*dimsumdolly* - the different morsels of the life of a foodie

Chinese Calligraphy (书法)

Had my first Chinese calligraphy lesson today at the Chinese Calligraphy Society of Singapore down at Waterloo Street. Of late, I've been doing too much English stuff since I started teaching so I felt that I needed to balance it out with some Chinese stuff in other areas of my life.

Thus, my radio dial is tuned perpetually to the Chinese radio stations. Also, I wanted to learn something new, so I decided to try Chinese calligraphy as I've never tried it before.

Chinese calligraphy, also known as 书法 (Shu Fa), originated thousands of years ago, and is really fascinating. There's so much to the art of calligraphy - the type of brush, the pressure applied to each stroke, the different styles etcetc.

Calligraphy is thought to be revealing of one's character. In ancient China, the calligraphy skills of the candidates of the imperial exams were an important criterion in the selection of successful scholars to the Imperial court. This was because, unlike other visual art techniques, all calligraphy strokes are permanent and cannot be corrected, hence demanding careful planning and confident execution. Those were the skills required of an administrator / executive in the Imperial Courts.

According to Asiawind.com, "bycontrolling the concentration of ink, the thickness and adsorptivity of the paper, and the flexibility of the brush, the artist is free to produce an infinite variety of styles and forms. In contrast to western calligraphy, diffusing ink blots and dry brush strokes are viewed as a natural impromptu expression rather than a fault. While western calligraphy often pursue font-like uniformity, homogeneity of characters in one size is only a craft. To the artist, calligraphy is a mental exercise that coordinates the mind and the body to choose the best styling in expressing the content of the passage. It is a most relaxing yet highly disciplined exercise indeed for one's physical and spiritual well being. Historically, many calligraphy artists were well-known for their longevity."

My brush and bamboo sheet in which the brush is kept and protected from damage. According to my teacher, my brush is made up of the fur from a goat and some other animal. I don't know what the other animal is 'cos my teacher said the name of an animal which I've never heard of before. I'll ask him again next week what animal it is.

I spent the lesson practising the horizontal stroke (also known as the 横 'heng') which is used in many Chinese characters. I have about 13 more different strokes to master! One would think a horizontal stroke is a piece of cake. But no! Tis hard to make it look good!

I was also taught how to hold the brush properly, the proper posture to adopt and how to place the paper while writing. Rice paper is used to write on and thankfully, we don't have to grind our own ink! There are commercially-made bottles of ink available for our use in the school.

Anyhow, am looking forward to future lessons! It's also a good chance for me to practise listening and speaking in Mandarin - something which I hardly get to do!

Posted by DSD at March 21, 2004 6:43 PM