Unit 1 The art of calligraphy ? Calligraphy literally means “ good writing ”. However, Chinese calligraphy cannot be defined as just “ writing ” Chinese characters. Neither can it be described as a way of making Chinese characters look “ more beautiful ”. These are misassumptions often made. The most important aspect of it is, that it is an emotional form of art, as it carries the thoughts and feelings of the artist. Calligraphy has been an important feature of the Chinese culture for the past 4000 years. ? Chinese calligraphy is an Oriental art. But what makes it an art? It is very much like painting. It uses Chinese characters municate the spiritual world of the artist. Just as one thousand persons will have as many faces, one thousand persons will have as many differences in handwriting. Through the medium of form, way of handling the brush, presentation, and style, calligraphy as a work of art conveys the moral integrity, character, emotions, esthetic feelings and culture of the artist to readers. How to write Chinese characters ? Strokes are traditionally classified into eight basic forms, each appearing in the character "eternally" and listed below Though somewhat arbitrary, this system has remained popular for nearly two millenia . ? 1. " Dian " - A simple dot. 2. " Heng " - Horizontal stroke, left to right. ? 3. " Shu " - Vertical stroke, top to bottom. 4. " Gou " - Hook appended to other strokes. ? 5. " Ti " – Press and lift upward ? 6. " Pie " - Diagonal to left. ? 7. " Duan Pie " - Short diagonal stroke, falling from right to left. 8. " Na " – diagonal to the right ? These basic strokes are sometimes combined without the pen leaving the paper. In the above example of "eternally", strokes 2-3-4 are written as one continuous stroke, as are strokes 5-6. Hence in dictionaries this character is indexed as having five separate strokes ? grams/view/z6D2oy vRT8I/ (appreciate Chinese calligraphy) ?/program/journeysi
