The Concise Knowledge of Chinese Calligraphy (III)

Today，we will guide you to roam in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), which was the most magnificent dynasty in Chinese history. Poetry was the most famous cultural achievement in the Tang Dynasty. The calligraphy in Tang was also brilliant, especially in regular script and cursive script. Let’s have a look.

本期，瓜瓜君带大家走进唐朝。唐朝是中国历史上最伟大的朝代，诗歌是这个朝代最辉煌的文化成就。书法在唐代也光彩夺目，尤其是楷书和草书。下面，随我一起逛逛吧。

Before browsing the calligraphy works of the Tang Dynasty, let’s give a glance at a very important calligraphy work, called Zhi Yong Thousand-Character Classic.

在进入唐代书法之前，我们先略睹一件非常著名的书法作品，它就是《智永千字文》。

Zhi Yong Thousand-Character Classic, Regular script, cursive script   智永千字文, 楷书，草书

This work was created by Zhi Yong, who was a monk, living in the Sui Dynasty (581-618). The Thousand-Character Classic is a literary work, written by Zhou Xingsi (469-521), who lived in the Southern Dynasties. The verse is special, because it has one thousand words without repeat. Furthermore, it is rhymed, every sentence has four words, finely composed. It is easy to recite. The verse began to play the textbook role for primary students since then. Many calligraphers have written it. Zhi Yong wrote it many times, but most of them were lost. The one shown in the picture, which preserved in Japan nowadays, is definitely the most famous one. This work was written by two script types. One is regular script, the other is cursive script. They are kept in an alternate order--- the first line is regular script, the second line is cursive script, and so on.

这件作品是智永创作的。智永是一位僧人，生活在隋代。《千字文》是一件文学作品，是南朝人周兴嗣创作的。这篇文章很特别，因为它有一千个字，却没有重复的字。而且四字一句，有韵可循。它便于记诵，问世后，很快成为童蒙识字课本。许多书法家都抄写过《千字文》。智永写过很多遍，但绝大部分已灭绝。图片中的这个墨迹本，目前在日本，是留下来的最著名的一件。这件作品用两种书体写成，楷书和草书。

Zhi Yong was the seventh descendant of Wang Xizhi. It is said that Zhi Yong inherited the calligraphy skill of his ancestor. I like the work best, because it is so beautiful. In addition, it is a paper work, the details of the strokes are so clear, which is extremely useful for study.

智永是王羲之的七世孙。据说智永继承了王羲之的笔法。我非常喜欢这篇《千字文》，因为它绝美异常，另外，因它是墨迹本，笔画的细节毕露无疑，给学习提供了非常好的榜样。

Jiu Cheng Gong li Quan Ming, Regular script, Ouyang Xun  《九成宫醴泉铭》，楷书，欧阳询（557-641）

 

Jiu Cheng Gong was a xanadu away from Chang An, the capital of the Tang Dynasty. One day, the emperor Li Shimin found a sweet spring beside Jiu Cheng Gong. He ordered his officials to make a tablet to commemorate the event. Wei Zheng created the essay. Ouyang Xun wrote the characters. Someone engraved the characters in the tablet--- a great work was born.

九成宫是唐代都城长安远郊的一座行宫。一天，李世民皇帝在九成宫边发现了一眼甘泉，命名为醴泉，遂命令他的臣子写文刻碑以纪念此事。于是大臣魏征撰文，欧阳询书丹，不知名的工匠把字刻在石碑上­——一件伟大的作品就此诞生。

The style of this work is unique. The structures of the characters are rigorous. Center tight with strokes extended. Someone said that the characters look like spears and halberds. Ouyang Xun has tremendous influence from then to today. People named his calligraphy style as Ou Ti. Interestingly, Mr. Ouyang wasn’t a handsome man, according to the history book, he was very ugly.

这件作品是独一无二的。结字严谨，中宫紧密，笔画伸展。古人说它们像府库中的兵器。欧阳询影响巨大，人们将他的字体称为欧体。有趣的是，欧阳询长相不好，史载他是长得很丑。

Yan Ta Sheng Jiao Xu, Regular script, Chu Suiliang   雁塔圣教序，楷书，褚遂良（596-658）

This work was written by Chu Suiliang, who was a minister, living in the early Tang Dynasty. It contains two essays, respectively written by Li Shimin and his son Li Zhi, two emperors of the Tang Dynasty. The essays praised Xuan Zang, a great monk, who travelled to India and fetched important Buddhist scriptures.

这件作品出于宫廷大臣褚遂良之手。它包括两篇文章，分别是皇帝李世民和他的儿子李治撰写的。文章都是赞扬一位伟大的和尚——玄奘。他去印度取经，成就卓著。

Chu Suiliang was an outstanding calligrapher. The most remarkable characteristic of this work is the lifting and pressing of the brush. We can see some strokes are thick, others are slim. The rhythm of the strokes is vivid on the 'paper’, although the characters were carved in the tablet.

褚遂良是一位杰出的书法家。这件作品最显著的特征是用笔的提按。我们会看到其中有的笔画很粗，有的笔画很细，节奏感跃然纸上——虽然这些字刻在石碑上。

Ji Wang Xizhi Sheng Jiao Xu, Running script, Huai Ren 《集王羲之圣教序》，行书，怀仁

The content of this work is the same as Yan Ta Sheng Jiao Xu. That is to say, it contains two essays written by two emperors. But the two calligraphy works were created by different people. Ji Wang Xizhi Sheng Jiao Xu was made by a monk, who’s religious name was Huai Ren. Huai Ren looked for all the characters in the two essays from Wang Xi Zhi’s authentic works one by one, then copied them, set them together, made out a new calligraphy work. Therefore, the work is so distinctive, the essays belonged to two emperors, the characters written by Wang Xi Zhi, but the whole work achieved by Huai Ren. It is said Huai Ren spent many years to do this great project.

这件作品的内容和《雁塔圣教序》相同，还是那两位皇帝的文章。但两件作品的书写者不同。《集王圣教序》是一位法名叫怀仁的和尚制作的。怀仁从王羲之的真迹里逐个找到两篇文章的字，然后复制这些字，再按文章内容顺序排列在一起，组成了一件新的作品。这就是集字。这件作品非常特别，它的文章是皇帝们写的，字是王羲之的，创作过程是怀仁完成的。据说怀仁花了好多年完成这项伟大工程。

Owing to Huai Ren’ s diligent work, we can see the features of Wang Xizhi’s running scripts nowadays. We’ve said that the authentic works of Wang Xizhi were lost, so this work, although a copy one, is very precious.

多亏了怀仁的辛勤工作，我们今天得以窥见王羲之行书的面貌。我们之前说过，王羲之没有一件真迹留存于世，因此，《集王羲之圣教序》作为一件复制品，弥足珍贵。

Yan Qinli Tablet, Regular script, Yan Zhenqing  《颜勤礼碑》，楷书，颜真卿（709-785）

In the Chinese calligraphy history, the most famous calligrapher is Wang Xizhi, people called him Calligraphy Sage. Next to Wang Xizhi is Yan Zhenqing. After Yan, all of the outstanding calligraphers got nutrition from him. He is a virtuous man, not only a great calligrapher, but also a general, a patriot, fought against rebel army, and died in enemy’s prison.

中国书法史里，最有名的书法家当然是王羲之，他被称为“书圣”。名声仅次于王羲之的就是颜真卿。颜真卿之后，所有杰出的书法家，没有不受到颜影响的。颜真卿是一位大人物，他不光是位伟大的书法家，还是一位将军，一位爱国者，和叛军英勇作战，最后死在敌人的监狱里。

Yan Zhenqing made a revolution in calligraphy. Before him, the tradition was Wang Xizhi. After him, the tradition changed. Simply said, the most important style of Yan Zhenqing’ s calligraphy is powerful. We can see the style in the picture. The style is new, but actually a reviving from the old tradition, for the style contains some elements of Seal script.

颜真卿完成了书法革命。在他之前，书法是王羲之的传统；在他之后，传统就变了。简单地说，颜真卿书法最显著的特征，是雄浑。我们可以从图片中看到。颜真卿的风格看上去是新的，其实是对古老篆籀传统的一种复兴。

Xuan Mi Ta Tablet, Regular script, Liu Gongquan 《玄秘塔碑》，楷书，柳公权（778-865）

The last important calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty was Liu Gongquan. Liu enjoyed great reputation, even the ambassadors from other countries wanted to get his work when they came to China.

The first-rate works are always related to hard work and smart brain, so Liu Gongquan’s works are. He studied widely from his predecessors, such as Wang Xizhi, Ouyang Xun and Yan Zhenqing, fused them together and formed his own style. Mr. Liu’s way can give us some enlightenment, help us to study calligraphy more effectively.

唐代最后一位重要的书法家是柳公权。柳公权生前即享有很高的声誉。外国使节访问唐朝时，都以能得到他的书法为荣。一流的书法作品，总是勤奋和聪慧的结合，柳公权也不例外。他遍师前贤，如王羲之、欧阳询和颜真卿，然后化成自己的风格。柳公权的学书之路，可以给我们一些有益的启示。

We’ll come to the end of today’s introduction. There is a truth we need to say. We call these famous people above calligraphers, in fact, they were not the professional calligraphers. They were all high officials in the government. Some of them were generals, some were the teachers of princes. For them, handwriting was just the daily work. In their eyes, calligraphy was the last thing they have to do, realizing their political ideas were the first thing they must do. Even so, they created extraordinary works in the history.

本期即将结束。最后说一点：我们将以上诸公称为书法家，事实上，在古代，他们并非专业书法家。他们都是政府高官，有的是将军，有的是太子的老师。对于他们来说，书法是日常琐务而已。书法是他们人生中最末的事，实现政治抱负才是他们的终身大事。虽然如此，他们却创造出了了不起的书法作品。