Chinese calligraphy
Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters as an art form, combining purely visual art and interpretation of the literary meaning. This type of expression has been widely practiced in China and has been generally held in high esteem across East Asia.[1] Calligraphy is considered one of the four most-sought skills and hobbies of ancient Chinese literati, along with playing stringed musical instruments, the board game "Go", and painting. There are some general standardizations of the various styles of calligraphy in this tradition. Chinese calligraphy and ink and wash painting are closely related: they are accomplished using similar tools and techniques, and have a long history of shared artistry. Distinguishing features of Chinese painting and calligraphy include an emphasis on motion charged with dynamic life. According to Stanley-Baker, "Calligraphy is sheer life experienced through energy in motion that is registered as traces on silk or paper, with time and rhythm in shifting space its main ingredients."[2]Calligraphy has also led to the development of many forms of art in China, including seal carving, ornate paperweights, and inkstones.
In China, calligraphy[3] is referred to as shūfǎ or fǎshū (書法/书法, 法書/法书), literally 'way/method/law of writing';[4] shodō (書道) in Japan ('way/principle of writing'); and seoye (서예; 書藝) in Korea ('skill/criterion of writing'[5]); thư pháp (書法) in Vietnam ('handwriting art').
Chinese calligraphy appreciated more or only for its aesthetic quality has a long tradition, and is today regarded as one of the arts (Chinese 藝術/艺术 pinyin: yìshù, a relatively recent word in Chinese)[6] in the countries where it is practised. Chinese calligraphy focuses not only on methods of writing but also on cultivating one's character (人品)[7] and taught as a pursuit (－書法; pinyin: shūfǎ, rules of writing Han characters).[8]
Chinese calligraphy used to be popular in China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Hong Kong.[9] In Taiwan, students were requested to write Chinese calligraphy starting from primary school all the way to junior high school on a weekly basis at least to the year 1980.[citation needed] As young generations are "typing" more often than "writing", when PC, tablets and mobile phones became the major communication channels, Chinese calligraphy became purely art.[citation needed]
Oracle bone script was an early form of Chinese characters written on animals' bones. Written on oracle bones—animal bones or turtle plastrons—it is the earliest known form of Chinese writing. The bones were believed to have prophecies written on them. The first appearance of what we recognize unequivocally to refer as "oracle bone inscriptions" comes in the form of inscribed ox scapulae and turtle plastrons from sites near modern Anyang (安陽) on the northern border of Henanprovince. The vast majority were found at the Yinxu site in this region. They record pyromantic divinations of the last nine kings of the Shang dynasty, beginning with Wu Ding, whose accession is dated by different scholars at 1250 BC or 1200 BC.[10][11] Though there is no proof that the Shang dynasty was solely responsible for the origin of writing in China, neither is there evidence of recognizable Chinese writing from any earlier time or any other place.[12] The late Shang oracle bone writings constitute the earliest significant corpus of Chinese writing and it is also the oldest known member and ancestor of the Chinese family of scripts, preceding the Chinese bronze inscriptions.
Chinese bronze inscriptions were usually written on the Chinese ritual bronzes. These Chinese ritual bronzes include Ding (鼎), Dui (敦), Gu (觚), Guang (觥), Gui (簋), Hu (壺), Jia (斝), Jue (爵), Yi (匜), You (卣), Zun (尊), and Yi (彝).[14] Different time periods used different methods of inscription. Shang bronze inscriptions were nearly all cast at the same time as the implements on which they appear.[15] In later dynasties such as Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn period, the inscriptions were often engraved after the bronze was cast.[16] Bronze inscriptions are one of the earliest scripts in the Chinese family of scripts, preceded by the oracle bone script.
Seal script (Chinese: 篆書; pinyin: zhuànshū) is an ancient style of writing Chinese characters that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of the Zhou dynastyscript. The Qin variant of seal script eventually became the standard, and was adopted as the formal script for all of China during the Qin dynasty.
The clerical script (traditional Chinese: 隸書; simplified Chinese: 隶书; pinyin: lìshū) is an archaic style of Chinese calligraphy. The clerical script was first used during the Han dynasty and has lasted up to the present. The clerical script is considered a form of the modern script though it was replaced by the standard script relatively early. This occurred because the graphic forms written in a mature clerical script closely resemble those written in standard script.[15] The clerical script is still used for artistic flavor in a variety of functional applications because of its high legibility for reading.
Regular script (traditional Chinese: 楷書; simplified Chinese: 楷书; pinyin: kǎishū; Hong Kong and Taiwan still use traditional Chinese characters in writing, while mainland China uses simplified Chinese characters as the official script.) is the newest of the Chinese script styles. The regular script first came into existence between the Han and Wei dynasties, and was not used commonly until later. The regular scriptbecame mature stylistically around the 7th century.[17] The first master of regular script is Zhong You. Zhong You first used regular script to write some very serious pieces such as memorials to the emperor.
Semi-cursive script (simplified Chinese: 行书; traditional Chinese: 行書; pinyin: xíngshū), is a cursive style of Chinese characters. Because it is not as abbreviated as cursive, most people who can read regular script can read semi-cursive. It is highly useful and also artistic.
Cursive script (simplified Chinese: 草书; traditional Chinese: 草書; pinyin: cǎoshū) originated in China during the Han dynasty through the Jin period (link needed). The cursive script is faster to write than other styles, but difficult to read for those unfamiliar with it. The "grass" in Chinese was also used in the sense of "coarse, rough; simple and crude."[18] It would appear that cǎo in the term caoshu "grass script" was used in this same sense. The term cǎoshū has broad and narrow meanings. In the broad sense, it is non-temporal and can refer to any characters which have been hastily written. In the narrow sense, it refers to the specific handwriting style in Han dynasty.