The Embodied Art: An Aesthetics of Chinese Calligraphy A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Art History and Theory at the University of Canterbury by Xiongbo Shi UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY 2017 Abstract This thesis uses present-day aesthetic terminology to elucidate traditional Chinese calligraphic theories. It examines four aspects of Chinese calligraphy: (1) the calligraphic artwork, specifically stone inscriptions, sutra transcriptions, and letters, all of which underwent transformations from utilitarian writings to artistic calligraphy works; (2) calligraphic xing (form) and its dependence on shi (force; dynamic configuration); (3) calligraphic creation as a psychosomatic process, that is, the coordination between the mind (xin) and the hand (shou); and (4) appreciation of Chinese calligraphy is identified with the Confucian value of de (virtue), and the process of reconstructing the calligrapher’s creation of the work. ii Contents iv Acknowledgements v List of Illustrations vii Notes to the Reader 1 Introduction PART 1 Calligraphic Work and Form 18 Chapter 1 Casual Letters from Famous Calligraphers are Sure to be Treasured (chidu bi zhen 尺牘必珍) 45 Chapter 2 Calligraphic Xing and Shi are Mutually Reflected (xingshi xiangyin 形勢相映) PART 2 Calligraphic Practice and Creation 69 Chapter 3 Being a Disciple of the Past (yu gu wei tu 與古為徒) 86 Chapter 4 Mind and Hand Acting in Harmony (xin shou shuang chang 心手雙暢) PART 3 Calligraphic Evaluation and Appreciation 154 Chapter 5 Calligraphy Mirrors the Calligrapher (shu ru qiren 書如其人) 182 Chapter 6 Calligraphic Appreciation is Like One Witnessed the Creation (ming ru qin du 明如親睹) 220 Conclusion 224 Appendix: Zhang Yinlin: A Preface to Chinese Calligraphy Criticism (1931) 261 Glossary 265 Bibliography iii Acknowledgements I am deeply grateful to my supervisors, Dr Richard Bullen and Professor Paul Millar, whose guidance, support, and encouragement has meant a great deal. I owe a particular debt to Duncan Campbell, Dr Xiaoming Wu and Dr Yiyan Wang, who provided valuable suggestions and gave of their time to my chapters. I also would like to thank Dr Rosie Ibbotson and Dr Barbara Garrie – auditing their courses has inspired my thesis in one way or another. I’m grateful for receiving the Ethel Rose Overton Scholarship. I owe many thanks to many friends in Christchurch, especially Dr David Khan, Zhuoran Deng, Kara Kennedy, Yafei Lü, Derek Whaley, and James Schofield, for their help and support. Special thanks to Sau Fong Teo for tasty food and captivating stories. My thanks also go to many teachers and friends back in China, especially Professor Adam K Webb, Dr Li Jian, Professor Kang Er, and Yang Fengjun. Finally, I would like to thank my family. Thanks to my wife, Caifeng Wu, for her love and support, and for making a lot of constructive suggestions. Thanks to my sister Biqin Shi, for always being a good listener and her moral support. My parents, Yinpu Shi and Chunxiu Zhou, though none of them got the chance to go to university and none can read a single English word, have encouraged and supported me to pursue my research over the years. Without you, none of this would have been possible. iv List of Illustrations Chapter 1 Fig. 1-1, Ritual Vessels Stele at the Temple of Confucius (detail). From Han Liqi bei 漢 禮器碑. Beijing: Zhongguo shudian, 1991. 3. Fig. 1-2, Three Scripts Stone Classics (detail). From Ouyang, Zhongshi, Wen Fong, eds. Chinese Calligraphy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008. 3. Fig. 1-3, Anonynous, Sutras of Analogies (detail), 359 AD, 24×239.3 cm, ink on paper. Ouyang, Zhongshi, Wen Fong, eds. Chinese Calligraphy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008. 170. Fig. 1-4, Guo Quan, Shan jian lü (detail), 22.6×468.8 cm, ink on paper. Palace Museum, Beijing. Fig. 1-5, Zhang Jizhi, Dimond Sutra (detail), ink on ruled paper. Princeton University Art Museum. Fig. 1-6, Wang Xizhi, You mu tie, ink on paper, cursive script. Chapter 4 Fig. 4-1, Atributed to Zhang Xu, Four Ancient Poems (detail), ink on paper, cursive script. From Ouyang, Zhongshi, Wen Fong, eds. Chinese Calligraphy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008. 221. Fig. 4-2, Yan Zhenqing, Eulogy for a Nephew, ink on hemp paper, running script. From Ouyang Zhongshi, Wen Fong, eds. Chinese Calligraphy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008. 228-229. Fig. 4-3, Double-hook, or Five-finger Method of Brush-holding. From Chiang, Yee. Chinese Calligraphy: An Introduction to its Aesthetics and Techniques. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1973. 138. Fig. 4-4, Sing-hook Method. From Shen, Yinmo. Xueshu youfa 學書有法 (Rules for v Learning Calligraphy). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2006. 21. Fig. 4-5, Method of Three Turnings. Chapter 5 Fig. 5-1, Yang Shen, Minghua shenpin mu 名畫神品目. From Lu, Fusheng, ed. Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (The Complete Collected Texts on Chinese Calligraphy and Painting). Vol. 3. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1992. 821. Fig. 5-2, Yang Shen, Fatie shenpin mu 法帖神品目. From Lu, Fusheng, ed. Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (The Complete Collected Texts on Chinese Calligraphy and Painting). Vol. 3. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1992. 825. Chapter 6 Fig. 6-1, Su Shi, A Response to Xie Minshi on Prose Writing (detail), running script, ink on paper, 1100. Mounted on a 27 x 96.5 cm scroll with six colophons. Shanghai Museum. Fig. 6-2, Su Shi, Chibi fu (detail), ink on paper, 23.9 x 258 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei. Fig. 6-3, Zhao Mengfu, Chibi fu (detail), album leaves, ink on paper. National Palace Museum, Taipei. Fig. 6-4, Wen Zhengming, Chibi fu (detail), ink on paper, 24.9 x 18.8 cm. Palace Museum, Beijing. Fig. 6-5, Xu Wei, Returning Late from an Outing, running cursive, ink on paper. 127 x 32 cm. Nanjing Museum, Jiangsu Province. vi Notes to the Reader 1. Unless otherwise noted, all the translations are by the author. Where possible, quoted translations have been checked against the original. 2. This thesis uses the pinyin romanisation of Chinese characters. Where alternative spellings of Chinese names and titles are conventionally used in the West, I have retained these alternative spellings. 3. The names of Chinese people are set in the traditional Chinese fashion: family name followed by given name, except when published using the Western order. 4. All quotations are as the original, and any variation is added in square brackets. 5. In each chapter, dates of historical persons or dynasties are given the first time mentioned. vii Introduction It was an autumn two decades ago. I was a second-year student in a most ordinary primary school planted in the alluvial plain of rural central China. The schoolhouse was two miles from my village, along narrow country roads sketched like brush strokes between the paddy fields. On the first day of that fall term every student received a calligraphic ink brush and a bottle of prepared ink that emitted a pleasant aroma. Twenty years later I can still recall the smells of that day as I walked home from school; the liquid scent of the prepared ink in my hand and underlying it the mature odour of the golden rice paddy that was about to be harvested. My first calligraphy teacher, my first Chinese teacher also, was a middle-aged man crippled by polio from an early age. I don’t quite remember what he taught in our first calligraphy lesson. But his gestures demonstrating the calligraphic brush strokes in front of the class have lingered in my mind: his back is bent, his left hand trembles involuntarily as he holds the brush, as if every stroke takes all his strength. The next year, my family moved to a town. The new school I attended had a full- time calligraphy teacher. And there was a full semester of calligraphy; every weekday all of the class copied a piece of model calligraphy for forty minutes. It was my happiest time of a day. This subject was different from my other “core courses” such as Chinese, mathematics, and science. The teacher’s lecturing was reduced to the minimum, and with a piece of model calligraphy at my side, I would immerse myself in a practice that relied on the perfect harmony of eyes, mind, and hand. Back then, calligraphy was not included in the semester examination, probably because most people regarded it as an outdated traditional art. None of my playmates would pick up the writing brush outside the school. But for me it was different, calligraphy felt natural. For a number of years, every evening after dinner, I would open a newspaper, grab a brush, and keep going until the calligraphic lines filled the whole paper. Sometimes, my parents’ friends came over, and they always gave me a pat on the back after watching my ink brush writing. 1 Later, I reflected on what exactly drove me to pick up the brush and practise calligraphy. It was not simply the occasional compliments I got. A famous saying from the Eastern Han scholar-official Cai Yong 蔡邕 (133-192 AD), which I read when I was a undergraduate student, enlightened me. Cai wrote that the wondrous and the peculiar in calligraphy emerge owing to the suppleness of the brush.1 I believe, it is the changeful and the uncertain calligraphic materiality – the soft brush, the variations of the ink tones, and the moment when the ink brush touches the permeable rice paper – that captivated my younger self in the very beginning. In retrospect, calligraphic practice offered me an opportunity and an approach to understanding both myself and China’s cultural past.