Chinese Writing Brush

A writing tool, the brush was already used by the Chinese people in ancient China. Archaeologists discovered that the colorful patterns on

unearthed pottery articles produced some 5,000 to 6,000 years ago were painted with the brush. Writing traces with the brush were also found in

the inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 B.C.). Writing brushes were brought to light from bombs of the

Warring States Period (475-211 B.C.).

The principal materials used to make the brush are animals fur and bamboo tube. The manufacturing is a meticulous work consisting of more

than 70 processes. The wool of the goat can be divided into 19 grades, of which only five can be used to manufacture the brush. Workers first

select fine threads of the goat’s wool, the rabbit’s hair, or the weasel’s hair from thousands upon thousands of threads and then arrange the

selected wool or hair in proper combination before a quality brush is made.

The writing brush plays an important rule in traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting. For ages, it has been used to record and disseminate

China’s time-honored culture and history. It is referred to as the first of the four articles of the writing table.