Luo Lan de, and Other Strokes

As some of you have noticed in my personal emails and my bulk emails, I have used the name Luo Lan De to sign off my correspondence. Some of you have figured out what Luo Lan De is and others of you have questioned me no the words. Luo Lan De is the Chinese name I have been given. When Kunming International Academy made business cards for all the new staff, each of us received a Chinese name. In most cases, the Chinese name attempts to sound like our christened English name. Therefore, Roland becomes Luo (Lwa) Lan (Lon) De (Duh).
If someone were to ask me my family name, I would reply that my name is Franks. If someone else were to ask me what name I am called, I would say Roland Franks. However, for the sake of learning Chinese, if someone were to ask me, "Qingwen, guixing?" I would reply, "Wo xing Luo." However, if I were to be asked, "Qingwen, ni jiao shenme mingzi?" I would reply, "Wo jiao Luo Lan de." For Chinese purposes, Luo becomes my family name (there are no sounds in the Chinese language for Franks), and Lan de becomes my christened name. Because the family name is always presented first, my name is Luo Lan de.
The reason I bring this up is because my Chinese instructor, Zhang Li (she goes by Kim), invited all of her students who would be interested to join her and her six-year-old son, Di Di, at their Chinese caligraphy class. Michelle LaPorte (guidance counselor) and I accepted the offer. So, on the Saturday before Christmas, we went to Di Di's school at 10.30h to learn the basics of caligraphy. This art is required of all students in Chinese schools. I say art, because, much like Western caligraphy, it is a skill that requires much practice to learn and even more to maintain. We learned in the first few minutes that there is a specific way to hold the brush. There are designated ways to create each stroke. There is a specific pattern for the strokes of each character. In the picture below, our instructor writes the characters for my name, Luo Lan de. In smaller characters, he signed his own name and the date. I have kept this and will some day get it framed as the piece of art it is.
This next picture is the entry to Di Di's school. The words say, "Individuality of Teachers and Students is equal. Every Student Can Be Successful." In each classroom, a protrait of Chairman Mao hangs on one wall. Each room also has a poster depicting the proper way to do the daily facial exercises (massaging techniques). While there are other posters and pictures, the rooms are rather stark by Western standards. Like KIA classrooms, there is no heat, unless there is a wall mounted or free-standing floor heater. Generally, the classrooms are cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Actually, the concrete construction keeps the buildings relatively cool in the summer, but they never get warm in the winter. I guess it is a good thing that it does not snow too often--once every two to three years.
This next shot was taken over Di Di's shoulder. As you can tell, the brush is held nearly vertical. In the first shot, the instructors brush does not appear to have the same vertical inclination, but I think that was only because he was standing and did not want to place his arm on the surface upon which he was working. At least three times, the teacher corrected me on my handling of my brush. You will see in a later photo how the wrist is cocked through the entire stroke. Generally, one uses the arm to, rather than the wrist, to write caligraphy. Di Di struggled during this lesson. With Michelle and my presence, he spent much of his time watching us and talking to his classmates about his Western visitors. All the students asked us our names. They were thrilled to use their English. Both Di Di's mother and the caligraphy instructor had to tell the other students to sit down and do their work. However, before they were sent to their desks, we met a young man (about nine years old) who had chosen Decimal as his English name. He was so cute in his pride over is name. We could hardly hold back our laughter.
This last photo shows me struggling with my brush. Hopefully you view the photo the same way I do. There is an intentness to my work. However, my face is rather relaxed. Much like other forms of Zen meditation and relaxation, caligraphy finds its fluidity and beauty through relaxation, breathing and slow movements. While the instructor could obviously write faster than anyone else, his movements were still very deliberate and relaxed. When I slowed down and breathed, my puny efforts became magnified through more natural strokes. Therefore, caligraphy does not require the person performing the task to focus on the strokes; rather, it requires the person to focus on the breathing and the relaxation. As you can see in the photo, I am using a fill-in-the-space type primer. At first it appears easy, but believe me when I say that it is anything but simple. Michelle is in the background. My Di Di took the photo. I showed him how, and when he saw the actual picture he took, a huge smile crossed his face.

I do not know if I will get to go back again, but I would sure love to. I do not know that I would ever be very good at it, but it is certainly relaxing and an enjoyable passtime.