Chinese calligraphy is the art of writing characters so that the strokes themselves express beauty and meaning. Its practitioners were among the four most valued skills of the ancient scholarly elite, alongside playing stringed instruments, the board game Go and painting. Calligraphy and ink-and-wash painting use similar brushes, ink and techniques, and share a long artistic history. What sets the art apart is its emphasis on movement: a line should look alive with energy and rhythm, recorded as traces on silk or paper. The practice also spawned related arts such as seal carving and the making of inkstones and ornate paperweights.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.