Chinese Characters: The Art of Painting The Word
Language: English
Pages: 80
ISBN: 0740728954
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The strokes used in Chinese characters were originally fashioned after bird tracks and shadows cast by trees. They are beautifully expressive even to those who do not understand their meaning. To the Chinese, writing is not only a means of communication, it also has the force to transform reality. The book in this box introduces the history of Chinese writing and gives many examples of the way in which simple brush strokes are combined to convey not only words but also complete ideas. The Chinese character tattoos that accompany the book can be harmlessly and temporarily adhered to the body for a wonderful and exotic effect
made in 2000 B.C.E. The drawings may be an evocation to the spirit of animals that have been killed in a hunt. The term “oracle bones” is used to describe the ancient remains of ox and deer bones and tortoiseshells that were used to communicate with Heaven. Many of these have been unearthed by farmers as they plowed their ?elds. Speci?c questions like “Will it rain?” “Will the hunt be good?” were inscribed onto the bones. A pointed instrument was then heated and applied. Heaven
responded in the form of cracks at the point of the incision. These cracks, or auguries, were read by those who were in charge of this vital communication and their interpretations were then recorded on the surface of the bone. At left is a drawing from an ancient tortoiseshell showing these divine communications. It dates from around 1500 B.C.E. Some of the signs are still recognizable today. In the thousands of years that have passed since the early incisions on oracle bones the
rigid and gave a thick square line. The ?ber tip was eventually replaced with a leather one, which was softer and more ?exible. It was a man named Meng-t’ien who really changed things. He replaced the leather tip with a tuft of soft animal hair, making it possible to create lines of varying intensity. Meng-t’ien maintained that this new brush could create every sort of effect when placed in a skillful hand—everything from a thin, threadlike line to a thick one, from a full rich stroke to a
comes to use the ink, it is mixed on an ink stone that has two wells hollowed out on its surface. One of these wells is a container for water. In the other, larger well, the ink tablet is rubbed to produce a ?ne black powder. The powder is then diluted with water. By skillfully mixing the powder with the water, a good calligrapher can obtain the shades known to the Chinese as “the ?ve shades of black.” Like all writing, Chinese characters communicate ideas. However, unlike the alphabet we
pro?le was later altered to show the bird in ?ight with open wings. To give birth The earth gives birth to everything. Thus the drawing of a plant shooting up out of the earth toward the sunlight depicts the idea of being born, of growing, and of giving birth. Fish The ?rst drawings of the word for ?sh portrayed the scales of its body. Over time, the head was added. The tail was reduced to four small strokes which also indicate the tongues of a ?ame—accentuating the Chinese