Chinese Calligraphy Facts/ Lesson

Time periods were split into different dynasties

o Dynasty: a series of leaders from the same family
There were 4 major dynasties - Calligraphy was established in the Shang Dynasty
Calligraphy is an art form
o Means communication a way to write things down
Very different than English words: English words are made up of a
collection of letters and each letter has its own sounds
Chinese uses something called logograms each symbol represents a
meaning or a word
o Way to express yourself like how writing here like we all do every morning is a
way to express ourselves
Noble and royal children had to learn calligraphy not everybody did because it was so
hard to learn
If you knew how to write calligraphy, then you were most likely royal and were higher
up on the status.
Now we are going to practice what it was like to be royal and have the privilege to know
how to write.

After handing out worksheet

This hasn't changed for thousands of years
Each character is written in an imaginary square
We are going to practice the word life