The sentence "Calligraphy is the art of writing Chinese characters" is very accurate and defines the creative method and content of the art of calligraphy. However, no one has been able to explain the essential issues of the art of calligraphy - namely, why writing Chinese characters can become an art of calligraphy, and second, what is the essence of the art of calligraphy. To answer the first question, we must first analyze the characteristics of Chinese characters. The construction method of Chinese characters comes from the "Six Books": pictograms, meanings, meanings, pictographs, notes, and borrowings. This method of character creation makes the shape of Chinese characters itself contain rich meanings. For example, the word "月" is like the shape of a bright moon, which is pictographic; the word "fierce" is a trap with a cross symbol, which refers to the method; "Ming" is composed of "口" and "bird", It is used to refer to the sound of birds, which is the ideographic method; for example, the word "cherry" has "wood" next to the shape, indicating that it is a kind of tree, and "ying" is next to the sound, which is the phonetic method; etc. Moreover, in the development process of Chinese characters, various strokes (basic components of Chinese characters) such as horizontal, vertical, dot, apostrophe, nip, and fold have been gradually formed. Oracle, large seal script, small seal script, official script, regular script, running script, cursive script, etc. The fonts (various styles), up and down, left and right, surrounded and other radical combinations (font structures); moreover, due to the long-term use of the brush, the development of center, slant, round, square, virtual and solid brushes , shunfeng, nifeng and other ways of using the pen (penmanship). Therefore, the characteristics of Chinese characters are: stroke order, complex structure, and diverse styles. It is precisely because Chinese characters have the characteristics of complex structure and diverse styles that they can become a basic element of art. This characteristic allows Chinese characters, as the basic elements of calligraphy art, to express various complex artistic effects. Another characteristic of Chinese characters is that they have a stroke order, and the writing direction and writing order of the strokes are relatively fixed. This gives the art of writing Chinese characters another important feature: temporality. Appreciators of calligraphy works can reproduce the writing process of the creator according to the writing direction and order of the strokes, thus making the calligraphy work a reproducible work of art similar to music. Another characteristic of Chinese characters is their denotation, that is, the basic function of characters - a single Chinese character has the meaning of a single Chinese character, and sentences and articles have richer expressive capabilities. Poems, songs, and poems of Chinese culture have also become an integral part of the art of calligraphy through Chinese characters. Combining the above three aspects, we can explain why writing Chinese characters can become an art. So, further analysis, what is the essence of calligraphy art? Summarizing the above characteristics of Chinese characters, it can be abstracted that the art of calligraphy is an art form that takes writing Chinese characters as the basic expression method and has dual expression capabilities of concrete and abstract expressions. Separately speaking, the so-called figurative expression ability refers to the concrete art of calligraphy and painting. As strokes, Chinese characters, and poems themselves, they have strong specific expressive abilities, allowing viewers to understand from strokes, knots, layouts, and text. Meaning and many other aspects, I get quite a beautiful feeling. The so-called abstract expression ability refers to the same as abstract arts such as calligraphy and music. The sequence and changes of strokes, ink marks, knots, layout and other aspects allow the viewer to feel a rhythm, melody and the emotions contained therein. and beauty. Therefore, based on the above discussion, it can be concluded that the artistic essence of calligraphy is: an abstract and figurative dual art of lines with time sequence and rich expressive capabilities. Based on the above definition of the essence of calligraphy, we can know why writing Chinese characters has become the art of calligraphy; apart from Chinese characters, it is difficult to find another text or symbol that can be a better expression of the art of calligraphy.