Chinese Calligraphy

I’m on a new tear to become a tourist now that the weather is getting warmer. Yesterday, Ty, Zane and I visited a popular restaurant called Fortune Cookie in Puxi. It targets the “laowai” (foreigner) population and is owned by people whose parents operate Chinese restaurants in America. Fortune Cookie’s niche is that it offers American-style Chinese food, including the fortune cookies we’ve all grown up expecting.

We also went to the popular Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center, which features a 3-D model of Shanghai.

This was enough tourism for Ty. He took a cab home to do homework. Zane was not so lucky. The two of us then went to “Painter Street,” so that I could complete my diabolical plan to “blow up his day.” I even pulled off a complete coup de grace by not purchasing either of the paintings he wanted – one of an old ship on the ocean and one of a beach sunset – that were both beautiful in a way that only a seven-year-old boy can appreciate.

There are a number of themed streets in Shanghai. Book street. Painter Street. Music Street.

Painter Street is a short alley lined with artist shops featuring copies of famous works of art, paintings of portrait photographs, and perhaps originals as well.

I was on the hunt for a Chinese calligraphy wall scroll, complete with the ubiquitous red stamps.

I finally found just the one I wanted in the top floor of one of the shops. I’m pretty sure I paid too much, based on how quickly the vendor came down on the second painting I was more inclined to leave behind.

Oh, well. It seems we both got what we wanted, and the law of supply and demand was working in both directions.

It was raining outside, and he had few customers. Hence my winning on picture #2.

My calligraphy skills look like a preschooler in art class. Hence his winning on picture #1.

Max tried to teach us calligraphy when he and his family had us over to his house a few months ago. Here are a few pictures and videos of our lesson.

Max demonstrating how to create Chinese calligraphy. His daughter, Ying Ying, is to his left.

Max is writing some characters for Zane to copy.

It is very difficult to hold the brushes properly.

Here is one sample. The calligraphy on the bottom shows how it is supposed to look.

This is another of our samples.

I think this one was mine, and I think it is the Chinese name Ying Ying gave me. I’m not sure that’s a very accurate description of me. If I had to chose a Chinese name myself, I would pick Grace. That might sound silly to a Chinese person, but I don’t care. I’d pick it anyway. Some of the names people pick are funny to my ears, too. I work with ladies named Coffee, Vanilla and Clover, just to name a few.