Adventures in Asian Art



Buy a Custom Inner Strength Chinese or Japanese Calligraphy Wall Scroll

We have many options to create artwork with the Chinese characters / Asian symbols / Japanese Kanji for Inner Strength on a wall scroll or portrait.

See also our huge Strength in Chinese and Japanese page.

Inner Strength Wall Scroll

Quick links to words on this page...

  1. Inner Strength
  2. Inner Strength is Better than...
  3. Always Striving for Inner Strength
  4. Inner Strength is Better than...
  5. Perseverance / Fortitude

Inner Strength

nèi zài lì liàng
내재력량
內
在
力
量

This is the slightly-verbose way to say inner-strength. The first two characters mean "intrinsic" or "inner". The second two characters mean "power", "force" or "strength" (especially physical strength). This is more a short phrase rather than just a word in Chinese and Korean. This can sort of be understood in Japanese, but it's not normal/proper Japanese.

Inner Strength

(short version)

nèi lì
nai ryoku
내력
內
力

This is the shorter version of inner-strength (can also be translated as "internal force"). The first character holds the meaning of "inner" or "internal". The second character means "power", "force" or "strength".

This is kind of a Kung Fu way of talking about an inner power or strength from within. This is sort of a way to express "inner-chi". This is clearly something that you might hear in a real Chinese Kung Fu movie.

While understood in both Chinese and Japanese, this can have a secondary meaning of "inner stress" in Japanese.

Inner Strength

zì qiáng
자강
自
強

This is the kind of inner-strength that applies to a person who has will-power and can inspire themselves to do great things.

This word can also be the creed of a person that always pursues self-improvement.

Other translations: self-strengthening, striving for improvement, self-improvement, strive to become stronger, and self-renewal.

Inner Strength is Better than
Outward Appearance

biǎo zhuàng bù rú lǐ zhuàng
如
裡
壯
表
壯
不

Characters shown
above are read
vertically, starting
from the right

This literally translates as:
[Better to be] strong inside than [to be] strong outside.

The ancient original meaning was:
[An] able [husband] outside [working to support a family is] not as good as [an] able [wife] inside [working and saving to take care of the family].

The current meaning is:
Inner strength is more important than outward appearance.

Always Striving for Inner Strength

zì qiáng bú xī
自
強
不
息

This proverb or idiom suggests that the pursuit self-improvement is eternal. The first two characters mean inner-strength with the idea of self-improvement. The last two characters mean "never rest" or "striving without giving up".

Some will translate these four characters as, "Exert and strive hard without any let up".

Inner Strength is Better than
Outward Appearance

Japanese

naimen no tsuyosa ha gaiken no yosa ni masaru
さ
に
勝
る
は
外
見
の
良
内
面
の
強
さ

Characters shown
above are read
vertically, starting
from the right

This Japanese phrase literally translates as "inner/internal strength/power [versus] outward-appearance [the] merit/virtue/good quality [does] excel/surpass/exceed/outweigh".

More naturally in English, this would be "Inner Strength Outweighs Outward Appearance".

Perseverance / Fortitude

jiǎn rěn
ken nin
견인
堅
忍

The first character means "strong", "solid", "firm", "unyielding" or "resolute".
The second character means "to beat", "to endure", or "to tolerate".
Together they speak of the strength from within yourself. Some may also translate this as "long-suffering" in a more Biblical sense.

This is a common term in Chinese and Korean Hanja, but a little less commonly-used in modern Japanese Kanji. For that reason, this selection is best if your audience is Chinese or Korean.

忍Note that when writing this as Kanji, Japanese will tend to write the second Kanji in the form shown to the right. If you select our Japanese master calligrapher, please expect this Kanji form (yes, it's just one stroke that is slightly different in location, crossing another stroke in the Japanese Kanji form).

Due to some odd computer coding conventions, these two character forms were combined/merged into the same code point - thus you will not see Kanji images of the more Japanese form as you select options for your wall scroll.

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All of our calligraphy is completely done by hand in the ancient way.

When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to our art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.

Therefore, allow a few weeks for delivery from the time you place your order. Rush options are available!

When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.

A nice Chinese calligraphy wall scroll

The scroll that I am holding in this picture is a "medium size"
4-character wall scroll.
As you can see, it is a great size to hang on your wall.
(We also offer custom wall scrolls in larger sizes)

A professional Chinese Calligrapher

Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.

There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form of art alive.

Trying to learn Chinese calligrapher - a futile effort

Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.


A high-ranked Chinese master calligrapher that I met in Zhongwei

The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.



See: Our list of specifically Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls. And, check out Our list of specifically old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.

The following table is only helpful for those studying Chinese (or Japanese), and perhaps helps search engines to find this page when someone enters Romanized Chinese or Japanese

Title
Characters 
Simplified
Traditional
Japanese Romaji
(Romanized Japanese)
Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Inner Strength内在力量
內在力量
n/anèi zài lì liàng
nei zai li liang
nei tsai li liang
nei4 zai4 li4 liang4
neizaililiang
Inner Strength内力
內力
nai ryoku
nairyoku
nèi lì
nei li
nei4 li4
neili
Inner Strength自强
自強
n/azì qiáng
zi qiang
tzu ch`iang
zi4 qiang2
ziqiang
tzuchiang
tzu chiang
Inner Strength is Better than
Outward Appearance
表壮不如里壮
表壯不如裡壯
n/abiǎo zhuàng bù rú lǐ zhuàng
biao zhuang bu ru li zhuang
piao chuang pu ju li chuang
biao3 zhuang4 bu4 ru2 li3 zhuang4
biaozhuangburulizhuang
Always Striving for Inner Strength自强不息
自強不息
n/azì qiáng bú xī
zi qiang bu xi
tzu ch`iang pu hsi
zi4 qiang2 bu2 xi1
ziqiangbuxi
tzuchiangpuhsi
tzu chiang pu hsi
Inner Strength is Better than
Outward Appearance
内面の強さは外見の良さに勝る
内面の強さは外見の良さに勝る
naimen no tsuyosa ha gaiken no yosa ni masaru
naimennotsuyosahagaikennoyosanimasaru
n/a
Perseverance / Fortitude坚忍
堅忍
ken nin
kennin
jiǎn rěn
jian ren
chien jen
jian3 ren3
jianren

If you have not set up your computer to display Chinese, the characters in this table probably look like empty boxes or random text garbage.
This is why I spent hundreds of hours making images so that you could view the characters in the "Inner Strength" listings above.
If you want your Windows computer to be able to display Chinese characters you can either head to your Regional and Language options in your Win XP control panel, select the [Languages] tab and click on [Install files for East Asian Languages]. This task will ask for your Win XP CD to complete in most cases. If you don't have your Windows XP CD, or are running Windows 98, you can also download/run the simplified Chinese font package installer from Microsoft which works independently with Win 98, ME, 2000, and XP. It's a 2.5MB download, so if you are on dial up, start the download and go make a sandwich.

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