Calligrapher Zhang Zu'an is holding a solo show at Beijing's Naitional Museum of China. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"I chose these works that I feel all right. But I don't find among them a perfect one. I see details needed to be improved. It means I still have potential for growth," Zhang said at the show's opening on Oct 15.

Zhang, 79, is a professor of the Hangzhou-based China Academy of Fine Arts whose many students have become established artists. Although admired by many for his attainment of calligraphy and guoxue (the study of Chinese classics), Zhang has been keeping a low profile and avoiding social activities, and fully committed to the practice of calligraphy.