The Name Lee in Japanese/Chinese on a Custom-Made Wall Scroll.

Click the "Customize" button next to your name below to start your personalized lee calligraphy artwork...


  1. Lee

  2. Lee / Plum

  3. Hailey-Lee

  4. Lee-Ella

  5. Jeet Kune Do

  6. Kung Fu / Gong Fu

  7. Little Dragon


 lì
Lee Scroll

This is the most common transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the feminine western name Lee.

麗 means “pretty” or “beautiful.”


Note: This can sometimes be used as a female given name in China. It is not the only given name that sounds like Lee or Li in China. For instance, this is a completely different character than the one used for Bruce Lee’s name.

 lì
Lee Scroll

This is an alternate transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the feminine western name Lee.

莉 means “jasmine,” as in the flower.


Note: This can sometimes be used as a female given name in China. It is not the only given name that sounds like Lee or Li in China.

 rii
Lee Scroll

リー is the name Lee in Japanese.


Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

 lì
Lee Scroll

This is the most common transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the masculine western name Lee.

力 means “power” or “strength.”


Note: This can sometimes be used as a male given name in China. It is not the only given name that sounds like Lee or Li in China.

 lǐ
Lee Scroll

This is an alternate transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the masculine western name Lee.

理 means “reason,” “logic” or sometimes, “science.”


Note: This can sometimes be used as a male given name in China. It is not the only given name that sounds like Lee or Li in China.

 lǐ
 lee
 ri / sumomo
Lee / Plum Scroll

This is the most common Chinese character which sounds like “Lee” or “Li” and is used as a surname / family name in China.

李 actually means “Plum.” So it's really Mr. Plum and Mrs. Plum if you translated the name instead of romanizing.

This is not the only character in Chinese that can be romanized as “Lee” or “Li.” If your family name is “Lee” or “Li” please be sure this is the correct character before you order this scroll (look at your grandparents' Chinese passports or other documents if you are an ABC and are trying to create a heritage wall scroll).

Famous people with this surname include Bruce Lee (Li Xiao-Long), Minister Li Peng, and famous Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai. In Korea, this is the original character for a surname that romanizes as “Yi.”


Note: This also one version of Lee that is a common Korean surname. However, it’s often romanized as "Yi" and sometimes as "Ri" or "Rhee."

 heirii rii
Hailey-Lee Scroll

ヘーリーリー is the name Hailey-Lee in Japanese (Katakana).


Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

 rii era
Lee-Ella Scroll

リーエラ is the name Lee-Ella in Japanese (Katakana).


Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

Jeet Kune Do

 jié quán dào
 jeet kune do
 sekken dou
Jeet Kune Do Scroll

In Cantonese, 截拳道 is Jeet Kune Do. Often it is explained as the “Way of the Intercepting Fist.”

截拳道 is a martial art style founded by Bruce Lee.

The first character means to cut off or sever.
The second character is a fist.
The last character means way or method.


See Also:  Bruce Lee

Kung Fu / Gong Fu

 gōng fu
 gung fu
 kan fu / ku fu
Kung Fu / Gong Fu Scroll

功夫 or Kung Fu is one of the most famous types of martial arts in the world - and not just because of Bruce Lee.

Some translate the meaning as “Accomplishment by Great Effort.” I think this is partially true, but directly translated, it literally means “Merit/Achievement/Accomplishment Man.” The word “fu” can sometimes mean “husband” or “porter,” but in this case, it can only mean “man.” However, few in China will think “man” when they hear the word “Gong Fu” spoken.

This term is also used for things other than martial arts. In fact, it's used to refer to a person with excellent skills in crafts that require a lot of effort to master, such as cooking, tea ceremonies, and calligraphy.

What a lot of people don't know is that the spelling of “Kung Fu” was actually taken from the old Wade Giles form of Romanization. Using this method, the sounds of the English “G” and “K” were both written as “K” and an apostrophe after the “K” told you it was supposed to sound like a “G.” Nobody in the west knew this rule, so most people pronounce it with a “K-sound.” And so, Gong Fu will always be Kung Fu for most westerners.

Also, just to educate you a little more, the “O” in “Gong” has a sound like the English word “oh.”

The popular Chinese dish “Kung Pao Chicken” suffers from the same problem. It should actually be “Gong Bao Chicken.”

Historical note: Many will claim that Kung Fu was invented by the monks of the Shaolin monastery. This fact is argued in both directions by scholars of Chinese history. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that the Shaolin Monks brought the original fame to Kung Fu many generations ago.


Japanese note: While most Japanese martial artists will recognize these characters, Katakana is more often used to approximate the pronunciation of "Kung Fu" with "カンフー." Some will argue as to whether this should be considered a Japanese word at all.


See Also:  Bruce Lee

Little Dragon

 xiǎo lóng
Little Dragon Scroll

小龍 literally means “little dragon” or “young dragon.”

小龍 is often used as a given name in Chinese.

In fact, Bruce Lee's real given name is “Little Dragon.”


See Also:  Bruce Lee


The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...

Title CharactersRomaji (Romanized Japanese)Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Lee
lì / li4 / li
Leelì / li4 / li
Leeリーrii / ri
Leelì / li4 / li
Leelǐ / li3 / li
Lee
Plum
ri / sumomolǐ / li3 / li
Hailey-Leeヘーリーリーheirii rii / heiriirii / heiri ri
Lee-Ellaリーエラrii era / riiera / ri era
Jeet Kune Do截拳道sekken dou / sekkendou / seken dojié quán dào
jie2 quan2 dao4
jie quan dao
jiequandao
chieh ch`üan tao
chiehchüantao
chieh chüan tao
Kung Fu
Gong Fu
功夫kan fu / ku fu
kanfu / kufu
gōng fu / gong1 fu / gong fu / gongfukung fu / kungfu
Little Dragon小龍
小龙
xiǎo lóng
xiao3 long2
xiao long
xiaolong
hsiao lung
hsiaolung
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line.
In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese.


Dictionary

Lookup Lee in my Japanese & Chinese Dictionary

All of our calligraphy wall scrolls are handmade.

When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my 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.

Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!

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 wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.

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.


Some people may refer to this entry as Lee Kanji, Lee Characters, Lee in Mandarin Chinese, Lee Characters, Lee in Chinese Writing, Lee in Japanese Writing, Lee in Asian Writing, Lee Ideograms, Chinese Lee symbols, Lee Hieroglyphics, Lee Glyphs, Lee in Chinese Letters, Lee Hanzi, Lee in Japanese Kanji, Lee Pictograms, Lee in the Chinese Written-Language, or Lee in the Japanese Written-Language.