Which Side of Maobian Paper Should You Use for Calligraphy：Rough or Smooth?
Recently, many calligraphy beginners have asked me about which side of Maobian paper to use – the smooth side or the rough side. This question has come up frequently, and I previously conducted a survey in my fan group and posted this question on Qi Ming’s calligraphy QQ space. Many calligraphy enthusiasts shared their thoughts and opinions.
Below, I’ve compiled my own experience along with everyone’s viewpoints.
What is Maobian Paper?
First, I think it’s important to explain the concept of Maobian paper. Here I’ll directly quote from my previous article “About Maobian Paper: What is Maobian Paper and How to Choose It”:
Maobian Xuan Paper is a light yellow paper made from bamboo fiber. It’s important to note that it must be made from bamboo fiber. Historical records show that “in the late Ming Dynasty, Jiangxi Province produced bamboo paper that was fine-textured, thin and soft, light yellow in color, without water resistance, with good ink absorption properties, suitable for both writing and printing ancient books.”
Because the Ming Dynasty bibliophile Mao Jin loved books dearly and preferred using bamboo paper for printing books, he once ordered large quantities of slightly thicker bamboo paper from Jiangxi Province and stamped a seal character “Mao” on the paper edges. This is why people came to call this type of paper Maobian paper, a name that continues today.
Types of Maobian Paper
Next, let’s discuss the classification of Maobian paper, which is very important. Maobian paper is mainly divided into two categories:
- Handmade Maobian paper
- Machine-made Maobian paper
I list handmade Maobian paper first because in ancient times, there was no such thing as machine-made Maobian paper. All papermaking was done by hand until modern industrialization brought us machine-made Maobian paper.
For detailed information about Maobian paper, you can refer to my previous article – “What Paper is Best for Beginning Calligraphy (Including Differences Between Maobian Paper, Xuan Paper, and Yuan Paper).” Handmade Maobian paper is usually rough on both sides, which we won’t discuss here.
In this article, we’ll focus on machine-made Maobian paper that has one smooth side and one rough side.
Different Viewpoints on Paper Usage
Below, I’ll list several typical viewpoints about whether to use the rough or smooth side of Maobian paper:
First Viewpoint: Use the Rough Side
The first viewpoint suggests using the rough side of Maobian paper, the so-called textured surface. The reasoning is that the rough side allows ink to penetrate more easily, while the smooth side has much less ink penetration effect than the rough side.
Additionally, when moving the brush, you get a feeling of resistance between paper and brush. When making lifting and pressing movements, you feel more control. In other words, the rough side creates more friction with the brush, making it easier to express brush strength.
This is a photo I took of the rough side of Maobian paper. You can see the textured quality of the paper surface.
Second Viewpoint: Use the Smooth Side
Another viewpoint suggests using the smooth side. Calligraphy enthusiasts who hold this view mainly feel that Maobian paper is already quite rough, so the smoother side should be used.
This is a photo I took of the smooth side of Maobian paper. Comparing it to the previous image, you can feel how much smoother this side is.
Third Viewpoint: Depends on Content
There’s also a viewpoint that suggests it depends on what specific content you’re writing – whether you’re writing in stele style or copybook style. The rough side is better for stele style writing, while the smooth side is better for copybook style.
I placed the rough and smooth sides of Maobian paper together for comparison.
Survey Results and Personal Experience
Let me share the results from a previous survey I conducted in the “Qi Ming and His Calligraphy Friends” QQ group, then I’ll share my own thoughts. The image below shows the voting situation when the survey first started.
You can see that although only six people voted at the beginning, everyone unanimously chose the rough side.
Here are also some comments from my QQ space posts.
The content in the red box in the first image reads: ‘Rough side for stele writing, smooth side for copybook writing.
The rough side gives a great feeling when the brush tip penetrates into it, showing more vigor and strength. The smooth side displays more brilliance when writing with thick ink, full of vitality – this is how I feel.
My Personal Recommendation
So, my final view is that whether to use the rough or smooth side of brush paper depends entirely on your tools and personal preference.
My Personal Approach:
1. Brush Type Consideration: If I’m using a hard-hair brush, I use the smooth side. This is especially true for wolf hair brushes and purple hair brushes, which are harder compared to sheep hair brushes. You know, the harder the brush, the more easily it wears down. Softer materials actually wear less.
For soft-hair brushes, such as brushes mainly made of sheep hair, I use the rough side.
2. Ink Quality Factor: Ink is also a factor. For heavy-bodied ink with lots of glue, like Yidege’s Yuntouyan, I use the smooth side. For lighter ink with less glue, like Qi Ming Wen Fang’s Ming ink, I use the rough side.
3. Writing Style Consideration: For slow-writing scripts like seal script, clerical script, and regular script, I use the rough side. For fast-writing scripts like cursive and running script, I use the smooth side.
This is because when writing quickly on the rough side of Maobian paper, especially with thicker ink, it causes lots of white streaks and can even make smooth brush movement completely impossible.
4.This refers to the netizen’s reply in the image from earlier: rough surfaces for stele inscriptions, smooth surfaces for calligraphy scrolls. Let me briefly explain the difference between stele (碑) and scroll (帖). Scrolls are works that ancient calligraphers wrote on flexible materials, such as silk, paper, or other relatively soft handmade materials. The characters on these materials are generally written very fluidly and clearly. You can see many ancient Chinese calligraphy works in museums in the United States or Britain – most of those are scrolls. Stele, on the other hand, are carved into stone. Stele are typically made of stone material, and after hundreds or thousands of years of weathering and erosion, the characters on them generally have a sense of incompleteness and mottled aging. This artistic effect is relatively easier to express using rough surfaces.
Conclusion
After reading all this, I think everyone should have their own ideas about whether to use the rough or smooth side of Maobian paper. If you found this article helpful, please feel free to share it with more friends who love calligraphy.
