Yan Zhenqing "Duo Bao Ta" Regular Script Copybook

This calligraphy copybook is designed in particular for those who study Chinese as a second language, although it also benefits mother-tongue Chinese users. The most important feature of this book is that every character is chosen from the authentic rubbings of Duo Bao Ta by Yan Zhenqing, one of the four famous regular-script masters. Because of this, users can begin their calligraphy practice with genuine Yan. The second important feature is that this book is designed from a teaching perspective, and therefore can be used as a textbook for calligraphy writing courses. For example, to meet the need of calligraphy teaching, in choosing the characters for the chapter of “Basic Strokes,” this book has adopted what’s called the one-new-stroke-per-character principle. This means, each character in this chapter contains only one untaught stroke. This way, teachers can focus on the teaching of one stroke per time. The third feature is that, following the chapters on “Basic Strokes” and “Varied Strokes,” characters chosen are arranged by radicals. This way, users, after learning the skills on the basic and varied strokes, can focus on the practice of radicals, as a preparation for finally writing without looking at the copybook. Compiled in this copybook are also some famous sayings, which are designed to help users create their own artworks toward the end of their calligraphy course. Last but not the least, all the characters chosen here are given Hanyu Pinyin and English definitions so that users can study Chinese language while studying Chinese calligraphy. This way, they do not write blindly, but know what they write.