You know, the thing I really like about Chinese calligraphy isn’t that I have an abiding interest in China, or in learning the Chinese language, or even in trying to become more comfortable with a brush and ink.

It really is just that for the couple of hours that our classes tend to last, I literally can’t think of anything else. It really requires an odd combination of both concentration and relaxing that seems hard to achieve with other activities, even ordinary drawing.

Of course, I’m not really any good at it, but that’s beside the point too.

An aside: this character is (supposed to be) YONG (æ°¸), meaning “forever” or “eternal”. It contains eight strokes, and is said to contain all that you need to know to master Chinese calligraphy. Seems really simple, doesn’t it? Try drawing one that looks good, perhaps with some online instruction. It’s trickier than it looks.