Chinese Arts
Chinese Performance Arts Overview
Spiritual civilization, like material civilization, belongs to the whole of mankind. The fine literary and artistic works of any country and nation are the common wealth of mankind and part of the world trdasure-house of culture. As the famous Chinese writer Lu Xun said, 'It is better for mankind not to be estranged from each other but to show concern for each other. The smoothest way to achieve the aim is the interflow of art.' The exchanges of culture and art are not only educational, but also bring people closer together. Such exchanges provide an opportunity for cultural cross-fertilization, enrich the culture and arts of different countries and enchance mutual understanding and friendship among all peoples.
Background
Since calligraphy is based on the written version of a language, we need to have a simple knowledge of the Chinese language before we can have an understanding of Chinese calligraphy. However, for the purpose of this article, I will not talk about the origin of the Chinese language and other characteristics. I will just concentrate on the form of written Chinese here.
How to Hold a Chinese Writing Brush
The Seal Script was developed in the late Western Zhou Dynasty (circa 850 BC) and became popular in the Qin State during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 BC to 256 BC). In view of the geographical spread of the different states which were able to enjoy a high degree of autonomy under the weak Eastern Zhou Emperor, variations had appeared in the written form of the languages used in the different states. After the Qin State (256 BC to 202 BC) had conquered all the other states during the Warring States Period (475 BC to 222BC) and then unified China, Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, decreed that the written language be standardized.