Chinese Calligraphy Peace Project

Although Chinese calligraphy is a form of communication, it is also a highly valued art form. Chinese writing is not based on a phonetic alphabet but rather each word in Chinese has a unique symbol. It is a difficult language to read and write because remote memory must be used to learn each individual word or “character”. To read a Chinese newspaper, you must know approximately 3,000 characters!

To write in Chinese you will need paper, a paint brush and ink, or in our case, paint. To get the “feel” of Chinese calligraphy, we have included the word “peace” written in both Chinese and English, using a Chinese calligraphy font. Because of the great skill required to write in Chinese, which includes 8 basic strokes, we encourage you to check out books on Chinese calligraphy if your family is interested in learning more about this beautiful style of writing.

Chinese Calligraphy Peace Project Materials

paint – black liquid acrylic or tempera paint
round tipped paint brush as wide as the characters and letters
card stock paper or regular paper
red construction paper – 9″ x 12″
glue stick or rubber cement
gel pens or markers (optional)
template

Directions

Make a copy of the template on card stock paper or regular printer paper. The template includes the word “peace” in both Chinese and English. The words and characters are written in grey, and meant to be painted over with black paint.

Before you begin to write, practice making brush strokes with your paint brush and paint. Many of the strokes begin with pressure at the beginning of the stroke and then slowly lifting the brush as you continue through the stroke. Although you would not do this is you were actually writing in Chinese, you can use a smaller brush to “fill-in” the strokes if all the grey is not covered.