Strokes of ingenuity

With 90 percent of the world's fountain pens made in the country, Chinese hard-nib calligraphy faces a rosy future, says its pioneering artist. Zhu Linyong reports

In 1965, 20-year-old polytechnic graduate Pang Zhonghua saw his life's goal as mapping the country's mineral resources, in mountains and deserts across the country, as a geological surveyor. But a teenage hobby changed the course of his life.

Widely recognized as a pioneer of hard-nib calligraphy in China, Pang acquired celebrity status in the 1980s, with the sweeping popularity of his unique calligraphic art.

His art also propelled him into the ranks of the newly emerging rich, in the first flush of the market economy in the early 1990s, thanks to the sale of his calligraphy books and "model copies" - sheets of calligraphy that students use to trace the characters.

Despite the dwindling popularity of calligraphy in the Internet age, Pang, 65, says his career "continues to thrive".

He has just kicked off a nationwide tour of his retrospective calligraphy show, from Beijing's Military History Museum of China, to mark his three decades in the field.

Besides 180 calligraphic scrolls, featuring classic texts and Pang's essays and poems, it also presents samples of his calligraphy books and model copies circulating in both Chinese and overseas markets.

Over the past three years, at least three authorized editions of Pang's calligraphy books have made it to the best-selling book lists at both the national and provincial levels.

The exhibition also introduces at least 10 types of hard-nib writing tools and special ink that Pang hopes to put on the market in early 2011.

"With China's economic boom and improvement in living standards, more people are re-connecting with the once-forgotten traditional arts," Pang says.

China is now the world's biggest manufacturer of fountain pens. Its 50 billion pens account for 90 percent of the global market, statistics from China Fountain Pen Manufacturing Association indicate.

"I strongly believe hard-nib calligraphy has great potential to grow," Pang says. "This is the golden time for Chinese calligraphy art."

Pang has been exploring the overseas markets in recent years, teaming up with Confucius Institutes and Chinese-language schools to reach out to foreign students.

Pang recalls how as a young surveyor in the mid-1960s, he often practiced calligraphy with his inexpensive fountain pen, while his colleagues drank, talked and played cards to kill the time.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the fountain pen had already emerged as a popular writing tool among ordinary Chinese.

It was while copying calligraphic works by ancient masters such as Yan Zhenqing of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) that the young surveyor got a bold idea - why not develop fountain pen calligraphy, a new art genre, rooted in traditional Chinese culture?

"I was startled at first by my own idea," Pang says. He then set out to collect as many copies of the various styles of the masters that he could find, and started experimenting with his idea.

In 1969, he churned out the first version of his book entitled On Fountain Pen Calligraphy, hailed as a ground-breaking work by critics.

Instead of using traditional texts such as Tang Dynasty poems, Pang used his own essays, poems and even diary entries.

But all his copies were turned down many times by publishers during the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976).

The break came in 1980 when Tianjin People's Fine Arts Publishing House published his first book. Pang was paid a handsome 420 yuan ($63), which was twice the annual salary for two surveyors.

"I was overjoyed over not only about the generous payment but also the recognition the book received from readers," Pang says.

The book went on to become a bestseller. So far, it is believed to have sold more than 18 million copies in the Chinese mainland.

In 1984, China Central Television, then the nation's only nationwide TV station, invited Pang to give lectures on fountain pen calligraphy, catapulting him to stardom. He quit his job as a surveyor in the late 1980s and has since made his living as a professional calligrapher.

Pang capitalized on the hunger for knowledge and the arts in the immediate aftermath of the "cultural revolution" in the early 1980s.

The fact that the fountain pen was easier to grasp than the traditional writing brush, also worked in his favor.

In 1993, Pang established the China Hard-nib Calligraphy Art Society and served as its first chairman until 2000.

Over the years, hard-nib calligraphy societies have mushroomed in most provinces, municipalities, and regions across China at both provincial and county levels.

In recent years, a few hard-nib calligraphy societies have also appeared in Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia.

While addressing international audiences, Pang often combines calligraphy with music.

He likens the strokes, lines, and pauses of a whole piece of calligraphy to the tone, pitch, and melody of a symphonic piece.

Before he travels abroad, Pang usually prepares a video where he synchronizes the writing of Chinese characters with a carefully chosen local tune that he plays on his accordion.

The results are always rewarding, he says.

Pang believes hard-nib calligraphy has the potential to spark interest among foreigners to learn not just about traditional calligraphy but also other Chinese arts.