LOVE Chinese Character Portrait
41.5cm
16¼"
41.6cm
16¼"

Approximate Measurements

Artwork Panel: 32.5cm x 32.5cm  ≈  12¾" x 12¾"

Silk/Brocade Border: 41.6cm x 41.5cm  ≈  16¼" x 16¼"

Love Chinese Calligraphy Painting

This is the Chinese character for "Ai" which is "Love". It's also been borrowed by Japanese and Korean languages, with roughly the same pronunciation in each language.
Note: Until the last 100 years, it was written the same in Korea, but they now use Hangul characters instead for the most part.

This may be hard to imagine as a westerner, but the strokes at the top of the character symbolize the family & marriage. The symbol in the middle of the character is your heart. The strokes at the bottom are friends.

It can be said that the meaning is love your family, spouse, and friends with all of your heart, since all three elements exist in this character.


A simple phrase in Chinese in which this word is used is:
我愛你
ILoveYou
WoAiNi
This is pronounced roughly "wha eye knee" using English words/rules of pronunciation.

Link: Options for custom Love Chinese/Japanese/Korean calligraphy are available here!


About the materials and construction of this painting:

The calligraphy was done using black Chinese ink on xuan paper (known incorrectly in the west as "rice paper"). The raw artwork was then taken to our Wall Scroll Workshop where it was laminated to more sheets of xuan paper, and built into a beautiful portrait with silk brocade border.


About the artist:

This calligraphy was created by Li Dan-Qing of Beijing. He's an older gentleman who has been involved with the art community of China, all of his life. Now in retirement, he creates calligraphy for us for sort of "hobby income".