For centuries, students of Chinese calligraphy have started with one character: 永 (yǒng, “forever”). Within its few strokes it contains the eight basic brush movements used to write almost every Chinese character. This teaching is called 永字八法 (Yǒng zì bā fǎ), “the eight principles of the character 永”.
Tradition attributes the method to calligraphers of the Jin and Tang dynasties; Wang Xizhi and the monk Zhiyong are the names most often given. Whoever first wrote it down, the idea has been part of calligraphy teaching ever since.
The eight strokes
Each principle has a classical name that describes the movement of the brush, and a modern stroke name used in dictionaries and textbooks today.
| # | Classical name | Modern stroke | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 侧 cè | 点 dot | A short press, like a bird tilting as it lands |
| 2 | 勒 lè | 横 horizontal | Drawn left to right with restraint, like reining in a horse |
| 3 | 努 nǔ | 竖 vertical | Written downward with force, with a slight curve rather than dead straight |
| 4 | 趯 tì | 钩 hook | A quick flick at the end of a stroke, like a kick |
| 5 | 策 cè | 提 rising stroke | A short stroke flicked upward to the right, like the lash of a whip |
| 6 | 掠 lüè | 撇 long left-falling | A long sweep down and to the left, lightening as it goes |
| 7 | 啄 zhuó | 短撇 short left-falling | A short, quick stroke to the left, like a bird pecking |
| 8 | 磔 zhé | 捺 right-falling | A downward stroke to the right that thickens and then tapers |
Why 永?
The character is compact, balanced and uses each basic movement once or close to it. Practising it trains the hand in the whole vocabulary of strokes at the same time. Stroke counts depend on how strokes are grouped: modern dictionaries count 永 as five strokes, because some of the eight movements are joined in a single stroke.
Watch it written
The home page of hanzi.ac writes 永 stroke by stroke. On the 永 word page you can play the stroke order and practise tracing it.
Related: stroke order rules.