Zhong Yao 钟繇

Zhong Yao and Zhang Zhi were two greatest calligraphers of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Zhang Zhi is traditionally honoured as the Sage of Cursive Script and Zhong Yao is said to have achieved high standard in Kaishu (standard script). In fact, he was also attributed to the development of Kaishu.
For his achievements in kaishu, he is peered with Wang Xizhi, the calligraphy sage, referred to as ‘Zhong Wang.’
Zhong Yao (151－230), also named Zhong Yuanchang, was a native of Changge County of Henan Province during the Three Kingdoms Period. He was a successful politician, who served in the official courts of Cao Cao, Cao Pi and Cao Rui of Wei kingdom. He had been treated well by Cao Cao. Following Cao Pi's death and Cao Rui taking the throne, Zhong Yao was appointed as a Grand Tutor of Wei in 226, and as such he was also known as Grand Tutor Zhong.
As a small boy, Zhong studied under such famous calligraphers as Cao Xi, Cai Yong and Liu Desheng, the cream of the crop. He developed adept skills at all kinds of scripts, and was especially good at kaishu. His calligraphy, simple but well-organized in structure and natural in handwriting, represented a transition from lishu (official script) to kaishu.
It is said that the famous saying on calligraphy was from him: ‘While the brush traces the line boundaries, it is man who creates the beauty of the rhythmic flows.’
Once when lecturing on calligraphy to his son - Zhong Hui - he said, ‘I have been studying calligraphy for more than 30 years. Whenever I meet a friend, we will discuss calligraphy by writing on the ground. My bedclothes were lacerated due my practice on them with my hand. I also imitated the living things in nature from the calligraphic point of view.’
His calligraphic works were given great importance in the dynasties to follow, but authentic works of his no longer exist, leaving only duplicates made during the Song Dynasty. His masterpieces were Xuanshi Biao and Jianjizhi Biao.
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钟繇与张芝是东汉两个最伟大的书法家。
传统上，张芝被称为草圣，而钟繇则被认为在楷书的成就很大。事实上，他被认为对楷书发展有重要贡献。
他在楷书的成就，与书圣王羲之并列，称‘钟王’。
钟繇(151－230)，字元常，三国时河南长葛人。他在政治上相当成功，在曹操，曹丕与曹睿的朝廷中服务。曹操待他不错。曹丕死后，曹睿接位，封他为魏朝太傅，故世称钟太傅。
钟繇从小向当时书法名家如曹喜，蔡邕与刘德升学习书法。他精通各体书法，尤其精于楷书。他的书法，简练而结构协和，笔画自然，代表由隶入楷的过渡。
据说书论名言‘笔迹者，界也，流美者，人也。’是他说的。
有一次，他把儿子钟会叫来讲述书法时说：‘我学习书法三十余年。每遇到朋友，就在周围地上练习谈书法。把床被当作纸张，长时间长以手书写而划了个大窟窿。见到花草树木，虫鱼鸟兽等自然景物，就会与笔法联系起来。’
他的书法被后代所重视，可是没有传世作品，只有宋代的摹本。他的名作有‘宣示表’与‘薦季直表’。

Lien Chan Writes Calligraphy 连战写书法

Lien Chan (Lian Zhan), the then Chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party in Taiwan visited the mainland China from 26 April to 3 may 2005 for the first time since 1949. The visit was described as ‘The Journey of Peace’.
The first stop of Lian’s ‘Journey of Peace’ was the Mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Nanjing. Dr Sun fought against the Qing government and founded the Republic of China after the 1911 revolution which ended the monarchy. The tomb was constructed in January of 1926 and completed in spring of 1929.
Perhaps Lian was in a good mood, he wrote on the spot a piece of four-word Chinese calligraphy which says ‘Zhong Shan Mei Ling’ in Chinese. It means ‘Beautiful Mausoleum of Zhong Shan’ – Zhong Shan is an alternative name of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. The calligraphy was displayed for everyone to see at the request of the media.
Chinese calligraphy is a unique Chinese art that is very popular among the Chinese. It is also well liked by many people of high position in the society. But to write it on the spot, a person must have practiced the art for a long time, and be confident in his writing skills.
As a politician, especially a Chinese politician, everything he does is interpreted politically. It is therefore not surprising that his on-the-spot calligraphy writing has brought about enthusiastic discussions among the Chinese in the mainland.
Many pointed out that as the word ‘mei’ (beauty) was written short of one horizontal stroke, which refers to the fact that Taiwan has not re-unified with mainland China yet, and it is really a blemish in an otherwise perfect thing.
It was aslo said that the fact that the word ‘Ling’ (tomb) is short of one diagonal stroke has a deeper meaning. The lower right component of the word is supposed to be written as a reversed ‘wen’, but Mr Lian, by omitting the diagonal stroke, did not write it as such. As ‘wen’ is another alternative name of Dr Sun, it shows that Mr Lian is not anti-Dr Sun. He actually supports Dr Sun, and still cherishes deep memory of him.
The first word of his name was written in its original form, which is normal for a person lives in Taiwan. However, the second word of his name zhan (fighting) was written in simplified form, which is the official form used by mainland Chinese. The left component of the word was written as zhan (占occupy) instead of dan(单on its own, alone). This was interpreted as he has dropped the idea of fighting on his own. In other words, he tries to imply that the Taiwanese and mainland Chinese are as close as flesh and blood, and this fact will never change. Put it simply, Taiwanese will not want to fight alone (without mainland?) any more.
There were others who praised the calligraphic skills of Lian Chan. The word ‘Zhong’ (centre) is well written, proper and upright. The word shan (mountain) is also well written, and the best is the word mei (beauty). The whole piece is well composed; so well that it has surpassed all others of its kind before and since.
I shall quote no more, it is best to let our readers judge for themselves.
Note: Readers with little or no knowledge of Chinese writing system may find it rather difficult to understand the last few paragraphs above. What the mainland Chinese are trying to say is that Mr Lian Chan wishes that Taiwan will re-unify with China, and this shows up unconsciously even in his calligraphic work.
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2005 年4月26日至5月3日，在台湾的中国國民黨主席連战第一次到中国大陆访问，展开了所谓的和平之旅。
连战的和平之旅在南京中山陵展開第一站。孙中山先生与清政府对抗，在1911年革命成功后成立中华民国，结束君主政治。孙中山先生的墓地于1926年1月开始建，并于1929年春完工。
或許是因為心情不錯，连战竟然現場揮毫，提筆寫下「中山美陵」四個字，並且應媒體之邀展示給大家看。
书法是中国特有的文化艺术，受到不少民众的喜爱。爱好书法的高官贵人也是不少。能够自愿当众挥毫的，自是练习书法多年，功力不小与信心十足。
可是，作为政治人物，尤其是在中国，每个动作都可当作政治来解读。连战的中山陵挥毫，引起大陸人热烈讨论就不令人感到惊奇了。
不少人指出‘美’少一横，意为美中不足，祖国没有统一。至于“陵”少一撇，涵义更为深刻。陵字右下的偏旁部首是反文旁，连战先生不写“反文”旁，表明他不反孙文，拥护孙中山，实际是对孙文国父的缅怀之意。连战的繁体字签名是：“连战”，此次签作“连战”，很有讲究。 “连”字未变，“战”字的左边“单”改为“占”，写作简体字“战”，取“不再单独作战”之意。合起来意思就是：血肉相连，从来未曾改变。化繁为简，不再单独作战。
有人还大大称赞连战好书法。“中”字写得好，端端正正。“山”字写得好！“美”字最好！整幅字，不论单个的写法和布局，均是前无古人，后无来者。
不好再引述了，让读者自己来评价吧。

Lanting Xu: The Best Walking Script in the World 兰亭序：天下第一行书

Lanting Xu, reputed as ‘the best walking script in the world (China)’, was a famous work by Wang Xizhi (303-361), the celebrated calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420).
Lanting is the most beautiful and picturesque place at Shanyin and the famous Lanting Xu was a narrative prose composed when he and his literary friends gathered together at Lanting in the year 353. The gentlemen had engaged in a drinking contest: wine cups were floated down a small winding creek as the men sat along its banks; whenever a cup stopped, the man closest to the cup was required to empty it and write a poem. In the end, twenty-six of the participants composed thirty-seven poems.
The word ‘lan’ means orchids, and "ting" means pavilion; so Lanting means the ‘Orchard Pavilion.’ Lanting Xu in Chinese refers to ‘Preface to the Lanting Collection of Poems’. The preface consists of 324 Chinese characters in 28 lines.
The emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty loved Wang's calligraphy so much that he collected as many of Wang's original scrolls as he could and ordered them buried with him. The authentic works of Wang Xizhi, including Lanting Xu, are no longer in existence now. They are only preserved on stone engravings or as replica copies by other calligraphy masters.
The best reproduction of Lanting Xu seen so far is by Feng Chengsu. It is stamped with a seal of Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty on it. As the words - divine-dragon were engraved on the seal, this reproduction is therefore known as the Divine Dragon Lanting. It is now kept in the Palace Museum in Taibei (Taipei).
Its powerful and vigorous strokes and its natural and elegant structure have remained a perfect example to be modelled after by later generations for almost two thousand years till today. In this calligraphy work, Wang Xizhi completely cast away the heavy and reserved style and created a new calligraphy style of elegance, vigour, and smoothness.
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被称为天下第一行书的‘兰亭序’是东晋（317-420）大书法家王羲之的名作。
兰亭是山阴最美丽、风景如画的地方，而著名的兰亭序就是王羲之与友人在公元353年在那里雅集时写的叙述散文。这次文人在饮酒竞戏：酒杯沿着弯曲的小溪流下，文人坐在两边溪岸。酒杯停下时，最靠近酒杯者要一饮而尽，并作一首诗。最后，26位参与者共写了37首诗。
兰亭序就是为这次诗集而写的序文。兰亭序共有324个字，28行。
唐太宗最爱好王羲之的字，大量收集他的作品，并下令把它们作为他的陪葬品。王羲之的真品，包括兰亭序，已没有传世。它们只有以石刻或其他书法家摹写本而流传。
目前所见的最佳摹本为馮承素所写的。这个版本有唐中宗的盖印。该印刻有‘神龙’二字，所以又叫‘神龙本兰亭’。它现在存于台北故宫博物院。
这帖有力和强健笔画与自然和优雅结构，接近两千年以来至今，一直是被摹写的范本。在这个法帖中，王羲之完全放弃了沉重与保留的风格，而创造了优雅、强健与流畅的风格。

International Centre for Chinese Calligraphy 国际书法发展联络会

On 11 Dec 1988, at a seminar held in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of the Chinese Calligraphy Society of Singapore (CCSS), it was unanimously voted that Singapore would be the home of the newly formed International Centre for Chinese Calligraphy (ICCC). The ICCC Secretariat would be administered by CCSS. The decision was made by representatives from 7 countries/regions that participated in the seminar. The seven countries or regions are China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.
The Centre formalized the hitherto ad hoc exchanges among the seven participating regions. The first thing it did was to plan holding an exhibition of calligraphic works by calligraphers in the region. The exhibition took place in Singapore as planned from 18 to 31 Dec 1990. It was declared open by the then Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Ong Teng Cheong, who wrote on the spot a seven-word couple using the walking-style after the opening ceremony.
Since the inaugural exhibition, the participating countries/regions took turn to organize 5 more exhibitions from 1993 to 2003. When Singapore played host again in Mar 2006 to organize the 7th International Calligraphy Exchange Exhibition, it had been expanded to feature calligraphic works from 21 countries. This time the guest of honors at the opening ceremony was His Excellency the President of the Republic of Singapore, Mr. S R Nathan, who also demonstrated his calligraphic skill after the opening ceremony.
It was decided during this exhibition at the ICCC meeting on 11 Mar 2006 that the ICCC Secretariat would be moved from Singapore to China, the motherland of Chinese calligraphy.
This decision marked the successful completion of the first round of international calligraphy exchanges in the region. It is not exaggerate to say that Singapore has contributed significantly and decisively in developing and promoting the arts among the international arts community.
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1988年12月11日，在一个为了庆祝新加坡书法家协会成立二十周年的研讨会上，一致推举新加坡为国际书法交流大展国际书法发展联络会的所在地。联络会秘书处的行政由新加坡书协来执行。这个议决是由参加研讨会的七个国家与地区的代表所决定的。这七个国家与地区是中国、香港、日本、马来西亚、南韩、新加坡与台湾。
这个联络会把在这七个地区之间向来是即兴式的交流正式化。联络会的第一项工作就是为本区域的书法家的作品筹办展览会。这个展览会如期在1990年12月18至31日于新加坡举办。这次的大展由当时新加坡副总理王鼎昌先生主持开幕。开幕仪式后，他还当众以行书挥毫一幅七言对联。
首届大展以后，从1993到2003年间由其他参与国/地区继续举办了另5次大展。当2006年3月新加坡再次举办第七届国际书法交流新加坡大展时，参展地区已经增加到21个了。这次开幕仪式的贵宾是新加坡共和国总统纳丹先生。他也在开幕仪式后当众挥毫，显示他的书法技艺。
大展期间，在2006年3月11日召开的国际书法会议上，一致决定把国际书法发展联络会的秘书处由新加坡转移到书法祖国的中国。

这个决定标志着国际书法交流完美结束了它的第一圈使命。可以说，新加坡在促进在国际间书法的发展与交流，做出了重要与决定性的贡献，并非夸言。