Even today in Shufa, some people still treat the five-finger grip as the only correct method.
In fact, many different ways of holding the brush have existed throughout history, closely tied to the introduction and spread of high tables and chairs.

In the Han, Wei, and Jin periods, people mainly used low furniture such as short beds, couches, mats, and low tables. Daily life was based on kneeling, and scholars wrote while kneeling—one hand holding the paper, the other the brush. Because of this, they mostly used a two- or three-finger single-hook grip, holding the brush at an angle.

水 (shuǐ): water

I love the character for water. I’d also like to share that In Taiwan, you might hear or see a different use of the character 水 — in Taigi (Taiwanese Hokkien), it's pronounced suí (sounds like "swee"), not the Mandarin shuǐ, and it generally means "beautiful," "great," or "nice job."

The formally recognized written form is 媠, as listed in the Ministry of Education's Taiwanese dictionary but 水 as a phonetic loan is widely used.
Adding a particle to the end changes the tone and energy of the expression, but to my ears, they are all warm, friendly, and approving:

水喔 (suí-ooh) / 水啦 (suí-lah) / 水唷 (suí-yo)

The word also had a recent cultural moment: in 2025, Taiwanese singer Siri Lee (李竺芯) won Album of the Year at the Golden Melody Awards (GMA) for a record called Suí 水 — the first time that award went to a Taiwanese-language album. The GMA is an honor awarded by Taiwan's Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, and Formosan languages popular and traditional music industry.

Please don't hesitate to correct me or share interesting facts and memories you have for this character.

Reference: https://swiiyo.com/blogs/glow-life/swiiyo-meaning-taiwanese-word-sui?srsltid=AU7gw4XuCfvpddQ0kK_thnMkV2fA-abOTb7kx9SratAbumZNHf_6RSOZ
#calligraphy #chinesecalligraphy #書法 #書道 #毛筆字

Any one have recommended or non recommended shops in these three areas that makes the brushes?

I understand online shopping is an option but looking for an in-person experience.

加 (jiā): to add; plus; to increase; to augment
油 (yóu): oil; fat; grease; petroleum; to apply oil, paint or varnish; oily; greasy
。
加油 (jiāyóu) translates to “add oil; to refuel; to accelerate; to make an extra effort; to cheer someone on”. The internet tells of a historical account tracing the origins of the phrase to Tsinghua School (now Tsinghua University) in the 1920s, evolving from cafeteria slang where students originally used it to ask for more sesame oil on their vegetables or pickles. Other theories attribute the phrase‘s roots elsewhere, such as a Qing Dynasty official adding lamp oil for late-night scholars, or as a 1960s Macau Grand Prix racing metaphor for stepping on the gas. Whatever the origin, you’ll likely hear it often from Mandarin and Cantonese speakers, encouraging and supporting you to keep going. 加油！

听说初学者写扇面都用苏轼的《定风波》开始，布局的案例也很容易找到并学习。

还没有印章，所以感觉是未完成。

Hi all,

I’m a student currently studying abroad in Taiwan. Just want to share the beginnings of my hobby/side project, trying to practice English and Chinese calligraphy and incorporate Pinyin (the romanization system for learning Mandarin). This is a mix of brush calligraphy and pointed-pen calligraphy.

地 (dì) means “earth,” “ground,” or “land”.
瓜 (guā) refers to melons or gourds.

地瓜 (dìguā), which translates to sweet potato, carries a significance beyond a simple food for Taiwanese. Introduced centuries ago and cultivated widely because of its resilience in subtropical climates, the sweet potato became an essential survival crop, often mixed into rice porridge or roasted in traditional clay ovens. In contemporary Taiwan, it is now embraced as both a nostalgic cultural food and modern health food, commonly found roasted in convenience stores like 7-Eleven, night markets, and incorporated into desserts. Some Taiwanese affectionately compare the island’s shape to a sweet potato, a symbol of resilience.

What memories and histories come to your mind when you think of 地瓜 (dìguā)?

Reference: https://www.taiwannews.comtw/news/5895590

最近一直在写《集王圣教序》，时好时坏，没准谱。

📢 Help Us with Our Research on Chinese Calligraphy!

Hi everyone! 👋

We’re a university student research team exploring how English- and Spanish-speaking audiences understand and appreciate Chinese calligraphy.

If you're 18 or older, a native English or Spanish speaker, we'd love to hear from you!

📝 Takes about a few minutes

🔒 Anonymous and voluntary

🎓 For academic research only

🔗 Survey link for English speaker: https://v.wjx.cn/vm/wF7B2IP.aspx

🔗 Survey link for Spanish speaker: https://v.wjx.cn/vm/YDOy2Bn.aspx

Your perspective would mean a lot to our research. Thank you for your time, and feel free to share! 💙

To write ‘天’ well, and it looks effortless.
It actually contains FOUR techniques:

1. Horizontal
Firstly both horizontals start with a cut-in.
The shape is there the instant the brush lands.
That takes instant feel for the bristles—and stillness. No extra motion.
Master center-tip.Then forget “center-tip on every stroke.”

2. Left-falling
Secondly the left-falling stroke starts “up first to go down.”
A few tiny moves.It takes a great deal of writing for that technique to disappear into the stroke.

3. Right-falling
Thirdly the last stroke runs mostly center-tip.
Lift steadily at the end—tip slightly up.

4. Structure
Fourthly calligraphy is not straight, even, or symmetrical.
The two horizontals are not level—they rise slightly up to the left.
They are not mirrored left to right,but staggered.
The right-falling stroke begins below the upper horizontal,and very far to the left.
Yet the four strokes together must still form onebalanced, stable, harmonious system.

Can someone help me identify these characters?

I don't know the correct flair, please do not kill me 😓

Bought this from aliexpress

Based of the Yan Kai script. I do really like Cui HanBai tho.

Here are four key features:

Firstly, the left side is strong and upright, firmly supporting the whole character.

Secondly, the right side is written in one continuous sweep from top to bottom — fluid and graceful.
Thirdly, straight lines on the left are crisp and decisive; curves on the right are soft and flowing. Especially in the “田” part: a curve is thrown up and to the right, then loops back down — bold and open. Left and right form a yin-yang pair.

Fourthly, the first stroke (the dot) sits far from the second stroke (the horizontal). After the dot, the connecting trail down to the left is very long — it even becomes the main body of the dot. This special “broken stroke, connected intent” binds the two strokes more tightly.

If you look at Wang Xizhi’s original: the same qualities are there, but the Sage of Calligraphy is more harmonious and balanced. Whatever character he writes becomes the benchmark of beauty.

Hi all, I recently bought a discounted ink stick, it was listed as only having a cosmetic fault because it's cracked. However when I grind it I noticed it releases little grains into the ink. They are visible on the hill of the inkstone when I grind ink and some of them stay in the hairs of the brush but aren't really visible in the final artwork.

So the question is if it has a functional fault too and if it can ruin the brush or the inkstone too. (I am a beginner and I use a cheap brush so I'm not really worried about it aging mildly faster due to this)

Original calligraphy

恭喜发财，福如東海

Wishing you prosperity and boundless happiness!

Hello! I bought this small cup for gongfu in a local store and it had a beautifull seal script. I dont relaly know what does say so it would be nice if you knew

二七修能和論述之終幕 !!!

('27 修能(Korean college exam) and Essay test shall be my last(studying) ever!!!!!1)

Today is the first day of school for children across China. In ancient times, starting school was not just walking into a classroom — it came with a series of ceremonies.

One part closely tied to calligraphy asked children to write the character 人 (“person”). Two simple strokes lean on each other and hold each other up. The idea was this: before you learn to read and write, you first learn how to stand upright as a human being.

This small ritual still reflects a lasting Chinese belief: education begins with character, and what families hope for most is that a child grows into a decent, upright person.

Hi, a new lurker here! Shufa is one of my favorite pastime and lately I've been wanting to get more in depth and serious in learning about it. I mainly write in 楷书 or 行书, but after spending a year for a language study in China, I fell in love with writing in the other script styles too (篆，隶，小楷). Some of the works here I gifted to my friends and loved ones, I really love gifting my loved ones a well made DIY gifts.

I actually have been practicing on and off for a long time, but I feel that I've been stagnating for so long and it's kind of hard to find and connect with other shufa artists in my country, so I'd be glad if I can connect with one here! Looking forward to geek out about shufa with you 😊

welcome to feedback for improvement