Practice Shiqi Tie 运开：临摹《十七帖》

Having been practising Wang Xizhi’s ‘Shiqi Tie’ for about four months, I now have a better understanding on the meaning on ‘sheng-shu-sheng’ stages of learning Chinese calligraphy.

The Chinese word ‘sheng’ has many meanings. In the first stage of learning Chinese calligraphy, it refers to the stage of unfamiliarity. While there are a number of things one should pay attention to at this stage, I think two things are most important on getting one familiar with writing the words: the number of strokes that form the words and the sequence of writing the strokes. After one has a better idea of these two aspects of writing, one can proceed to work other things: how and when to start a stroke, when to use finger or wrist to turn the brush, when to use various techniques of brush-turning, the correct space between the strokes, the position of the start and end of strokes, etc.

The second stage refers to the skilled or proficient (shu) stage, this is when you can start to work on the relationship between the words and the composition of the calligraphy. At this stage, one should almost be able to memorise the shape and methods of writing the strokes of the words so that one can focus on the placing the words at the right positions. The aim of this stage is to be able to write the whole piece in a way that the words and composition are flow smoothly.

The first two stages are what we called the methods (fa) of Chinese art. The last stage of ‘sheng’ reflects the very important concepts of ‘vivid’ and ‘lively’ in Chinese aesthetics. How to be vivid and lively? The only way to achieve that is that art work must be natural. The unity of methods and naturalness reflects the traditional aesthetic ideal of a great work of art as a living and organic pattern. Most of us may not be able to achieve such high level of art in our life time.

Shown here is a piece of my practice work.

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临摹了《十七帖》大约四个月，对学习书法的《生熟生》概念有了深一层的认识。

中文‘生’有不少意义。在学习书法的第一阶段指‘生疏’的意思。在这阶段，有不少的东西要我们去注意，但我想其中两个最重要：注意每个字有几个笔划与书写笔顺。对这两方面有了较好的认识之后，就可以开始注意书写的其它的事项了：如何及何时起笔、何时用指何时用腕运笔、何时用何种转笔法、笔划间的布白及起笔及收笔的位置，等等。

第二阶段是熟练阶段，这时开始注意书写字与字间的关系与章法。在这个阶段，我们应该几乎可以熟记字形及笔划的书写，这样就可以集中把字写在正确的位子。这个阶段的目的是要使结字与章法流而畅。

前两个阶段是中国艺术中所谓的‘法’。最后一个阶段反映的是中国美学里‘生动活力’的概念。达到生动活力的唯一法门就是要自然。方法与自然的统一反映传统美学中认为伟大艺术作品应有活力，同时是有机形式。对我们中很多人来说，一生中可能都没有法子达到这个阶段。

这里展示的是一幅临摹之作。

Vertical and Pie (Slanting Toward Lower Left) Strokes: Common Mistakes 竖撇划的通病

Here are two common mistakes on writing the vertical stroke:

1. Generally speaking, the vertical stroke should be written as a vertical straight line. However, there are cases where the vertical stroke should be bended slightly to become an arc. One has to observe carefully before starting to write.

2. When there is more than one vertical stroke in a word, the vertical line should be parallel to each other.

The common mistakes on writing the stroke slanting toward lower left (pie) include:

1. When more than one such stroke in a word, such strokes should be parallel to each other.

2. There are situations where the stroke should not be too slanted, especially when there is a vertical stroke next to it.

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这里举出两则书写竖划的通病：

1． 一般来说，竖笔要直。但也有在个别字里的竖笔要写成弧笔。临写时要细心观察。

2． 一个字里，如有超过一条竖划，它们应该平行。

书写撇划的通病的一些例子：

1． 一个字里，如有超过一条撇划，它们应该平行。

2． 在某种情况之下，撇划不宜过斜，尤其是在它的旁边有竖笔时。

Horizontal Stroke: 4 Common Mistakes 横划：通病四则

Here are four common mistakes on horizontal stroke made by new learners of Chinese calligraphy:

1. New learners usually do not apply enough pressure on starting and ending the stroke. The techniques of pressing the brush should be applied when one starts to write and ends the stroke so that middle part of the stroke is generally thinner than its start and end.

2. New learners usually fail to hide the tip of the brush, especially at the start. For writing kaishu (the regular style), the Liu style in this case, generally, one must always apply the ‘tip hiding’ technique so that there is no showing of sharp and jagged tooth.

3. New learners must always remember that when there is more than one horizontal stroke in a word, the strokes must always be written in such a way that they are almost parallel to each other.

4. Similarly, when there are more than two horizontal strokes in a word, the distances between two horizontal lines next to each other should always roughly be the same.
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这里列出书法初学者常见的书写横划的四个毛病：

1． 初学者一般在起笔与收笔时按笔不够。在起笔与收笔时，一定要应用‘按笔’的笔法，这样才能显出横划中间的线条比较细。

2． 初学者经常不注意藏锋起笔。书写楷书，以这里所举的柳体为例，一般要应用到‘藏锋’的笔法，才不会在起笔中出现尖齿。

3． 初学者应记住，在一个字中，如果有多过一条横划，这些横划书写时应该平行。

4． 相同的，一个字如果有超过两条横划，它们之间的距离应该大约相等。

Li Shimin 李世民

In Chinese history, two emperors had special love of calligraphy and thus contributed significantly to the development of Chinese calligraphy: one was XiaoYan, Emperor Wu of Liang of the Southern Dynasties (420-589), and the other was Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Both happened to be the devotees of Wang Xizhi, which may explain why Wang’s style of calligraphy dominates the Chinese calligraphy history.

Li Shimin is said to be among the most admired emperors in the Chinese history who was a skilled politician, a master strategist and even an excellent calligrapher. It is said that he ruled the country in an open minded and humane manner. He was ambitious, intelligent, adroit and diligent. He ruled China from 629 to 649.

All forms of Chinese calligraphy blossomed in the Tang Dynasty and many famous calligraphers came to the fore during this period. While the emperors of Tang followed the lead of Li Shimin and actively promoted calligraphy, there are other reasons that led to the development of calligraphy in Tang dynasty. The open political policy, the prosperous economy and the development of literature and other art forms during the period all stimulated the development of calligraphy. In addition, calligraphy was set as a subject for imperial examinations during the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin held Wang Xizhi's calligraphy in great esteem. In order that more people could appreciate Wang’s famous ‘Preface to the Orchid Pavilion’ (Lanting Xu), he ordered his officials to make some elaborate copies of the original so that he could give them away to his imperial family members and favoured officials.

As the developing of calligraphy, the theories of calligraphy boomed at this time too. Li Shimin himself had a good grasp and understanding of the nature of calligraphy. This is what he had to say about calligraphy, ‘The spirit is the soul of calligraphy, for without an enlightened spirit, the beautiful appearance of words cannot be expressed; and mind is the muscle of calligraphy, for without a strong mind, the energetic strength of words cannot be shown.’ He even personally wrote the biography of Wang, in which he declared Wang the greatest calligrapher of all time, ‘I examined all calligraphy works with tiny details of ink from ancient times until now. I only find Wang as the most perfect calligrapher.’ He therefore fixed the style of Wang as the imperial signature with such finality that it was maintained as such through the Tang dynasty and beyond.

His own calligraphy was very much influenced by Wang and is commented as having achieved the standard of professional calligraphers.

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在中国历史里，有两个皇帝对书法有特别的喜好，所以对书法发展也做出了很大贡献：一个是南朝（420-589）梁武帝萧衍，另一个是唐（618-907）太宗李世民。刚好两人多尊崇王羲之，这就是为什么在中国书法历史，唯王羲之及其书体能独尊。

李世民可说是中国历史上最受崇敬的帝王之一。他是个熟练的政治家、战略家、甚至是个很好的书法家。据说他为人开明、有人性。他也很有雄心、机智、敏捷与勤奋。他从629年至649统治中国。

在唐代，各书体皆兴盛，并出了不少著名书法家。唐帝王以太宗为范，积极推广书法，但书法之兴盛，还有其他原因。开明的政治，繁荣的经济，文学及其他艺术形式的发展，都刺激了书法的发展。再加上，唐朝规定书法是科举考试的考科之一。

李世民给予王羲之的书法很高的崇敬。为了使更多人有机会欣赏王羲之的《兰亭序》，他下令他的官员根据原迹写了一些摹本，分送给王族成员与宠臣。

作为书法发展的一部分，书法理论在当时也很兴盛。李世民本身对书法本质就就有很好的认识。他说过，‘夫字以神为精魄，神若不知，则字无态度也；以心为筋骨，心若不坚，则字无劲健也。’他还亲自写了《王羲之传》，宣称王羲之为古今最伟大的书法家：‘所以察详古今，研精篆素，尽善尽美，其惟王逸少乎！’他裁定王体为正统，以致王体得以由唐代起持续不衰。

他的书法受王羲之的影响很大，有评论认为他的书法已经达到专业水平。

Calligraphy at Tuan Mong 端蒙书法

If one has to name a school that has contributed tremendously to the development of Chinese calligraphy in Singapore, many would naturally think of Tuan Mong High School.

Tuan Mong School at Tank Road, which is on the fringe of the Central Business District, was set up in 1906 as a primary school by public-spirited Teochew clan leaders. As with schools built by the various clan associations in Singapore, Tuan Mong served the education needs of Teochew children, and was staffed by Teochew teachers using the dialect as the medium of instruction in its early days. In 1953, the Ngee Ann Kongsi took over the management of the school. Two years later, it became known as Tuan Mong High School when secondary levels were included.

The school, which took in about 1,900 students in 1960, occupied the three upper floors of the four-storey Teochew Building. The lower floor housed the offices of the Ngee Ann Kongsi and the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan.

However, the school closed on December 31, 1994 due to falling enrolment as more schools were built away from the city area and nearer to housing estates where the bulk of Singapore's population lived.

Calligraphy was tremendously popular at Tuan Mong, especially in its early days. There were many factors contributed to this, and one of them could be because the school was traditionally a Chinese school that emphasised on learning and developing Chinese cultures. Chinese calligraphy is the most sublime form of Chinese arts, and it was naturally included as one of its co-curricular activities. Obviously, it also helped to have teachers and principals who were accomplished calligraphers and who truly loved calligraphy.

In 1950s, one of the teachers who cultivated the tradition of learning calligraphy at Duan Mong was Zhu Yeyin. Another teacher that is worth mentioning was Yang Baobin. Although he taught English in school, he was proficient in both English and Chinese. He was good in chanting poetry and writing couplets, and proficient in calligraphy.

When one recalls the heyday of calligraphy at Duan Mong, one will inevitably remember Tan Keng Cheow (Chen Jingchao), who was an accomplished artist profient in calligraphy. He was its principal for 14 years. When he was the principal, due to his busy schedule, he did not teach Calligraphy, but he would find opportunities to write school notices, banners in calligraphy. One can not underestimate his influence on cultivating the love of calligraphy that continued through time at Duan Mong. By the time he left Duan Mong in 1964, the school had already established a positive environment for learning calligraphy.

During the later period, it was Chang Kwang Wee (Zeng Guangwei) who had contributed greatly to calligraphy education in Duan Mong. He was a hardworking teacher, practising hard on various types of model calligraphic works, and he did his utmost to promote calligraphy in the school. Chang, born in 1936, is still active in promoting Chinese calligraphy now in Singapore.

The whole-hearted love of calligraphy at Duan Mong is indeed something rare in the local calligraphy scene. Even today, when we meet someone who is good at calligraphy, we will ask naturally, ‘Excuse me, are you from Duan Mong?’

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如果要找出一间对新加坡书法发展有贡献的学校，很多人都自然的会想到端蒙。

端蒙设在登路，在市区边缘，是1906年由一群有公德心的潮州人领袖开办的小学。与新加坡其他各会馆所主办的学校一样，早期是为潮州孩子的教育需求而设立，当时的教师都是潮州人，并以潮州方言为教学媒介。1953年，由义安公司接管学校行政。两年后，随着中学部的设立，变成端蒙中学。

1960年，学校拥有1，900 名学生，在潮州大厦四层楼的建筑物的上面三层楼上课。最下一层则是义安公司的办公室与潮州八邑会馆。

然而，由于越来越多学校在靠近人口多的市区以外开办，报名入校读书的人数减少，学校终于1994年12月31日关闭。

书法在端蒙特别流行，尤其是在早期。其中的因素很多，一个原因是端蒙是间传统的华校，一向注重华文文化的学习与推广，而书法堪称为中国文化的最崇高形式，自然就被列为课外活动之一。显然的，拥有一群热爱书法、有名的书法家老师，更有推波助澜之效。

在1950年代，祝业殷是把书法风气带进端蒙的其中的一位老师。另一个值得提的是杨抱冰老师。他虽然教授英语，却中英兼通，还能吟诗作对，亦为能书者。

回顾端蒙书法鼎盛时期时，便不能不提起在端蒙担任14年校长的陈景昭。陈景昭本人就是个书法写的很好的艺术家。虽然掌校期间，他本身没有教导书法，但经常以书法书写文告、大布条等。日后端蒙的书法风气之所以能够历久不衰，他的影响力不容低估。当他于1964年离开端蒙时，这所学校已经建立起非常良好的书法风气。

后期对端蒙书法教育贡献良多的，应推曾广纬老师。他是一个勤于练习，广临碑帖，弘扬书法不遗余力的导师。1936年出生的曾广纬目前还一样地热心推广书法。

端蒙的书法风气是本地教育史上的一大奇观。就算今天，碰到一个书法写得好的人，我们都不禁要说，‘请问，你是从端蒙来的吗？’