Chinese Calligraphy Activities

These activities will introduce you to the art of Chinese calligraphy.

Chinese calligraphy is regarded as one of the highest forms of art in many Asian cultures, as it has been throughout much of China's history. Calligraphy has been performed by people in China and across the globe from all walks of life, and its practice has been shown positive effects on health and longevity across the board. The word "calligraphy" derives from Greek origin, and literally means "beautiful writing," and this method of writing Chinese characters is as much an art form in itself as the words and poetry they represent on paper.

Make a Scroll

In Asian art, the scroll harmoniously combines calligraphy, poetry and imagery to create a unique piece, and is often referred to as the "voiceless poem." Make a vertical, horizontal or "album leaf" scroll, which is shaped like a fan, of your own by painting a picture to accompany a short story, poem or message written in Chinese calligraphy. Asian scrolls often feature landscapes, animals, birds or flowers as the subject, but what you write in Chinese calligraphy is completely up to you.

Practice Calligraphy Strokes

There are more than 50,000 Chinese calligraphy characters, but all are made up of different combinations of eight basic brush strokes. Practice the eight strokes, the dot, dash, perpendicular down-stroke, left-falling stroke, or down-stroke to the left, right-falling stroke, or wave-like stroke, hook, upstroke to the right and the bend, or twist, to gain a better understanding of how each character is made in Chinese calligraphy. Once you've mastered these basic strokes, you can start reproducing simple Chinese characters by using the three steps used to practice calligraphy: tracing, copying and writing.

Create Chun Lian

The Chinese New Year is the most widely-celebrated holiday on the planet, and you can join in the festivities by creating chun lian, special New Year's decorations, with a little calligraphy know-how. Chun lian are couplets, called duilian in China, written in calligraphy on vertical strips of red paper to be hung around the front doors of homes and businesses. Chun Lian are drawn and hung anew each year to celebrate the coming spring, and you can make your own by painting Chinese characters in black on red, diamond-shaped paper.

Practice Making Ink

Traditional Chinese calligraphers typically choose to make their ink fresh from solid sticks made of a compressed mixture of natural glue and fine vegetable soot. Practice making fresh ink for yourself by placing some water in an ink stone and lightly grind the ink stick in circular motions until your ink is the color and consistency you desire. You can make the ink darker or lighter, thicker or thinner by adding more water when necessary, for if it is too thick, your writing will look choppy, and if it's too think, it will run and look blotchy.

References

• Teacher Vision: Calligraphy Scrolls/Paintings
• The Art of Calligraphy: What Ink Stick Should You Choose for Japanese Calligraphy?
• Arts & Virtue: Chinese Calligraphy
• Scholastic Instructor: Chinese New Year
• ChinaVoc.com: How to Write Chinese Calligraphy - Eight Kinds of Brush Stroke
• China the Beautiful: What is Chinese Chun Lian (New Year's Couplet)?