(LI SHIGONG)

To me, a 46-year-old laowai from the United States, learning Mandarin is actually four times harder than learning English. Not only are there four tones to each word, but also there are over 80,000 written Chinese characters to our 26 letters of the alphabet.

Just like the ancient Egyptian language of hieroglyphics, the Chinese have used "pictograms" or pictures to represent words for thousands of years. When done correctly, a single character can become a work of art revealing desired expressions of the artist's personality. The old adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" definitely applies to Chinese characters.

As a youngster in the United States, I grew up with the Palmer Method—a system designed to try and connect all the English letters in one word in one flowing, connected cursive stroke. The start-and-stop, top-to-bottom and left-to-right Chinese character strokes are not natural to me yet. Here's hoping that writing character stroke orders will become second nature—traditional or simplified characters.

Currently an English teacher at Taishan Medical University, I have received some free formal training through Chinese lessons furnished by the university, as well as help and encouragement from my students. My progress has been slow but steady. After a year or so, I can recognize maybe 1,200 characters and can write about 500 characters. I guess you could call my experience thus far a "character-building" experience. Now despite being able to speak and write so little, I've decided to take up Chinese calligraphy.

The fine art of calligraphy seems to be the perfect remedy to enhance my grasp of the Chinese language, especially the written characters. Learning the grace, elegance and wisdom of an ancient Chinese art form helps renew my passion for understanding both the language and culture of China.

My instructor is very patient and insightful as I am just starting to realize what a monumental undertaking I am about to begin. The administration office asked just two questions to make me realize how little I knew about the task before me: What style of calligraphy would you like to study—grass, standard, seal or running? Do you want to learn brush calligraphy or pen and ink?

One reason I took up calligraphy is that I thought it would be fun. By contrast, rote memorization of the basics of any language can get stale and time-consuming compared to the elegance of calligraphy. At my first lesson, I stood amazed as the "master" applied his trade. I had no idea that the canvas is every bit as important as the size, shape and type of brush. Some art canvases looked like Chinese gift-wrapping paper. Other sheets were made of white linen with a background of golden dragons. Chinese calligraphy paper is called "rice paper" made up of wood pulp and straw—an absorbent paper comes in different weights, sizes and textures.

Of course, there are many cultural differences between the East and West—and in learning calligraphy is this nowhere more apparent. For me, Chinese logic is a bit like the children's game "Chinese Checkers"—roundabout and jumping side-to-side and back-and-forth. During some of my lessons, I was paired up with a "world-famous calligraphy teacher" from Tai'an. Other times, I have sat in classes with 6-year-old Chinese pupils and a Chinese calligraphy teacher who speaks no English. Hey, I'm not too proud…if a 6-year-old or 66-year-old can get me to wield a calligraphy brush and paint pretty pictures of Chinese characters that's good enough for me.

The reaction in the community to a foreigner like myself studying calligraphy has been very positive. Virtually everyone I spoke to, from Chinese college students to white-collar professionals, gave the exact same story about struggling to learn calligraphy as part of their grade school curriculum. Many are impressed that a foreign English teacher would actually want to attempt to master this beautiful, intricate yet difficult art. The goal of calligraphy, I am told, is to achieve a fluidity and boldness—a movement and rhythm so that the Chinese characters appear to be "dancing on paper."

With time, effort and lots of patience, I will soon be making beautiful flowing pictures of ancient and modern Chinese characters from the Song Dynasty dating back more than 1,000 years to present. Tai'an and the Taishan Mountain are located in Shandong Province, home of renowned statesman and scholar Confucius (551- 479 B.C.). To try and master this language, which has been around for over 5,000 years, in indeed humbling. I can envision logging countless hours and days striving to master my new labor of love. As I strive to perfect the ancient art of calligraphy, I will keep in mind what Confucius once said, "The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."

The author is an American teaching in Tai'an, Shandong Province