How to Fold Xuan Paper for Chinese Calligraphy: Complete Size Guide and Folding Methods
Many friends who practice Chinese calligraphy face the challenge of folding grid lines on Xuan paper when creating their artwork. This article introduces common Xuan paper sizes and teaches practical folding methods. We’ll also cover the most popular technique using four-chi Xuan paper for creating five-character or seven-character quatrains. We hope this guide will be helpful for your calligraphy practice.
Understanding Your Xuan Paper Before You Start
Before you begin folding grid lines on Xuan paper for calligraphy creation, you need to understand two important things about your paper. First, know the exact size of your Xuan paper. Second, understand the paper type – whether it’s raw Xuan (sheng xuan), processed Xuan (shu xuan), or semi-processed Xuan (ban sheng shu).
Choose different sizes and paper types based on your creative needs. Then you can start folding the grid lines.
Basic Folding Technique
The general process is straightforward. First, fold vertically – this determines how many columns you need. Then, based on how many characters you want to write in each column, fold horizontally to create square grids.
After creating square grids, you can fold along the diagonal lines to make “rice character grids” (mi zi ge). However, if you have good control over character structure, square grids are sufficient. Rice character grids are mainly for beginners who aren’t familiar with character structure yet. For more details about practicing with rice character grids, you can refer to the article “DeepSeek: How to Use Rice Character Grid Paper to Practice Calligraphy and Quickly Master Character Structure.”
When to Use Grid Folding
It’s important to note that grid folding is typically used for slow-writing scripts like seal script (zhuan shu), clerical script (li shu), and regular script (kai shu). For running script (xing shu) and cursive script (cao shu) creation, people rarely fold grids on Xuan paper. At most, they might fold vertical columns at the beginning of creation, which is quite simple and doesn’t need much explanation.
Common Xuan Paper Sizes
Three-Chi Xuan Paper Sizes:
- Three-chi full sheet: 100cm x 55cm (standard three-chi)
- Three-chi single strip: 100cm x 27cm
- Three-chi square: 50cm x 55cm
Four-Chi Xuan Paper Sizes:
- Four-chi full sheet: 138cm x 69cm (standard four-chi)
- Four-chi half sheet: 138cm x 34cm
- Four-chi square: 68cm x 68cm
- Four-chi three-section: 69cm x 46cm
- Four-chi quarter: 69cm x 34cm
- Four-chi eighth: 35cm x 34cm
Five-Chi Xuan Paper Sizes:
- Five-chi full sheet: 153cm x 84cm (standard five-chi)
- Five-chi single strip: 153cm x 42cm
- Five-chi square: 77cm x 84cm
Six-Chi Xuan Paper Sizes:
- Six-chi full sheet: 180cm x 97cm (standard six-chi)
- Six-chi single strip: 180cm x 49cm
- Six-chi square: 90cm x 97cm
- Six-chi three-section: 60cm x 97cm
Seven-Chi Xuan Paper Sizes:
- Seven-chi full sheet: 238cm x 129cm (standard seven-chi)
Eight-Chi Xuan Paper Sizes:
- Eight-chi full sheet: 248cm x 129cm (standard eight-chi)
- Eight-chi screen: 234cm x 63cm
Above image shows common standard Xuan paper sizes (recommended to save for reference)
Note: Standard sizes are industry norms for production, but slight variations of a few centimeters are normal due to bamboo screen differences during papermaking or cutting errors.
Large Format Xuan Paper Sizes
Some less common Xuan paper sizes have very large dimensions and require multiple people to handle. Only a few calligraphers and painters use these:
Twelve-Chi Xuan Paper Sizes:
- Twelve-chi: 367cm x 144cm
- Small twelve-chi: 360cm x 96cm
Sixteen-Chi Yi Paper Sizes:
- 503cm x 193cm
Eighteen-Chi Xuan Paper Sizes:
- 600cm x 248cm
In the “Four-Zhang Xuan Paper” production workshop in Jing County, Xuancheng City, Anhui Province, workers are performing paper scooping operations.
Four-Chi Xuan Paper Folding Methods
Poetry and prose works rarely use seven-chi or larger sizes. Even six-chi Xuan paper is rarely used. Most people work with four-chi Xuan paper. Let’s focus on detailed folding instructions for the most common four-chi Xuan paper sizes.
Above image shows common four-chi Xuan paper sizes
Method 1: Four-Chi Quarter Xuan Paper Folding (69cm × 34cm)
For 10-character poems:
- First, fold vertically into three equal sections, leaving margins on left and right sides
- Then fold horizontally into five equal sections, leaving margins at top and bottom (“heaven and earth” spacing)
- Write 5 characters each in the first two rows, with signature in the third row
For 14-character poems:
- First, fold vertically into three equal sections, leaving margins on left and right sides
- Then fold horizontally into six equal sections (fold in half first, then into three sections), leaving top and bottom margins
- Write 6 characters each in the first two rows, 2 characters in the third row, with signature in the remaining space
For 20-character “Five-Character Quatrains”:
- First, fold vertically into four rows, with the fourth row being half-width, leaving left and right margins
- Then fold horizontally into seven equal sections, leaving top and bottom margins
- Write 7 characters each in the first two rows, 6 characters in the third row, with signature in the fourth row
Five-Character Quatrain Xuan Paper Folding Method
Step 1: Cut off one chi from four-chi Xuan paper (one chi is approximately 33.33 cm)
Step 2: Cut the remaining three-chi in half
Step 3: Fold the cut three-chi paper in half
Step 4: Fold in half again
Step 5: Fold in half once more
Step 6: Leave one grid space and fold
Step 7: Fold again leaving border frame
Step 8: Fold center lines and diagonal lines to create rice character grids
Method 2: Four-Chi Three-Section Xuan Paper Folding (69cm × 46cm)
For 20-character “Five-Character Quatrains”:
- First, fold vertically into five rows, with the fifth row being half-width, leaving left and right margins
- Then fold horizontally into six equal sections, leaving top and bottom margins
- Write 6 characters each in rows 1-3, 2 characters in the fourth row, with signature in the fifth row
For 28-character “Seven-Character Quatrains”:
- First, fold vertically into five rows, with the fifth row being half-width, leaving left and right margins
- Then fold horizontally into seven equal sections, leaving top and bottom margins
- Write 7 characters each in rows 1-4, with signature in the fifth row
Seven-Character Quatrain Xuan Paper Folding Method
Step 1: Cut four-chi full sheet in half
Step 2: Leave out one grid space
Step 3: Fold in half to match the width of the reserved grid space
Step 4: Fold according to the reserved grid space size
Step 5: Fold again
Step 6: Leave out one grid space and fold
Step 7: Fold again
Step 8: Fold again leaving border frame
Step 9: After folding, you get a 3×11 grid
For 33-character “Long and Short Verses”:
- First, fold vertically into five equal sections, leaving left and right margins
- Then fold horizontally into eight equal sections, leaving top and bottom margins
- Write 8 characters each in rows 1-4, 1 character in the fifth row, with signature in the remaining space
Conclusion
This covers the main information about Xuan paper sizes and common folding methods. If you find this guide useful, please feel free to share it with friends who might benefit from this information.
