Not Quite Chinese Calligraphy Brush

I've been playing around trying to get the effect of a Chinese calligraphy brush.  It's proving a little tricky.  Using the pen tool with a taper, but curling the stroke back on itself works for some of the strokes, but not very well. On the other hand using a high rotation gets the turning effect at corners.  These are supposed to be the characters for meat and pig.  My teachers would raise their hands in dismay, but at least I'm back at calligraphy!