Simmons College

Alister Inglis is the Freeman Assistant Professor of Chinese Languages and Literature. Prior to joining Simmons, he taught various course in Chinese language and culture at Hamilton College and, prior to that, the University of Melbourne, Australia. His research interests include Chinese art, Chinese literature - particularly fiction - of the imperial period, Song Dynasty (960-1279) history, literary translation, and Chinese religion. He has been a practicing Chinese calligrapher for over 20 years. Inglis is also the author of Hong Mai's Record of the Listener and its Song Dynasty Context (NY: SUNY Press, 2006). This is the first monograph-length study in any language about the famous twelfth century collection of anomaly accounts and anecdotal literature, often translated into English as Record of the Listener (Yijian zhi).

Inglis has been practicing various styles of Chinese calligraphy for over 25 years, specializing in the "slender-gold" style which was made famous by emperor Huizong of the Song dynasty (960-1279). Below is the character copybook he wrote for the Simmons calligraphy course, offered every fall. Teachers and students of calligraphy are welcome to download and use it for educational purposes. All the material included is original. Rather than a stand-alone text, it is designed to be used in conjunction with expert instruction. It guides students through both the clerical and standard scripts, starting with the former, in easy-to-master steps.