SOAS teacher seeks to make calligraphy easy

While calligraphy is often hard even for average Chinese people to appreciate, Zhao Yizhou has taken up the challenge of making the age-old writing style an "international language" through the combination of tradition and innovation.

Having lived in the United Kingdom for nearly 20 years, Zhao, 59, has been a calligraphy teacher at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, since 1998. And he has given calligraphy lessons at the British Museum.

Zhao has been described by The Times newspaper as the finest contemporary Chinese calligrapher living in the UK.