How to write The vigour of a dragon-horse (Long Ma Jing Shen, 龙马精神)
Energy and good spirits; a favourite wish for older people. 4 characters, 31 strokes.
Write it in your own hand
The grey guide and the red arrow show where each stroke starts and which way it goes. What you write is kept exactly as you wrote it: nothing is corrected. Go slowly for a thick, wet stroke, quickly for a thin one.
Stroke order, character by character
Dragon (lóng, 龙)
5 strokes
12345
- Horizontal (héng, 横): Left to right, rising very slightly
- Left-falling (piě, 撇): Down and to the left, lifting the brush as you go
- Vertical-curve-hook (shù wān gōu, 竖弯钩): Down, curve right along the bottom, then hook up
- Left-falling (piě, 撇): Down and to the left, lifting the brush as you go
- Dot (diǎn, 点): A short press, usually down to the right
Horse (mǎ, 马)
3 strokes
123
- Horizontal-turn (héng zhé, 横折): Left to right, then turn sharply down
- Vertical, turn, turn, hook (shù zhé zhé gōu, 竖折折钩): Down, right, down again, ending with a hook
- Rising (tí, 提): A quick flick up to the right
Vital (jīng, 精)
14 strokes
1234567891011121314
- Dot (diǎn, 点): A short press, usually down to the right
- Left-falling (piě, 撇): Down and to the left, lifting the brush as you go
- Horizontal (héng, 横): Left to right, rising very slightly
- Vertical (shù, 竖): Top to bottom
- Left-falling (piě, 撇): Down and to the left, lifting the brush as you go
- Dot (diǎn, 点): A short press, usually down to the right
- Horizontal (héng, 横): Left to right, rising very slightly
- Horizontal (héng, 横): Left to right, rising very slightly
- Vertical (shù, 竖): Top to bottom
- Horizontal (héng, 横): Left to right, rising very slightly
- Left-falling (piě, 撇): Down and to the left, lifting the brush as you go
- Horizontal-turn-hook (héng zhé gōu, 横折钩): Right, turn down, and end with a hook to the left
- Horizontal (héng, 横): Left to right, rising very slightly
- Horizontal (héng, 横): Left to right, rising very slightly
Spirit (shén, 神)
9 strokes
123456789
- Dot (diǎn, 点): A short press, usually down to the right
- Horizontal then left-falling (héng piě, 横撇): Left to right, then sweep down to the left
- Vertical (shù, 竖): Top to bottom
- Dot (diǎn, 点): A short press, usually down to the right
- Vertical (shù, 竖): Top to bottom
- Horizontal-turn (héng zhé, 横折): Left to right, then turn sharply down
- Horizontal (héng, 横): Left to right, rising very slightly
- Horizontal (héng, 横): Left to right, rising very slightly
- Vertical (shù, 竖): Top to bottom
More greetings to write
- Happy New Year (Xin Nian Kuai Le, 新年快乐)
- Wishing you prosperity (Gong Xi Fa Cai, 恭喜发财)
- May everything go as you wish (Wan Shi Ru Yi, 万事如意)
- Wishing you good health (Shen Ti Jian Kang, 身体健康)
- May your wishes come true (Xin Xiang Shi Cheng, 心想事成)
- Abundance year after year (Nian Nian You Yu, 年年有余)
- Peace and safety, year after year (Sui Sui Ping An, 岁岁平安)
- Happiness to the whole family (He Jia Xing Fu, 阖家幸福)
- Great luck and great gain (Da Ji Da Li, 大吉大利)
Stroke shapes and order from Make Me a Hanzi, as packaged by Hanzi Writer, used under the Arphic Public License. Stroke names checked by hand, character by character.