section_path: Structure
section_name: Structure
paragraph_text: Structure
  
  Each character of a text is written within a uniform square allotted for it. As part of the evolution from seal script into clerical script, character components became regularised as discrete series of strokes (笔画; 筆畫; bǐhuà). Strokes can be considered both the basic unit of handwriting, as well as the writing system's basic unit of graphemic organisation. In clerical and regular script, individual strokes traditionally belong to one of eight categories according to their technique and graphemic function. In what is known as the Eight Principles of Yong, calligraphers practice their technique using the character 永 (yǒng; ' eternity '), which can be written with one stroke of each type. In ordinary writing, 永 is now written with five strokes instead of eight, and a system of five basic stroke types is commonly employed in analysis—with certain compound strokes treated as sequences of basic strokes made in a single motion.
  
  Characters are constructed according to predictable visual patterns. Some components have distinct combining forms when occupying specific positions within a character—for example, the ⼑ 'KNIFE' component appears as 刂 on the right side of characters, but as ⺈ at the top of characters. The order in which components are drawn within a character is fixed. The order in which the strokes of a component are drawn is also largely fixed, but may vary according to several different standards. This is summed up in practice with a few rules of thumb, including that characters are generally assembled from left to right, then from top to bottom, with "enclosing" components started before, then closed after, the components they enclose. For example, 永 is drawn in the following order: