Art practice goes from drudgery to delight

Being an education reporter has enabled me to attend and observe classes on many different subjects. One that impressed me deeply is a class I visited recently where children were taught calligraphy. It was far more interesting and attractive than what I had as a child.

The class, comprising one teacher and three students, kicked off with drawing practice: three types of lines - horizontal, vertical and wave - 10 times each to help students warm up and get familiar with the writing brush in their hand.

Then came the formal part of the class. The teacher wrote down a sentence from The Analects of Confucius on a white board and discussed the meaning of the sentence with the students before finally beginning the lecture on writing techniques - how to write each character in an artistic way.