An 86-year old retired individual in Taitung City, who practices Chinese calligraphy, spent two years creating a voluminous encyclopedia, in hope to provide the first complete and in-depth description of the traditional writing to the public. With a limited budget, the contributor managed to print 500 copies to donate to schools.

This calligraphy encyclopedia was written by 86-year old Chuang You-teh.

Chuang has been practicing calligraphy for nearly eight decades, and undertook the project three years ago when he discovered that there was no comprehensive history on Chinese calligraphy to be found in Taiwan or abroad.

The encyclopedia touches on not only the history of Chinese calligraphy, but also introduces readers to different schools of calligraphy, calligraphers, and styles.

The volume also includes a comparison of theory and actual practice as well as documenting Chuang's own "cotton plant" style.

Chinese calligraphy has a history that spans more than 2,000 years, and Chuang carefully documented the different eras of calligraphy with both text and images.

The 10-kilogram volume contains 1.2 million characters and is a treasure trove of valuable information.

Chuang had hoped to publish 6,000 sets to donate to libraries and schools, but lacked the funds to do so.

He sought assistance from the Ministry of Education and Council for Cultural Affairs, but both departments turned him down.

In the end, he was only able to afford an order of 500 volumes.

Chuang says that he will donate the sets to elementary schools.

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