According to the characteristics of Chinese characters image, we propose an improved corner detection method based on Harris algorithm and the ideal of FAST to improve detection rate for next feature extraction in this paper. First, the image of Chinese characters is detected for corners using Harris algorithm. Second, using the FAST for reference, the false corners are removed. The corners founded lastly are the endpoints of line segments, providing the length of line segments for shape feature extraction. The proposed method is compared with several corner detection methods over a number of images. Experimental results show that the proposed method shows better performance in terms of detection rate being the base of feature extraction, but not best for running time.