Calligraphy – An enjoyment at Tet

Calligrapher Truong Kien Quoc, who has been attached to calligraphy for nearly 50 years, shows his huge pen brush.

As a traditional custom, on the days approaching Tet (Lunar New Year) the fair displaying calligraphy by the Chinese Vietnamese community from District 5 in Ho Chi Minh City in Southern Vietnam is crowded with people who enjoy this hobby.

Calligraphers living on streets around like Hai Thuong Lan Ong, Nguyen Trai, Luong Nhu Hai, etc. come to the fair, bringing along such necessities as tables and chairs, paper, slabs and inks, pen brushes … with which they can satisfy any customer by writing calligraphic letters for display at home during Tet Holidays and around the year.

Hai Thuong Lan Ong is the most crowded street where many people practice calligraphy. The long bustling street is colourful with calligraphic

James Winton, an American tourist, is curious to see calligrapher Kim Hy writing scripts.

letters in red and yellow.

Unlike those from the North who often wear traditional costumes of the scholars in the old time including long dress and turban, calligraphers from the South wear casual dress, some even bare to the waist, which adds to their already indifferent appearance caused by their bald head and big belly.

However, the way they use the pen brush to write calligraphic letters is incredibly professional.

Among the counters selling interiors for display at Tet, I found counter No. 213 owned by the old

Writing yellow scripts on red paper.

calligrapher Truong Kien Quoc. A native of Guangdong (China), old Truong is a kind-hearted man with a cheerful sense of humour.

He showed me a huge pen brush, which looks like a feather brush of the fairy Taoist hermit.

On the pen body there are three Chinese letters, which means “A heavenly pen”. One end of the brush is made of reed.

Truong said his pen brush is made for fun, not for writing calligraphic letters. For almost 50 years, he has come to the fair to write calligraphic letters for the customers. The letters have a meaning of happiness, wealth and longevity, luck, fortune, talent, etc.

Customers said that calligraphic letters by the Chinese Vietnamese in Cho Lon in the South are different from those written by calligraphers in the North, even in China.

They are letters written with black ink and on flowery red paper soaked with scent; letters made from Chinese black ink and on simple pink paper; and letters written with Chinese black ink and on white paper, respectively.

Although there are scrolls and couplets with nice printed letters, many still love to have hand-written calligraphic letters, simply because the latter seems to have soul and livelier than the printed letters which are polished but rigid.

With time passing by, the calligraphy fair of the Chinese Vietnamese in Cho Lon area brings great enjoyment and entertainment for many people during traditional Tet Holidays.

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