In the character “首”, the upper part depicts the hair, while the lower part depicts a pair of eyes. This is the character “目”. The oracle bone script of this character resembles an eye.

Today, each of the characters in “眼睛” (yǎn jin?, “eye”) contain the radical “目”. The Chinese people believe that we must look at a person’s eyes when deciding whether she/he is beautiful or not. The eyes are the most difficult part in Chinese paintings.

According to legend, there was an ancient Chinese painter who painted four dragons on the walls of a temple. He told others: “if I paint the eyes, it will fly away.” No one believed him. He then painted eyes on two of the dragons. Suddenly, lightning struck down from the sky and shattered the walls. The two dragons flew up into the sky. The two eyeless dragons, however, remained on the wall. This story is known as “dotting the eyeball in painting a dragon—‘画龙点睛huàlón? diǎn jīn?’”. Later, people used this expression to mean “adding the touch that brings a work of art to life”.