An English
Educated Student and Chinese Calligraphy
Dr Chen
Jian Hua
There is a
common perception that Chinese calligraphy as an art form is "culturally specific"
implying that a good foundation in Chinese culture, in particular the Chinese
language, is necessary to appreciating and writing calligraphy. Some even liken
Chinese calligraphy to the crowning jewel in Chinese art and culture.
Traditionally, a good calligraphy hand was seen to reflect not only a person's
learning and self-cultivation, it was also considered an extension of his/her
personality.
Growing up
in an English and Cantonese speaking environment, with barely two years of
private lessons in Chinese, I was made acutely aware of the vacuum in my
"cultural ballast". Yet within the broader cultural environment of a
"huayi" (华裔)
in Southeast Asia, I was culturally exposed to many things Chinese, be it
ethnic food, folk religion, ancestral rites, popular music, Cantonese
"talkies" and opera, festivals, Rediffusion, etc. Call it "low
culture" (not in a derogatory sense) if you like, but it was no less
"cultural".
However
the reading and writing in Chinese just eluded me. Since I could neither read
nor write, I occasionally found myself described in jest as
"uneducated". This void was starkly brought home to me during my
under-graduate and post-graduate studies in London where among other things, I
regularly did the rounds of museums and oriental galleries. Whenever I stood
before a piece of Chinese calligraphy, I could intuitively sense its aesthetic
beauty but could never articulate the reasons why I felt that way. And if I
disliked it, I probably did so for the "wrong reasons"! More
importantly, I could not make sense of its contents, literary context, history
or origin.
In
subsequent years, an exclusively English language work environment provided
little incentive to make good the gaps in my Chinese education. It was only
upon retirement that I found the leisure to reconnect with my cultural past,
hopefully at a higher level. Although inevitably, there was a tinge of regret,
knowing that time was no longer on my side.
So instead
of waiting for the "fundamentals" to fall in place i.e., attaining an
acceptable level of proficiency in the Chinese language as a foundation stone
to learning calligraphy, I decided to use calligraphy as a back-to-front
approach to learn more about Chinese language, culture, history, philosophy,
literature, and even imperial court politics. I recall Zhou Xingsi's ( 周兴嗣, 470-521) assignment to compile the thousand
character text，the "Qian Zi Wen" (千字文) wherein no two characters were
alike - and incidentally drawing upon the calligraphic legacy of Wang Xizhi (王羲之, 303-361) for the purpose of
teaching calligraphy to the sons of Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty (梁武帝). What I have tried to do is turn
that around, using calligraphy to re-learn the "Qian Zi Wen" and
other elementary-level Chinese classics that I had a fleeting encounter with in
the Cantonese dialect, during the few months before I went for overseas
studies. This is a personal experience and some might think my approach is too
clever by half!
I was
fortunate in getting started in calligraphy by a bi-lingual teacher who did not
subscribe to the view that proficiency in Chinese was a pre-requisite to
learning calligraphy. More importantly, he taught in the English language at
least in his basic education course. Readily available English language books
on Chinese calligraphy helped supplement the needs of a newbie like me. By
sheer luck, I also found another compatible teacher to help build up my Chinese
language, side by side with my calligraphy learning.
Along the
way, I began to acquire an interest, even love, for Tang and Song poetry - the
sources of many calligraphy "copy books" that we use. I recall an
incident about 4 years ago during lunch with my Chinese language teacher, when
he suddenly recited in melodious Cantonese, Du Fu's (杜甫)
poem of yearning, "Thinking of my Brothers on a Moonlit Night" (月夜忆舍弟) and proceeded to write it down
for me to take away. I was so struck just hearing the terse, beautiful poem
that I resolved to learn, recite and perhaps even write it with brush. And when
I eventually progressed to writing with the aid of calligraphy copy-books, I
found page after page of Tang and Song poems including that very poem by Du Fu
which fired up my curiosity in the first place. Thereafter calligraphy gave me
a new purpose as it opened another window to Chinese literary experience and
language learning.
Returning
to the "terra firma" of Chinese calligraphy, there is the inevitable
basic training (基本功) which any student has to undergo.
At this basic level of "gong" (功)
or effort/work，an English educated student with a
rudimentary knowledge of Chinese can, with constant practise and perseverance,
acquire competency in brush technique, word structuring, appreciation of
"flow" between characters, acquaintance with different calligraphic
styles of the iconic masters, familiarity with a variety of scripts - from the
official script (隶书)，standard
script (楷书)，running
script (行书) to cursive script (草书) and layout of characters within
the scroll. All these will add up to a considerable achievement and with
encouragement from an enthusiastic teacher, trigger a curiosity about what lies
ahead.
However,
beyond basics, a host of challenges await the student aspiring to move his/her
calligraphy to higher planes - advancing from the basic "gong" to
"yi" ( 意) or "thought force" that
sharpens the intent and focus, to "qi" (气)
that gives life or breadth to a character and the flow from one character to
the next, and finally to "shen" (神)
that captures the spirit of the piece that is written and expresses its
essence.
It is
precisely at these frontiers that lack of Chinese proficiency can pose a
certain barrier, for there is a wealth of resources, commentaries and analyses
as well as annotated collections of writings in classical and modern Chinese
that will remain elusive. At higher levels of calligraphy learning and
practice, much of the discourse and interactives are conducted in Chinese
(Mandarin). Meaningful engagement in such experience-sharing among peers and
with learned teachers will necessitate a good grasp of the language.
But even
at the basic level, while language proficiency is not a prerequisite, some
acquaintance with the language is helpful to make sense of the texts from which
the contents of the copy books are derived. The alternative would be blind
copying. I also found that familiarity with "hanyu pinyin" (Chinese
phonetic system) was most useful in bridging the gap between the simplified
texts (简体字) that conveniently accompany the
scripts to be copied, and the English language I operate in. While the simplified
characters provide an essential tool for a student trying to figure out the
Chinese scripts, "hanyu pinyin" helps to locate the characters in an
e-dictionary thus helping to fathom the meaning of each character and ultimately
the piece as a whole.
Thinking
of the challenges at a higher level, i sometimes wonder whether it is the
"spirit" of a poem or a particular passage of prose that moves the
brush and gives special character and spontaneity (the so called "Omph
factor" ) to a piece of calligraphy.
Can such "spirit" be transmitted in a non -Chinese medium or will
something be inevitably lost in translation? A related question is whether the
availability of more local and contemporary themes in copy books (which remain
largely grounded in classical literature) might make calligraphy more
relatable.
These are
just personal musings, nagging reminders that the English educated student with
limited knowledge of Chinese may increasingly have to contend with a glass
ceiling as he/she progresses. To me,
this was brought home starkly as I began to learn "caoshu" (草书) the cursive or "grass
script" where accurate reading of each character, understanding the
cursive derivatives from the traditional characters (繁体字) and ability to recall the cursive characters as one
writes (instead of breaking the flow by having to constantly refer to the copy
book) are essentials for ease of writing or avoidance of hesitancy within the
calligraphic piece.
For me the
road is long but the days are short. I reconcile myself to the glass ceiling
with the reminder that an enjoyable journey through self-cultivation and self-awareness,
can be even more important than the destination
- no matter what claims have been
about the contribution of calligraphy (through calmness of heart, stillness of
mind and purity in breadth) to one's longevity!
Chen
Jianhua (乐游人)
