Calligraphy is extracurricular class in many elementary schools in the Chinese mainland, and some elementary schools in Hong Kong. A delegation led by the president of China's Calligraphers Association went to Hong Kong recently, to see the progress of how the classes are going.

A delegation led by Su Shishu, the president of China's Calligraphers Association came to the Pentecostal Yu Leung Fat Primary School last week, to meet with teachers and students of an extracurricular class focused on calligraphy. Su passed on some skills to the students about how to practice calligraphy and wrote a brushwork on the spot, with the four characters translated as "The Pearl of the Orient", for which Hong Kong is often dubbed as.

Chan Mi Ying, the Principal of the Pentecostal Yu Leung Fat Primary School, says when the class began to be set up, many students signed up. The extracurricular class is held once a week, with each class being sixty minutes. The students are tutored by four teachers, to guarantee each student gets the necessary attention.

CHAN MI YING PRINCIPAL, PENTECOSTAL YU LEUNG FAT PRIMARY SCHOOL "For Hong Kong elementary schools, we don't have calligraphy in our curriculum. But I think students should learn it, because it represents Chinese culture. We should keep this traditional art. Through attending the class, students' temperament can also be cultivated. They can learn traditional culture while studying the art of calligraphy."

WU XINYUE, STUDENT PENTECOSTAL YU LEUNG FAT PRIMARY SCHOOL "Apart from taking the class once a week, I practice calligraphy at home. Through the process, I know how ancient Chinese people wrote."

Su Shishu, the president of China's Calligraphers Association, says this kind of class shows that Hong Kong schools value traditional Chinese arts. It can also help students understand Chinese written characters and Chinese culture in general. Kids in Hong Kong learn traditional Chinese characters -- as opposed to modern simplified ones -- beginning in elementary school. And that, delegates say, makes a great foundation for them to learn calligraphy.