The families of a late Chinese calligrapher, who wrote a 3,900-meter-long Chinese calligraphic work, are applying to list the work in the Guiness Book of Records.

Dai Tianpei, the calligrapher, who was born in 1930 and died in October 2003, spent five years finishing the lengthy piece of collected works of poems of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), when ancient Chinese classic poetry reached its culmination.

Using the traditional Chinese brush pen, the work, with 7 million Chinese characters in total, was completed in mini-characters, or in the traditional term of "fly-sized" characters, according to experts.

Many renowned Chinese calligraphers have commented that the huge work is valuable in terms of its artistic accomplishment. Yang Xin, a calligraphic expert with the Palace Museum, or the Forbidden City, contributed the title -- Quan Tang Shi -- for the work, meaning the full collection of Tang Dynasty poems.

According to Dai's family, the calligrapher worked more than 12 hours a day to finish the work, and he fell sick a few times during his five-year marathon.

The 3,900-meter piece and others of Dai's works were expected to be exhibited to the public next year, according to his family.
 
(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2003)