Writing Techniques 运笔法

There are three basic elements of brush techniques: brush holding technique, writing postures and writing techniques. The beginner will not be able to master all the techniques in a short time, but they must pay due attention to the principles of applying these techniques. It will be a shame for someone who has practised Chinese calligraphy for some time without knowing brush techniques.

We have discussed about the brush holding techniques and writing postures. We shall now look at the writing techniques.

In writing Chinese calligraphy, each stroke involves three phases of executing the brush: To begin the stroke (qibi), to move the brush (xingbi) and to end the stroke (shoubi). If strokes of a Chinese character are regarded as the basis of word construction, then qibi, xingbi and shoubi are essential techniques that determine the form of each of them.

Writing techniques are the most difficult part of brush techniques and beginners tend to neglect them. Therefore it is necessary to always remind yourself to pay special attention on this as you begin to write characters so as to cultivate good habits in writing strokes as you go along.

The basic approach to qibi is: You start with moving the brush to the opposite of the intended direction of writing the stroke for a short distance and then turn the brush-tip towards to the intended direction and proceed to the second phase of moving the brush. For example, when writing a horizontal stroke, which must be written from left to right, you have to move the brush to the left shortly and then turn the brush-tip back and move rightward. Similar steps should also be applied to start writing a perpendicular stroke. The Chinese saying is that move the brush leftward first if you intend to move it horizontally rightward, and move upward first if you intend to write vertically downward. The process is repeated each time you start writing a stroke.

The basic approach to shoubi is: Before ending a stroke, turn the brush-tip to the opposite direction and move shortly to complete writing the stroke. This process is repeated each time you end a stroke. However, there are cases where there is no need to execute shoubi and you need to find out and memorise these exceptions.

In writing a calligraphy stroke, one actually needs mainly to remember to apply the following three major principles of ‘centered tip’ (Zhong Feng):

1. Always hold the brush in an upright position, that is, it must be perpendicular to the writing surface.

2. Always keep the tip of the brush in the middle of the stroke.

3. Always ensure that the brush tip points at the opposite direction of the brush’s movement.

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笔法有三个要素：执笔法、书写姿势与运笔法。初学者不可能在短时间内完全掌握这三个要素，可是还是应该注意这些技巧的法则。如果一个人学了一段时间的书法还不能了解笔法，那是令人感到羞惭的。
我们已经讨论过执笔法与书写姿势。我们现在看一看运笔法。

中国书法的书写，每一笔画都有三个步骤：起笔、行笔与收笔。如果笔画是构成中国文字的结构的基础，那么起笔、行笔与收笔就是决定每个笔画形式的重要技巧。

运笔是笔法中最难掌握的部分，初学者往往会忽略它。所以，开始书写时我们应该时常提醒我们要注意运笔；这样在锻炼过程才能培养起良好的书写习惯。

起笔的基本方法是：开始时向所要行笔方向的相反方向行笔一小距离，转锋回到所要行笔的方向继续行笔。比如，横画应该由左向右行笔，就应该先向左行笔一小距离，然后把笔锋转回向右行笔。相同方法应用于书写竖划。所谓：欲左先右，欲下先上。

收笔的基本方法是：在笔画结束前，把笔锋转向相反的方向，向前行笔一小距离并完成笔画。每次收笔都要重复这个步骤。但是也有不需收笔的例外的情况，我们必须找出并记住这些例外。

在书写书法笔画时，我们其实主要要记住中锋用笔的三个原则:

1．执笔要正直，就是要与书写平面垂直。

2．常令笔锋在笔画中间运行。

3. 要令笔锋指向行笔相反的方向。