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31 of 41 found the following review helpful:
 More Confusion on Chinese Writing Sep 12, 2005
Trying to learn Chinese calligraphy, alone, from a book, is probably akin to trying to learn martial arts or ballet from a video or DVD - perhaps useless, potentially dangerous. Yet the book still deserves credit on the principle that in remote lands, a poor map made by a foreigner is better than no map at all. In fact, there is an apparent gap in the literature in English on this subject: a perusal of copious material available at Shanghai Foreign Language Bookstore on Fuzhou Rd reveals nothing any better. There is simply no authoritative English reference.
In any case, there are numerous points of contention within this book, concerning the presentation of basic strokes, composite strokes, stroke ordering rules, etc. The author presents the `basic' strokes as follows:
heng2, shu4, pie3, na4, tiao3, dian3, gou1, zhe2
The author presents tiao3 as a basic stroke. The stroke he is evidently describing is referred to elsewhere in the literature as ti2: `an upwards diagonal character stroke, rising from left to right; or a lifting brush stroke in painting'. In no other reference can I find this stroke named as tiao3.
The author presents gou1, `a hook stroke appended to other strokes', as a basic stroke with four variants. A hook stroke can definitely be appended to the basic strokes heng2, shu4, pie3, such that these strokes exist in `unhooked' and `hooked' variants. But as noted in other references, gou1 can also be be used to create wan1 gou1 `bent hooked', xie2 gou1 `slanting hooked', and wo4 gou1 `crouching hooked' as valid composite strokes, as well as heng2 zhe2 gou1, heng2 zhe2 wan1 gou1, heng2 zhe2 zhe2 gou1, shu4 wan1 gou1, shu4 zhe2 zhe2 gou1, heng2 zhe2 xie2 gou1, etc, which brings the number of variations to a dozen or more.
The author presents zhe2 `to fold, to turn' as a basic stroke with two variants. The author ignores wan1 `bend, bent', and xie2 `slanting', which are also used to describe direction or directional changes in composite characters, but with an obvious visual difference from zhe2. A useful visual comparison of the composite strokes (a) heng2 zhe2 heng2, (b) heng2 zhe2 heng2 wan1, (c) heng2 zhe2 heng2 zhe2, and (d) heng2 zh2 heng2 zhe2 should make the differences obvious. In fact, the two variants the author discusses are heng2 zhe2 and shu4 zhe2. These are only two of numerous uses of zhe2 in composite strokes. Other `variants' of zhe2 include: heng2 zhe2 ti2, heng2 zhe2 heng2, heng2 zhe2 heng2 wan1, heng2 zhe2 heng2 zhe2, heng2 zhe2 gou1, heng2 zhe2 zhe2 pie3, heng2 zhe2 wan1 gou1, heng2 zhe2 zhe2 gou1, heng2 zhe2 xie2 gou1, shu4 zhe2 zhe2 gou1, etc.
The author dismisses the study of composite strokes as unnecessary:
"These composite strokes can be seen as combinations of the eight basic strokes, and it is not really necessary to practice them separately."
This is nonsense.
The models or example characters the author provides for his basic strokes consistently use basic strokes not yet studied, and composite strokes, which the author dismisses as unworthy of study. For example, like every other book on Chinese calligraphy, the author presents the character yong3, meaning `forever', as a model for studying the basic strokes, but glosses over the composite strokes used in yong3.
In fairness, the literature in English on Chinese calligraphy is inconsistent, contradictory, confusing; and Bjorksten's book is a cut above the sorry lot. But it's discouraging to think that by following Bjorksten's method of practicing basic strokes over and over again, with no feedback from a teacher, that one may be ingraining incorrect knowledge and technique.
25 of 27 found the following review helpful:
 Insightful presentation Mar 05, 2005
First, I have now been studying Chinese for about 4 years, and this was an early book I got cheap from a used book store. I have changed my mind about it several times over the years. The discouraging part of the book is indicating how many times you would need to practice a character to get good at it. In the beginning, this was definitely true becasue a newbie simply cannot understand the important parts of a character and the relative alignment of strokes. As you acquire more characters, it becomes clearer what is important within the character.
In the beginning, this is tough. You need to write them again and again until your hand moves fluidly, not haltingly. This book gives you directions to achieve this, and key pieces (or parts) of strokes that will distinguish your writing from a first grader. There a fixed number of actual strokes, the difficulty is this relative positioning that's the killer.
The book is short, but gets to the point. I would have preferred larger and more examples, but he nevertheless gives you what you need.
The issue of stroke order has arisen. In my Chinese class, the native-born instructor says we should not obsess on stroke order. BUT it is important. I find that it is easy to correct an order, less easy to recognize characters in beautiful balance. This book helps.
So, do I write well. My teacher says I need more work. A ball point pen or pencil does not emulate a brush very well. The book focusses on that. I still think the book in less focussed on "calligraphy" vs. good character writing. Calligraphy is much more than writing characters accurately: it's an art form usually deviating from a standard printed/written character. This book focusses less on the art form, and more on the appearance and quality of a character. A western analogy: the book improves printing, not cursive script.
I really like the book. Before you can do calligraphy, you must be able to write characters in the regular way. [That segment in "Hero" on calligraphy was excellent!]
Get the book now, before you develop bad habits.
4 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Very Interesting Mar 18, 2004
This book was quite helpful by helping one to gain a better understanding of the background and make-up of Chinese characters which helps one to better appreciate both their historical and aesthetic value. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who wants to seriously learn about Chinese characters.
38 of 40 found the following review helpful:
Not a primer, but good in its own right Feb 04, 2004
I'm learning Chinese as part of my major and wanted a good book on characters, specifically for things like stroke order, and picked this up expecting it to be a practical tutorial on how to write basic Chinese characters. What it actually is is more of a guidebook for calligraphy. Now, as that, it is very good. The author definitely conveys the mindset one needs to be a skilled calligrapher, and gives great step by step instructions on how to write well. For that, I don't regret picking this up. However, if you, like myself, are more concerned with learning how to write the 2000 or so most used characters towards the end of being functionally literate in Chinese, this is not the book to purchase. It would be something like teaching calligraphy to kindergarten students. Also, the stroke order illustrations for the characters towards the end of the book, while representing commonly used characters, are really small, and presume that you've gone through the prior half of the book as recommended, that is practicing each stroke for a half hour a day until mastered. If you're learning calligraphy for it's own sake, or just have lots of time, this is great. If however you need to develop a functional writing ability in Chinese relatively quickly, I would personally recommend buying another book first and coming back to this.
139 of 147 found the following review helpful:
 Do Not Try This At Home (without this text!!) Nov 25, 2002
I have just started learning to write Chinese characters and THIS is the holy grail of beiginners' books. I looked through many listmania and reviews on Amazon.com's site (thank you ALL!) and decided to start with this primer. As a hands-on learner, I know now why it has been recommended so highly by those who teach, speak, or are just learning the Chinese language.I am reminded of the first days in school when we had to practice writing our ABCs on a tablet with pencil. We wrote those damned letters over and over again, didn't we? The teacher stood at the blackboard and showed us the best way to make the lines and the order of the "character's strokes." This book is the Mrs. Hatfield of my first grade class in Chinese. Each stroke is shown carefully. Each stroke is also shown when it is not written correctly and gives the "name" of the error (eg. "fish hook, etc.) Tao only knows how a Swedish author conceived of and wrote such a wonderful primer to the language. It makes sense, however, that a person whose first language is NOT Chinese would be so specific about the right and wrong way to hold the pen, use the correct posture and table angle, and keep "between the lines." I don't get too hard on myself when I can't make a character look the way they does in the book. I look back at how I wrote my name in first grade and now understand the true meaning of "penmanship". The author urges the learner to practice each stroke at least one hundred times until you go on to the next stroke. Add them together and you get a beautiful character. Don't practice each stroke individually over the course of days and many sheets of paper, and the character resemble the rough letters I wrote in my first grade homeworlk. DO NOT attempt to do this at home (learn to write Chinese characters) without this very important primer. It is invaluable, extraordinary, and shows a great deal of thought and study by the author and those who assisted him in compiling this material. I do my 100 + strokes a day. I don't jump ahead and do what I thought I could do -- "Oh that character looks easy, it's just an upside down Y." I know this edition will get dog eared and I will probably buy another to replace this text. It has no equal. Aside from the friends in China who supported me and applaud me for learning their language, this small text tells me that I CAN learn a language and fulfill a longtime dream. Hurrah! and thank you, Mr. Bjorksten. from Lodro Dawa, my Buddhist nickname.
(Someday I will learn to write it AND learn its lesson for wisdom in this lifetime.)
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