Eight Principles of Yong

The character 永; yǒng; 'forever'', ' 'permanence': its stroke order animated (left) and colored sequentially from black to red (right)
The strokes numbered: where there are multiple numbers in an area, the strokes overlap briefly and continue from the previous number to the next.
The eight strokes
The strokes together and separated: sequence numbers, and stroke directions (red)
Eight Principles of Yong
Chinese name
Chinese永字八法
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinYǒngzì Bā Fǎ
Wade–GilesYung3tzu4 Pa1 Fa3
Hakka
RomanizationYúnsṳ̀ Pat Fap
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingWing5zi6 Baat3 Faat3
Southern Min
Tâi-lôÍngjī Pat Huat
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetVĩnh tự bát pháp
Chữ Hán永字八法
Korean name
Hangul영자팔법
Hanja永字八法
Transcriptions
Revised RomanizationYeongjapalbeop
Japanese name
Kanji永字八法
Kanaえいじはっぽう
Transcriptions
RomanizationEiji happō

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 永; yǒng; 'forever'', ' 'permanence'. 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 (七勢) by Lady Wei Shuo. Publications on the principles include:

  • The Tang-era Praise to the Eight Principles of "Yong" (永字八法頌) by Liu Zongyuan[1]
  • The Tang-era Praise to the Eight Principles of "Yong" (永字八法頌) by Yan Zhenqing[2]
  • The Yuan-era Eight Ways to Explain "Yong" (永字八法解) by Li Puguang,[3] which provides two-character metaphorical names
  1. ^ Liu, Zongyuan. 永字八法颁 Yǒngzìbāfǎ sòng [Praise to the Eight Principles of "Yong"]. 全唐文 (in Chinese). Vol. 0583.
  2. ^ Yan, Zhenqing. 永字八法颂 Yǒngzìbāfǎ sòng [Praise to the Eight Principles of "Yong"]. 全唐文 (in Chinese). Vol. 0338.
  3. ^ Li, Puguang. 永字八法解 Yǒngzìbāfǎ jiě [Eight Ways to Explain "Yong"] (in Chinese).