Chen Xingxian, a local in Ruzhou city, Henan province, practices calligraphy on the ground of a local park, Oct 14. [Photo by Wu Weiwei / ruzhounews.com]

A 73-year-old retiree, Chen Xingxian, practices calligraphy every day at a local park in the city of Ruzhou, Henan province, using the ground as his writing paper, a one-meter long, homemade writing brush as his pen, and water as his ink.

Each day after lunch, Chen will spend at least one hour in the park of the Workers' Cultural Center, or a clearing near his community, practicing writing. He has been sticking to this habit for almost 13 years, which, as he says, can improve his calligraphic arts skills, while at the same time, building up his physical fitness. In addition, doing calligraphy one needs to be highly concentrated, which in turn helps improve his memorizing ability.

Chen said that at first he would sweat after writing only 200 characters on the ground, but after over a decade of practice, he is "much stronger than before".

Now his writing spot has become an attractive view in the park, drawing crowds of people to stop by and watch his performance for a while. Some would also invite him to write a scroll of couplet. This happens more frequently especially when a certain festival is approaching, and people would use his writing as a festival gift. He is a "renowned" figure among his friends and community now.

Writing in this way also encourages him to read more Chinese classics, as many of the calligraphic works are about ancient literature, such as the Orchid Pavilion, and the Thousand Character Classic.

Chen said one of his dreams is to open an individual calligraphic work exhibition at his home. He also hopes this way of exercise can inspire the younger generation to get away from computers and do some real writing instead of typing on the keyboard all the time.