Wuxi’s calligraphy brush sellers are mainly concentrated in Nanchan Temple. There is a shop called Bunfang Shihodo, right behind the Nanzenji temple wall and close to the wall. You can get there from the alley next to 85 Degree Bread on Jiefang Road. The quality of the brushes there is good, and there are also branded brushes like Wang Yipin. The boss himself seems to be a calligraphy teacher, so he should be able to buy the most suitable brushes.
Personal experience:
First of all, if conditions permit, it is better to choose some brands of brushes as much as possible. After all, the brands are relatively more reliable, such as the well-known Shuangyang and Wang Yipin in China. Zhou Huchen, Huyang, and Santu are all good. Specifically, whether a certain writing brush is good or not, traditionally speaking, there are four words: sharp, round, neat, and strong. The nib refers to the pen that has been opened. After dipping the ink and licking the pen, the nib must be pointed. If there are extra water chestnuts, it is not a good pen. Round refers to the pen belly, which should be plump and rounded; if the pen belly is uneven, it means there is a quality problem. Qi refers to a pen that has been opened. After drying, hold the pen tip between two fingers and see that the tip of the pen is a straight line. If there are sharp edges of different lengths, it is disqualified. Healthy means that the pen tip must have a "certain" elasticity; when you press down to write and lift the pen, the pen tip can automatically recover. The better the recovery, the better the elasticity of the pen tip (note that a pen with good elasticity may not be a good pen. On the contrary, A good pen may not necessarily have good flexibility).
The above points, round, even, and strong are just the basic requirements for choosing a brush. To make a truly good pen, after the pen tip has been opened and dried, the first step is to look at it, the second step is to touch it, and the third step is to try it out. Look, look at the transparency of the pen tip against the light. The high transparency of Fengying indicates that the pen tip is made of good material. Otherwise, it is most likely made of wool. To touch, use two fingers to gently hold the hair of the pen tip and slide it. If it feels soft and comfortable, it means the material is good, otherwise it is not good. When it comes to trying it out, it's easy. Just dip the ink into the pen and lick it, then write and try it out yourself. It mainly depends on the ink storage capacity and the closing effect; as a general rule, the softer the pen, the more ink is stored, which is suitable for writing lines and cursive, and the harder the pen is, the less ink is stored, and is suitable for painting or writing regular script.
In the past two years, there have been several more stores, such as Hanwen Pavilion, Huibao Hall, and Xuande Village. In addition, Nanzen Temple, Zhou's and NVC are also good choices, but they are all Jiangxi pens, and their craftsmanship is not as sophisticated as Hu's pens. But it is much better than Nanzenji Bookstore. Try not to go to the bookstore to buy brushes. Places like Xinhua Bookstore are too unprofessional.
When learning calligraphy, the brush is the most important tool. Of course, choosing a pen is only the first step. To truly practice calligraphy well, you still need the correct method and unremitting efforts.