Transcript History of Chinese Calligraphy by Angelo Cordovax

Chinese
Calligraphy
By: Angelo Cordova
History
The history of Chinese calligraphy.
 Chinese calligraphy dates back to 4,000 years ago. The oldest
language discovered is Jia Gu Wen.
 Gin Shi Huang united the old China in 221 B.C. the official
language used in the Qin dynasty was Xiao Zhuan.
 The Han dynasty was when calligraphy first began to bloom. The
Han dynasty brought some great calligraphers such as Li Shu,
Cao Shu, Xing Shu, and Kai Shu.
 The Ming dynasty was the worst period for calligraphy. From the
Song dynasty to the Qing dynasty, the greatest calligraphy works
works in paper were kept in house of the emperor family.
Four Treasures
the four treasures of Chinese calligraphy.
 Different from the pen we use for writing, the pen of the
Chinese writing brush is soft and big. When the top of the
Chinese writing brush is dipped in the ink, it sops up the ink and
is ready to use. The amount of ink absorbed is important to
Chinese calligraphy.
 Ink sticks can be regarded as ink in solid state. Getting ink from
the hard ink stick requires some physical labor, so ancient
Chinese calligraphers had young boy attendants help them with
this task.
 Paper was invented by Cai Lun in the Chinese Han Dynasty.
The most famous paper used for Chinese calligraphy and
Chinese painting is rice paper, also named as Xuan paper
after its origin – the ancient Xuan city.
 Ink slab is the container used in Chinese calligraphy and
painting for grinding dry ink (ink stick) and mixing it with
water. Most of ink slabs are made of stone, but other
materials such as pottery, brick and tile are also widely
used.
Different Styles
The different Chinese calligraphy styles.
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Jia Gu Wen
Jin Wen
Zhuan Shu
Li Shu
Cao Shu
Kai Shu
Zhen Shu
Xing Shu
Ancient Writing Tools
The story of how the ancient Chinese calligraphy tools were
invented.
 In the history of China, there were three centers for making
writing brushes: Hengshui, Xuancheng and Huzhou. But, now,
besides these three cities, painting brushes produced in
Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing and Chengdu are also very
famous. However, the most famous ones will be Hubi and Houbi.