CHINESE LANGUAGE LI Suitable for college and high school students and those learning on their own, this fully illustrated coursebook provides comprehensive instruction in the history and practical techniques of Chinese calligraphy. No previous knowledge of the language is required to follow the text or complete the lessons. The work covers three major areas:1) descriptions of Chinese characters and their components, including stroke types, layout patterns, and indications of sound and meaning; 2) basic brush techniques; and 3) the social, cultural, historical, and philosophical underpinnings of Chinese calligraphy—all of which are crucial to understanding and appreciating this art form. Students practice brush writing as they progress from tracing to copying to free-hand writing. Model characters are marked to indicate meaning and stroke order, and well-known model phrases are shown in various script types, allowing students to practice different calligraphic styles. Beginners will fi nd the author’s advice on how to avoid common pitfalls in writing brush strokes invaluable. CHINESE WRITING AND CALLIGRAPHY will be welcomed by both students and instructors in need of an accessible text on learning the fundamentals of the art of writing Chinese characters. WENDAN LI is associate professor of Chinese language and linguistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Cover illustration: Small Seal Script by Wu Rangzhi, Qing dynasty, and author’s Chinese writing brushes and brush stand. Cover design: Wilson Angel UNIVERSITY of HAWAI‘I PRESS Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822-1888 LI-ChnsWriting_cvrMech.indd 1 4/19/10 4:11:27 PM Chinese Writing and Calligraphy Wendan Li Chinese Writing and Calligraphy A Latitude 20 Book University of Hawai‘i Press Honolulu © 2009 UNIVERSITY OF HAWai‘i Press All rights reserved 14â13â12â11â10â09ââââ6 â5â4â3â2â1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Li, Wendan. Chinese writing and calligraphy / Wendan Li. p. cm. “A Latitude 20 book.” Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8248-3364-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8248-3364-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Calligraphy, Chinese. 2. Chinese characters. 3. Calligraphy, Chinese—Technique. I. Title. NK3634.A2L4975 2010 745.6’19951—dc22 2009047054 University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources Designed by Julie Matsuo-Chun Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc. Contents ix PREFACE 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 2 This Book 3 The Chapters 5 Writing and Calligraphy in Chinese Society 16 The Artistic Qualities of Chinese Writing 18 Abilities That Can Be Acquired by Practicing Calligraphy 19 To Learners with No Background in the Chinese Language 19 Discussion Questions 20 CHAPTER 2 WRITING INSTRUMENTS AND TRAINING PROCEDURES 20 The Four Treasures in a Chinese Study 27 The Training Process 32 Getting Ready to Write 36 Moisture, Pressure, and Speed 37 Discussion Questions and Writing Practice 38 CHAPTER 3 BRUSH TECHNIQUES AND BASIC STROKES I 38 Brush Techniques (1): Pressing Down the Brush and Bringing It Up 40 An Overview of the Major Stroke Types 42 Stroke Type 1: The Dot 45 Stroke Type 2: The Horizontal Line 46 Stroke Type 3: The Vertical Line 47 Tracing 48 Discussion Questions and Writing Practice 50 CHAPTER 4 BRUSH TECHNIQUES AND BASIC STROKES II 50 Brush Techniques (2): Center Tip versus Side Tip 51 Brush Techniques (3): Revealed Tip versus Concealed Tip 52 Stroke Type 4: The Down-Left Slant 54 Stroke Type 5: The Down-Right Slant 55 Stroke Type 6: The Right-Up Tick 56 Chinese Culture (1): Chinese Names 60 Discussion Questions and Writing Practice contents 61 CHAPTER 5 BASIC STROKES III AND STROKE ORDER 61 Stroke Type 7: The Turn 62 Stroke Type 8: The Hook 65 Summary of Major Stroke Types 66 Suggestions for Beginners to Avoid Common Pitfalls 67 Stroke Order 71 Discussion Questions and Writing Practice 73 CHAPTER 6 THE FORMATION OF CHINESE CHARACTERS 73 The Nature of Chinese Written Signs 75 Categories of Characters 80 The Complexity and Developmental Sequence of the Categories 81 Chinese Culture (2): Dates in Chinese According to the Western Calendar 83 Discussion Questions and Writing Practice 84 CHAPTER 7 THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF CHARACTERS AND THE AESTHETICS OF WRITING 84 The Structure of Characters 89 Aesthetic Principles 96 Chinese Culture (3): What Is Written in Chinese Calligraphy? 98 Discussion Questions and Writing Practice 100 CHAPTER 8 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY I: THE SEAL SCRIPTS 100 An Overview of Scripts and Styles 102 The Great Seal Scripts 109 The Small Seal Script 114 Discussion Questions and Writing Practice 115 CHAPTER 9 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY II: THE CLERICAL SCRIPT 115 The Clerical Script 119 Writing the Clerical Script 123 Chinese Culture (4): The Chinese Traditional Dating Method 128 Discussion Questions and Writing Practice 129 CHAPTER 10 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY III: THE REGULAR SCRIPT 129 The Regular Script 130 The Regular and Clerical Scripts Compared 131 Masters of the Regular Script 138 Discussion Questions and Writing Practice vi contents 140 CHAPTER 11 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY IV: THE RUNNING AND CURSIVE STYLES 141 The Running Style 147 The Cursive Style 152 Writing the Running and Cursive Styles 153 Concluding Remarks on the Development of Chinese Calligraphy 154 Discussion Questions and Writing Practice 155 CHAPTER 12 THE ART OF COMPOSITION 157 Components of a Calligraphy Piece 166 Chinese Culture (5): Chinese Seals 173 Discussion Questions and Writing Practice 175 CHAPTER 13 THE YIN AND YANG OF CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY 175 Diversity in Harmony 178 Dialectics in the Art of Calligraphy 180 Appreciation of Calligraphy 183 Chinese Calligraphy and Health 185 Discussion Questions and Writing Practice 185 CHAPTER 14 BY WA5Y OF CONCLUSION: CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY IN THE MODERN ERA 186 Modern Developments in Chinese Calligraphy 192 Chinese Calligraphy in the West 195 What Is Chinese Calligraphy? 197 Discussion Questions and Writing Practice 199 APPENDIX 1: BRUSH WRITING EXERCISES 243 APPENDIX 2: PINYIN PRONUNCIATION GUIDE 247 APPENDIX 3: CHINESE DYNASTIC TIMELINE 251 NOTES 255 GLOSSARY (ENGLISH–CHINESE–PINYIN) 259 REFERENCES 263 BOOKS IN ENGLISH FOR FURTHER STUDY 265 INDEX vii Preface This book is a collection of teaching materials I accumulated over the past ten years, during which I taught the course Chinese Culture through Calligraphy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The materials and the order of topics were tested and revised throughout these years. They reflect special concerns in teaching Chinese calligraphy to college students in the West who may not have any background in Chinese culture and the Chinese language. For these students, the instructor needs to be meticulous not only in demonstrating the details of the techniques, but also in explaining cultural manifestations, significance, and differ- ences. The goal is to make the traditional Chinese art reverberate on the harp of the American brain, which has been tuned to the scales of Western culture. I had rich resources to draw from when writing this book. The long history of Chinese culture, language, and calligraphy and the numerous scholars who studied and wrote about Chinese calligraphy or simply practiced the art were a joy to read about and to reflect on. I learned a great deal from the works of many other scholars who are pioneers in introducing Chinese culture to Western readers and who wrote extensively about Chinese art and calligraphy in English. Notable among them are Yee Chiang, Yuho Tseng, and Da-Wei Kwo. I am deeply grateful to the late Tsung ix preface Chin, professor at the University of Maryland. It was through working with him on a collection of papers following the First International Conference on East Asian Calligraphy Education in 1998 and also through our personal conversations that my idea of offering a Chinese calligraphy course started to take shape. I wish to express my gratitude to the Grier/Woods Presbyterian China Initiative and to the Freeman Foundation for fellowships and travel awards I received through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that allowed me to work on this project, to the Boardman Family Foundation for their support in my teaching and research, and to the Department of Asian Studies of the University of North Caro- lina at Chapel Hill for its support in furnishing optimal teaching facilities for the Chinese calligraphy course I teach. I have also benefited from presenting parts of the materials in this book and discussions of course design at conferences, including the International Conferences of East Asian Calligraphy Education (2004 in Columbia, South Carolina, and 2006 in Hiroshima, Japan) and annual conferences of the Chi- nese Language Teachers Association. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Dwight St. John, Kay Robin Alexander, Carl Robertson, and two anonymous reviewers for their careful reading of earlier drafts of the manuscript and their invaluable advice and suggestions for revision. My sincere thanks also go to Susan Stone for excellent copy editing and to Keith Leber of the University of Hawai‘i Press for his assistance throughout the publica- tion process. I would like to thank calligraphers Xu Bing, Harrison Xinshi Tu, Ren Ping, Mao Rong, and Wang Chunjie for permission to use their artwork in this book. Thanks also go to the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, for their permission to use images from their collection as illustrations. Sources of other illustrations, for which I am also grateful, are mentioned in the captions of specific figures. To the students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who took the Chinese calligraphy course with me over the past years, I say thank you. Your learning experience and feedback on the course played an important role in shaping this book.