Chinese Calligraphy

So part of my cultural experience for me off and on since I've been in China has been taking Chinese calligraphy classes. It's been a real treat, mostly because I get to grind my own paint, and it's a way to experience China in ways that are hard to come by otherwise. It's my way to make it real, and spend time in the city, and refilling my vitals away from work. I've picked up classes again here in Xi'an and what makes it more special this time around is that I stumbled upon the teacher myself, found his gallery and spent some time one afternoon just playing around with paintbrushes and one thing lead to another. I'm including some pictures, because it's one of those things it's easier seeing it for yourself. Chinese characters are written in series of strokes. They typically are written from top to bottom, left to right. They used to read them in rows top to bottom, right to left, then top to bottom, left to right, but now Chinese is read like English. Writing Chinese is a lot more difficult at times then one would imagine, and just like in any western language, with Chinese calligraphy, it takes extra effort to make things look nice and requires diligence, practice, and good handwriting skills. These rows are from top to bottom left to right. The image of the whole sheets the first column and the fourth column are my teachers, the other columns are mine, but it should be pretty obvious, seeing the difference in style and overall appearance of the strokes, as I'm still a little heavy handed. Unlike western calligraphy, Chinese calligraphy is not done with pens, or at least not the formal kind. The true art behind it also comes with the brushes that you choose to use. The thinner the brush, the easier it is to use. Typically the beginner will start with pen and ink in an exercise type book, like those old sheets of paper with the really big lines we got back in grade school. Although Chinese characters should be able to fit within a certain size box, and you use the lines within the box for guidance. The more advanced you get the thicker your brush can be, because you aren't as heavy handed. Calligraphy masters typically are going to use a pretty thick brush. It also depends on the size of the project, certainly if it's a smaller paper, you aren't going to want to use a really thick, free form brush. Calligraphy brushes don't really have the variety of your average paintbrush; they are all round brushes, and will be made with different types of materials for different effects. You are also going to range from a pretty wide circumference to a pointed tip. Calligraphy brushes are like pens in that aspect, but tend to get better effects, especially due to the nature in which Chinese characters are written. There's certainly far more of an appeal with Chinese that's written in calligraphy with fresh, well ground ink, than something that's written with the rubbish cheap pens that you buy at Target and Wal-Mart. There's also a choice and a selection with the paper you use as well. Chinese characters, however, have changed over the years: currently the characters that are used now are simplified. There are less strokes, and are easier to write. The traditional characters was the original writing system and can still be seen on old historical buildings within cities. Hong Kong and Taiwan are still on the traditional character system. This is it in a nutshell, I at least wanted to give some background information, without being overly burdening with information. Feel free to ask more questions if you are interested, as it's certainly a fun, timeless art.