both form and meaning. As cat and dog are used in English, 

 similarly certain characters in Chinese traditionally are used 

 for the beginning writer. Some of these are presented singly, 



as the character 7k (j'ung, "eternal"), which includes the 



basic types of brush strokes x J y^ / ^- . Often, a 

 number of simple characters are grouped mnemonically, as 

 shown below, where there are two such sets, the second a 

 longer variant of the first. 



-L *L A. 

 -t t ± 



-t ■£ * A_ 



?b ^ L L 



id- f 



-fe + ~ dfc 



Broadly translated, these two sets explain that the great 

 man Confucius taught 3,000 (students), among whom there 

 were some seventy scholars. Such a simple set serves two 

 purposes : one, to teach the writing of elementary characters 

 and, two, to inculcate a socially valued concept, in this case 

 the Confucian ethic traditionally followed by the Chinese for 

 more than two thousand years. 



Other sets, as the following one, include more complex 

 characters, also arranged mnemonically : 



- * i _3L % 



IT # a? JEL % 



9h- 



a 



* M. 



'- ^ + jL & 



40 



"One (person) went two or three miles; 

 Ahead was a village of Jour or five houses, 

 A high building of six or seven stories, 

 And eight, nine, or ten branches of blossoms." 



Once the initial learning process is over in the early 

 grades, the rest, as with learning any language, is a matter 

 of increasing the vocabulary and improving the esthetic qual- 

 ity of the brushmanship. Here exists one of the major differ- 

 ences between written Chinese and written English: written 

 Chinese still is considered an art, as well as merely a means 

 of communication. In old China, calligraphy was both a 

 medium of communication and a fine art, equal or superior 

 to painting. Scholars devoted years of practice, sometimes 

 many hours a day, to the writing of the character in one or 

 another of the styles that marked Chinese writing in the 

 course of its development. 



Organized in two groups, archaic and modern, the major 

 styles are illustrated in Figs. 1-6, and in the exhibit on callig- 

 raphy in the Museum's new Chinese gallery. Among the 



archaic styles there are (1) the so-called "shell-and-bone 

 script," the earliest known form of Chinese writing, current 

 during the latter part of the second millennium B.C.; and 

 similar forms found on other materials, notably ancient 

 bronzes; (2) the several forms of the "seal style" used in 

 the course of the first millennium B.C.; and (3) the strong 

 "clerical style" characteristic of the Ch'in and Han periods, 

 roughly contemporaneous with the Roman Empire. To 

 these are added the three major styles in common use since 

 the 4th century a.d. : (4) the "rapid style," (5) the "regular 

 style" and (6) the "grass style." It was these major styles, 

 as well as an infinite variety of intermediate and eccentric 

 variants, that were copied and elaborated upon for many 

 hundreds of years, with the variations subject only to the 

 limitations of the creative powers and technical skills of the 

 scholars and artists who conceived them. 



In striving for artistry in the writing of their language 

 Chinese students imitated the brushmanship of famous cal- 

 ligraphers of former times. By reason of the long centuries 

 of interest in calligraphy in their civilization, Chinese stu- 

 dents could draw upon a wide, wide range of styles repre- 

 sented in models of the hand of one or another of hundreds of 

 eminent calligraphers. Such calligraphic models, or fa-t'ieh, 

 still are very common and can be purchased in Chinese sta- 

 tionery shops. The Museum has an extensive collection of 

 ja-Cieh, one of which is represented here by the "grass writ- 

 ing" of Yen Chen-ching. In recent decades two variants of 

 the "regular style," the most common form used today, have 

 been commonly imitated by students: a "thin" variant in 

 the hand of Liu Kung-ch'iian and a "fat" variant in the 

 hand of Yen Chen-ch'ing, both calligraphers of the T'ang 

 period (a.d. 618-907). As has been described, however, the 

 more serious or gifted students might choose one or another 

 of many other styles more pleasing to their esthetic sense or 

 personality. 



The end of old ways 



In the West the necessity for learning form continues, but 

 the interest in good penmanship has declined steadily, until 

 now it is all but nonexistent. Once, when the typewriter 

 was new, one apologized for typing rather than writing by 

 hand ; now, one apologizes for not using the typewriter. In 

 our society the last refuge of handwriting is its continued use 

 in the writing of social letters — invitations, bread-and-butter 

 notes, and the like — and even in this area penmanship is los- 

 ing ground. In China, too, a similar trend is apparent. 

 There is a general decline of interest in calligraphy, a decrease 

 in time devoted to the practice of calligraphy in school, a 

 less frequent use of the writing-brush, and a correspondingly 

 greater use of fountain pen and ball-point. Underlying all 

 these changes, the speed of modern life has taken its toll of 

 Chinese calligraphy, with the result that fewer and fewer 

 Chinese either produce or appreciate the fine writing that 

 for so many hundreds of years in China was the mark of the 

 learned and cultivated man.  



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