Teacher - Pingtung

Shu-Fa, Chinese Calligraphy, or brush writing, as it is interchangeably called, is a dying art in Taiwan. It is an ancient discipline that requires a great amount of practice, which like many arts, is being threatened by the busyness of modern society. We went to visit one of the island's most renowned Shu-Fa teachers, Chen Fu Yin, who literally wrote the book on calligraphy (he writes about 100 books per year) and has some of his works on display in Taiwan's national palace museum.



Zhong

Chinese "characters" are derivitaves of ancient pictograms. Some bear strong visual resemblence to their meanings, like "zhong," which means "middle." Zhong is also the first part of China's name - "Zhong Guo," which literally means "middle earth." L.O.T.R. fans might find it interesting that linguist Tolkien borrowed rather than coined that name!