The Chinese Calligraphy Dilemma 书法的困扰

A picture is worth a thousand words and this picture says it all. It seems it is quite clear that the horizontal words are to be read from left to right. But, how about the vertically written couplet?

我们说一张图画胜过千言万语。这张相片就可以证明。横批的读法从左到右，没问题，因为在中国大陆总不会说‘春迎猫熊’吧。（注：大陆采用简体字，也不称猫熊。）可是竖写的春联呢？

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Click here to read more about the New Chinese Calligraphy Style.

Click here to read more on Chinese Calligraphy As a Teaching Tool.

请点击这里阅读有关新书风。

请点击这里阅读有关书法作为教学辅助工具。

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Small Seal Script Calligraphy 小篆书法

Li Si's Small Seal Script 李斯的篆书

The Small Seal script, or the Lesser Seal script, is based on Large Seal scripts and emphasizes regulation and simplification. As such, it can be considered to be the first standardized script.

The biggest characteristic of Small Seal script is its round strokes. As the round brush technique was used to write it, the strokes have the same thickness and seem soft, round, fine and glossy, but actually full of tenacity. Generally speaking, it has level horizontal strokes and plump vertical strokes to ensure an aesthetic distribution of the characters in the writing space. The characters are think and tall.

The normative and regular characteristic of Small Seal script is the product of the unified politics in the Qin dynasty. It lost its foundation for development after the collapse of Qin dynasty. Besides political reason, it had its own disadvantages. Its requirement of regularity and orderliness hindered its writing rapidity; it is not simple enough to meet the needs of the era.

The Prime Minister Li Si is said to be the originator of the Small Seal script. His Small Seal script was written by following strictly the rule of centered-tip technique, his strokes were all plump and shapely, and with the beauty of strength and flexibility. He had integrated into Small Seal script a beauty of ornament. Under his pen, curves with different radian and lines with different length were tactfully assembled into characters with the same decorating beauty as picture. The famous Stone Tablet of Mount Yi is said to be written by him.

Sun Guoting of the Tang dynasty said that the artistic character of Small Seal script was flexible, elegant and mellifluent. And the calligraphic style of Small Seal created by Li Si is very influential and considered as standard by calligraphers of later generations.

Please click here to learn more about other Chinese writing scripts.

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小篆是由各种大篆发展而成，强调规整简约。因此，它可以说是最早的真书（或正书）。

小篆最大的特色是圆转的笔划。用圆转的笔法来书写，线条粗细一致，看起来柔圆细润，实则韧劲十足。一般来说，横画平行，竖笔垂直，确保字的线条空间分布富有美感。字体瘦长。

规整与划一的小篆是秦朝一统天下的政治产品。秦朝灭亡后，它就失去了发展的依据。除了政治的理由，它也有本身的缺点。它对于规范与整齐的要求也妨碍了书写的速度。它无法符合当时时代书写的需求。

宰相李斯是小篆的鼻祖。他本身的小篆严格遵循中锋笔法，笔划圆匀劲健，有刚柔并济之美。他把装饰美带进了小篆。在他的笔下，不同弧度的曲线与不同长度的直线巧妙地组合成装饰性强的文字，宛如美丽的图案。著名的《泰山刻石》据说是他的杰作。

唐代孙过庭说过，小篆的艺术特征是曲折优雅，流畅无阻。李斯所开创的小篆书法风格为后世书法家当作规范，影响深远。

请点击这里阅读其他字体的书法。

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Kong Lingguang 孔令广

With more Chinese calligraphers coming to live in Singapore, their contributions to the development of Chinese calligraphy will become more apparent. The story of Kong Lingguang and his wife as reported by Zaobao on 17 Jan 2011 is a case in point. The couple gave up their good careers in fine arts in China; decided instead to come to Singapore to open a noodle stall known as ‘Gongfu Noodle’ in a coffee shop, selling their home town noodle.

Currently, the following Chinese calligraphers are active in Sinagpore: Gu Jianping, Ma Shuanglu, and Su Demao. The presence of Kong Lingguang will further add to the vibrant scene of Chinese calligraphy. It is really a piece of good news.

Kong Lingguang, 44, is now a Singapore citizen. He is a member of the Chinese Calligraphers’ Association, a distinguished member of Henan Provincial Painting & Calligraphy Academy. He has been interested in Chinese poetry and couplets since he was young and has been practising Chinese calligraphy for about 30 years. When he was in China, he conducted calligraphy classes at home after work at the Xuchang Arts and Heritage Department, Henan Province and received reasonable income. His wife worked at the Xuchang City’s Henan Opera Group as a national 2-class opera artiste.

Kong Lingguang says, ‘We were actually living a quite comfortable life in China. However, we heard from our relatives who have visited Singapore that it is an international garden city with a very good living and working environment. The salary here is high and it is an extremely good environment for bringing up children. That has set us thinking.’

Finally, at the end of 2004, Gong Lingguang arrived in Singapore and started a new journey of struggling to make ends meet. After 4 years, he became a Singapore Permanent Resident, and applied for permanent residence in Singapore for his family. Kong said that the biggest problem he faced here is the language barrier, ‘because I do not understand English, it is really inconvenient. However, Singaporeans are very welcoming, and they have helped us a great deal.’

Due to the need to earn a living, his wife decided to get down off her high horse as a national level opera artiste and open a noodle stall. The origin idea of opening the ‘Gongfu Noodle’ was to introduce the authentic Henan food culture to Singapore; and also to add to Singapore’s multicultural flavors. The stall has been opened for about three years. Many immigrants patronize the stall. About 40% of his customers are locals.

Currently, he is a council member of the Xin Sheng Poets Society, a member of the Global Chinese Poetry Society, a professional calligrapher, He also teaches in a number of primary schools. During the last 10 years, he has been promoting and teaching Chinese calligraphy, focusing in teaching the clerical script.

His eldest daughter Kong Yiqiao is very much influenced by the parents has been practising calligraphy and learning Henan opera since she was young. The youngest daughter Kong Yiquan, born in 2004, started to learn when she was 3 years old. For the past two years, Kong Yiquan has been writing calligraphy in front of the stall counter. Customers of the coffee shop would naturally stop and admire the young calligrapher.

Kong Lingguang disclosed that he will hold solo exhibition on calligraphy and poetry at the Black Earth Art Museum in February this year. He also plans to publish two calligraphy books on writing Diamond Sutra and Daode Jing.

In order to look after the family and their own interests, the husband and wife have to take turn to work on the noodle stall. Usually, his wife Qiao Jie takes the morning shift and in the afternoon, as long as there is free with no calligraphy class, Kong Lingguang will take over to run the stall.

Whenever he can find free times in between, Kong will also write on the spot in front of the stall, which has become an attractive scene in the coffee shop.

Click here to view Kong Lingguang's Website.

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随着越来越多的中国书法家来新加坡定居，他们对新加坡书法发展的贡献会越来越显著。新加坡‘联合早报’于1月17日报道来自河南许昌的孔令广夫妇故事，就说明了这点。这对夫妇，放弃了原本在中国的高雅文化艺术职业，选择来新加坡，在一家咖啡店开了一个名叫“孔府家面”的摊位，卖起了自己的家乡面。

目前，移居新加坡的顾建平、马双禄与苏德茂，在新加坡书坛相当活跃。孔令广的加入，实在可喜可贺。

今年44岁的孔令广，现为新加坡公民，是中国书法家协会会员、河南省书画院特聘书法家。自幼就酷爱诗、词、对联的他，潜心学习书法至今二三十年，并利用在河南许昌的文物部门工作之余，在家里开办了一个书法班，收入还算可以。孔令广的太太乔杰，是河南省许昌市豫剧团国家二级职业豫剧演员。

孔令广说：“其实那时在中国的生活水平还不错，不过后来听有个来过新加坡的亲戚说，新加坡是个国际花园城市，居住环境和工作都很不错，挣得也不少，而且小孩们的教育环境更是非常好，当时就有些动心了。”

于是，2001年底，孔令广来到新加坡，开始了在新加坡的打拼生活。来新四年后，他顺利成为新加坡永久居民，并帮全家申办永久居留权。孔令广表示，来到新加坡最大的困难就是语言不通，“因为我们都不懂英文，因此做什么事情都不方便。好在新加坡人十分热情，我们受到了非常大的帮助。”

考虑到现实生活的种种困难，太太后来决定放下身段，开一个面食摊位。开“孔府家面”的初衷，是真诚地想把河南中原的饮食文化带到新加坡来，让新加坡在国际空间里更具有多元文化的色彩。如今，孔府家面经营快要三年了，顾客当中除了有新移民，也有外国人和本地人，本地人占了近40%。闲暇时，孔先生还经常在面摊前临池挥毫，这也成了咖啡店的一大景观。

目前，孔令广也是新加坡新声诗社理事、全球汉诗总会会员、新加坡职业书法家，也在好几所小学教书法，近十年来在新加坡进行书法传播教育工作，专注于隶书的教学工作。

大女儿孔艺桥受父母亲的影响，她从小就练习书法和学习豫剧，并在众多比赛中获奖无数。出生于2004年的小女儿孔艺全，3岁就开始练习书法。孔艺全近两年经常在“孔府家面”柜台前挥毫临帖，在来来往往的顾客中，没有一个不停下脚步观看小小书法家现场挥毫的。

孔令广透露，他将于今年2月在如切路的“黑土地美术馆”举办个人书法、诗、词作品展览。另外，他还计划出版《小楷书法•金刚经》和《小楷书法•道德经》两部作品集。

为了照顾家庭，还有各自的兴趣爱好，夫妻俩相互轮流照管着摊位的生意。一般上，早上都是由太太乔杰打理，下午只要学校没有书法课，都由孔令广打理；闲暇时，孔先生还经常在面摊前临池挥毫，这也成了咖啡店的一大景观。

点击这里游览孔令广的网页。
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Mao Zedong’s Calligraphy 毛泽东的书法

Mao Zedong is obviously one of the greatest leaders in the Chinese history and today, more that 30 years after his death in 1976, he is still very much loved by Chinese people as a great founder of New China, a great calligrapher and poet, and a protective talisman by many Chinese too. The individual charm of Mao is unmatched among Chinese leaders.

Mao was also a skilled calligrapher with a highly personal style. In China, Mao was considered to be one of the top 10 calligraphers of the 20 century. Today, his calligraphic works can be seen throughout mainland China. His work gave rise to a new form of Chinese calligraphy called ‘Mao-style’ or ’Maoti’, which has gained increasing popularity since his death.

Mao learned to write with brush when he went to a private school at the age of eight. He first studied with stele inscriptions and later practiced hard on copybooks, providing a sound basis for the forming of his own style. Mao always spared time to read stele rubbings or to see stele inscriptions himself, even in wartime.

He observed that the elements of Chinese calligraphy were full of contrasts and balances. Some characters' construction is big, some small; some are dense, some not; strokes are different in length, boldness and curves; the overall settings are balanced with lines and space, black and white. However, calligraphers should concern themselves with the strength of characters' strokes - called ‘bones’ in calligraphy – as well as their spirit. He said, ‘People have faces, bones and spirit, and so do characters.’ Therefore, when practicing calligraphy, ‘Simply copy at first, and then imitate the construction and learn the spirit. If you practice long enough, the bones and spirits will naturally come out.’

His highest achievement was his cursive hand, which was imposing and magnificent, with up and down rhythms – a unique style formed in his middle age. His handwriting was full of energy, but true to regulations, expressing a strong visual beauty. Reading his cursive style handwriting, people immerse themselves in the flow of strokes, slow or fast, dense or not dense. Readers are attracted by the aura his works create, as well as by his presence as the top leader.

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毛泽东很明显的是中国历史上伟大的领袖之一。1976年九月逝世后，过了30年多的今天，他还是以一个新中国的创办人、大书法家、诗人，甚至是人们的保护神而深深地被爱戴。可以说，他的个人魅力在当代领袖中无人能超越。

毛泽东是个高水准的书法家，有强烈个人风格。在中国，他算是二十世纪中十大书法家之一。今天，他的书法在中国大陆无所不在。他书法形成新的‘毛体’，在他死后日益流行。

毛泽东八岁时进入学校就开始用毛笔写字。先学碑帖，后来勤于帖学，为以后自创风格打下良好基础。毛一有时间就读碑帖，有机会就去看碑文；就算是战时，也是如此。

他观察到构成书法的元素充满了对比与平衡。字的构筑有大小、疏密，笔画有长短、粗细、曲直，书法的整体以线条、空间、黑白来平衡。但是，他认为书法家最重要的是要注重笔力（或骨力）及神气。他说：‘人有脸、骨与气，文字也是一样。’所以，练习书法时，先临，再模仿结构，并学其神气。练习久了，骨力与神气自然出现。

他的草书成就最高，壮观雄伟，高低的节奏，是他中年以后形成的特色。他书写时充满活力，但符合书法规律，表现出了强烈的视觉美感。观读他的书法，令人进入笔画川流，有疾有缓，有粗有细。欣赏者会被他的作品的气质所吸引，同时感觉到一个伟大领袖的存在。
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Chinese Calligraphy and the Teaching of Chinese Language 书法与华文语文教学

Is it true that it is a non-brainer to consider Chinese calligraphy an effective tool for teaching of Chinese language?

Learning Chinese language is by no means an easy task, whereas learning to write Chinese characters is probably the most difficult aspect facing all the students learning the language, in particular, the beginning students. The fundamental problem underlying the learning of Chinese character handwriting is due to the fact that Chinese is not a phonetic language — there is no necessary relation between the pronunciation and the physical appearance of a character. In other words, a Chinese character consists of a number of strokes that, unlike the roman alphabets, by themselves do not represent phonemic values.

There are thousands of different Chinese characters, and the only way to learn them is by memorization and constant practice. It is also proposed that effective teaching should incorporate cultural meanings into the instructional content, encouraging students to make associations among character elements, whole characters, and cultural connotations.

Chinese Calligraphy is seen as useful for reinforcing character recognition and writing. This is because when it is introduced to students as a form of fine arts, it entertains as well as effectively engages, motivates, and inspires them.

However, in order to be an effective teaching tool, the Chinese calligraphy must adopt the Simplified writing system which means it must

1. include the Simplified script, a script that is currently being taught in schools, and

2. follow the writing and reading habits that are being practised by the students.

And it is exactly on these two counts that the current form of Chinese calligraphy fails to be an effective tool for teaching of Chinese language.

One may say that the aim is to cultivate the students’ art appreciation and introduce them the Chinese culture rather to help them in learning Chinese language. However, the main concern is whether it has negative effect on Chinese language learning. Ideally, it should serve both purposes of art appreciation and language learning. This is exactly why there is a need to introduce the New Chinese Calligraphy Style to schools.

Please click here to know more about the New Chinese Calligraphy Style.
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书法是学习中文的一种有效的教学辅助工具，这是不是显而易见的呢？

学习中文不是一件易事。在学习中文时，书写可能是所有学生所碰到最困难的部分，尤其是对初学者而言。书写中文困难的基本原因是基于这个事实：中文不是音标语文，发音与文字的外形没有必然的关系。就是说，中文由笔画所组成，这些笔画不向罗马注音符号那样，它们本身是没有音素价值的。

中文有上千不同的个别文字，死记与不断练习书写是唯一的学习方法。另一个提议是把文化意义带入教学内容，鼓励学生把文字元素、整个字与文化隐意联系起来。

书法被认为对加强文字的认识与书写有帮助。因为把书法当作一种艺术来介绍给学生时，它可以娱乐他们，同时有效地吸引、激发与激励他们。

可是，为了使书法成为一个有效的教学辅助工具，它必须包含简体字书写系统。就是说，它必须：

1。包含现在学校所教的简体字，与

2。跟随学生所应用的书写与阅读习惯。

刚好就由于上述两点而使到目前的书法不适合成为有效的教学辅助工具。

有人说，学习书法的目的是要训练学生的艺术欣赏能力与中华文化，而不是用来辅助华文的学习。但是，我们所关心的是，它会不会在华文学习方面带来不良的效果呢。最好是它在能提高艺术鉴赏能力的同时，又能辅助语文的学习。这正是为什么有必要把‘新书风’引进学校的原因。

请点击这里以阅读有关‘新书风’的阐述。