To produce Chinese characters one will need a brush, paper, ink stick and ink stone, commonly referred to as the "Four Treasures of the Study".

While brushes are varied, white-goat-hair, black-rabbit-hair and yellow-weasel-hair brushes are the main ones.

The ink stick is a unique pigment used for Chinese traditional painting and calligraphy. The most famous ink stick ishui mo(Anhui ink stick), made of pines that grow on Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province.

Paper was invented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). While paper comes in many varieties, Xuan paper, produced in the Jing Prefecture of Xuanzhou (today's Anhui Province), is considered the best for Chinese calligraphy.

Ink stones or ink slabs have been classified into three categories:Duan,She and Tao. Using a hard, smooth stone, liquid ink can be produced easily by rubbing the ink stick against the stone.