A Chinese friend of mine, an old flatmate, was a calligraphy enthusiast! Everyday, he would spend no less than 1 hour practicing! With everything he showed me and told me about calligraphy in China, Japan etc I was never really impressed compared to Arabic Calligraphy!
I don't think Chinese or Japanese calligraphy is necessarily made to look beautiful, and perhaps that's why I don't appreciate it! My friend done it almost as a meditation tool. I don't know if it's just him, but I can see it being that way!