Ｌｅｔ　Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ　Ｃａｌｌｉｇｒａｐｈｙ　Ｇｏ　Ｇｌｏｂａｌ.docVIP

Ｌｅｔ　Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ　Ｃａｌｌｉｇｒａｐｈｙ　Ｇｏ　Ｇｌｏｂａｌ 　　One hot summer day not long ago, in the central courtyard of the Temple of Imperial Ancestors in Beijing, 30 Chinese and foreign calligraphers could be seen working on a 100-meter-long scroll they were preparing for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. 　　The occasion was the opening ceremony of the Eighth International Calligraphy Exchange Exhibition, organized jointly by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC), the Chinese Calligraphers’ Association (CCA) and the Beijing Municipal Federation of Literary and Art Circles. 　　 　　Nearly 600 entries from 18 countries, including China, Japan, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, France and the United States were on display, and the exhibits were in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic and the scripts of Chinese ethnic minorities. 　　China originated the calligraphic arts, and Chinese calligraphy has a devoted following among the broad masses of ordinary Chinese. In parks, senior citizens can frequently be seen practicing their calligraphy using writing brushes the size of mops, and calligraphy works have recently fetched record high prices at auctions. In 2007, for example, a caoshu (cursive scripts) calligraphy work from the early Qing Dynasty, entitled Poetry Scroll, was sold for RMB 16.91 million, a new record that year. However, in the era of computers calligraphy faces unprecedented challenges to its popularity among younger generations. 　　As a non-governmental organization of calligraphers, the Chinese Calligraphers’ Association has made it its core mission to promote calligraphy among ordinary people, and to assist its dissemination worldwide. Recently, Zhao Changqing, vice president of the CCA, accorded an interview to China Today in which he expressed his belief that Chinese calligraphy has a brilliant future, both at home and abroad. 　　 　　 　　An Art for Everyone 　　 　　China Today: What is you opinion of China as a calligraphy powerhouse? 　　Zhao Changqi