"Every stroke has to be perfect," says Peter Kocak while drawing the Chinese word for happiness. "Sometimes you can't breathe when you write very small characters."

Kocak is a local arts professor in Presov, Slovakia, where he revels in passing on his knowledge of Chinese culture to his students.  

It's a remarkable example of the enduring appeal of Chinese art and tradition, as Spring Festival celebrations continue around the world.

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But Kocak's journey has not been easy. A few years ago, university authorities canceled his class, saying an arts course based entirely on calligraphy was too specialized for Presov's small public university, and would feel more at home in an arts academy.

The professor argues that he would like to be a bridge between China and Slovakia, and has already successfully built relationships between museums on different continents. 

"I will fight so that we'll again have courses for handwriting and maybe also for Chinese calligraphy," he says. 

Kocak's calligraphy work is not only displayed in Europe but also in China, Australia and the United States.

But how did a professor in a small European city end up being so passionate about Chinese calligraphy? 

During his many trips to China, he slowly learned to draw his first stroke. It wasn't easy. The Chinese way of holding a calligraphy brush differed significantly from European techniques. 

The 61-year-old managed to master the art form due to his deep fascination with its abstract and poetic aesthetic. 

"You see just a few traces of ink and some color and all artwork is in your imagination."

For over a thousand years, Chinese communities have been decorating doorways and windows with calligraphy to celebrate the Spring Festival. Today, the tradition of writing down one's hopes for the new year on red paper has spread around the globe, even to Slovakia.

"Calligraphy is beautiful, it's history... and it's fantastic for us too in Europe," Kocak's student Adela Sojkova tells CGTN. 

The University of Presov is a small public campus in the country's rural east. But its students are eager to learn about art forms from all around the globe – and there's high demand for Kocak's calligraphy class.

Now, the professor says he is only a few brush strokes away from reinstating his course at the university.