Calligraphy

TO THE TEACHER

OBJECTIVES OF THIS UNIT: To introduce students to the Chinese writing system and its emergence as an art form. To provide background on various script types and styles and the aesthetic criteria used to evaluate calligraphic works. To give students enough material to discuss traditional Chinese notions about the close relationship between style and individual personality.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: This unit asks student to look very closely at writing they do not understand, and some students may find it difficult to see all of the distinctions drawn. Discussing some of the examples in class could help students learn to see the distinctions between different scripts and styles.

Besides looking at calligraphy in aesthetic terms, it can usefully be linked to other aspects of elite culture, including the practice of other art forms (e.g., poetry, painting, and music), education and literacy, and Daoist and Confucian attitudes towards the individual and the cultivation of the educated person. Links to social and political uses of art can be explored through a discussion of why both scholar-officials and emperors formed collections of calligraphy. The shorter section on calligraphy in modern China may be of particular interest in a class with students interested most of all in contemporary China. Other teachers could omit it.

WHEN TO TEACH: Although writing was used from Shang times on (and this unit includes some examples of Shang and Han writing), it was not treated as an art form until after the fall of the Han. This unit draws primarily on Six Dynasties and Tang examples. Because calligraphy remained a major art form in later dynasties, this unit could just as easily be used when discussing the literati elite in later centuries. In a topically organized course, if the units on painting and calligraphy are both used, Calligraphy should be used first, as calligraphic skill served as a basis for painting technique, and the rise of calligraphy to "high art" status preceded that of painting by hundreds of years. This unit could also be used in a course on Chinese art.

In China, the style in which an individual writes has long been believed to communicate something essential about his or her personality, intellect, and abilities. Even today it is a common presumption that one can "read" the identity of the person through his or her handwriting.

Young man practicing calligraphy

SOURCE: Photograph courtesy Patricia Ebrey, 1978.

Our use here of the term calligraphy may be a deceptively inaccurate translation for this practice. Calligraphy is defined in western etymology as "beautiful writing," while the Chinese term, shufa, is rendered more precisely as the "method of writing" - which may indicate a greater emphasis on procedure, rules, or simply the way in which the written word is formed. The European term calligraphy highlights an interest in beauty and ornament in the external forms of words on the page; most European calligraphy is highly stylized, regular, and decorated with flourishes, which in themselves are lacking in personal expression. Calligraphy in the West was always considered a minor art and tended to curb spontaneity, producing fairly static forms.

In China, however, this was far from the case; the most widely practiced writing styles favored spontaneity, and the brush was thought to act like a seismograph in recording the movements of arm, wrist, and hand. East Asian calligraphy was established as a "high art" form well before the Tang dynasty. It has continuously enjoyed a high status among the arts ever since, and is practiced today by many people, including every school-aged child.

This unit will cover calligraphy in China up through the Tang dynasty, with an emphasis on the Six Dynasties and Tang. It was during this period that calligraphy first began to flourish as an art form. By the Later Han, the basic script types had been created, and no new types developed after this time. The first writings to evaluate calligraphic style also date from this period. These texts reveal a notable shift toward seeing an expressive quality in writing that went beyond the mere ability to communicate meaning.

As you go through this unit, keep the following questions in mind:

	*Why is calligraphy highly ranked as an art form in China?*
	*How is calligraphy connected to class or status?*
	*How are the materials and techniques used by Chinese calligraphers linked to theories about calligraphy?*
	*What types of skills and knowledge are required to appreciate and evaluate calligraphy? Who collected calligraphy, and why?*

Script Types

Techniques of Transmission

Six Dynasties Calligraphy

Tang Calligraphy

Calligraphy in Modern China