Many years ago, I was particularly struck by an exhibition of abstract paintings I saw in New York.  Although there were differences in the style of the works, they were all composed from line and space.  Later, I read in various sources that the artists in the exhibition had been influenced by Chinese calligraphy.  A kind of eastern feeling was conveyed in their work by the use of non-western forms.  But what really mattered was that their use of line affected me and inspired me to begin thinking about the nature of calligraphy itself.  Twenty years later I finally have an answer to what calligraphy is.           Each artistic form has its own special character.  This is what prevents it from being displaced by newer media as time moves on.  Chinese calligraphy has been evolving and developing for several thousands of years, and is still flourishing today.  Clearly, it must possess certain special qualities.  What special qualities?  To help explain, let me first say what they are not.           Calligraphy is not the art of line.  Or to put it another way, the essential quality of calligraphy is not line.  If one looks at the works of calligraphers down

No one believes me, even myself.  Most people cannot imagine that calligraphy could be this way.  I don’t believe it, but I conceived it.  Everything seemed fated, but from the beginning, I didn’t know it.  Fate provided a very special path for me.  In the early years, I thought nothing was more thrilling than fighting destiny.  In 1977 my entire family moved to New York from Hong Kong.  My first job in New York was driving around Chinatown, delivering goods to restaurants, and very routine.  No one thought that after so many years I could be an artist.  Finally my childhood fantasy became reality. No one believes me when they hear of my academic background.  Half of my friends have their PhD, even my sister.  When they ask me where I studied, who I studied with or what kind of degree I hold, their only response is “you are joking” to my reply.   After primary school, I began to work. By the time I approached 30, I saw my future, like a movie I had seen so many times before.  Everything was fixed, predictable, and very depressing.  Was this my life?  Often reflecting on that special period of time, I

Ming Chip Fung While learning the art of calligraphy through replication of old masterpieces, I realized that in today’s world it is impossible to compete with the times in which the old masters used their brush as an everyday writing implement.  I therefore transposed my thinking. Creating calligraphy is not just about how to write.  More importantly, it is about how to see and how to treat the art of calligraphy. What is the art of Chinese calligraphy? Before creating calligraphy, a writer must choose what to write and the verses or prose must be clear in his mind so that the flow of his brush will not falter as he thinks of what to write next and he can focus on the spaces between the strokes.  As the first stroke of the first character drops onto the paper, a space relationship between the stroke and the paper emerges.  As the second stroke is completed, the space inside the character and the space outside the character reflect each other.  When an abundance of characters are arranged together in prose or verse, a relationship between the characters emerges, as does a relationship between the strokes.  No matter how the spaces inside