Eight Principles of Yong

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The Eight Principles of Yong are used by calligraphers to practice how to write the eight most common strokes in regular script, using the fact that they are all present in the character Template:Zhi. It was believed that the frequent practice of these principles as such when beginning one's study could ensure beauty in the Chinese calligrapher's writing.

The Eight Principles are influenced by the Eastern Jin-era Seven Powers (Template:Zhi) by Lady Wei Shuo. Publications on the principles include:

• The Tang-era Praise to the Eight Principles of "Yong" (Template:Zhi) by Liu Zongyuan<ref name=liu>Template:Cite book</ref>
• The Tang-era Praise to the Eight Principles of "Yong" (Template:Zhi) by Yan Zhenqing<ref name=yan>Template:Cite book</ref>
• The Yuan-era Eight Ways to Explain "Yong" (Template:Zhi) by Li Puguang,<ref name=li>Template:Cite book</ref> which provides two-character metaphorical names

Table

Template:Transliteration principles (stroke components) by stroke order

Principle<ref name=utf>Template:Cite web</ref>			Pinyin abbr.	Name				Additional description
				Tang-era<ref name="liu"/><ref name=yan/>	Li<ref name="li"/>	Modern Chinese	Vietnamese
1		Template:Bigdiv	D	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:Lang	Tiny dash, speck
2	File:H black.png	Template:Bigdiv	H	Template:Lang-zh	Template:Lang-zh	Template:Lang-zh	Template:Lang	Rightward
3	File:S black.png	Template:Bigdiv	S	Template:Ubl	Template:Zhi	Template:Ubl	Template:Lang	Downward
4	File:G black.png	Template:Bigdiv	G	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:Lang	Appended to others, suddenly going down, or left only
5	File:T black.png	Template:Bigdiv	T	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:Ubl	Template:Lang	Flick up and rightwards
6	File:W black.png	Template:Bigdiv	W	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:Lang	Tapering thinning curve, usually concave left (convex outward right) with fast speed as if skimming
7	File:P black.png	Template:Bigdiv	P	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:Ubl	Template:Lang	Falling leftwards with light curve
8	File:N black.png	Template:Bigdiv	N	Template:Zhi	Template:Zhi	Template:Ubl	Template:Lang	Falling rightwards, fattening at bottom, where endpoint is "sharp as a knife"

CJK strokes

Template:Main In addition to these eight common strokes in Template:Zhi, there are at least two dozen strokes of combinations which enter in the composition of CJK strokes and by inclusion the CJK characters themselves. Most strokes are encoded in Unicode as symbols, to be used in ideographic description sequences (IDS). The standard characters names assigned in the UCS for these CJK strokes are based on initials of the modern Chinese names (romanized with Pinyin) of component principles with which they are recognized and drawn.<ref name="utf"/>

Gallery

• 
  The principles, as shown in the Vietnamese book Template:Lang Template:Lang (1851), with their individual strokes
• 
  A section in Template:Lang Template:Lang (1848), explaining the concept of the Eight Principles of Yong
• 
  The Eight Principles of Yong depicted the calligraphy book, Template:Lang Template:Lang (1869)

See also

• CJK characters
• CJK strokes