Calligraphy

Suzy Moser is on a roll. Resplendent in teal and black, she is schmoozing potential donors in the teahouse of the Chinese garden at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. Moser, the assistant vice president for advancement, tells tales of courting Hong Kong tycoons and local big shots -- part of a campaign that raised funds for the $18.3-million Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance.

The arrival of the Lunar New Year this month seems to have sparked an epiphany for area shopping centers: Asian and Asian American consumers have a growing pile of money and want to spend it where they're welcome. So in the Year of the Snake, malls around the Southland are hustling harder to make themselves more appealing to the demographic. Desert Hills Premium Outlets, Ontario Mills and the Outlets at Orange are partnering on a "Snaking through Southern California" initiative to lure Chinese shoppers to their malls.

Steven P. Jobs, the charismatic technology pioneer who co-founded Apple Inc. and transformed one industry after another, from computers and smartphones to music and movies, has died. He was 56. Apple announced the death of Jobs - whose legacy included the Apple II, Macintosh, iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad. "We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," Apple said. "Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives.

China's first modern literature archive opened Tuesday in Peking. The archive contains 60,000 volumes, 200 letters, diaries, calligraphy and manuscripts, 1,700 portraits and photographs and films dating from 1919.

Texting and typing are replacing the elaborate strokes that make up written Chinese. And when it comes time to jot down a few words, more Chinese are realizing they can't remember exactly how. For Ma Silang, the long descent into forgetfulness began after he graduated from high school, went off to London for three years to study photography and bought his first computer. Now the 30-year-old fashion photographer, a native Beijinger, has such difficulty writing in his mother tongue that the other day when he was scribbling a shopping list for himself he suddenly realized that he had forgotten one of two characters that make up the Chinese word for "shampoo."

In an effort to keep interest in traditional Japanese art forms alive, the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center has opened a Japanese Cultural Room for classes, lectures, demonstrations and exhibits. The fifth-floor room includes a Japanese tea room constructed of bamboo, as well as enough space for classes, group gatherings and displays. Japanese-style sliding shoji windows allow muted sunlight to filter into the room.

Sometimes it may seem as if the art of calligraphy is limited to the luxurious script found on official proclamations and invita tions. But the 30 artists gathered for "The Written Word" exhibition at the Artspace Gallery hope to demonstrate the form's broader ambitions. Little of the work on display at the Woodland Hills gallery beginning Tuesday is in black and white.

The Community Service Department is looking for residents interested in teaching classes or giving workshops and seminars in a variety of subjects. Instructors are needed for such subjects as home repair, arts and crafts for adults and children, tennis, calligraphy, painting and modeling. Days and times of classes are arranged around the instructors' schedules. All instructors are paid, but compensation varies.