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。