Introduction to Chinese calligraphy (Part 1) | Four Arts of Life | Tea with Erping

As one of the Four Arts (qin, qi, shu, hua), calligraphy has been regarded as the highest Chinese art.

At first glance, calligraphy can seem intimidating. But if you can give some time to first understand the history, you’ll find the artworks will reward you with endless enjoyment in the future. Watch the video to learn about some of the great calligraphy masters and more.

Discover Traditional Chinese Calligraphy (Part 2) | Tea with Erping👉
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[TiffanyMaschek]

Being born in America, I was always fascinated by China. Chinese things always found their way in my room. I still have a few pieces from my collection that has survived. I've also been fascinated with calligraphy. I tried American calligraphy but instead I just wrote and wrote and wrote in my journals all the time. I recently after studying occultism found I ching. I've been doing that for a while and fell in love with the philosophy and how connected the I ching is. I also recently bought some things to do Chinese calligraphy and study the language. I didn't realize how connected calligraphy and I ching were connected. I felt a little confused as to why that would help me learn I ching but I wanted to read I ching in it's natural language which is Chinese. So, I said I guess I better learn the language. That way I can read and write the characters and know their meaning. I love how each character describes a scene. I still find it interesting that Calligraphy is actually part of the philosophy and had no Idea of the connection. I also found your channel and love it. I've always loved channels like this.

[johnmccann]

This series is brilliant, very accessible. My father (American) was born in Beijing in 1910, and I have been studying calligraphy many years, off and on, and as an East Asian art historian, Chinese calligraphies are essential in j\understanding Chinese history and its esteemed culture. Thank you!

[barrymoore]

Interesting and accessible introduction to this esteemed art form, too little known and appreciated in the West. The illustration of the variety of renderings Wang Xizhi made of a single character really drove home why he is universally regarded as one of the supreme masters of calligraphy. I am already looking forward to the other episodes of this survey of the Chinese art of writing.

[eldorta]

Nice video. I lived in Nanjing, and there I learned Shufa. The characters, the way the bristle moves across the paper. Sublime.

[flowersunny]

a rich and clear presentation of Chinese calligraphy

[jorjashannonrisinger]

6/12/2021

I am a student of Ancient Chinese and Japanese History. I absolutely Love “Tea With ERPING.” I am already studying Japanese Kanji. This particular show on “The History of Chinese Calligraphy” pulls Everything together for Me! I am seeking a published version of “Tea With ERPING” to add to My Reference Library. As a Member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I find this series beautiful to view, relaxing, uplifting, inspiring. Thank You, Mr ERPING, for Your excellent series. I only wish I could know You, shake Your hand (or bow) to express My gratitude for All You are teaching Me. I refer My Family and Friends to “Tea With ERPING.” Mostly sincerely, Jorja Risinger, Austin, TEXAS. 🎋🙏🎋🇺🇸🎋🙏🎋

[shaneyaw]

You are right my friend. I am not the same person. Thank you!

[PeterW]

Very good channel 👍 Bright, clean, well-thought-out content, neat editing, and of course, the radiant host 🌞

[caseymcadams]

Wow great video. Masterful presentation👍

[quachquach]

As a comic book art fan, these guy are real artists like modern day Alex Raymond, Jack Kirby, Neal Adams.

[quachquach]

4 Arts.

琴 music
棋 chess
書 calligraphy
畫 painting

[svm]

i wonder what is revealed in my calligraphy.

[quachquach]

Thuganomics is not 1 of the 4 arts?

Just kidding.

I really admire the Chinese approach of mind over muscle, brain over brawn approach. Wile E. Coyote over Road Runner.

Modern American culture take the muscle approach from Greek history. (They don't care about Euclid and stuff). They like the Olympics, the muscles of the statues, the 300 Spartans, Hercules and stuff.

The real supermen are the Lex Luthors, the Brainiacs.

[Tyrhonius]

Greetings. I'm an American graduate student studying calligraphic theory in Taiwan. Here are my observations and critiques after viewing this video.

0:45 The literal meaning of the character 書 is "writing, " not book. It is phonetic-compound based on the semantic element 聿 (yu4), which means brush, and the phonetic component 者, which was simplified to 日, thus giving us the character 書. The character 法 means method (or standard), so 書法 (calligraphy) is more accurately translated as "method of writing." See the entry for 書 in the Shuo Wen Jie Zi (說文解字).

2:20 "The Chinese language is the oldest language in continuous use." I think the presenter means "written Chinese" is the oldest continuous "written" language, as spoken "Chinese" is not a language, but rather a blanket term for over 300 languages spoken in China today. Mandarin Chinese, spoken by 70% of the Chinese population, has only been around since 1932. That said, the earliest languages spoken in China have long since died out and it is not clear at present which written language has been in use the longest.

3:10 Knowing 2-3000 characters "alone" isn't sufficient to read a newspaper. Characters can stand alone but most often they combine to from words. For example, big 大 combined with small 小 means "size" 大小, but small 小 combined with heart 心 means "careful" 小心. Some character combinations can even take on different meanings when their positions are switched, such as 蜜蜂 bee and 蜂蜜 honey. Thus, you may know every character in a sentence while still being unable to "read" it.

4:50 Qin Shihuang’s unification of China last 15 years, not 11.

5:45 Just to clarify, clerical script first appeared during the Qin, not the Han.

6:00 In cursive writing, the brush DOES of course leave the page. One can verify this simply by looking the cursive characters presented here.

7:45 There is consensus on the exact number of brush strokes (the number “37” is mentioned here) for standard script. 

7:55 The running script, according the historical record, was invented by Liu Desheng 劉德昇 of the Later Han.

8:20 ”The cursive script, standard script and the running appeared during the time of the Six Dynasties." This is an odd claim. The standard, running and grass scripts all first emerged during the Han. The speaker in fact previously stated that the cursive script actually first appeared in the Han Dynasty.

9:20 Tang and Song were the “Golden Ages” of Chinese calligraphy? The Jin and Tang dynasties are typically regarded as the Golden Ages of Chinese philosophy. Contrary to what the speaker says, the latter half of the Song was actually a low point of calligraphic history as no towering figures emerged during this period (which is often characterized as a return to traditionalism). The emergence of theFour Great Calligraphers of the Northern Song (Cai Xiang, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu) on the other hand marked a high point in creativity (except for Cai Xiang who really deviated from the Jin style) though nature and status of their contributions have long been debated. 

Overall, the Song calligraphy is typically not seen as surpassing the splendor of the Tang, much less the Jin. This point can be illustrated by the fact that the "Top Three" running script texts hail from the Jin, Tang and Song respectively (the fourth and fifth are also from the Jin and Tang respectively). Yuan and Ming calligraphers for the most part saw the Jin as the Golden Age that has never and will never be surpassed. Some Qing calligraphers and critics even looked down upon the Tang, seeing it has having lost the ancient methodology of the Han and Six Dynasties periods.

9:35 The term “Four Treasures of the Studio” is said to have arisen during the Six Dynasties period according to Wikipedia (Chinese), though no textual evidence is provided. The earliest reference I could find is indeed from the Song.

10:20 Common misconception. Not all the brush strokes in calligraphy can be reduced to the Eight Strokes. Some obvious examples are 女, 戈 and 局. They all contain elements not found in the Eight Strokes.

10:30 The main definition of 永 yong3 is "forever” or “perpetual.” “Endurance" or "perseverance” are human traits. 永 has a wider extension than these two meanings. ”

10:35 The demonstration is not accurate. The dot typically requires an additional turning and pause before finishing the stroke. For the horizontal stroke, the edge is usually sharp or rounded, not squarish. The vertical stroke typically has slight curvature with nuance in the thickness. The hook following the vertical stroke is more restrained and should touch the left falling stroke. The left falling stroke for its part should be finished with an upward motion where the brush tip goes beyond of the boundaries of the stroke itself. The final stroke should not touch the falling left stroke. This is not an accurate depiction of how 永 should be written. One can check it against the 永 character at 10:35.

13:00 Calligraphers don’t necessarily need to find balance in themselves before writing. Running and cursive script (especially wild cursive) writings often reflect a wide range of emotions.

14:20 The great Tang calligrapher Yan Zhenqin was strangled to death, not released, on the orders of Li Xilie after the fire incident referenced in the video. Yan, due to court intrigue, was tasked with the impossible mission to persuade the rebel faction to surrender. Yan was immediately detained and then executed months later upon his continued refusal to defect.

15:35 Although Wang Xizhi is known as the Sage of Calligraphy, his seventh son, Wang Xianzhi, is typically regarded as his father’s equal. One's preference depends solely on artistic taste---Wang Xizhi for structural firmness and closer adherence to formal methods and Wang Xianzhi for his aesthetically-pleasing innovations that disintegrate the boundaries between the running and cursive scripts.

15:55 Liang Wu Di’s quote did NOT come after viewing Wang Xizhi’s Xing Rang Tie (行禳帖; the work shown in the video is a Tang copy) as stated here (or at least there is no evidence that supports this statement; the inscription of the quote seen on the left was written by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing. 
The famous phrase in question was actually BORROWED from Yuan Ang, a minister of the Liang court and calligraphy critic who had previously used it to describe Xiao Sihua’s (蕭思話) calligraphy.
Liang Wu Du frequently discussed calligraphy with Yuan, eventually decreeing the official to produce a book critiquing the greatest calligraphers of all time. The work is entitled “Critiques of Calligraphers Past and Present” (古今書人評) and contains this famous quote that was later used to describe Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy.
Side note: The final ruler of the Liang was Liang Yuan Di, who, upon his final defeat, committed his ENTIRE library, which purportedly included half of all of Wang XIzhi’s calligraphic works, to the flames. The event, which was nothing short of a cultural holocaust, is historically known as the “Burning of Books at Jiangling” (江陵焚書).



17:10 The 42 literati at the Orchid Pavilion gathering were actually "punished" with cup of wine (罰酒) if they could NOT compose a poem--that was the whole point of the game. Thus, there is no reason to assume those who successfully wrote poems would have enjoyed a cup of wine afterwards.

19:30 According to Wang Xizhi’s own autobiography (part of which is quoted in Sun Guoting’s Shu Pu), the calligrapher claimed Zhang Zhi 張芝 (Eastern Han) washed his brush so much his pond turned completely black (and thus explaining why Zhang’s cursive was script to be superior to Wang’s own). Wang never claims to have done it himself.

20:30 Wang resigned out of frustration with a superior (Wang Shu) not to dedicate himself to calligrapher. According to Wang’s own words (see 十七帖 “The Seventeenth” Copybook), he enjoyed spending his days gardening.

20:45 The authenticity of the Lanting Xu has long been in question. That's an issue for another day.

[HakuYuki]

Poetry is actually considered the highest art.

In 書法 書 doesn’t mean book, it means writing 書寫.