The island city of Xiamen, a perennial darling of China’s travel guides, is celebrated for its colonial-era architecture on Gulangyu, its vibrant seafood markets, and its serene coastal walks. Yet, beneath this postcard-perfect surface flows a deeper, quieter current—a current of ink. For the discerning traveler, Xiamen offers not just a journey through space, but a profound journey through the art and soul of Chinese calligraphy, an immersive experience where history, culture, and personal reflection converge at the tip of a brush.
To reduce calligraphy to mere beautiful writing is to miss its essence entirely. In China, it is known as Shufa—the “law of writing” or “the way of writing.” It is a disciplined art form, a meditation in motion, and a direct expression of the artist’s character and spirit. In Xiamen, this ancient art is not locked away in museums; it breathes in the city’s modern rhythm.
Walk through the bustling Zhongshan Road pedestrian street, and your eyes might be drawn upwards, past the modern shop signs, to the weathered stone plaques above old doorways. These are bian'e, horizontal inscribed boards, often bearing the powerful, elegant characters of a famous scholar or official from centuries past, bestowing blessings of prosperity, harmony, or scholarly achievement. In the tranquil lanes of the Kulangsu (Gulangyu) Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site, this presence is even more palpable. The villas, though silent, speak through the couplets (duilian) carved into their doorframes and the poetic names given to their gardens, each character a carefully chosen emblem of the owner’s aspirations.
Your calligraphy-themed exploration should start at the Xiamen Calligraphy Square (Yandang Shuyuan). Nestled near the foot of Wanshi Botanical Garden, this isn’t a typical square but a sprawling, open-air gallery. Giant, sculptural renditions of Chinese characters are carved into granite, rising from pools of water or lying flat for you to walk upon. Here, art is interactive. You can literally traverse the strokes of a character meaning “dream” or “mountain,” feeling its form with your feet—a perfect, Instagram-worthy fusion of landscape and language.
Next, venture into the Xiamen Museum of Art. Its permanent collection often features exquisite works from Ming and Qing dynasty masters, as well as contemporary calligraphers from the Fujian region. Pay attention to the different scripts: the ancient, seal-like Zhuanshu; the formal, structured Kaishu (regular script) often used for stone inscriptions; the flowing Xingshu (running script); and the wild, expressive Caoshu (cursive script). Seeing these styles side-by-side is like listening to different musical genres, from a solemn hymn to a jazz improvisation.
For a truly authentic experience, dedicate a morning to the Shapowei Artzone. This transformed fishing village, now a hub for creative minds, houses small studios where local artists work. With some luck and polite inquiry, you might find a calligrapher at work, willing to demonstrate the dance of the brush—the pressure, the speed, the pause. Watching ink bleed into xuanzhi (rice paper) is a mesmerizing spectacle.
Travel today is about creation, not just consumption. The most meaningful souvenir from Xiamen won’t be a mass-produced trinket, but a sheet of paper bearing your own, albeit clumsy, characters. Several cultural centers and studios in the Hulishan area or on Kulangsu offer short-term calligraphy workshops for tourists.
Under the guidance of a patient master, you’ll learn the fundamentals: how to hold the brush vertically and with a relaxed grip (imagine holding a bird—not too tight, not too loose), how to grind the ink stick on the inkstone, feeling the texture and watching the liquid darken. Your first lesson will almost certainly be the character “永” (yong), meaning “forever.” It is considered the perfect character for beginners as it contains all eight basic strokes of Chinese calligraphy. As you focus on the horizontal, the vertical, the turn, and the hook, the outside world fades. The challenge is immense—controlling the fluid ink is a negotiation between intention and accident—but the moment a stroke comes out with just the right “bone and flesh” is incredibly rewarding. This hour of focused silence is often cited by travelers as the most peaceful and insightful of their entire trip.
The journey through ink delightfully spills over into Xiamen’s famed food scene. The connection is literal and metaphorical. Visit a high-end tea house, especially one specializing in Fujian’s prized Tieguanyin oolong tea. The tea master’s performance is a calligraphy of its own—a precise, fluid series of movements from rinsing, steeping, to pouring. The tea is often served in cups set upon a small, tray-like “tea boat,” reminiscent of an inkstone.
Furthermore, the aesthetic of calligraphy—the balance, the empty space (liubai), the harmony—is directly reflected in the presentation of Minnan (Southern Fujian) cuisine. Dishes are composed with an artist’s eye. Even the act of sharing a meal, with its communal dishes and rotating lazy Susan, follows a rhythm not unlike the communal appreciation of a handscroll painting, unrolled and enjoyed section by section.
Xiamen is no time capsule. The city’s youthful energy, driven by its universities and tech startups, is engaging with calligraphy in innovative ways. In trendy cafes in the SiMing district, you might find latte art featuring stylized characters. Streetwear brands incorporate cursive script into their graphic T-shirts and sneaker designs. Digital artists use motion graphics to animate the creation of a character, making the ancient art form viral on social media platforms.
This modern reinterpretation is crucial. It demonstrates that Shufa is not a relic but a living, evolving language of form. For the tourist, it makes the art more accessible and relatable, providing a bridge between the profound historical tradition and today’s creative expressions.
To travel to Xiamen and seek out this journey through ink is to choose depth over checklist tourism. It is to understand that the city’s true beauty is not only in its picturesque views but in the lines that have written its history and continue to sketch its future. It is an invitation to slow down, to appreciate the weight of history in a single stroke, and perhaps, to pick up a brush and add your own faint, learning curve to the endless scroll of this artful city. You leave not just with photographs, but with a felt understanding of balance, effort, and the beautiful imperfection of a hand-drawn line.
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Author: Xiamen Travel
Link: https://xiamentravel.github.io/travel-blog/xiamen-calligraphy-a-journey-through-ink.htm
Source: Xiamen Travel
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