Residents practice calligraphy in a community center in Luohe city, Henan province.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Before indulging herself in the enjoyment of writing Chinese calligraphy for hours on the weekends, Ma Huiyan makes a pot of tea using an exquisite tea set and burns some incense, a ritual the calligraphy lover says she needs to "create a perfect experience of spiritual enjoyment after a busy week of work".

The 32-year-old who works at a foreign company in Shanghai renewed her childhood interest in calligraphy in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, as a way to kill time.

"I'm not a calligrapher. I don't care much about the skills. It's the spiritual peace it offers that attracts me, and keeps me doing it," says Ma, who once spent eight hours writing calligraphy.

Although she has many interests, such as playing the ukulele, swimming, dancing, playing video games and even painting on canvas, writing calligraphy for one or two hours after a day's work helps her unwind.

"I fully concentrate on tracing the lines of each character with an empty mind. After finishing a piece of work, I have a strong sense of achievement," says Ma.

A man writes on the ground and draws a big crowd of viewers in the Summer Palace in Beijing.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Having resumed the childhood interest she learned from her grandfather, Ma bought the tools she needed. She has about 30 writing brushes, although she mostly uses only two of them. Part of her bookshelf is filled with various types of rice paper.

Sometimes, when she completes a piece that she is satisfied with, she will post it on her social media account, receiving lots of likes and praise from her friends.

"Just like my peers who love watching TV dramas or playing games, writing calligraphy is a way for me to entertain myself. It makes me happy," Ma says.

Ma is one of the growing number of Chinese people who are turning to this traditional art form to pursue spiritual peace in the era of technology.

On popular video-sharing platforms, such as Douyin, a short video recording the process of writing calligraphy can receive hundreds of millions of views. Tens of thousands of viewers post their works following the video and exchange opinions on how their calligraphic works look.

At a time when people usually use a computer keyboard for writing, the ancient Chinese art of writing with a history of several thousand years still leaves an indelible mark on people's lives, according to Fang Jianxun, a researcher at the calligraphy education and research center of Peking University.

Calligraphy enthusiast practices with water in Beihai Park in Beijing.[Photo provided to China Daily]

He opened a calligraphy course at the university in 2019. Videos of his course were later uploaded online, winning him millions of views.

"Writing calligraphy is not for practical use. The movements of the brush on paper are like a dance performance. The process involves a perfect match of one's hands and mind. It's a highbrow form of entertainment in modern life," says Fang.

He explains that the writing process has a magic power to make practitioners feel good by using both their hands and brains.

Fang points out that people can learn calligraphy at any age, as opposed to the biased opinion that calligraphy must be learned from one's childhood. Thus, adults can learn it, too.

"Calligraphy expresses the writer's personality and emotions. It's a way for people living in the fast-paced world to slow down and enjoy a poetic world made up of patterns of characters," he says.

Guo Ziyuan, a teacher from Hanxiang Calligraphy Education, a Beijing-based calligraphy training company, began teaching calligraphy 10 years ago. He finds that many of his adult students want to control their temper and cultivate their minds by learning calligraphy.

"They told me they are short-tempered and hope to change themselves by picking up this traditional art form," says Guo, adding that the popularity of traditional culture currently pushes more people to turn to calligraphy.

Calligraphy courses are popular among younger people.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The course Guo provides lasts at least one year and runs twice a week. Many of his students are lawyers, designers and accountants. They learn it as a way to ease the pressure of daily work.

There's also a group of parents who learn it together with their children. Most of the students in the training company are children and teenagers who are expected to learn more about Chinese culture through calligraphy. Adults account for less than one-third of his students, says Guo.

"Many parents choose to learn together with their children as a means of self-improvement. They believe that calligraphy opens doors to the world of Chinese traditional culture, such as poems, history and even philosophy," he adds.

Many of his students initially set high goals, such as writing good characters in ink within a year. Finally, they find that their characters reflect their emotions and thus turn their goals into cultivating their minds and personalities.

"From a calligraphy work, we can tell the writer's feelings, such as joy, sadness and depression. One needs to be fully focused to write a good piece of work," Guo explains the charm of writing calligraphy.

Students take part in a calligraphy competition in Lanzhou, Gansu province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Guo began learning the art form in primary school. The 35-year-old kept practicing it at least once a week.

He sees the writing process as a way to talk with himself, through which he says he is enlightened and able to find his own life philosophy.

For Zhou Jinsheng, writing calligraphy is more like a kind of sports activity. The 75-year-old has been writing on ground with a big-size brush in Beijing's parks for 10 years.

He needs no paper and ink, just a 1-meter-long brush he makes and a bucket of water. The ground is his paper and the water is his ink. When the weather is good, he goes to a park near his home and writes on the ground. Always, his characters draw some passersby.

"Writing on the ground is very environmentally friendly. It requires the balance of my limbs and waist. Every time I finish my practice, I feel like finishing a set of tai chi exercises," says Zhou, whose peers prefer tai chi, a slow form of exercise popular among old people.

Zhou looks much younger than his age and enjoys good health. He attributes it to his longtime practice of using big brushes to write on the ground.

"It's not only good for my body, but also for my mind," says Zhou.

Web editors: Li Xiaoshu, Zhang Rui