The write brother

Besides teaching calligraphic courses, Luo Shaowen often takes his students on an artistic tour of the Palace Museum in Beijing, helping them better appreciate the collections there. [Photo provided to China Daily]

It was the third day of self-quarantine before 37-year-old Cheng Tao could go back to his office in Xinxiang, Henan province, after the long Spring Festival holiday. After dinner, Cheng laid out a scholar's toolkit－writing brush, ink stick, ink slab and paper－and set up his phone on the desk.

At 6:45 pm, he opened a live education app and began a third lesson in his introduction to clerical script. Luo Shaowen, who is also known as the Brush Brother, began to impart his wisdom.

It's the fourth calligraphy course Cheng has taken from Luo. Cheng started his first course, an introduction to regular script, last year, which made calligraphy a daily hobby for him. For this Spring Festival, Cheng wrote his own chunlian, or spring couplets, and pasted them on his front door.

"Studying calligraphy online is quite convenient for those of us who have a full-time day job, as you can take the lesson whenever you are available," Cheng says.

Cheng used to watch calligraphy vloggers on video-sharing platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou and, even though he thinks their work is beautiful, he wanted to study from a professional.

Luo, 36, who holds a bachelor's and master's degree in calligraphy from the School of Arts and Communication at Beijing Normal University, has been teaching the ancient writing skill since his graduate study years. Now, he is a calligraphy teacher at an elementary school in Beijing and has been teaching adults calligraphy online for almost three years during his spare time.