From the perspective of second language teaching, Chinese character teaching in particular, this book, through a combination of Chinese character learning and calligraphy appreciation, of calligraphy by hard-tipped pen and that on writing brush and of appreciation and practice, provide a key for foreign learners of Chinese language and beginners of calligraphy. It can be used for a semester of a selective course. 
The textbook is divided into 15 parts, namely “Introduction to Chinese calligraphy”, “The Chinese characters”, “The origin of Chinese characters” (six ancient categories of Chinese characters), “The four treasures of the writing studio”, “The styles of Chinese calligraphy”, “The history of Chinese calligraphy”, “The practice of Chinese calligraphy”, “The eight basic stokes”, “The stroke order”, “The structures of characters”, “Tracing the model work”, “Copying the model work”, “Freehand practice”, “Appreciating Chinese calligraphy” and “Working on a project”. Apart from teaching the basic knowledge about Chinese characters and calligraphy, the book also pays much attention to the introduction of Chinese culture. With a great number of fine calligraphy works, the book enables the students to enjoy the beauty and have fun learning. In the last part “Working on a project”, students are asked to make practical and interesting things like greeting cards, banners and T-shirts.