The Eight Principles of ''Yong'' (; ja, 永字八法/えいじはっぽう, ''eiji happō''; ko, 영자팔법/永字八法, ''Yeongjapalbeop''; vi, Vĩnh tự bát pháp) explain how to write eight common

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

s in

regular script Regular script (; Hepburn: ''kaisho''), also called (), (''zhēnshū''), (''kǎitǐ'') and (''zhèngshū''), is the newest of the Chinese script styles (popularized from the Cao Wei dynasty c. 200 AD and maturing stylistically around the ...

which are found all in the one character, (, "forever", "permanence"). It was traditionally believed that the frequent practice of these principles as a beginning

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

could ensure beauty in one's writing. The Eight Principles are influenced by the earlier Seven Powers () by Lady

Wei Shuo Wei Shuo (, 272–349), courtesy name Mouyi (茂猗), sobriquet He'nan (和南), commonly addressed just as Lady Wei (衛夫人), was a Chinese calligrapher of Eastern Jin, who established consequential rules about the regular script. Her fam ...

() of

Eastern Jin Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air L ...

. Publications on the Principles include: * ''The Praise to the Eight Principles of "Yong"'' () by

Liu Zongyuan Liu Zongyuan (; 77328 November 819) was a Chinese philosopher, poet, and politician who lived during the Tang Dynasty. Liu was born in present-day Yongji, Shanxi. Along with Han Yu, he was a founder of the Classical Prose Movement. He has been t ...

() of the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

. * ''Explanations to the Eight Principles of "Yong"'' () by Li Puguang () of the

Yuan Dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

. Lǐ provided two-character

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...

ical names.

Table of naming usages

Note:

－ ''Xié'' is sometimes added to the 's strokes. It is a concave ''Shù'' falling right, always ended by a ''Gōu'', visible on this image.

CJK strokes

In addition to these eight common strokes in , there are at least two dozen strokes of combinations which enter in the composition of

CJK strokes CJK strokes () are the calligraphic strokes needed to write the Chinese characters in regular script used in East Asian calligraphy. CJK strokes are the classified set of line patterns that may be arranged and combined to form Chinese charact ...

and by inclusion the

CJK characters In internationalization, CJK characters is a collective term for the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages, all of which include Chinese characters and derivatives in their writing systems, sometimes paired with other scripts. Collectively, the ...

themselves.

References

* ''Explanations to the Eight Principles of "Yong"'' () by

Li Puguang Li, li, or LI may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Landscape Institute, a British professional body for landscape architects * Leadership Institute, a non-profit organization located in Arlington, Virginia, US, that teaches "political te ...

()
Unicode page for all CJK strokes, thus including the 8 strokes of Yong
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eight Principles Of Yong 8 Eight Principles of Yong Chinese characters East Asian calligraphy

Table of naming usages

CJK strokes

See also

References