Hanzishufa
01 · Historical Records
As a regularized means of writing Chinese characters and an art form that expresses thoughts and emotions through the writing of Chinese characters, calligraphy has undergone thousands of years of development in China: from oracle-bone and bronze inscriptions it evolved into large-seal and small-seal scripts and clerical script, and was then fixed in the cursive, regular, and running scripts of the Eastern Han, Wei, and Jin dynasties. Relying on the pictographic symbols of the Chinese script and employing unique writing tools, it embodies the modes of thinking, values, and aesthetic consciousness of the Chinese nation through its particular texts, brushwork, character structure, and composition, conveys the distinctive personal demeanor and temperament of the Chinese people, and has become an inseparable part of Chinese culture. Since the twentieth century, as China's modernization has continually deepened, the ecological environment of traditional Chinese culture has been severely impacted; the social foundation on which Chinese calligraphy depends for survival has gradually changed, and the cultural atmosphere that nourished calligraphy has become increasingly thin.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Chinese character calligraphy, commonly known as 'calligraphy' (shufa), is a traditional art of writing Chinese characters that is practiced throughout all of China. Among all the peoples of the world, only the Chinese character calligraphy of the Chinese nation has developed the writing of a practical script into an art standing alongside painting, music, dance, sculpture, and literature. In this sense, it is not only a cultural treasure of the Chinese nation but also a precious asset in the treasury of world culture and art. The simplification of character forms, the standardization of script styles, and the digitization of writing have caused the aesthetic flavor and cultural connotations unique to Chinese characters to drain away continually. The application and popularization of hard pens, computers, printers, and the internet have profoundly changed the ways in which people write, read, and communicate, greatly diminishing the practicality, accessibility, and influence of calligraphy. In addition, with systematic calligraphy training excluded from the modern education system, the collapse of the popular foundation of Chinese character calligraphy has further accelerated.
Six stages of the script
Oracle bone and bronze script, the great and small seals, clerical script and the cursive, regular and running hands form an unbroken sequence of several millennia.
Four elements
Wording, brushwork, structure and composition carry Chinese thought and values, and it alone among the world's peoples has turned everyday writing into an art equal to painting or music.
Steles, model books and excavated texts
Present-day research collates model books, steles, sutra manuscripts and excavated bamboo and silk texts, dating styles and tracing their descent.
Popular base and schooling
Simplification, standardisation and digitisation erode the characters' aesthetic content, and the retreat of training from schools hastened the loss of a popular base.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Chinese character calligraphy is practiced throughout all of China. Its research and transmission take national-level institutions such as the Chinese Calligraphy Court of the Chinese National Academy of Arts as their hub, relying heavily on the collation and interpretation of ancient model calligraphy, stele engravings, sutra manuscripts, and excavated documents. Localities, for their part, rely on the calligraphers' associations affiliated with the federations of literary and art circles, the cultural-center system, and calligraphy majors in colleges and universities, forming an operational pattern in which creation, teaching, exhibitions, and grading examinations are interconnected.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Hanzishufa.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Under these circumstances, the prospects for calligraphy are not optimistic, and it is necessary to immediately launch work to vigorously promote it and protect it comprehensively.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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