Amazing Stencil-like Chinese Calligraphy Written in Chalk

OK, this would be amazing just by the fact that the following characters were written by hand, in chalk:

Amazing Chinese Calligraphy in Chalk

(I wouldn’t have believed that these weren’t somehow stenciled on somehow if I didn’t see the man writing the characters with my own eyes.)

…but how about that they’re also written upside down, by a farmer with no legs?

Amazing Chinese Calligraphy in Chalk

When I went by this spot an hour later after dinner, the chalk characters had all been rubbed out.

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John Pasden

John is a Shanghai-based linguist and entrepreneur, founder of AllSet Learning.

Comments

  1. The most artful cry for help I’ve ever seen. His 馨 would be astonishingly nice even if it weren’t written upside down in chalk!

  2. Cool! This also reminds me of a guy I saw in Beijing earlier this year, who did have legs, but wrote using huge water brushes in two rows, one being the mirror image of the other. Some photos here:

    http://www.hackingchinese.com/media/pictures/mirrorwaterc1.jpg
    http://www.hackingchinese.com/media/pictures/mirrorwaterc3.jpg

    Upside-down, mirror image… oh, well, I’d be very happy with ordinary writing looking like that. 🙂

  3. Pretty awesome, though I have to say having the street provide a grid to work on does help a bit!

  4. Dude, this is NEXT LEVEL amazing skill.

  5. amazing !

  6. Peter Nelson Says: April 22, 2014 at 2:26 pm

    Hope you gave this guy some money! This guy has machine-like precision!

  7. This is far from uncommon. I’ve seen it done all over China.

    There is a young kid with no hands who does it almost every day here on the streets of Liuzhou,Guangxi.

  8. If this stuff could be drawn in 3D (like some western street art), it would be even more impressive.

  9. konporer Says: April 30, 2014 at 4:15 am

    this is a common way of begging in china, the similarity across many cities around china makes the common belief and unspoken fact more belivable that theyre taught specifically to beg in certain ways and was brutally, intentionally maimed and crippled in younger years when they were abducted from various villages of china. there are many stories and self investigation report mixed with interviews with police force by reporters on the internet if youre interested. Very very sad but truth.

  10. chelsea Says: May 9, 2014 at 3:51 pm

    no, it is not common .I’m local

  11. I don’t know how common is, but I have my own anecdotal evidence. I have spent several months in Come on different occasions, and visited over ten different cities in different promises, from north to south, access central to east China, and I have definately seen the same methods of street begging in several of these cities. There is an amazons amount of talent on the streets, but sadly shop often out does seem to be exploited by profit by Lee’s than just individuals.

  12. Sorry, cell phone auto correct…

    I don’t know how common is, but I have my own anecdotal evidence. I have spent several months in China on different occasions, and visited over ten different cities in different provinces, from north to south, access central to east China, and I have definately seen the same methods of street begging in several of these cities. There is an amazing amount of talent on the streets, but sadly so often it does seem to be exploited for profit by less than just individuals.

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