Calligraphy, with distinctive script styles including the seal, clerical, regular, running and cursive, is a traditional art form that has been prized above all others by the Chinese literati for centuries. In "The Tao of Chinese Calligraphy", by introducing historical masterpieces, we hope to give you a glimpse of how the functionality of handwriting was elevated to aesthetics heights in a culture devoted to the power of words.
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00:00Discovery Calligraphy, and the charm of it all.
00:26Hello everyone, welcome to the Tale of Chinese Calligraphy, where we uncover the mysteries
00:31of this art.
00:32I'm Long Yang, welcome!
00:37First, let's meet our three distinguished guests.
00:45They are, from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Professor Qiu Zhenzhong.
00:51From the Minzu University of China, Professor Mengmen.
00:56And Vice President of the China Calligrapher's Association, Ye Pegui.
01:01When it came to the art of cursive script, a man named Huaisu had no rival.
01:06Banana leaves conveyed his mastery, and wild cursive works celebrated his art.
01:13Breaking worldly limits, he drank and touched the true world.
01:18Next we will be introducing Huaisu's most famous work, allow me to present to you, Autobiography.
01:26I come from Changsha, where I serve the Buddha.
01:47Besides studying the scriptures, calligraphy is my passion.
02:17I never saw the great works of the earlier masters.
02:28I saw very little of this art.
02:48I traveled to the capital, Chang'an, and met many renowned scholars.
02:59The rare texts and priceless books I saw broadened my horizons.
03:22As they commented my varied and graceful brushstrokes, they echoed with the wind and
03:32the storms.
03:42An innovative style, with no fixed rules, fine script, that flows from the ink and art,
03:55that came from the mind to the hands, in order to produce aesthetic harmony.
04:11And my brush danced on white walls, with a strong, creative impulse.
04:17Thousands of elegant characters could be written, to the sound of the exhilarating shouts and
04:24laughs, strokes that ran like galloping horses, exceeding the imaginations of
04:54all who see them.
04:58I felt the calligraphy with my heart and soul.
05:06When I was drunk, I wrote lines at will.
05:24When sober, I could not reach the same realm.
05:51I come from far away, lonely like a cloud drifting in the universe.
06:01Unleashing my madness, I touch the true world when I am drunk.
06:21Thanks to all artists for their performance.
06:26Their free and wild dance vividly illustrates the spirit of the great work of wild cursive
06:31script autobiography.
06:32It's a rare scroll measuring about 297 inches in width and about 11 inches in height.
06:39It is made up of 698 characters in total.
06:45So Professor Chu, what exactly is autobiography trying to express?
06:50During the Tang Dynasty, when scholars traveled, they went to the capital to further their
06:55studies or take exams.
06:57They were expected to present their own poems or articles to nobles.
07:03They needed an introduction to stand out from the rest.
07:08Let's imagine the Buddhist monk, Huai Su, traveling all the way from the south to Chang'an,
07:15the capital of the Tang Dynasty.
07:19He wanted to learn new things and gain a chance to be recognized.
07:24He couldn't appear boastful, so he quoted what others had said about him.
07:29Yes, indeed.
07:30A smart move.
07:32He wrote an autobiography.
07:34We can tell that some people wrote poems for him.
07:38Obviously, it was useful as there were quite a few favorable comments that were on his works.
07:46Even without autobiography, one can see his influence from the reviews by other cultural
07:51luminaries, like the poet Li Bai, who held Huai Su in such high esteem that he described
07:57him as, without rival in cursive script.
08:00One interesting thing was that Huai Su and Li Bai share similar personalities.
08:05They drink, are free-spirited in their conduct.
08:08Exactly.
08:09At the time, Li Bai was at his peak.
08:11He was famous everywhere.
08:14It was very unusual for such a big name.
08:16To speak so highly of a 20-year-old nobody like the unknown young monk Huai Su, it was
08:21even more surprising that Huai Su accepted these high compliments with grace and dignity.
08:27That was remarkable.
08:28Autobiography?
08:29I think it's a collection of many compliments.
08:32The first line reads, I am a monk.
08:35I love calligraphy.
08:36Lastly, he said, I do not deserve the praise you have given me.
08:41But in between, it is full of all kinds of praise and compliments from others.
08:44So then, is he boasting?
08:46No.
08:47People admired him.
08:48They liked him and his work that much.
08:50Like the great Tang Dynasty poet Rui Nuo.
08:53He wrote in one poem that people say that you come from the region south of the Yangtze
08:58River, but I say you come from heaven.
09:02He saw Huai Su as godlike.
09:04Just like other poets talked about Li Bai.
09:06Yes, you're quite right.
09:07Exactly the same.
09:08Upon his arrival in the capital, people rolled out the red carpet for him.
09:12He was generously received wherever he went in the city.
09:15He was welcomed by people setting up new indoor screens and new walls.
09:19They prepared blank surfaces for Huai Su.
09:22They'd all hoped that he might leave some valuable work during his visit.
09:26They'd all hoped that he would feel inspired after a few glasses of wine.
09:32That's interesting.
09:33Thanks, Professor.
09:35The monumental autobiography falls into the wild cursive category, right, Professor Qiu?
09:40Yes.
09:41Autobiography, as we see it right here, is one of the rare and original wild cursive
09:46works from the Tang Dynasty.
09:48As we are all aware, people are often intimidated by a cursive script.
09:54It is seen as hard to read and write, but it's seen like writing that comes from heaven.
10:03That's why there's usually an annotation attached.
10:06To all cursive pieces, it explains their content always.
10:11Because if you can't read the characters, you can't really appreciate the piece.
10:17After reading it many times, getting to know it by heart, and even reciting all of its
10:22contents, only when we become one with its structure, its brush strokes, and its style
10:30can we feel assured in our appreciation.
10:35Before the emergence of wild cursive script, functionality was the main priority when it
10:41came to calligraphy in China.
10:44But wild cursive script was able to release the expressive potential of this art form
10:50in a way that was inspiring.
10:53It didn't matter whether or not you could read every word or even convey what you wanted
10:58to in the writing.
10:59You could leave all of that behind.
11:02What followed was its major characteristic, and that was imagination.
11:12Do you think wild cursive script was a product of the era, Professor Meng?
11:17Yes, it reflected the spirit of the era.
11:19Where did the spirit come from?
11:22Chang'an was a global metropolis.
11:24You could meet people from all over the world there, find the best merchandise, and embrace
11:29the most advanced thoughts.
11:31So anyone could feel like they were on top of the world and that they could amount to
11:36something great.
11:39The monk Huaisu thought so too.
11:41I think it was the confident, ostentatious, and romantic spirit of the era that enabled
11:47those great talents and calligraphy style to flourish.
11:51Could we say that wild cursive script excels at reflecting a calligrapher's most original
11:56temperament?
11:57In his autobiography, Huaisu wrote,
11:59Thousands of elegant characters could be written to the sound of exhilarating shouts and laughter.
12:04You can sense how swiftly his brush moved.
12:07With cursive script, it's very difficult to keep the quality of the brush strokes high
12:11when writing at such great speed.
12:14From ancient to modern times, calligraphers have been driven by unrestrained impulse to
12:20express themselves through writing, but have been constrained by the technical difficulties
12:27they encounter along the way.
12:31This is the enduring charm of cursive script, and why people love it.
12:38They genuinely love it from the depths of their hearts and in their souls.
12:43We all believe that cursive script allows us to express our innermost feelings that
12:48have not been revealed.
12:50The feelings we are not ready to reveal yet.
12:54This freedom of expression is the appeal of cursive script.
12:58Importantly, it gives Chinese calligraphy even greater possibilities and unlimited room
13:04for development.
13:05There is so much more to learn about it.
13:08Let's move on to the next round, Master's Thumbs Up.
13:17Answer the following questions to earn Master's Thumbs Up stamps.
13:20Listen up.
13:22Please identify the cursive script characters and match them with the modern forms.
13:29You may begin.
13:37Time's up.
13:38Let's see the answers.
13:41The Chinese characters are Zhen, Ling, He, Hui.
13:48How many of you got them right?
13:50Let's take a look.
13:55Wow, only 10 people got the right answer.
14:03Congratulations.
14:04Here is a stamp of Miao for those 10 contestants.
14:09Only 10 of our contestants here got it right.
14:12That's really surprising, but understandable.
14:16The cursive script has its own unique writing structure.
14:21The character Zhen has one dot at the bottom.
14:24If you add one more dot, it becomes another character, Ling.
14:28And the character He looks quite like the modern character form of Ling.
14:34But it's not right.
14:35It's the character He.
14:37Obviously, this can be very confusing.
14:39The character Hui is easier to recognize.
14:42Why does this happen?
14:45You should know the basic formulation of cursive scripts to be able to recognize the characters.
14:50Okay, thank you, Professor Chu.
14:52Next, let's invite another lucky contestant to join us for the next question.
14:57Dear host, respected experts, fellow contestants, I'm Yang Gongliang from Shandong province.
15:03Welcome.
15:04I have a question available for you.
15:06Are you ready?
15:07Yes.
15:08The question's on screen.
15:09There are three stamps left by different collectors of autobiography.
15:14Please identify the characters on them.
15:16The first is Longevity.
15:20The second is Weng Zhengming's stamp.
15:23The third is the Descendant of Siu Chin stamp.
15:29Are you certain?
15:30Yes, I am.
15:32Congratulations, you answered all the questions correctly.
15:36What's the story and significance of these three collectors' stamps on autobiography,
15:41Professor Ye?
15:42The first stamp was by the Qing Emperor Qianlong.
15:45If you pay special attention to the pattern, you can see the same stamp on many famous
15:51works of calligraphy that once belonged in the imperial collection.
15:57This is one of the emperor's favorite stamps.
16:00Emperor Qianlong highly valued this precious stamp.
16:03The third stamp is very important.
16:07It belonged to a descendant of Siu Chin, a great politician and philosopher over 2,000
16:12years ago.
16:13Siu Chin was in charge of the six seals of the prime ministers of six states.
16:18The owner used the stamp to mark his identity as Siu Chin's descendant.
16:23The story goes that when he found this piece and included it in his collection at home,
16:30the first six lines were missing, so he added them back.
16:35The middle stamp belonged to the calligrapher Wen Zhengming.
16:41Now we can see there is a postscript by him on the masterpiece autobiography.
16:46It is reputedly a rubbing copy added later from another source using some special framing
16:51process.
16:52Next, we'll invite our contestants to copy Huai Siu's autobiography as a tribute to the
16:57masterpiece.
17:05There is a certain technique for copying cursive script.
17:22If it's too similar, it loses freedom.
17:24If your brush follows your own will, then you stray far from the original.
17:28How do we find a balance between these two aspects?
17:31How should we approach it?
17:34Cursive script is infamously difficult to copy.
17:36When we teach our students cursive script, some students copy from the original scrupulously,
17:44stroke by stroke, and they learn it mechanically.
17:48But that misses out on the overall feel of the composition and the relationship between
17:54the characters.
17:55The result is then similarity, only in appearance.
17:59Cursive script, especially wild cursive script, is freestyle for calligraphy enthusiasts.
18:06There is no set formula or a number of rules to follow in order to get it right.
18:11That's why cursive script is so challenging for beginners.
18:15We can imagine that when Huai Siu wrote in cursive script, his brush went where his inspiration
18:20took him, in a natural flow.
18:22But if you also set your brush free, then it will never be his style.
18:26And if you follow his work strictly and do not grasp its inherent rhythm, then it won't
18:31have a natural flow.
18:33It's a simple paradox, and it could become a mechanical copy.
18:37This places high demands on learners of cursive script.
18:40Professor Yeh, if someone says that they like cursive script so much that they want to begin
18:45with this calligraphy style, do you think it's possible?
18:48Yes, I think it is.
18:50To some extent, there are five basic script styles, and they all have their own fundamentals
18:56in Chinese calligraphy.
18:58If you master a basic understanding of one script style among the five basic script styles,
19:04then you can directly start with and completely grasp this particular style of Chinese calligraphy.
19:11So it is.
19:12Let's take a look at our contestants' copies that they just finished.
19:17Wow, 30 copies of Huaisu's cursive script work, Autobiography.
19:23You've been watching The Tao of Chinese Calligraphy, a show dedicated to showcasing masterpieces
19:48from the history of Chinese calligraphy.
19:51Join us again next time.