Symmetry

We have now seen the 6 primary strokes used to create Chinese characters, as well as 1 of the other 6 strokes. Of the 6 primary strokes, 3 are represented using the right hand, and 3 are represented using the left hand.

For readers who know about Yang and Yin, and if not there will soon be a section on them in another part of this blog, the right hand here represents Yang and the left hand represents Yin. The right hand represents sameness (Yang) and completeness (Yang), and the left hand represents difference (Yin) and incompleteness (Yin).

The 3 strokes represented by the right arm are first, and all of these honor both of the 2 rules, that strokes are drawn top to bottom and left to right.

The 3 strokes represented by the left arm are second, and none of these honor both of the rules. Furthermore, they do so differently; 2 of the strokes violate 1 rule and 1 violates both rules.

All 3 of the strokes represented by the right arm use all 3 parts of the arm, the upper arm, the forearm, and the hand. All 3 of the strokes represented by the left arm are different; the 1^st stroke uses all 3 parts of the arm, the 2^nd stroke uses uses only 2 parts of the arm, and the 3^rd stroke uses only 1 part of the arm.

The right arm covers the entire spectrum of the right side of the body; vertically downward, horizontally outward, and precisely in between. In other words, the arms forms a 0^o angle, a 90^o angle, and a 45^o angle with respect to the body.

The left arm is different. There are 2 strokes at a 45^o angle with respect to the body. The other stroke extends the arm in all directions; horizontal toward the left, vertically upward, and at a 45^o angle downward toward the right.

For the right arm, the hand is in line with the arm and open, in line with the arm and closed into a fist, and not in line with the arm (the wrist is bent upward) and open. For the left arm, the hand is in line with the arm and open, not in line with the arm (the wrist is bent upward) and closed into a fist, and not in line with the arm (the wrist is bent downward) and open. Therefore, the second of these strokes uses 2 changes, and the last stroke duplicates the wrist bend, but in a different direction.

In addition, we can see among these 6 strokes that the strokes are paired. There are 5 pairs of strokes; pairing in the middle, top, bottom, left, and right.

Middle

The vertical and horizontal strokes form a pair. These strokes establish the midline of the character or the character section and, if the horizontal crosses the midline, the point where they cross forms the center of the character. The other pairs of strokes can only move toward or away from the midline; they do not touch it.

Bottom

There are 2 strokes that move downward, away from the midline.

Top

There are 2 strokes that move downward, toward the midline.

Left

There are 2 strokes that move rightward, toward the midline.

Right

There is 1 stroke that moves leftward, toward the midline.

There is no stroke that moves upward toward the left.