Ｚｈｏｕ Ｔｕｉｍｉ，ａ Ｌｅｇｅｎｄａｒｙ Ｓｃｈｏｌａｒ ｉｎ Ｓｈａｎｇｈａｉ

I am delighted to see Master Zhou’s latest calligraphy appear in “The Ten Sights of Haining”， a recently published book about Haining， a prosperous city in northern Zhejiang. He not only inscribed the book title in traditional Chinese calligraphy， but also inscribed the names of the ten sights in calligraphy. It is hard to imagine the powerful strokes and style are the creations by the 94-year-old Zhou Tuimi， a scholar of Chinese classics in Shanghai.

Zhou was born in Ningbo in 1914 and received very rigorous education in Chinese classics in his early childhood in private school. Under the guidance of his father， a scholar made in the time-honored imperial examination system， the junior began to practice calligraphy and developed a style of his own over years of diligent practice and exploration. After his graduation from Aurora University in Shanghai， Zhou Tuimi worked as professor in Shanghai Business College and Shanghai Datong University， Ha’erbin Foreign Languages Institute and Shanghai Foreign Languages Institute until he retired.

Zhou Tuimi’s calligraphy is highly appreciated by experts. His style reflects his profound understanding of ancient masters， combines the ancient and the present， highlights both his individualism and nature， and emphasizes the soulful charms of Chinese characters in his unique studies.

Master Zhou has practiced and explored calligraphy since his early childhood. He remarks， “I have a passion for calligraphy. There are probably two approaches for calligraphy. One way is to make progress step by step whereas the other is to make hasty efforts in the hope of overnight virtuosity. How could such frenetic fame-oriented efforts result in excellence? Some young calligraphers seek meteoric fame but calligraphy is a time-consuming pursuit. In a sense， there have been numerous calligraphers since ancient times (that is， if you consider the fact that all the scholars in ancient China used the writing brush)， but how many are known as timeless masters? Calligraphy is more complex than painting. It takes one about five years to make remarkable progress in the art of painting. But five years will show little progress in a career of a calligrapher. Some calligraphers are fame-minded as if they have to establish themselves as calligraphers as soon as possible for fear that they would not have an opportunity to live into their golden years. Go slow and you have time to explore. One can become an excellent calligrapher in the fifties， sixties， seventies， eighties and even nineties.”

He was banished to a rural area when the Cultural Revolution started， but he was soon sent for to copy big-character political posters for bulletin boards on the bund of Shanghai， where each higher-education institute in Shanghai was directed to post their political criticism. He was not alone for this kind of handwriting assignment. All the scribes appointed by various colleges and universities to do the job for political posters were scholarly calligraphers like Zhou. Zhou owes his uninterrupted calligraphy career partly to this unexpected twist in the misfortune. Years later， Master Qigong joked about Zhou’s handwriting that his was a typical big-character poster style.

Zhou still uses self-made letterhead paper for writing letters and scribing his poetry. This tradition started with calligraphers in ancient times. A collection published in the Ming Dynasty saves a lot of individual letterhead papers. In modern times， Lu Xun and Zheng Zhenduo put together a collection of letterhead papers and published it at their costs. Nowadays， Zhou Tuimi is one of the few scholars who still make and use their own letterhead paper. He began to design and make flowered letter paper in his evening years. I am not sure how many types he has designed， but in my collection are eight different patterns of correspondence paper he has designed and printed.

Zhou Tuimi is also a poet in classical style. From 1990 to 2001 alone， he composed more than 1，000 quatrains in addition to other types of poetry. He has published four books: one is a collection of poetry， one about calligraphy， one about book collection in Shanghai， one a collection of his essays.

The 94-year-old Zhou Tuimi now enjoys his quiet life of calligraphy， poetry and books in a western-styled house in western Shanghai. He talks about his life in an interview with a newspaper this way: “I read books every day. I used to read in bed for a while before I turn off the light. As I now sleep well and fear that reading in bed may harm my sight， I do not read before sleep. These books are now ignored like concubines out of my favor.”□