Yao Bin, a calligraphy teacher in Chongchuan district, Nantong, Jiangsu province, records a teaching video for his students during the fight against coronavirus. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

Yao Bin, a calligraphy teacher in Chongchuan district, Nantong, Jiangsu province, has been uploading teaching videos on WeChat since Jan 26, and his online lessons have proved popular among students. 

Yao is a national-level artist, a member of the council of the Nantong Calligrapher Association, and a member of the China Hard-pen Calligraphy Association. 

He has run his own training institution in calligraphy and painting for three years and currently has over 300 students. He decided to record videos for students, since the calligraphy course cannot begin as planned due to the efforts to control of the outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP). 

Yao uploads videos every two days in two WeChat groups with students. He has to record different videos for the two groups, as the strokes for Chinese characters are taught in the beginners' class and the structures are taught in the elementary class. 

Yao prints out the students' homework submitted through WeChat and gives guidance in the WeChat groups. To keep the smartphone at a proper height for video recording, he made a holder to ensure the smooth recording without anyone else's help. 

Yao also wrote a poem themed around the fight against the NCP. He said calligraphy is a symbol of Chinese culture and can bring confidence to Chinese people.