Chapter 49 Practice calligraphy
After lunch, Sun Shan sat on the stone steps next to De Ge'er to rest. The weather was still very cold after the Chinese New Year, but the sun shone on his face, making him feel warm.
There was a bang-bang-bang sound, and the class started.
The students hurried back to the classroom, sat quietly on their chairs, and waited for Master Zheng to arrive.
Soon, Master Zheng walked into the classroom. Sun Shan and the other two straightened their backs and sat upright.
Master Zheng said gently, "Come, let's read again what we learned this morning."
This time, Master Zheng no longer read in Guangnan dialect, but in Shangjing Mandarin.
He reads a sentence, and the students read a sentence. Finally, the students are asked to read it once by themselves.
Master Zheng said with satisfaction: "Not bad, you have read it correctly. Now I will teach you how to write it."
Master Zheng asked the students to come up and first taught them how to place the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone, then taught them how to grind the ink and how to hold the brush.
Spreading out the paper, Cangjie wrote the character "人" (person) forcefully.
He said to the three students: "You should watch carefully how I write."
Master Zheng wrote down the twelve words he had learned today.
Sun Shan looked carefully and found that Master Zheng wrote in regular script, which was not beautiful, but neat and clear. It was not like the cursive script, which was full of flying dragons and phoenixes, and made you guess left and right, and you might not be able to guess what he wrote.
Master Zheng said seriously, "This is regular script, which is the required font for all government announcements and official documents. It is also the font that must be used when selecting scholars for the imperial examinations."
After a pause, he continued to explain: "When you go out to find a job or have the opportunity to take the imperial examination, this kind of handwriting is universal, so you must know how to use it."
Master Zheng took out another piece of paper, repeated the exercise, and asked, "Did you see it clearly? Write it like this. We scholars write with the goal of being upright, respectful, and neat and tidy."
Sun Shan watched Master Zheng write carefully and memorized the order in which he wrote.
Master Zheng asked the three students to go back and sit down.
He stood up and said, "Okay, now the three of you follow my steps and do it again. First, set out your writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone."
Sun Shan and the other two imitated Master Zheng's movements and finished their work. They spread out the paper and picked up the brush.
But when it comes time to write, I just won’t start.
The three students scratched their heads and looked at Master Zheng.
The master was not angry, but smiled and said, "Your behavior is normal. I was like this on my first day of writing, too. I was hesitant and didn't dare to write."
But the teacher at that time didn’t have as good a temper as me. When he saw that the students didn’t understand, he would scold them.
Master Zheng was also a student once, and now as a teacher, he understands students' mentality better, so he is gentler and kinder to students than the teachers at that time.
Master Zheng walked up to Sun Shan, held his little hand, and taught him how to write stroke by stroke.
He said kindly: "Just write it, and you can take your time with the rest."
He then walked to De Ge'er and Yang Qingbei and taught them one by one how to write.
Master Zheng looked at the three students' big handwriting and said nothing.
When he found students making mistakes in their writing, he corrected them promptly and said kindly, "You learned how to write today. When you get home, ask your father to get you a small slate, bring it to the classroom, and write on it."
We are children from poor families, so we can’t practice calligraphy on paper all the time. But we can’t practice calligraphy without practice. Practice on the slate until you are familiar with it, then write on paper.”
Sun Shan hurriedly asked: "Teacher, what kind of slate is it?" I have heard of practicing calligraphy on a sand table and on a slate, but I have never put it into practice.
Master Zheng pointed to a small pond in the courtyard, with a few smooth stone slabs beside it, and said to the students, "These are the kind of stone slabs that are made perfectly square and can be carried around.
Bring it back to school, and practice with the slate during calligraphy class, and wash it by the small pond. When you are sure you have mastered it, write it on paper.
Then he said to the students, "When you have time, you can practice calligraphy on the stone slab beside the small pond, but you must clean it after practice. When you do things, you must have a beginning and an end. Do you understand?"
Sun Shan nodded and said, "I understand, teacher."
Master Zheng said, "Write slowly. I will go to the next class and come back to check how you are doing."
After saying that, he walked out of the classroom without looking back and went to the middle class next door.
As soon as the teacher left, De Ge'er's straight body immediately softened. He slumped down in his chair and said dejectedly, "Shanzi, it's so difficult. I can't even hold a pen."
Sun Shan glanced at De Ge'er's handwriting. It was horrible. He just copied others, not writing every stroke in a regular pattern.
Looking at my own handwriting again, although its characters are as big as those of a cow, every stroke is clear and distinct, much better than De Ge'er's.
He consoled her, "Brother De, the teacher just said that this is how it is to write for the first time. If you write more, you will get it right."
De Ge'er ignored Sun Shan's nonsense consolation and peeked at the handwriting of Yang Qingbei next door. He became even more angry. Anyone who was not blind could see that Qingbei's handwriting was much better than his own.
Yang Qingbei felt De Ge'er's gaze, turned his head, pretended to glance at the words on De Ge'er's paper casually, and chuckled.
De Geer immediately asked, "Qingbei boy, what are you laughing at?"
Yang Qingbei straightened up and said seriously, "No, I didn't laugh. You heard it wrong."
Of course De Ge'er didn't believe it, but he didn't dare speak loudly in the classroom, for he was most afraid that the teacher would suddenly walk in.
Sun Shan ignored Deger and continued writing while reading in Beijing Mandarin.
Whether it is writing well or being able to speak Beijing dialect, it is a must-have for taking the imperial examination.
After practicing one side, practice the first side. Practice both sides of a piece of paper back and forth until the whole paper cannot be practiced anymore, then let it go.
I don’t know how much time passed before Master Zheng walked in.
Sun Shan and his companions immediately straightened their bodies and began writing very seriously.
Master Zheng checked them one by one.
He said to the three students, "Sun Shan, your writing is good, and the stroke order is correct. You two can ask him for advice."
The stroke order here refers to the writing order and sequence of each stroke in Chinese characters.
The correct stroke order can make Chinese characters look more beautiful and smooth, and help improve writing speed and accuracy.
De Ge'er and Yang Qingbei nodded to show that they understood.
Master Zheng took out several pieces of paper with grids of different sizes drawn on them, some 3x3, some 9x9.
Master Zheng said, "When you have practiced on the slate, you can write on paper. Come, look at this paper."
Taking out a piece of paper with grids drawn on it, Sun Shan took a look and saw that there were 9 grids in total, which was 3X3.
Explain: "When you write on paper, keep the words within a grid and don't go beyond it. Do you understand?"
After saying that, Master Zheng wrote the character “人” (person) on a small grid.
Sun Shan and the other two nodded and said, "Teacher, we understand."
Master Zheng took another 9X9 grid paper and said, "This grid is smaller. You are more familiar with it now. Write on it."
After saying that, he wrote another character “人” on the small grid.
Finally, Master Zheng took a piece of paper with even smaller grids and wrote on it the twelve words he had taught today: "When a man is born, his nature is good. Natures are similar, but habits make them different."
He said patiently: "You have practiced until your handwriting is this small, which means you have mastered it."
Sun Shan and the other two said seriously, "Master, we understand."