Mao Zedong: Ode to the Plum Blossom 毛泽东：咏梅

The great leader Mao Zedong of China is also recognised as a great poet and calligrapher. His poems are widely written by calligraphers and 'Ode to the Plum Blossom' is one of such poems.

Ode to the Plum Blossom (1961.12)

Wind and rain escorted Spring's departure,
Flying snow welcome Spring's return.
On the ice-clad rock rising high and sheer
A flower blossom sweet and fair.

Sweet and fair, she craves not Spring for herself alone,
To be the harbinger of Spring she is content.
When the mountain flowers are in full bloom
She will smile mingling in their midst.

中国伟大的领袖也是个公认的大诗人与书法家。很多书法家喜欢书写他的诗词，而‘咏梅’就是其中的一首词。

咏梅

风雨送春归，飞雪迎春到。

已是悬崖百丈冰，犹有花枝俏。

俏也不争春，只把春来报。

待到山花烂漫时，她在丛中笑。

The Qin Clerical Script 秦隶

The inscription on bamboo slips in the Qin and Han dynasties was a transitional form between ancient and modern Chinese characters. In its early stage, there were more ancient characters, and in its later stage, the characters were closer those used in clerical script, cursive scripts and regular script which are popular today. Although those inscriptions were not as abstruse as ancient characters, there were unique in their own way.

Many of the inscriptions on wooden or bamboo slips or silk in the Qin dynasty are in clerical script. Qin Shihuang acknowledged small seal as the standard script but clerical script would be used as well. Bamboo slips of the Qin dynasty unearthed in Shuihudi near Yunmeng in Hubei province showed the Qin’s way of writing. It is believed that those inscriptions are real Qin clerical acript with its origin in the Zhou dynasty. In the time of Qin Shihuang, both seal script and clerical script were used and it is difficult to tell which is official and which is not in that period.

Qin clerical script is also known as ancient clerical script, which is a transitional form between ancient script and modern script.

Many excavations testified that there was clerical script before Qin dynasty. The first Emperor’s character renovation measurement was to ban those ancient characters in the other six states. The inscriptions on silk and wooden or bamboo slips, which were closer in clerical script, were untouched. On the contrary, Qin Shihuang ordered that the simplified form of characters be collected and made into a new font, and this is the origin of clerical script in the Qin dynasty. The presence of clerical script which is much simpler than previous scripts not only met the political requirement but also revealed people’s pursuit of efficiency in the Qin dynasty.

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秦汉简牍文字处于古今文字的过渡阶段，前期有较多的古文成分，后期渐近于现今流行的隶书、草书和楷书。它虽然不如古文那样深奥，但却有特别之处。

秦简帛书中有大量的秦隶。秦始皇以小篆为标准字体，同时也以隶书为辅助字体。湖北云梦睡虎地秦简的发现，展示了秦人的墨迹。有人认为此秦简是真正的秦隶，秦隶远祖可推到周朝。

秦隶也称古隶，是汉字从古文字变到今文字之间的一种字体。

大量出土的实物证实，秦以前就有隶书。秦文字改革的禁令是针对六国古文字，并未涉及正在隶化的简帛文。相反，秦始皇下令将民间汉字简约写法的新因素整理出来，加以系统化。于是初步形成了一种新的字体，这就是秦隶。它的出现是为了适应政治的需要，避繁难、趋简易是它的基本特征，也反映了秦人省事讲效率的时代风尚。

He Zhizhang 贺知章

The Four Masters of early Tang dynasty mainly made achievement in regular script. In the prime and middle periods of the Tang dynasty, the Three Outstanding Calligraphers for Cursive Script, namely He Zhizhang, Zhang Xu and Huai Su, who had been the most innovative calligraphers with high time spirit, fully developed the romantic calligraphic style represented by cursive script. With their unremitting efforts, cursive script witnessed an unprecedented thriving in the history of calligraphy.

Zhang Xu: http://icalligraphy.blogspot.sg/2013/10/zhang-xu-sage-of-calligraphy-of-cursive.html

Huai Su：http://icalligraphy.blogspot.sg/2013/11/huai-su-whose-calligraphy-of-cursive.html

He Zhizhang (659 – 744), a native of Yong Xing, Yuezhou (now Xiaoshan in Zhejiang), was famous for his cursive script. Li Bai and Lu Xiang compared him with Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi in their poems respectively. People paralleled his cursive script with the stone from fallen star, crane drawn bu Xu Ji and phoenix drawn by Lang Yuling, and called them four master masterpieces in the Imperial Library.

However, few of his works survived through centuries. Classic of the Filial Piety, the only cursive script remained for present people, displayed a flowing and lucid style whose brushstrokes were intense and vehement. With thick and thin lines and clever arrangement of structures, he created an artististic world lingering between illusion and reality. The composition of his works was as smooth as stream, fully corresponding to his causal and unrestrained Romanticism.

His cusive script therefore introduced the romantic ethos to the prime and mid-Tang dynasty. In addition, he was also skilled in regular script.

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Classic of the Filial Piety 孝经

初唐四大家的成就主要在楷书方面。草书则应推崇唐草三杰，即贺知章、张旭、怀素。他们是盛中唐时期最具有创新意识和时代精神的杰出书家。经过他们的不懈努力，使盛中唐以草书为代表的浪漫书风走向极致，并成就了草书史上的高峰。

张旭：http://icalligraphy.blogspot.sg/2013/10/zhang-xu-sage-of-calligraphy-of-cursive.html

怀素：http://icalligraphy.blogspot.sg/2013/11/huai-su-whose-calligraphy-of-cursive.html

贺知章（659 - 744），越州永兴（今浙江萧山）人，以草书著名。李白在诗中将他比喻成王羲之，陆象则将他比喻为王献之。当时的人还将他的草书与秘书省的落星石、薛稷画的鹤、朗馀令的凤合称为秘书省“四绝”。

然而，他的书法作品存世极少。现可见的草书作品只有《孝经》，其用笔酣畅淋漓，点画激越，粗细相间，虚实相伴；结体左俯右仰，随势而就；章法犹如潺潺流水，一贯直下，充分体现了他那风流倜傥、狂放不羁的浪漫情怀。

他的草书拉开了盛中唐草书浪漫风气的序幕。此外，他还擅长楷书。

Sun Yat-sen 孙中山

Sun Yat-sen (also known as Sun wen, Sun Zhongshan) is considered one of the greatest leaders of modern China. In Taiwan, he is regarded as the Father of the Nation, while in mainland China, a Forerunner of the Revolution.

He was not famous for his Chinese calligraphy, but known for his most creative end effective use of it to strengthen his ties to his supporters. Among the spiritual heritage he left behind, his calligraphic works can certainly be considered to be priceless treasure. The calligraphic works he left behind are mostly in the form of letters, instructions to his staff, and personal notes. There are also considerable amount of manuscripts written by him. However, the ones that have most calligraphic values are those words of encouragement and appreciation that he had written for his friends and famous people. He was serious about writing by hand.  Although his book “Sun Yat-sen’s Doctrine” has more than 10 thousand words, he wrote the manuscript conscientiously, word by word.

His favorite words and phrases for calligraphy were the characters for Fraternity and The Whole World is One Community. As a politician who devoted his whole life to revolutionary cause, his words of encouragement would inevitably contain political messages. His style can be strong and powerful, also can be gentle and gracious.

From his calligraphic works, it can be seen that he had spent much time in learning the styles of Yan Zhenqing, Su Dongpo and the Northern Wei. From the structure of words, one can trace the decentness and solidness of Yan style. The powerful Northern Wei style was somehow softened subtlely and quietly to follow the style of the running script.

He was good at writing the Regular and Running scripts, and had not written any Seal or Clerical script. When writing, he followed standard rules and executed every stroke fully.

When writing letters or instructions for the staff, he had the habit of using ‘western’ paper and ink. However, when he wrote words of encouragement for his revolutionary comrades, he would use the Chinese calligraphy brush, ink stone, ink stick and rice paper. 

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孙逸仙（亦名孙文，孙中山）是中国当代最伟大的领袖。在台湾，他被尊为“国父”，而在中国大陆，他被定位为“革命先行者”。

孙先生并不以书法知名，但是他与有创意与有效地用书法来加强与支持者的联系而闻名。在他留下的宝贵精神遗产中，其文书档案中书法作品不能不说是一笔宝贵财富。孙中山生平手迹留下的最多的是书信、手令、手札，其次是著述手稿，但最具有书法创作味道的则是为友人及社会各界名流的题词。据说他写字十分认真，一本手写的《孙文学说》手稿，全书数万言，一字不苟。

孙中山平生最爱书“博爱”及“天下为公”。作为一个终生以革命为己任的政治家，他的题词当然往往蕴涵着他的政治主张。他的书法作品不仅仅有博大豪迈、气势恢宏的榜书作品，也有儒雅、轻松、格调清新、韵味绵长的行书作品。 

从他的书法作品中可以看出他对颜真卿、苏东坡及北碑方面的研究是颇具造诣的。从字法字构看，颜字的宽博与厚重仍依稀可见。而魏碑的雄强也在作品中被淡化，潜移默化中服从于行书作品的整体风格。

孙中山擅楷书、行书两体，篆书、隶书均未曾见署。其用字规范，笔笔交代清楚，一篇中同一字出现多次，也决不删繁从简，而一字数型以其博。书法风格一脉相承，无论是案头小牍或挥椽巨构，所书皆开阔雄浑，朗健清逸，笔势舒敛有致，字字独立却气脉浑整。

在从事长期国民革命中，孙中山有一特别的习惯，即在书写手令、信函时，往往喜用“西纸”，不用石砚磨墨，直接用毛笔沾外国墨水书写，取其便利而色调，不需磨墨功夫，以求节省时间从事革命活动。但他在题词赠送同志，鼓励仁人革命斗志时，使用的仍是毛笔、砚台、墨条和中国宣纸。在从事长期国民革命中，孙中山有一特别的习惯，即在书写手令、信函时，往往喜用“西纸”，不用石砚磨墨，直接用毛笔沾外国墨水书写，取其便利而色调，不需磨墨功夫，以求节省时间从事革命活动。但他在题词赠送同志，鼓励仁人革命斗志时，使用的仍是毛笔、砚台、墨条和中国宣纸。