描红 To trace the red. A beginner’s exercise in calligraphy. The learner follows model characters in red with an ink brush, stroke by stroke.
临摹 To copy. The Song scholar Huang Bosi explained: lin is to copy with the model beside the paper, mo to trace with thin paper laid over it. The Guoyu dictionary calls both “the path every beginner in calligraphy must take.”
字帖 A copybook. The model that learners of calligraphy copy.
范文 A model essay. A text held up in teaching as an example to learn from.
口传心授 Passed on by mouth, received by the heart. The Ming scholar Xie Jin wrote: “In learning calligraphy, without passing on by mouth and receiving by heart, one cannot reach its refinement.”