While the hieroglyphs of Egypt and the cuneiform of Babylon have disappeared, Chinese calligraphy, also graphic and non-alphabetic, has endured through the ages. Of divinatory origin, Chinese characters carry not only a language but a unique way of thinking. A 84th-generation descendant of one of Confucius’s best-known disciples, calligrapher Yan Gongda unrolls before our camera the timeless story of a writing art closer to painting than graphology. Through this story, the entire history of China is told.