How to Write Chinese Calligraphy

Chinese calligraphy, 书法shū fǎ in Chinese, has been considered the quintessence of Chinese culture because it is an art that encompasses Chinese language, history, philosophy, and aesthetics. The term’s literal translation, “the way of writing” (shū: ”writing” and fǎ: “way” “method” or “standard”), identifies the core of the art, which has close bonds with Chinese written signs, on the one hand, and painting. If you want to know more about Chinese culture, learning Chinese calligraphy is a good way.

If you want to learn Chinese calligraphy you should start by learning first and foremost the regular style. The Chinese say the study of calligraphy is like learning to walk. Regular learning style is learning to stand. Learn Current style is like learning to walk. And practicing the style of the grass is like running.

Before starting the learning calligraphy, you should prepare the four precious articles of the writing table:

Brush（máo bǐ毛笔）、tusche（máo bǐ黑墨）、rice paper(xuān zhǐ 宣纸)、Inkstone(yàn tái 砚台)

Learn the basic features of Chinese Calligraphy

This is the first step. It must be recognized every stroke of a Chinese character. It takes the same time to practice writing them. This will develop your attention and in addition will be of great help to recognize decompose a sinogram.

The dot (diǎn 点)

The horizontal stroke (hénɡ 横)

The verticalstroke (shù 竖)

The hook (ɡōu 勾)

The right rising (tí 提)

The left falling (piě 撇)

The bending stroke (zhé 折)

The right falling (nà 捺)

How to write Chinese Calligraphy

There are scores of Chinese calligraphy styles. The one featured on this site is “li shu.” This style features very neat strokes, each one crisp and clear. Each character can fit uniformly inside a square. If you try this style, make sure to use plenty of ink so that each brush stroke is full. Also, curves should be gradual and slow.

Normally when writing Chinese characters, you start from the extreme left side and go right or from the extreme top and go down. Example of how to write Chinese calligraphy Chinese calligraphy employs a different method to make sure the edges are full. Start about 15% off of the extreme left side, take the brush to the left end where you want the stroke to end and then gradually turn it back right. Use the same method for the endings (left and right, top and bottom) for every stroke. So the shape of each stroke resembles a figure eight. The edge of the calligraphy stroke can be either rounded or square. One important Chinese calligraphy rule to remember states that a character should not be written in the same style (round or square, plus many other variations) in one passage.

Practice

This ancient Chinese art form takes years of faithful practice to attain elite status. But you don't have to be expert to have fun with Chinese calligraphy. Get the basic materials and start to experiment with your own style. Not only can you call yourself an Asian calligraphy artist, but you will also find that practicing Chinese calligraphy can help you learn valuable character qualities, which will spill over into other aspects of your life.