When Liu Xitong was asked by a film crew to write four words in Chinese calligraphy, he agreed immediately, heartily, and for reasons the crew did not yet know.
Once a famous calligrapher back home in China, Liu had since left the country where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecuted him for his faith. In doing so, he had set aside his art in his quest to pursue justice after he moved to the United States.
On the day of the shoot, Liu and the documentary producers discussed the calligraphy scene as they prepared the set. The documentary “When the Plague Arrives,” produced by NTD Television, is about humanity at a crossroads during the turbulent times of the pandemic.
In the film, historical events are shown in parallel with the present day. Epidemic diseases threw ancient civilizations in both the East and West into disarray and not only brought death and mayhem but also cast a harsh light on those societies that no longer upheld human dignity.
Liu would be writing a four-word Chinese idiom taken from the classic Chinese text “Four Books” in which Zhu Xi translated the “Analects of Confucius.”
It translates as “When things are chaotic to the extreme, order must be restored.”
The art work is now available for purchase.
Learn more at: InspiredOriginal.org/Calligraphy