Left: The Chinese character for biáng, a type of noodle from the Shaanxi province, requires 57 strokes to write.

Right: The Japanese character for “the appearance of a dragon in flight” requires 84 strokes.

The Japanese character includes three identical “cloud” characters, so it’s not as complex as it looks. Not so the biáng character — residents of Shaanxi have invented ditties to help them remember how to write it.