~~~~ Calligraphy is thought to be one of the oldest abstract arts. Although the precise origin cannot be traced, it is at least 4,000 years old. The oldest inscriptions appear on pottery pieces. Since writing with a real brush on things like silk, bamboo books, animal skins, and wooden slats would disintegrate by the time of discovery, the oldest pieces have been inscribed on with metal �brushes.� There are four essential materials needed for calligraphy: paper, brush, ink stone, and ink stick.

~~~~ Chinese language in itself is unique. It is the last remaining language not based on phonetics. All that plus the numerous kinds of scripts truly make calligraphy an art. Originally pictographic, writing was simplified to more abstract characters over thousands of years. With thousands of characters to know, there are still only eight basic brushstrokes: dot ( ), dash ( ), perpendicular downstroke ( ), downstroke to the left ( ), wavelike stroke ( ), hook ( ), upstroke to the right ( ) and bend ( ). Those combined and modified make up all Chinese characters.

~~~~ Actually, there is even a specific order in which one is allowed to write these strokes. For example, one�s supposed to make strokes in order from top to bottom, left to right, and so on. There are also special ways to do the strokes. The stroke is thought of as two parts, qi bi - the beginning and shou bi -the end. When making a perpendicular stroke, for example, one is supposed to hold the brush horizontally but end it with a drop, while if doing a horizontal stroke, on has to start perpendicularly, go to the right, and back left.

~~~~ There is even a difference between how much you�re supposed to push on the brush. The effect would turn out different. There are several techniques for expressing the writer/painter�s style. Sometimes strokes can be started and finished with twisting one�s brush the direction opposite the stroke. There is as much as techniques for writing dots. Some strokes are made to look powerful, some � beautiful, some � 3-Dimensional.

~~~~ There are five essential points to the complicated structure and layout of Chinese characters: pingzheng, yunchen, rangjiu, xietias, and bianhua.

~~~~ Pingzheng means that horizontal strokes should be leveled and perpendicular strokes � upright. This concept is mainly based on finding the center of gravity in the character. This is especially recommended for beginners.

~~~~ Yunchen is a component of calligraphy that calls for proportion. The rule basically states that the thickness of a character�s strokes is inversely proportional to the amount of strokes and how compacted together they are. Each character should take approximately the same amount of space on the piece of paper.

~~~~ Another principal refers to balance. Rangjiu implies that although many characters are more complicated or tall on one side, it should not necessarily be more noticeable than it�s other part. It also refers to harmony between principal and subordinate strokes.

~~~~ Xietias is actually somewhat of a blend between Yunchen and Rangjiu. As those two, it asks for harmony in the strokes. Xietias, however, also touches harmonious relationships between characters. For example, it can happen that a character with only one stroke is next to one with thirty strokes. This point concerns itself with harmonious layout in such circumstances. Also, this points out more of the relationship between separate strokes.

~~~~ The last of the five elements is the Bianhua. An educated guess at the meaning of it after reading g the last four would probably be �more order to achieve harmony.� Certainly, it is about harmony but in fact, it means flexibility. Sometimes, expert calligraphers have to change the structure a bit just to make it look right.