Chiang Kai-shek 蒋介石

Most of China's contemporary leaders are/were good at calligraphy, and Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi, 1887 – 1975) was one of them.

Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. At the age of 18 he went to military training college in Japan. He returned to China in 1911, took part in the uprising that overthrew the Qing Dynasty and became a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (known as the Kuomintang or KMT).

He became the Commandant of Kuomintang's Whampoa Military Academy in 1924 and took Sun Yat-sen's place in the party when the latter died in 1925. In 1928, Chiang led the Northern Expedition to unify the country, becoming China's overall leader. He served as chairman of the National Military Council of the Nationalist Government of the Republic China (ROC) from 1928 to 1948. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, the Chinese Communist Party defeated the Nationalists in 1949, forcing the Nationalist government to retreat to Taiwan. Chiang ruled the island with an iron fist as the President of the Republic of China and Director-General of the Kuomintang until his death in 1975.

There is an old Chinese saying that calligraphy is a mirror to a person's character. It is therefore said that the calligraphy of leaders reflects the different characters that ruled the nation, and even their leadership abilities.

Chiang’s style of calligraphy is characterized by strong bones and precise constructions, as neat and orderly as that of Emperor Huizong (1082-1135) of the Song Dynasty (960-1279). On the other hand, differences are apparent. Huizong's ‘slender gold’ style featured thin and sturdy strokes, a poised and graceful style that attracted numerous followers. Chiang's was neat in formation and prudent, but not so creative. His handwriting was always even and orderly, irrespective of whether he was in a high or low mood. This shows he was careful about obeying regulations, but restricted by convention.

Mao Zedong defeated Chiang in military matters and also outperformed him in calligraphy. When writing, Mao let his feelings carry his brush freely, creating a new calligraphic vista. 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.

中国当代领袖中，不少写得一手好书法。蒋介石（1887-1975）就是其中的一个。

蒋介石是中国二十世纪的一个政治与军事领袖。十八岁前往日本就读军事学校。1911年回国加入推翻清政府的革命，成为中国国民党党员。

1924年担任黄埔军校校长，1925年孙中山逝世，他就取代了孙中山在国民党的地位。1928年发动北伐战争，成为中国最高领袖。1928年至1948年，他担任中华民国国民政府的军事委员会主席。1945年日本投降后，中国共产党于1949年击败国民党，迫使国民政府退守台湾。从此，蒋介石以其铁腕统治台湾，担任中华民国总统与国民党主席，直到1975年逝世为止。

中国一句话说，书法反映一个人的个性。因此领袖的书法亦反映国家统治者的不同个性与他们的领导能力。

蒋的书法特性是笔画刚强，结构精确，与宋朝（960-1279）徽宗（1082-1135）的字一样整齐有序。他们之间也有不同。徽宗的‘瘦金体’的笔画细又有力，平衡而优雅的风格吸引不少追随者。蒋的书法排列整齐与谨慎，但是缺少创造力。不论他的心情如何，他的字写来都均匀与整齐。这显示他谨慎守法，拘谨于常规。

在军事上，毛泽东打败了蒋介石，在书法上亦是如此。毛让他的感情随意的控制毛笔，创造了书法新景象。观读他的草书，人们会融入他那快与慢、疏与密的线条节奏之中。读者会为其作品的气势所吸引，并感受到他作为最高领袖的存在。

Ouyang Xun: Commemorative Stone Tablet for the Sweet Spring near the Jiucheng Palace 欧阳询：《九成宫醴泉铭碑》

Ouyang Xun left a number of masterpieces engraved on commemorative stone tablets and those works have remained to be excellent models for practice and emulation over 1,000 years. Their influences on later calligraphers are indisputable. Even the great calligrapher Yan Zhenqing had studied Ouyang's styles diligently before he invented his style which later impacted greatly on Liu Gongquan. Since then, most calligraphy students of regular script (kaishu) would choose either styles of Ouyang, Yan, or Liu.

Commemorative Stone Tablet for the Sweet Spring at the Jiucheng Palace (Jiucheng Gong) is his signature work in regular script. Chen Jiru, a scholar of Ming dynasty once commented, this calligraphic piece is ‘like a mountain recluse who has achieved the ultimate wisdom, gaunt and lean in muscle but robust in spirit.’ Another scholar Zhao Han praised that it is the best calligraphic work in regular script.

The Jiucheng Palace was originally built in the Sui dynasty and Emperor Tang Taizong visited the palace in 632. Taizong is said to have discovered a sweet spring on its ground, which was interpreted as a propitious sign. Consequently, a commemorative stele was erected at the spot. The text was written by senior court officer Wei Zheng and calligraphy by Ouyang Xun.

The calligraphy of Ouyang Xun, a follower of the calligraphic style of Wang Xizhi, has a ‘steeper’ look than that of Wang Xizhi. His regular script style employs brushstrokes that are thicker at the two ends and thinner in the middle, falling in the contractive category. The indrawn strokes in turn produce an indrawn character structure, with outer lines drawn inward, forming arcs, and strokes concentrated as much as possible in the interior, creating a character structure that is compact in the centre and less dense in the periphery. At the same time, some strokes are made longer than normal, transgressing the character grid, in order to avoid giving an overcautious look.

However, some critics commented that the steeper strokes and structures of his calligraphy make it very difficult for most beginners to emulate his style because a slight error or deviation will result in wide divergences in strokes, structures, and the overall look.

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欧阳询留下不少刻在碑石的书法杰作，千多年来它们是法书范本，被无数人临摹。它们对后代书法家的影响是无可置疑的。就算是大书法家颜真卿在未形成自己的书体之前，也是十分认真地学习欧体。而颜体也深深地影响了柳公权。自此之后，书法学习者在学习楷书时，所选的不是欧体，就是颜体，或者柳体。

《九成宫醴泉铭碑》是他的楷书代表作。明陈继儒曾评论说：‘此帖如深山至人，瘦硬清寒，而神气充腴。’明赵涵称此碑为‘正书第一’。

九成宫原来建于隋朝。公元632年唐太宗来巡视该宫。据说太宗在那里发现了醴（甜）泉，认为那是个吉兆。后来，就在那里立了块碑石。碑文由魏征写，书法则由欧阳询来写。

欧阳询学的是王羲之的字体，而他的字形比王羲之险峻。他的楷书笔画两端粗而中间细，属于内擫笔法。笔画向内而产生向内靠的字形，外围笔画向内行走，形成弧形，因此结字中宫紧而外围松驰；有些笔画则故意拉长，超越界线，为的是避免呈现一种太过拘禁的形态。

但是，不少评论家认为他的书法中的险峻笔画与结字，令初学者难以模仿他的字体，因为稍有差错或偏差，就会造成笔画、结字与整体上的大偏离。

Anecdotes about Ouyang Xun 欧阳询轶事

Ouyang was born in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. He was intelligent since young and was very serious in his study, with a special interest in calligraphy.

He was totally engrossed in the learning of calligraphy. One day, during an outing with his friends, Ouyang came across a stele inscribed by Suo Jing, a famous calligrapher of the Western Jin Dynasty. In order to understand the unique feature of Suo Jing’s techniques of using brush, he stood there and studied carefully the inscriptions. The more he studied the inscriptions, the more subtle it became. Shortly, the sky became dark, but Ouyang’s interest in the inscriptions remained strong. He decided to sleep near the stele for the night so that he could continue to study the stele the next day. At the end, he went on to explore the stele for another three days before leaving it reluctantly.

He was often considered the best kaishu (regular script) calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty. His fame reached overseas so the ancient Korea sent a special envoy to the Tang court to acquire his calligraphy. According to historical records, Ouyang Xun was an ugly person, but his calligraphy was well known throughout the country. People were eager to obtain authentic copies of letters written by him and they treated calligraphy in their possession as a treasure. They would use his calligraphy as model works for practice. During the reign of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan (618-624), Korea sent a special envoy to capital Chang-an to acquire Ouyang’s calligraphy. Tang Gaozu said emotionally, ‘I have never expected his fame has reached thus far, even the barbarians in faraway places know him. When they see the brush work of Ouyang, perhaps they may think that he is a strong and big man.’

It seems that the Japanese also admire the calligraphy of Ouyang Xun. The Asahi Shimbun is one of the largest newspapers in Japan; it publishes both morning and evening daily editions. The four Chinese characters of its name that appear in the newspaper’s masthead are words selected from Ouyang’s calligraphy. When the newspaper was founded, it was decided that words written by Ouyang would be used. The three words ‘chao’(朝), ‘ri’(日) and ‘wen’(闻) were chosen from ouyang’s famous calligraphic work of clerical script ‘A Panegyric of the Imperial Temple’ stele. The word ‘xin’(新) could not be found, so radicals of ‘qin’(亲) and ‘xi’(析) were extracted to form the word. As a result, the energetic structure and bony and vigorous style of Ouyang’s calligraphy becomes part of the masthead of the newspaper.

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歐陽詢生於南北朝時，從小就聰明過人，對於讀書寫字非常認真。

歐陽詢對書法學習十分投入，有一次在旅遊途中，見到了西晉書法家索靖寫的石碑，他為了瞭解索靖用筆的奇特之處，於是仔細的研究，果然越看越覺得奧妙。 不久，天色漸漸暗沈，可是歐陽詢的興致依然濃厚，便乾脆拿了鋪蓋睡在石碑旁邊，等到天亮繼續琢磨。就這樣一字一畫的考究了三天，才依依不捨的離開。（原文出自《书林纪事》：‘欧阳询尝行，见古碑，晋索靖所书。驻马观之，良久而去。数百步复反，下马伫立，及疲，乃布裘坐观，因宿其旁，三日方去。’）

他被认为是唐朝最杰出的楷书书法家。据史书记载，欧阳询的形貌很丑陋，但他的书法却誉满天下，人们都争着想得到他亲笔书写的尺犊文字，一旦得到就视作圭宝，作为自己习字的范本。唐李渊武德（618－624）年间，高丽（今朝鲜）特地派使者来长安求取欧阳询的书法。唐高祖李渊感叹地说：‘没想到欧阳询的名声竟大到连远方的夷狄都知道。他们看到欧阳询的笔迹，一以为他是位形貌魁梧的人物吧。’

日本人看来也很仰慕欧阳询的书法。《朝日新闻》是日本现今最大的一家报纸之一，有早报和晚报。它的报头题字，为初唐书法家-欧阳询所书。《朝日新闻》近代在东京创办时，决定用欧书作为报头题字，于是找来欧阳询的得意之作，隶书《宗圣观记》，从中挑选完整无损的“朝”、“日”、“闻”三字，再把帖中缺少现成的“新”字，巧妙地用“亲”字和“析”字分别剔去“见”旁和“木”旁合并而成。这样，《朝日新闻》四字，就以饱满的形体，瘦劲的姿态出现在该报的首端了。

Ouyang Xun 欧阳询

Ouyang Xun (557-641), also named Ouyang Xinben, was a Confucian scholar and calligrapher of the early Tang Dynasty. He used to be an official in the Sui dynasty and was a close friend of Li Yuan, founder of the Tang dynasty. Ouyang Xun was intelligent since young and performed well academically. He served under the Tang Dynasty as scholar at the Hongwen Academy where he also taught calligraphy. He was one of the principal contributors to the Categorised Collections of Literature and Articles.

During the Tang period, the predominant script was the regular or standard script, with a stylistic emphasis on brush methods or structure. The regular script was believed to have reached its maturity during the early Tang, representing a culmination of previous developments.

As early as in the Sui Dynasty, Ouyang's calligraphy was widely known, and by the time of Tang Dynasty, as the man got older and his calligraphy got better, both the person and calligraphy had attained a high degree of perfection. His calligraphy was first influenced by the style of stele inscriptions in the Northern Dynasties and the Sui dynasty. Later he followed Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi’s style and was the representative of their style in the Tang dynasty. He had also learned from Suo Jing’s calligraphy.

Ouyang Xun's calligraphy, largely kaishu (regular script), was known for its rigorous and grand strokes as well as its unique order and structure, and was called ‘Ou Style’ by later generations. His famous works of regular script include ‘Commemorative Stone Tablet for the Sweet Spring at the Jiucheng Palace’ (Jiucheng Gong) which is said to be the Best Regular Script in history and has become one of the best model calligraphy for learners of kaishu calligraphy. His well known works on walking or running script (xingshu) are Mengdian Tie and Zhanghan Tie. Besides being an expert in kaishu and xingshu, Ouyang also wrote excellent lishu (official script).

In Chinese calligraphy history, Ouyang Xun is one of the Four Masters of Early Tang Dynasty. His is also as one of the four best calligraphers of regular script in history. The other three are Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan and Zhao Mengfu.

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欧阳询（557-641），亦名欧阳信本，是初唐儒士与书法家。他曾在隋朝庭中当官，又是唐朝开国君主李渊。欧阳询自小聪敏，读书颇有成就。为唐朝弘文馆学士，并在那里教书法。他也是《艺文类聚》的主要编纂者。

在唐代，楷书是主要的书写字体，其所强调的是笔法与结字。一般相信，楷书到了初唐已经成熟，代表楷书发展达到的一个高峰。

早在隋朝，欧阳询的书法就已经声名远播；到了唐代，则已进入了人书俱老的完美境界。他的书法最初受到北朝与隋朝碑文的影响，后来跟随二王书体，他的楷书在唐代代表二王的书体。他也学习索靖的书法。

欧阳询的书法，主要是楷书，以刚健雄伟著名，尤其是其独特的结字与章法，被后代称为‘欧体’。他有名的楷书有《九成宫醴泉铭碑》（简称《九成宫》）。《九成宫》被誉为楷书中的绝品，成为书法学习者学习楷书的最好法书之一。他的有名的行书有《仲尼梦奠帖》、《季鹰帖》。他除了精于楷书与行书，隶书也写得很好。

在书法史上，欧阳询是初唐四大家之一。他也是历史上楷书四大家之一。其他三位楷书大家是颜真卿、柳公权与赵孟頫。

Brush Techniques: Slanted-tip for Writing Beautifully 笔法：侧锋取妍

One of the most important aspects of brush techniques is the emphasis on the proper use of the tip of the brush. The most preferred technique is known as zhongfeng, which literally means ‘centred tip’. (See diagram above.) While writing the character the brush is held vertically so that the tip of the brush always moves within the middle of the stroke. A character written this way is said to be vigorous, smooth and natural.

Opposite of zhongfeng is the use of the side of the brush, when the tip of the brush moves along one side of the stroke so that its direction and the path of movement of the brush form a right angle. This way of moving the brush is known as pianfeng, or sided-tip. (See diagram above.) Since ancient time, pianfeng technique is never advocated by calligraphers and a stroke written this way is considered to be a failure.

When the tip of the brush moves in an angle which is between zhongfeng and pianfeng, it is known as cefeng, or slanted-tip. (See diagram below.)

Ancient calligraphers paid much attention to the zhongfeng technique; some even advocated that every stroke must be written using zhongfeng. But not everyone was convinced of this theory. In one essay written in Ming dynasty, the writer Ni Sumen expressed his doubt by saying, ‘Wang Xizhi and Xianzhi did not always use zhongfeng. This fact was not discovered or mentioned by the ancients… However, when calligraphers use the brush, it must be used in a lively and flexible way, and that the brush must be approached from various angles. This is to reflect the spirit of brush writing. How can we take zhongfeng as the only acceptable method and thereby limit ourselves?’

Another scholar Wang Shizhen of Ming dynasty wrote, ‘Since the ancient time, zhongfeng and cefeng had never been an issue. As I am currently focusing on studying Zhu Jingzhao’s calligraphy, I may take the opportunity to talk about it. Sushi and Wang Tingjian used cefeng for all their strokes, and Zhang Xu and Huai Su used it occasionally. Even Wang Xizhi could not avoid using it when writing the walking and cursive scripts. This is because zhongfeng is used for writing vigorously and steadily, while cefeng for writing dynamically beautiful lines and, one could not control which way to go. Wen Zhenming regularly used cefeng when writing small size characters. So cefeng is not only used by Zhu Jingzhao, and how could the use of it stop the works from being model works?’

Huang Tingjian pointed out that ‘to write calligraphy properly and steadily (by using zhongfeng), one is constrained by its rules. On the other hand, to write beautifully by using cefeng, one always ends up in gaining some desired results and losing some.’

Zhu Hegeng of Qing dynasty concluded, ‘zhengfeng is for writing vigorous and steady strokes and cefeng for dynamically beautiful strokes.’

Therefore, it is necessary to apply both zhongfeng and cefeng so as to achieve the effects of both vigorous and beautiful strokes.

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笔法中强调的重要的一点是笔毫笔尖的适当运用。中锋是其中最为推崇的笔法。书写时，笔干垂直，令笔心在笔画中央运行。以中锋书写的线条会强烈、顺畅与自然。

与中锋相反的笔法是以笔心在线条的边缘行走，并与书写轨道成90度角。这就是偏锋。自古以来，书家从不提倡偏锋，以偏锋写出的笔画向来被当作败笔。

笔尖与笔运行方向形成的角度在中锋与偏锋之间的笔法，就叫做侧锋。

古人对‘中锋’很重视，甚至有‘笔笔中锋’之说。但是，也有不同的见解。古代书论中就曾有如下的质问："羲、献作字，皆非中锋，古人从未窥破，从未说破。……然书家溺笔极活极圆，四面八方，笔意俱到，岂拘拘中锋为一定成法乎？"（明末倪苏门《书法论》）

另一位明朝学者王世贞写道：‘正锋、侧锋之说，古本无之，近来专欲攻京兆，故借此为谈耳。苏、黄全是偏锋，旭、素时有一二笔，即右军行草中亦不能尽废。盖正以立骨，偏以取态，自不容已也。文待诏小楷，时时出偏锋，固不特京兆，何损法书?！’

黄庭坚指出：‘学书端正，则窘于法度，侧锋取妍，往往工左而病右。’

清代朱和羹《临池心解》总结：‘正锋取劲，侧笔取妍。’

可以说，我们用笔应该是中侧锋并用，才能稳劲妍丽兼得。

Su Demao at Calligraphy Exchange Gathering 苏德茂：书画交流雅集现场挥毫

Calligrapher Su Demao gave a talk at the 77th monthly Calligraphy & Painting Exchange Gathering organised by the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan on 26 June 2010. The talk is on the importance of practising Chinese calligraphy by copying the model calligraphic works of the ancient calligraphers. In fact, he advocated that this is the only way to master the calligraphic skills.

He then touched on how to study and analyse accurately the model calligraphic works so that one can copy accurately the spirit and skills of the works. This website will publish the transcription from his talk once it is ready.

After the talk, calligrapher Su demonstrated on the spot the writing of calligraphy in front of about 70 attendees of the talk.

The gathering was also attended by Indian artist Rajib Bhattacharjee who was in Singapore from 23 to 29 June to conduct a study known as Project Singapore. His interest is in how the community as a whole and the urban space are affected by aggressive urbanisation. He is doing a project on Singapore as it is the most urbanised country in this part of the world. He is fascinated by the Chinese calligraphy as a unique art of lines and hopes to get some inspirations from it in his reflections of the character of the changing urban space.

Here are some photos taken during the exchange gathering.

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书法家苏德茂老师于6月26日在潮州八邑会馆主办的第77次书画交流雅集讲座会中谈临摹古代法帖对学习书法的重要性。其实，苏老师认为临帖时获得技巧的唯一方法。

苏老师也谈到如何准确地学习与分析古人优秀作品，这样我们临帖时才能学到其精神与技巧。本网站会把苏老师的讲稿整理后发表，敬请留意。

座谈后，苏老师也为大约70名座谈会的出席者当场挥毫。

来自印度的艺术家拉吉也出席了这次的交流雅集。拉吉于6月23日至29日访问新加坡，进行有关‘新加坡项目’的研究。拉吉的兴趣在于强力城市化对整个社区与城市空间所带来的影响。他有兴趣对新加坡进行研究时因为新加坡是本地区最城市化的国家。他被华人书法这门独特的线条艺术所吸引，希望从中可以获得一些灵感来反映他对不断变化城市空间的感想。

这里是交流雅集当日的一些图片。

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Su Demao 苏德茂

Su Demao is a calligrapher who is living in Singapore now.

Su Demao, a native of Liaoyang City, Liaoning Province of China, is a retired senior teacher. He is currently a member of the Theoretical Research Committee of the Liaoning Provincial Calligraphers’ Association. As a member of the Tang Poetry Studies Society of Liaoning Province, he presents essays regularly at the Society’s annual conference. He authored a number of books, including ‘Couplets Made by Pasting Together Calligraphic Words from Ancient Steles and Rubbings’, ‘Couplets Composed from the Ancient Poems’. His articles that are published in the ‘Nanyang Arts’ magazine include ‘Comments on 20th Century World Exhibition on Oracle-bone Inscriptions’, ‘Gui Linping and Finger Paintings’.

Su Damao is good at calligraphy of cursive scripts. His works have been selected for display many times at exhibitions held in Liaoning Province, Liaoyang City.

In Singapore, he is active in the Singapore Shicheng Calligraphy and Seal-Carving Society, Lion City Calligraphy Exhibitions, the Calligraphy & Painting Society of the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan, Chinese Calligraphy Group of the Bishan Community Club.

You are welcome to give your comments on his calligraphic works.

Su Demao’s calligraphy activities can be found in this blog: http://icalligraphy.blogspot.com/search/label/Su%20Demao

Click on the image to enlarge. 请点击图片以放大。

中国旅新书法家。

辽宁省辽阳市人。为退休中学高级教师。为辽宁省书法家协会理论研究会会员。辽宁省唐诗研究会会员，都有论文在该会年会上发表。著有《中国古代碑帖集字联选》、《中国古代诗文集联选》多种。在《新加坡南洋艺术》上有“二十世纪世界甲骨文大展”评述，“桂林平与指画”等等多篇论文发表。

擅长草书。作品曾参加辽宁省、辽阳市的多次展出。

在新加坡参加狮城书法篆刻会、狮城墨韵展，潮州八邑会馆书画会及碧山书艺学会活动。

欢迎对他的书法作品进行指教。

关于苏德茂先生的书法活动，见本网站 http://icalligraphy.blogspot.com/search/label/Su%20Demao 。

Calligraphy Writing Medium Before the Qin Dynasty 先秦书写载体

Paper existed in China since the 2nd century BC, before the Qin dynasty. Before the use of paper, Chinese texts were carved on tortoise shells, animal bones, bronze wares, jade or stones. Silk was also used by the small class of aristocrats, while bamboo and wood slips by the general public.

The oracle-bone inscriptions were found on tortoise shells and animal bones. They were used in the Shang Dynasty 1600 BC by the priests of the court to communicate with the spirits of the dead, mainly the ancestors of the rulers. Whenever there was a question to be asked, the priests would inscribe it on a shell or animal bone and then have it heated by fire. The shell or bone would become cracked after being heated. The priest would read the signs showing on these cracks. The prediction was then inscribed on the same shell or bone for record and future reference. The word ‘predict’ in Chinese is bu (卜), which looks like a crack.

The inscriptions on bronze were mainly records in commemoration of certain ceremonies in the court or glories of the battle. The inscriptions on stone-drum were records of hunting activities of the Qin kings.

The books made of bamboo and wood slips varied in size, and the longer in length the more important events were recorded. There were said to have appeared in the Shang Dynasty.

The longer bamboo slips were used to record state laws or important historical events. The shorter bamboo slips were used for text books, while the shortest bamboo slips were used to record biographies.

The wood slips were used only for events of minor importance such as official documents, notices, accounts or inventories, correspondence, etc. The most common sizes in wide used were one Chinese foot slips and the five inch slips. One foot slips were used for writing letters and five inch slips were used as certificates or identities issued by the army authorities or local governments to their soldiers or citizens for passing through the city wall gates and other check-points.

From the times of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, silk had also been used as a writing material. Dating from the Han Dynasty, there were known texts found on silk cover military strategy, mathematics, cartography and the six classical arts of ritual, music, archery, horsemanship, writing and arithmetic.
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在公元前二世纪，秦朝之前，纸就已经出现了。在纸还没有发明之前，中国文字是刻在龟壳、兽骨、铜器、玉器或石头上面。缣帛为少数的贵族所用，而一般百姓则用竹与木简。

甲骨文用的是龟壳与兽骨。在公元前1600年商朝，巫师用甲骨文来与死去的灵魂沟通，这些死者多数为统治者的先人。每当有问题要问时，巫师就把问题刻在壳或骨上，然后以火来在壳或骨上加热。壳或骨被加热后，就会出现裂痕。巫师根据裂痕来占卜。占卜的结果也可在同一个壳或骨上以为记录，或以供后来参考。中文‘卜’看来就像裂痕。

铸在铜器的金文主要是记录朝廷重要仪式或战争的胜利。石鼓文则记录战国秦王游猎之类事情。

以竹简或木简所书写的书经的长度不一，长度越长，所记录的事件越重要。这些竹简或木简据说商朝就已出现。

最长的竹简用来纪录国家律法或重要历史事件。较短的用来书写经典，最短的书写子书。

木简则用来记录次要的国家文件、通告、帐簿、存货、来往书信，等等。木简最常见的有一尺或五寸。一尺木简所用来写书信，就是所谓的‘尺牍’。五寸木简多数有军队或地方政府用来当证书或通行证，给予士兵或百姓通关或检查站之用。

在春秋战国时期，缣帛就已经被用来当作书写用品了。今日所知，汉朝就有不少军事策略、数学、地图、六艺（礼、乐、射、御、书、数）之类是写在缣帛的。

The Common Mistakes on Writing the Dot 点画通病

Here are four common mistakes on writing the dot.

1. When two dots appear in a word, their directions and sizes must be symmetrical and appropriate.

2. When four dots appear in a word, the dots must be arranged linearly, with the left dot lower than the right dot. The first two dots should be inclined to the right and the last two dots to the left. All dots must be pointed to the centre of the word. Generally speaking, the first and forth dots must be bigger that second and third dots.

3. When three dots arranged vertically appear in a word, they must be arranged in such a way that they form a leftward arc. The distance between the first and second dots should be shorter than that of the second and third dots.

4. When the word ‘心’ (heart) is contained in a word, the size of the first and third dots should normally be bigger than that of the middle dot and the left dot should be lower than the right dot. The left dot should not be placed too high up.

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这里举出写点时的四个通病：

1． 一个字如出现两点，如‘塔’、‘僧’、‘集’等字，它们的方向、大小要对称。

2． 一个字如出现四点，它们应该排列成为一条线，左点低于有点。第一与第二点方向向左，第三与第四点方向向右，全部的点都指向字的中心。一般来说，第一与第四点较大，第二与第三点较小。

3． 一个字如有‘三点水’，三点的连线应形成外拓的弧形。第一与第二点较靠近，第二与第三点稍远。

4． 一个字如有‘心’字在内，点的大小也是两头大，中间小，左点低于有点。第一点(左点) 不可太高。

Wong Kok Liang 黄国良

Wong Kok Liang (Wang Guoliang 1920 – 2004) was famous for his calligraphy written in clerical (lishu) script.

Wong Kok Liang was also called Wong Long, or Shigong. He was born in 1920 in the Wanning County, Hainan Province of China. He entered the Jian Yi Teachers’ College in 1935 for a 4-year course. After completed his study in 1939, the Japanese invaded China and he moved to Singapore to seek his fortune. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, he worked briefly in Singapore before he was employed as teacher in a school in Riau of Indonesia for one year. On 1 July, 1947, he joined Nanyang Siang Pau and worked for 32 years until his retirement in 1979.

After his retirement, he became a calligrapher teacher for a number of organisations, and had many students who are good at writing calligraphy in clerical script. In order to provide a platform for the learners of calligraphy to interact with each other and thus exchange experiences in learning calligraphy, he worked on setting up a calligraphy society. In 1992, the Hanshi Calligraphy Society was registered and he became its advisor and calligraphy teacher.

He passed away on 24 March, 2004.

He talked about his calligraphy learning journey during an interview. As he was a young boy in village, his father encouraged and guided him in learning calligraphy, and he had developed a special love of calligraphy. He father started him with the script of Wei stele. A few years later, as he learned more about the subject, he decided that the clerical style of Weng Fanggang would benefit him more, so he switched to focus on learning Weng’s calligraphy.

He once said, ‘after I have mastered the basics of the clerical script, I came across the Caoqian Stele, which I found it to be especially bony, and the writing style is leisure and strong. I had therefore decided to move from Weng’s calligraphy to Caoqian stele.’ He later also practiced the scripts from the Han steles. In fact, he had never stopped learning the clerical script.

Wong Kok Liang had achieved much in writing the clerical script (lishu). He paid much attention to the execution of the strokes and organising the structure, and wrote them conscientiously. His learning attitude was indeed a good model for us to follow. In the last years of his life, he worked hard on learning the walking script (xingshu). However, perhaps because he had not spent much time in writing this calligraphic style, we have not seen much of his good works in xingshu.

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在新加坡书法界，黄国良 (1920-2004) 以专写隶书而闻名。

黄国良，也称黄龙，或石公。1920年在中国海南省万宁县出生。1935年进入万宁县立简易师范，并于1939年毕业。毕业后，因日本入侵中国而移居新加坡。1945年日本投降后，曾到印尼廖内的端本学校当过一年的教师。1947年7月1日加入‘南洋商报’，在那里工作了32年，直至1979年退休为止。

退休后，他在不少社团教导书法，培育出了不少书写隶书的好手。为了加强学员们的联系，促进书法交流，他提出创办一个独立的书法学会，于是，‘汉石书艺学会’就于1992年正式成立，并担任其顾问与导师。

他于2004年3月24日逝世。

黄国良曾在接受访问时谈到学习书法的经过。幼时在家乡，受到父亲的鼓励与开导，因此特别喜欢书法。他父亲引导他从魏碑入手，几年后他涉猎日广，发现翁方刚的隶书更有学习价值，于是，便集中精神在翁方纲的隶书上。

他说：‘学隶书有了基础后，有一次接触到曹全碑，觉得曹全碑特别有骨气，字体风情飘逸而又坚强，于是，我又从翁方刚的隶书转移到曹全碑上面。’后又临写汉碑。一生学习隶书，从未中断。

黄老在隶书上的造诣，堪称大家。尤其是他笔划结构，一丝不苟，可谓后学之典范。于晚年又孜孜不倦地学习行书。可能是学习行书的时间不长吧，所能看到他好的行书作品不多。