Chinese Calligraphy
Nice writing = Correct writing = Writing every stroke in correct order

Some Notes on the History of Chinese Writing

During the thousands of years old history of the Chinese language, you can clearly see how the tools and materials used for writing have affected the looks of the characters. The oldest traces of Chinese writing consist of pottery and bones with inscriptions where the characters are carved with sharp angles – almost like the Nordic runes.

When the Chinese first invented the book, it consisted of bamboo sticks sewn together side by side. Columns of characters were written on each stick with a brush, which worked quite well with the Chinese way of writing columns of characters from right to left. Writing with a brush also made some new freedom in the form of the characters – especially the day that paper was invented!

The oldest bamboo-books have not survived to current times, but there may be copies of some works – and also quite a lot of ancient metal objects with cast-in characters. Further more there are paintings, seals and many other types of objects with inscription that help us to give proves for the development of the Chinese system of writing.

Read more of this article at:http://www.zein.se/patrick/chinen9p.html

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