.jpg)
Xi’an Calligraphy Museum is located in the South Gate of the city, first built in the year of 1989, is also the very first museum with calligraphy theme in China. As a city once was a capital city of 6 dynasties, it is full of history and ancient culture. It is near to Xi'an Stele Forest, Ancient culture street, with bell tower on its north and the Wild Goose Pagoda. Taking a random walk here and you will be embraced with overwhelming atmosphere of traditional Chinese culture, just like a time capsule bringing you some certain place back to hundred years ago.
According to a saying from ancient Chinese, Calligraphy is the painting from the heart. So calligraphy can speak for a person’s character. People look at his calligraphy and will learn what kind a person he might be. That notion has been going on till today. If you are not wanting to hear some boring stuff about calligraphy and would like to learn it in a light and fun way, the museum is perfect for you. In the exhibition hall of more than square meters, there displays a wide range of ancient Chinese calligraphy artifacts and relics.
You might have noticed the calligraphy styles vary a lot, like each one has its unique style. It is all in the strokes and character of the artists. For some artists, they like to care about every detail of the stroke, others likes having some free style, each one is of great historical values. Many Chinese practice calligraphy to get a peace of mind, because you can only create good work with concentrated mind. With every stroke on the rice paper, some of the trouble can be gone for a short while. A lot of time people need an getaway on spiritual level and practicing calligraphy is a great way.
The items displayed in the museum have a wide time span, from the primitive society to slave society, till the late the Republican period. Oracles, Words of Jin dynasty, eaves tile of the Eastern Zhou dynasty, ancient seals, words on tombstones, and other calligraphy tools. The paper used for calligraphy feels soft and easy to tear up, the truth is it is of great quality. It is made from rice. The ink wouldn’t disappear even if you sank it into the water, this can be very good for preserve.
My personal favorite is the Tang Dynasty exhibition area. There mainly display some of the greatest works from 16 calligraphers of that period, telling the story of Daming Palace. The commentary words besides the shelf are shown in three different languages-Chinese, Japanese and English.
