start to finish (学习的过程 the learning process, 生产过程 production process, 在……过程中 in the course of...).
It is register-neutral and very common in study, work, and description. For English speakers, the most useful pattern is 在……过程中 ('during / in the course of'), used to frame when something happened: 在讨论的过程中 = 'during the discussion.'
Unlike English 'process,' 过程 is almost always a noun and is not used as a verb — 'to process data' is 处理数据, not 过程. It emphasizes the journey between two points, often contrasted with 结果 (result), the outcome at the end.
Character by character
Memory hook: 过 (to pass through) + 程 (a journey's stages) = the stages you pass through — a process.
过程 appears in 3 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
学中文是一个慢慢积累的过程。
Xué Zhōngwén shì yí ge mànman jīlěi de guòchéng.
Learning Chinese is a process of slow accumulation.
spoken
在做实验的过程中，我们遇到了一些问题。
Zài zuò shíyàn de guòchéng zhōng, wǒmen yùdào le yìxiē wèntí.
During the experiment, we ran into some problems.
neutral
重要的不是结果，而是过程。
Zhòngyào de bú shì jiéguǒ, ér shì guòchéng.
What matters is not the result, but the process.
neutral
整个决策过程都非常公开透明。
Zhěnggè juécè guòchéng dōu fēicháng gōngkāi tòumíng.
The entire decision-making process was very open and transparent.
written
程序 is a set procedure or fixed sequence of steps (工作程序 work procedure), and also 'computer program.' 过程 is the natural unfolding of events over time. Use 程序 for formal, ordered steps; 过程 for the general course something takes.
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