Chinese Calligraphy
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TOPGeneral Information
Calligraphy is one of the traditional arts unique to China. It is not only a stool of cultural communication but an artistic treasure with shining and extraordinary splendor.
Chinese calligraphy has a long history and lasts about 1000 years. It can be considered as a unique artistic form of the treasury of Chinese culture. It is the representative of Chinese art and is reputed as the most ancient artistic form in the history of oriental world. Calligraphy has exerted wide influence world widely and has even been introduced to many neighboring countries. Picasso, the world famous master of art, once expressed that "If I once lived in China, I must had become a calligrapher rather than a painter".
TOPSeal Character
Seal Character is calligraphy of Han Character. It can be divided into Big Seal Character and Small Seal Character. The former appeared in Zhou Dynasty and evolved from oracle-bone inscriptions. The neat structure of oracle-bone inscriptions lays foundation for the form of modern Chinese character. The latter is more simple in form and standardized in structure and than the former. Small Seal Character, known as Qin Seal Character, is collected, compiled and prescribed by Li Si after the unification of China by Qin Empire. Seal Character is very elegant in style and is widely favored by people today in the creation of calligraphy works.
TOPOfficial Script
Official Script was originated from East Han Dynasty. The rise of Official Script is another reform in Chinese Characters, ushering in a new stage of the development of Chinese Calligraphy. In fact it is a transition period on the history of Chinese Characters development, laying a solid foundation for Formal Script. Official Script features flat, neat, and refined structure. When East Han Dynasty began, left-failing stroke and right-failing stroke bent upwards, other strokes were characterized by variations and beauty of calligraphy. The style of Official Script features diversification and it has high value for appreciation.
TOPFormal Script
Formal Script, also known as Zhengshu Script or Zhenshu Script, evolved form Seal Character. It is simpler in structure and square in shape. To be specific, it has more standardized horizontal and vertical. The integral feature of Formal Script is neatness and orderliness, for which it is widely used and favored today. Formal Script became popular in the period of Six Dynasties, and entered prosperity and boom in Tang Dynasty. Yang Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, and Ouyang Xun were famous calligraphers of Tang Dynasty. Together with Zhao Mengfu in Yuan Dynasty, they were honored together "Four Masters of Calligraphy" in Chinese history. Their works include Yanqin Rite Tablet and Record of Damagu Divine Altar of Yan’s style featuring sturdiness; Mysterious Pagoda and Stele of Wonderful Strategies of Liu’s style featuring strength and power; Danba Tablet, Miaoyan Temple Tablet, and Scripture on the Pagoda of Huadu Temple of Meng’s style featuring elegance and slenderness. What wroth mentioning is that there were many famous Weibei type inscriptions in North Wei Dynasty. Characterized by grandeur and strength, tablet inscription style is a very important component of Formal Script system. Representative works of this style include Twenty Articles of Longmen School, Stele of ZhenWengong, and Stele of Zhang Menglong, etc.
TOPRunning Script
Running Script is the cursive form of Formal Script. Originated from late Han Dynasty; it is less compact than Formal Script and less cursive than Cursive Hand. The most representative works of this script is Preface of Lanting Pavilion by Wang Xizhi in Jin Dynasty. It is reputed by ancient people as "The best Running Script under Heaven" because of its sturdiness and elegance. Some once compared the strength and grandeur delivered by the Running Script in the works as the scene of dragons jumping over the gate in the heaven and tigers lying in a gorgeous pavilion. Manuscript for Memorizing My Nephew by Yan Zhenqing in Tang Dynasty is famous for boldness and strength, honored as "The Excellent Running Script only second to that of Yan Zhenqing".
TOPCursive Hand
Cursive Hand is written according to certain rules. It has concise structures with borrowed components. Although it looks irregular, Cursive Hand has high artistic value beyond its practical worthiness. Generally speaking, it can be divided into two categories: Zhangcao and Jindan. The former is a concise form of Seal Script written rapidly. Characters are not connected to each other and their strokes feature the style of Seal Character. Article Written in Rush is a famous works in Cursive Hand by Shi You in East Han Dynasty. The latter is the concise form of Formal Script written rapidly. It is characterized by flying strokes connected to each other. The most representative works of this category are Seventeen Books by Wang Xizhi in Jin Dynasty and List of Book by Sun Guoting in Tang Dynasty. Zhang Xu and Huai Su in Tang Dynasty are another two famous calligraphers whose scripts are bold, vigorous, and unstrained. They have stretching and rolling strokes, connected figures, varied shapes of characters, and romantic exaggerations. Therefore, Cursive Hand (also called Stretching Script) is hard to identify for average people and thus reputed as Wild Script. Representatives of Wild Script include Four Books of Ancient Poems by Zhang Xu and Book of Bibliography by Huai Su, etc.
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