This video combines all the following animations and the book as watching AR(Augmented Reality) through a phone. However, I haven't made it come true. But I will try to build it in the future so that people can read the book as well as watch a short "film." You can check the clear and whole animations at the following part of this page.

The Associated Story

Until I was 10 years old, my mother had the duty to take me to school every day by bike.  At that time, my home was a little far away from my school, and we were not rich enough to have a car. So, she had to take me on a nearly one-hour ride to the school and then take another half an hour ride to her company every morning, no matter how bad the weather was. I could not understand the difficulty when I was young. I felt safe and enjoyed the journey with her at the back of the bicycle. She was a thin woman. When she had to go up a bridge’s slope on our way home every afternoon, especially against the strong wind, she arched her back riding harder. But she never told me she was tired during that time. Rather, when we reached the top of the bridge, she always smiled and turned around to tell me, “Look! It’s a beautiful scene, right?”  When I write a broken line, all these pictures come back to me. Some-times, my calligraphy class started at night. I could never forget the moon hanging on the sky, when my mother smiled to me and I saw the shining sweat. Now, I seem to feel the wind blew on her face.

This Chinese character means bright, clear and clear-sighted. In this poem, it describes the moon as bright and clear. 

The Associated Story

Starting in the earliest days of my life, I lived with my grand-parents in a small town. It’s a two-floor house with a beautiful garden. My grandpa liked writing Chinese calligraphy in a second-floor room. It had a big wooden window in front of the writing desk. If it was a clear day, the sunshine would fill the room in the afternoon. On a day like this, I liked to nap at the small bed beside the desk. When grandpa finished writing, he would wake me up gently. And on the rainy days, I could see the rainwater drips from the eaves. However, the clear autumn nights were my favourite. There was an Osman-thus tree in the garden. When the moonlight shone into the room, the sweet scent could give me a good dream. And those times were always accompanied by the smell of the prepared Chinese ink.They became my first memory of Chinese calligraphy.

This Chinese character means the moon. According to “Tang Poetry Appreciation Dictionary” in Chinese, “In ancient times, the moon was always used to symbolize longing, including missing family members and hometown in poems. And poets use the full moon as a metaphor for people’s reunion and the waning moon as a metaphor for parting.”

The Associated Story

When I was young, I was educated to treat everyone with kindness. One day, in my primary school, I was asked to help one of my friends with her homework. But that day, I could not help her because I was preparing to enter a calligraphy competition. She was angry and said some bad words to me, which hurt me a lot. I was so sad and could not stop crying when I went back home. My mother heard my story, and she told me, “Kindness does not mean accepting every request from everyone. You should say No! “ It was hard at the very beginning. That word was just like something awkward. My mother realized my difficulty and called my friend over. She told her everything and said I could not help her during that time. After that, my friend understood, and we were reconciled. The “No!” was the sharp power hidden in kindness, just like the sharp end of the falling leftwards.

This character is a Chinese particle. It means the sentence will express doubt later. In this poem, it can be understood as “when” with the “时(Shi)”.

The Associated Story

Vertical lines are written and look like the stem in the English typeface as we see it in print. When my calligraphy teacher talked about this, I could not understand the meaning at that time. I thought a vertical line should be written like a column, like my father in my family, always strong and inflexible. So, I liked to write the lines, especially the center one in a character, long and thick. My teacher always smiled with profound resignation as he saw my vertical line exercise on paper. 

Years have passed since I learnt about vertical line, I didn’t practiced Chinese calligraphy for years. But one day, I suddenly recalled the story of sere vine. It was one hot afternoon at the end of a summer holiday, my father sent me to my boarding middle school and helped me carry the heavy case to the fourth floor. As I tried to grab the case from his hand, I saw the bold blue veins at the back of his hands and the white hairs at his temples. I suddenly remembered the time when I was learning about vertical line. It seemed that I could understand the meaning behind the power of life inside the ten-thousand-year sere vine, weather-beaten, but still strong in the heart.

This character means time, times, and sometimes it can be associated with anything about time.

The Associated Story

 “灬” means raging fires in Chinese characters. It comes from ancient times when people used fire to cook. The dots are like the dancing flames. When I was young and exercising calligraphy, I always thought about my grandma’s coal ball stove. It was an old cook machine. It was replaced by gas when I moved to the city with my parents later. This old stove was taller and skinnier and could contain 3 pieces of coal balls at a time. Because of the temperature brought by the hot coal, the stove was always used for cooking soup. As a child, I liked crouching down beside my grandma and seeing her burning some piece of wood to help lit the coal balls in the morning. The first step involved burning some small pieces of paper and wood scraps to help the coal balls. The black coal balls put at the top of the fires. The burning wood crackling mixed with the smoking smells hanging in the morning air was telling me that my grandma would cook some nice soup for me. The jumping flames are like the four dots in the calligraphy which seem to be created by nature. 

This Chinese character means to illuminate, light up or shine. In this poem, it means that the moon is always with the poet.

The Associated Story

When I started learning calligraphy at age six, I started from the Official Script. My teacher told me that I should stand and keep the feet shoulder-width apart. He said that I should feel the power between my legs like a bow stretched to its fullest strength. At the same time, I should hang my wrist and arm in the air without lean against the table. These gestures made me feel tired and nervous. In the beginning, my arms and legs would shake. I even could not keep the pose for a short while, not to mention the two-hour-long calligraphy class. When my focus flew with the motion outside the classroom window, I leant against the table. At such moments, the teacher would come and correct my posture. Those were such awful classes in my memories. I always wondered why my grandpa could insist on nearly a whole afternoon at his age. After a few weeks of exercises, I was able to hold on till the end of class.

After writing Chinese calligraphy for some years, I realized that calligraphy can always show people’s feelings. When my body was nervous, my calligraphy was also difficult to develop. Otherwise, when my body opened freely, and the characters would display generously. My feet were just like a tree’s roots, passing the energy and life power to the whole body. This feeling was like practising Chinese Kongfu. It was obvious when I was writing large chara-cters, and the largest one I wrote was about 15 inches squared. My body moved with my arm move-ments. Even on some cold days, I wrote to sweat. I think that’s also the reason why my grandpa could maintain his health.

This character means me. In this poem, it means the poet as well as the audiences.

The Associated Story

When I was exercising the calligraphy, I wrote the characters in the nine-squared grid. But at that time, only the blank Chinese brush writing papers were sold at the stores. My mother bought them and drew all the grids with a red pencil and a long ruler. She would do this sitting opposite of me when I practiced it after dinner. She should be meticulous and gentle when the flat nib was across the paper surface because the practice papers were fragile. Such quiet and warm moments, and I enjoyed those days. However, I never realized that it was such a boring but demanding task, and she never complained. It lasted for three years till the paper with printed nine-square grids could be bought in the stores. I missed the paper with her neat and clear red lines so much. And when I write the long falling rightwards now, I also miss her. She was my life guider and taught me a lot during my growing up. However, the last lesson she taught me three years ago was that everything is impermanent. Everything has its end like a long falling rightwards.

This character is a polyphone word in Chinese. And the meaning here is going back. Because the verse before this poem is the description of the poet’s hometown. So, the word here means to go back home.