English Course Assignment 1 - Hobby

English Course Assignment 1 - Hobby

Chinese calligraphy in my leisure time

Chinese calligraphy is generally an art of writing. I know that the Latin language also has its own calligraphy. It’s certainly quite different from that in China, but they share something in common that they both aim to make the character more beautiful and need great concentration.

I first got interested in Chinese calligraphy because of my dad. He’s been practicing for over thirty years. I used to see him writing a lot at home. I think all the process of writing is quite charming. It’s even kind of like a ceremony. I believe that calligraphy is first developed from the necessity of copying manuscripts, before the printing technique is invented. But now it’s definitely more than that. I usually think of what Waddington said about Tao in the novel The Painted Veil, “Some of us look for the Way in opium and some in God, some of us in whisky and some in love. It is all the same Way and it leads nowhither.” Sometimes I would think that some people have found the Tao in the process of writing, which yields the Chinese calligraphy.

Unfortunately, I haven’t found it. So I can’t explain it explicitly either. My practice of Chinese calligraphy lasts for three years. I like doing many other things but I still list calligraphy as my first hobby. In my opinion, we keep a hobby simply for the pleasure it gives us, even though we can’t profit from it. In the process of writing, I can feel the peace of mind as the brush pen is forming a character on the paper, and I forget all the unhappiness and frustration through the day.