Chinese Calligraphy

Ancient Chinese Calligraphy

‘Beautiful writing,’ most commonly referred to as Calligraphy or "Shu Fa", is descriptive of an oriental art form taken on by Asian cultures, most evidently including the Chinese, as a means of day-to-day life in terms of communication.

This tradition, approximately 4000 years old, remains highly regarded over painting and sculpture as through the use of a brush, ink, paper and ink stones are the basic elements and objects used as a means of self expression, communication and cultivation.

Particularly in ancient China, the unique beauty of calligraphy soon developed into an art as the defined characters in which were used were able to communicate the spiritual world of the artist. In doing so, an artist of this style would incorporate form, brush handling, presentation and style into their work, allowing them to convey emotions, character and integrity far beyond the symbols history based on legendary tales and on textual criticism in archaeology. During the imperial era, calligraphy was used as an important criterion for selection of executives to the Imperial court.

As the sole of Chinese culture, Calligraphy is painted by special calligraphy paper (Xuan paper), special brush and special ink. By controlling ink stroke, the thickness and absorption of the paper, and the flexibility of the brush being used, the artist is able to produce an infinite variety of styles and forms.


Calligraphy is not just another way of writing Chinese characters, but also a beautiful, elaborate and a stylish art of interpretation and a branch of learning. In essence, Calligraphy is an abstract art.

Websites used

http://www.chinapage.com/print1.html

http://www.chinavoc.com/arts/calligraphy/origin.asp

http://www.asiawind.com/art/callig/

http://www.asianartmall.com/calligraphyarticle.htm

http://www.wavedancing.net/knowledge/calligraphy/ancientchinesecalligraphy.htm

http://www.zein.se/patrick/chinen9p.html

http://www.chinesecalligraphysets.com/images/brush-sets/3469-calligraphy-brush-set.jpg

http://www.chinapage.org/calligraphy.html

http://www.rice-paper.com/uses/calligraphy.html

Book References

Guo, Bonan 1995. Gate to Chinese Calligraphy. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.