How many basic strokes are there in Chinese characters?

Traditionally, there are eight basic strokes in Chinese characters, namely, "丶 (dot), 鈪 (horizontal), 鈪 (vertical), 鈪 (skimming), 鈪 (downward), 鈪 (lift), 鈪 (folding) and 鈪 (hooking)," which is also known as the "Eight Methods of the Chinese Characters of the Yong Characters" (永字八法).

List of basic strokes in Chinese characters

Expanded content: The Eight Methods of Yong Characters

The Eight Methods of Yong Characters is a method of describing the use of strokes in block capitalization, and is so-called because it is based on the eight strokes of the word "yong" as an example. The source of the old three said:

(1) Zhang Xu said, see the ink pool editorial;

(2) the monk Zhiyong said, see the essence of the book garden;

(3) Cai Yong, Wang Xizhi, said, see Li Puguang, "Xue'an eight methods".

The method is called "side" for the point, must be the side of the sharp fall, spread the pen, the potential to close the front; horizontal painting for the "Le", must be against the front of the paper, slowly go back to the sharp, should not be smooth flat; straight strokes for the "Nu The straight strokes are "Nu", not too straight, too straight will be stiff and powerless, so it is necessary to see the curvature in the straight; the hook is "Tì", it is necessary to stop and lift the brush, suddenly jump up, and its power is concentrated in the tip of the brush; the upward horizontal is "Cai", the force is in the hair stroke, and the force is in the The end of the painting; the long apostrophe is "lüè", the same as the straight painting, the stroke should be a little fat, the force should be sent to, such as one to not collect, easy to commit the problem of fluttering instability; the short apostrophe is "pecked", the left side of the falling pen, to be fast and sharp; the downward strokes of the " tearing off (zhé)", to reverse the brush lightly, folding the brush to spread the hair slowly, to the end of the closing stroke, focusing on subtlety. Later generations also extended the word "eight methods" as a synonym for "calligraphy".

The Eight Methods of Yongzhi refers to the eight basic strokes of traditional Chinese characters, namely, "point, horizontal, vertical, apostrophe, press, lift, fold, and hook"? [6]? The eight methods of the Yong character are in fact the eight strokes of the character "永", which represent the general strokes of Chinese calligraphy, namely, "侧(dot),勒(横),努(竖),趯(hook),策(提),掠(撇),啄(右短撇),磔(捺)", which are the following eight strokes. The book "Chinese Calligraphy in Brief" by Zhu Zongyuan explains it more clearly.