Chinese Calligraphy: Learn Chinese Calligraphy

The Han Dynasty in 100 A.D. is the first origin of Chinese characters. The Chinese dictionary completed at that time included around 9,353 characters. The next version of the Chinese dictionary came out of Qing Dynasty and was called the "Kangxi" dictionary. The 42 booklets contained over 46,964 characters, which most are not even used today. There are variants on the characters, revised and refined in the current simplified edition of the Chinese language. This edition was put out by the People's Republic of China in 1956. This book narrowed the characters down to about 6,500. This is considered a simplified form and is the most common form used now, though some remain committed to using the old traditional ways.

You have seen it everywhere. The beautiful strokes in black brushed on a canvas. Meaning something, but were not sure what. You see it in tattoo's left on the skin to declare deep significance to the wearer, and often out of curiosity we ask what it means. It is a peaceful mystery, we are drawn to it naturally.

The infamy of Chinese calligraphy has become an art to be understood and learned. Not only do we want it on our walls and skin, we want to become even more individual with it. You can learn Chinese calligraphy, and create the same beautiful words as do the masters.

Words like love, faith, endure, tranquility, written in a one character form creates a personalization amongst the observer admiring it. Many of these characters live on walls in homes to communicate a feeling. Many masters have created their own unique style and now exists over 120 diverse styles of written Chinese calligraphy.

The more I searched on Chinese calligraphy, the more infatuated I became of the work, yet I was not getting closer to choosing a tattoo because, quite honestly, each word or quotation inspired a feeling in me. There were simply too many I identified with on a deeper, more spiritual level.

The rules behind learning Chinese calligraphy are to invite simplicity, balance, beauty, and originality of style. You should possess graceful execution and represent the depth of meaning of each stroke, whether using a brush or ink. The idea behind Chinese calligraphy is to find understanding and beauty is simple delivery of who you are as the artist and what you are projecting as meaning with the chosen style adopted.

When you learn Chinese calligraphy, it is easy to become infatuated with the art form and easy to be immersed completely into cultural richness that has been alive for over a 1000 years.

There is a quiet appreciation for Chinese calligraphy (called "Shu Fa" in Chinese). We see it everywhere. It has been around for thousand's of years, and has danced it's way into the western world. Character techniques were refined throughout the history of China as their culture's social circumstances changed. Self expression thru disciplined understanding of form and technique has been handed down by the great masters of Chinese calligraphy, with each master leaving a unique, personal style. Within this heritage many artists have taken some influence from it for their own works. Picasso and Matisse are two artists who used some Chinese calligraphy in their art. It is considered an art form and with it's amass of many followers, it is now a sought after as a class in which one can learn the art of Chinese calligraphy.

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