In China, there are four ancient inventions—writing brushes（笔）, ink sticks（墨）, paper（纸） and ink stones（砚）.
Those made of wool（羊毛） are called yanghao and those made of weasels'（黄鼠狼） tail hair are called langhao.
A story goes like this:Two famous skilled men Xi Chao and his son produced a kind of perfect ink stick. As a result, the Emperor Li Yu in the Southern Tang Dynasty agreed to give them the family name "Li". In the Song Dynasty, its producing area was changed into Huizhou, and it was then called the Hui Ink Stick.
In Xuancheng, it's said that Cai Lun's pupil Kong Dan happened to see the ebony（檀木） in the rivers. It was wet with the water and turned white. Then Kong Dan used the bark（树皮） to produce world-famous Xuan paper.
Duan Ink Stone, She Ink Stone, Tao Ink Stone and Chengni Ink Stone are the most famous.
A. It's very hard for people to make paper now. B. They are mainly made of the hair of animals. C. The ink stick produced in Huizhou is perfect. D. There were some famous kinds ink stones in the Ming and Qing dynasties. E. The famous Xuan paper appeared in the Sui and Tang dynasties. |
Would you like to practise calligraphy with a brush(练毛笔字）？Why or why not?
