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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 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 Zongyuancite-ref-liu-1-0[1]

• The Tang-era Praise to the Eight Principles of "Yong" (永字八法頌) by Yan Zhenqingcite-ref-yan-2-0[2]

• The Yuan-era Eight Ways to Explain "Yong" (永字八法解) by Li Puguang,cite-ref-li-3-0[3] which provides two-character metaphorical names

• Table

• CJK strokes

• Gallery

• See also

• References

| Principle [ 4 ] | Principle [ 4 ] | Principle [ 4 ] | Pinyin abbr. | Name | Name | Name | Name | Additional description |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|

| Principle [ 4 ] | Principle [ 4 ] | Principle [ 4 ] | Pinyin abbr. | Tang-era [ 1 ] [ 2 ] | Li [ 3 ] | Modern Chinese | Vietnamese | Additional description |

| 1 | | ㇔ | D | 側 ; 侧 ; cè ; 'side' | 怪石 ; guàishí ; 'dot' | 點 ; 点 ; d iǎn ; 'dot' | chấm | Tiny dash, speck |

| 2 | | ㇐ | H | 勒 ; lè ; 'bridle' | 玉案 ; yù'àn ; 'jade table' | 橫 ; 横 ; h éng ; 'horizontal' | sổ ngang | Rightward |

| 3 | | ㇑ | S | 弩 ; nǔ ; 'crossbow' 努 ; nǔ ; 'strive' | 鐵柱 ; 铁柱 ; tiězhù ; 'iron pillar' | 豎、竪 ; 竖 ; s hù ; 'erect' 鐵杵 ; 铁杵 ; tiěchǔ ; 'iron staff' | sổ dọc | Downward |

| 4 | | ㇚ | G | 趯 ; tì ; 'jump' | 蟹爪 ; xièzhuǎ ; 'crab's pincer' | 鉤、鈎 ; 钩 ; g ōu ; 'hook' | móc | Appended to others, suddenly going down, or left only |

| 5 | | ㇀ | T | 策 ; cè ; 'horsewhip' | 虎牙 ; hǔyá ; 'tiger's tooth' | 提 ; t í ; 'raise' 挑 ; tiāo ; 'lift-off' | hất | Flick up and rightwards |

| 6 | | ㇁ | W | 掠 ; lüè ; 'skim' | 犀角 ; xījiǎo ; 'rhinoceros's horn' | 彎 ; 弯 ; w ān ; 'curve' | cong | Tapering thinning curve, usually concave left (convex outward right) with fast speed as if skimming |

| 7 | | ㇒ | P | 啄 ; zhuó ; 'to peck' | 鳥啄 ; 鸟啄 ; niǎozhuó ; 'bird's pecking' | 撇 ; p iě ; 'throw away' 短撇 ; duǎnpiě ; 'short slant' | phẩy | Falling leftwards with light curve |

| 8 | | ㇏ | N | 磔 ; zhé ; 'dismember' | 金刀 ; jīndāo ; 'golden knife' | 捺 ; n à ; 'press firmly' 波 ; bō ; 'wave' | mác | Falling rightwards, fattening at bottom, where endpoint is "sharp as a knife" |

In addition to these eight common strokes in 永, 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.cite-ref-utf-4-1[4]

• CJK characters

• CJK strokes

cite-note-liu-11. ↑ citerefliuLiu, Zongyuan. 永字八法颁 Yǒngzìbāfǎ sòng [Praise to the Eight Principles of "Yong"]. 全唐文 (in Chinese). Vol. 0583.

cite-note-yan-22. ↑ citerefyanYan, Zhenqing. 永字八法颂 Yǒngzìbāfǎ sòng [Praise to the Eight Principles of "Yong"]. 全唐文 (in Chinese). Vol. 0338.

cite-note-li-33. ↑ citerefliLi, Puguang. 永字八法解 Yǒngzìbāfǎ jiě [Eight Ways to Explain "Yong"] (in Chinese).

cite-note-utf-44. "CJK Strokes" (PDF). The Unicode Standard.