News
The Art of Calligraphy: A Millennial Heritage and Unique Charm in Ink

The art of calligraphy has a profound historical origin. Starting from the oracle bone script of the Yin-Shang period, the simple symbols carved on tortoise shells and animal bones, though naive, already contained the ancients' initial exploration of writing characters. The variations in stroke thickness and their arrangement revealed a primitive sense of order and formal beauty. As time passed, the bronze script of the Zhou Dynasty appeared. The characters cast on bronze ware had lines that became rounder, fuller, dignified, and vigorous, highlighting the solemn cultural style of that era. By the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang unified the script into Small Seal Script. Its structure was neat, and strokes were symmetrical, possessing an elegant beauty of symmetry and balance, like a dignified lady standing gracefully on the stage of history. The birth of the Clerical Script was a major revolution in the history of calligraphy development. It broke the neat constraints of the Seal Script. The unique stroke forms of "silkworm head and swallow tail" made writing more convenient and added a touch of lively and spirited charm. The Wei and Jin Dynasties can be considered the golden age of calligraphy art. Taking the "Sage of Calligraphy" Wang Xizhi as an example, his "Lantingji Xu" (Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion) is praised as the "First Running Script Under Heaven". In this work, the strokes are delicate and smooth, the characters are well-arranged with appropriate density, like a group of lively dancers dancing on paper. The entire work not only reflects superb writing skills but also contains a leisurely and otherworldly scholarly sentiment, allowing people to travel through time and feel the pleasant atmosphere of the gathering of literati then while appreciating the exquisite and peerless brushwork. There is also Wang Xianzhi, who, on the basis of inheriting his father's calligraphy style, made bold innovations. His style was more bold and unconstrained, and the father and son together pushed the art of Running Script to a new peak. In the Tang Dynasty, the art of calligraphy presented a prosperous scene of a hundred flowers blooming. Yan Zhenqing's Regular Script is famous for its vigorous, dignified, and heavy style. Like the "Yan Qinli Stele", the strokes are thick and powerful, the structure is broad, giving people a heroic feeling of standing tall, highlighting the atmosphere of the prosperous Tang Dynasty; while Liu Gongquan's calligraphy is strong and vigorous with a tight structure, known as "Yan's Muscle and Liu's Bone". His works like the "Xuanmi Pagoda Stele" have every stroke as if tempered a thousand times, vigorous yet not losing elegant charm. Ouyang Xun's calligraphy style is steep and rigorous with an exquisite structure. His "Jiuchenggong Liquan Ming" provided an excellent model for later generations to learn Regular Script. The charm of calligraphy art lies not only in its external brush and ink forms but also in the profound cultural connotations it contains. The writing of every character focuses on brushwork, character structure, and composition. In brushwork, using the center tip can make lines round, full, and three-dimensional, while the side tip can bring different changes and liveliness; in character structure, the combination of strokes and the arrangement of structure must follow specific aesthetic principles, whether symmetry, echo, or contrast of density, striving to achieve a harmonious beauty; in terms of composition, how to layout characters and lines in a calligraphy work and how to create the overall momentum and artistic conception is the key point that calligraphers work hard on. At the same time, calligraphy is also an expression of the calligrapher's emotions and state of mind. When a person is happy, the characters written are often lively and flying, full of cheerful rhythm; when the mood is gloomy, the characters written may appear dignified and restrained, as if carrying a trace of faint sorrow. Just as Sun Guoting said in "Shupu" (Treatise on Calligraphy): "Express one's nature, form one's sorrow and joy." Calligraphy has become a unique way for people to entrust their souls and vent their emotions. In the current era, the art of calligraphy still has irreplaceable value. It enters campuses, becoming an important carrier for cultivating students' aesthetic literacy and inheriting traditional culture; in various art exhibitions, calligraphy works attract many viewers to stop and appreciate, allowing people to calm down in the fast-paced modern life and feel the peace and strength from ancient culture; moreover, with the increasing frequency of international cultural exchanges, the art of calligraphy has also become a bright business card of Chinese culture, going abroad to show the world the unique artistic charm and profound cultural heritage of the Chinese nation. The art of calligraphy is like a surging river of culture, flowing through thousands of years, nourishing the hearts of generations of Chinese people. With ink charm as its pen, it writes the wisdom and feelings of the Chinese nation on the long scroll of history, and it will surely continue to shine with bright light in the future, letting more people appreciate its unique artistic charm.

