by Ruru Zhang | Photo by MacGregor Jamie In Intermediate Mandarin II class, Professor Jui-Hsueh Hu from Teaching Chinese as a Second Language department, is not only increasing international students’ ability in Chinese, but also introducing Chinese culture and customs. Professor Hu teaches students how to write and hold the brush. Although most of them are first time calligraphers, they all can write their Chinese name. One of the participants, Alla, from Russia, noted, “This was the first time I tried writing calligraphy; I enjoyed it a lot. In Russia, we don’t have this type of writing, so it was unusual and hard to grip the brush. I think this experience allows foreigners to fundamentally understand the Chinese culture.” Another student, Mbuso, from Swaziland, commented, “Today was my first time writing Chinese calligraphy; I really enjoyed it. It’s very interesting but at first it was hard.”