Chinese Calligraphy: History and Styles

Chinese calligraphy has a rich history, the knowledge of which does not hurt those who want to master this type of art. In addition, you need to learn the basics of culture, philosophy of the Middle Kingdom, as well as understand the Chinese language. This will help to feel the energy of calligraphy, which, according to the psychological and physical effects on a person, is equated to qigong.

Chinese calligraphy is an ancient art. It has more than a dozen centuries. Some styles appeared before our era and practically did not change over time. For example, the so-called hieroglyphs of the press - Zhuanshu - originated in the VIII century BC. e.

In those days, mastering the art of calligraphy was mandatory for every educated person, and even the emperor himself regularly practiced the writing of hieroglyphs.

Different writing styles appeared, more or less simple, geometric or smooth, but the attitude to calligraphy remained the same. As then, and in our time it is not just the ability to write beautifully, it is a way to express your own, unique, inner world, relax and forget about the daily bustle.

If the body is relaxed, it will not only not get tired and will not numb, on the contrary, it will receive a charge of fresh strength and energy. And focusing on the technique itself is easier if you know what exactly is reproduced on paper. It is necessary not only to mechanically display these or those symbols, but to remember that each of them has its own meaning, and to understand what exactly means a hieroglyph.

Such an attitude to calligraphy was developed by the history of the development of this art. Ancient masters considered it akin to qigong in terms of its effect on the psychoemotional state of a person. Perhaps this is partly why calligraphy was an art for educated (and, therefore, more affluent) people - not only because of the availability of funds to buy all the necessary materials, but also because simple people did not have time for concentrated and thoughtful breeding of hieroglyphs.

Before starting to calligraphy, you need to get at least basic knowledge of the language and learn to understand it.

The written language of China is verbal-syllable, that is, each individual hieroglyph conveys either the whole word or its grammatically significant part. Hieroglyphs came from drawings, which were simplified as much as possible for the convenience and speed of writing. In the Chinese language, there are about 5 thousand characters, and they must be studied before taking up the brush.

All this many hieroglyphs can be divided into several categories.

1. Pictograms. These are the images that became the basis of writing, its original variety.
2. Ideograms. Represent individual elements of the real world, ideas. They are closely associated with pictograms.
3. Phonoideograms. They include two components - one indicates the meaning, the other - the sound of the word.
4. Borrowed hieroglyphs. These characters have their meaning, but are used to spell other words.

As for calligraphic writing styles, there are 5 of them - Zhuangshu, Lisha, Sinsha, Tsaoshu, Kaisu and Edomoji.

One of the oldest Zhuangshu style. The first works performed in this style direction date back to the VIII-III centuries. BC e. This was the official letter of the kingdom of Qin, now is the most commonly used style. However, despite its prevalence, the use of Zhuangshu is limited only to calligraphy, since even the native Chinese cannot read the text written by this letter.

The next style, the “child” of Zhuanshu, is a lichen. He appeared in the II century BC. e. Its distinguishing feature is horizontal and diagonal lines expanding downward. This "tail" in Chinese is called the "head of a silkworm" and "goose tail." Now for writing is used late lichen.

Sinshu called the "running" style, it differs in that when writing hieroglyphs, the brush practically does not come off the paper.

Tsaoshu - Almost the same italics are also continuous, like Sinshu. Tsaoshu inscriptions can be read if you have special skills.

The most popular today is the kaishu style. It originates from the versicolor style and is considered the latest style of writing hieroglyphs. In kaisha, the features that make up the symbol are separated from each other.

Edomoji style, in general, is not related to Chinese calligraphy. This style came from Japan and is used in the design of advertising signs, posters and the like.

Of all these styles, it is difficult to choose the easiest one that is suitable for beginners. Each has its own characteristics, subtleties, which will be difficult to master so immediately. But those styles in which lines are displayed separately will be a little easier for a beginner to learn. Continuous writing is harder, for an inexperienced calligrapher it will be harder to learn without basic skills.

For calligraphy classes you will need:

1. paper;
2. brush;
3. ink;
4. tushenitsa.

In ancient China, these objects were called the four treasures of the scientist, treated them with appropriate reverence and were chosen very carefully.

So, special paper was taken, in the manufacture of which crushed wood bark and rice straw were used. Even earlier, before the invention of paper in China, they wrote on white silk. The cost of these (in particular) writing materials made calligraphy an art for educated, and therefore wealthy people.

For the manufacture of brushes, goat or hare wool was taken, which absorbs water well and retains ink. The shape of the brush also matters - it should be rounded on the sides and pointed to the tip. The sharp tip allows you to display neat, clear lines, provides the necessary elasticity of writing. Materials used for the handle were bamboo, ivory, jade, crystal, porcelain, sandalwood, a horn of a bull, even gold and silver.

Mascara should be uniform, without lumps and large particles that could leave stains on paper. Ink was made from pine soot, pork fat, vegetable oils and aromatic substances. The latter provided the carcass shine and protected from tarnishing. All these ingredients were mixed, dried and formed into briquettes.

Before using the ink, they were rubbed in the inkwell, which also had its own requirements. Its walls had to be non-smooth (so that the substance could easily be rubbed) and not too rough, otherwise the particles would be larger than necessary. Only a fine-grained surface allowed the ink to grind as needed.

Learn Chinese calligraphy in the next video.