Talking about Learning and Teaching of Calligraphy
As the carrier of Chinese cultural inheritance, Chinese characters contain the ingenuity, rich artistic thinking and rational thinking of the ancestors. From oracle bone inscriptions to the present, Chinese characters have undergone more than 3,000 years of evolution. Over time, a set of knowledge about writing has been formed, and this knowledge directly affects or constitutes its inner soul. It is literature, history, philosophy, etc. Knowledge cultivation. The Qin and Han Dynasties created a unified political structure that dominated China for two thousand years, and promulgated a series of unified measures across the country, especially the unified language and moral codes, which became an effective guarantee for the long-term unification of subsequent regimes. "Chinese characters and ethics and moral norms are still the main cohesive factors of the Chinese nation at home and abroad to this day." China's multi-ethnic country relies on cultural thoughts and writing as the link. Students' writing skills are related to their future development. As literate Chinese, we use Chinese characters every day and cherish it. Only by writing it well can we be worthy of our ancestors.
However, with the development of society, the change of humanistic concepts, and the advancement of science and technology, especially the application of computers and copiers, Chinese teaching in primary and secondary schools has gradually "lightened" writing. I remember that in the 1950s and 1960s, there was a large imitation class in primary schools, which was where primary school Chinese teachers taught primary school students to write calligraphy. Those who became literati in that era wrote decently. It’s not good now, it’s not as good as before, most of the students’ handwriting is irregular, some are even unreadable, no wonder the students can’t write well, just look at the teacher’s handwriting, and some are too "shame" to put on the blackboard Meet the students. There are many reasons for the low level of Chinese character writing. The times have changed, and the requirements for students have also changed with the trend. For example, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the system of "selecting scholars by books" was implemented, focusing on whether the handwriting is good or not. If you read well, you must write well; The handwriting is not good. Today, whether a student is good or not is measured by the test scores of "examination-oriented education", so good grades do not necessarily mean good handwriting. Most of the outstanding high school graduates apply for famous universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Nankai, etc., while the poor ones apply for vocational technical colleges, art colleges, etc., and calligraphy has little influence on them. It seems that the inheritance of Chinese calligraphy art And the development depends on the calligraphy major of the university and the calligraphy circle. As far as writing tools are concerned, brushes were used in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and hard pens are now used. Writing Chinese characters with hard pens is an innovative revolution in writing tools, which has epoch-making significance, but it also poses a problem for writers to write well. It is necessary to inherit the traditional calligraphy. It is really difficult to write the characters as beautifully as the ancients.
Perhaps education experts recognized the above phenomenon and took remedial measures: First, in order to develop students' hobbies, broaden their knowledge, cultivate their specialties, and improve their language ability, "Chinese Characters and Calligraphy" and "The Dialectical Development of Ancient Characters" Included in elective course materials. Calligraphy works of famous masters such as Wang Xizhi and Wen Zhengming appear in many textbooks. Its intention is self-evident. Second, the Chinese proposition of the new college entrance examination puts forward requirements for "words". 60 points for composition, including 20 points for the development level, 40 points for the basic level (20 points for expression, words are expressions), the first-class fonts are neat, and the second-class fonts are more neat. The third-class handwriting is clear, and the fourth-class handwriting is illegible. It is very appropriate to include words in the expression here. Writing is a lyrical art that expresses emotions. There is no requirement for beauty in art, which may be due to the current situation of candidates' writing. Candidates cannot speak orally in the examination room, but can only express with pen and writing. In order to compete for grades, candidates must write well, but there are still some poorly written ones. Over the years, it is not uncommon for high-level candidates to lose points due to their writing.
How to practice good handwriting? Lintie is the most convenient way. Throughout the history of the development of calligraphy art in our country, since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, until the middle of the Qing Dynasty, it is basically a development history with calligraphy as the mainstream. From ancient times to the present, anyone who became a calligrapher, or made some achievements in calligraphy, grew up under the nourishment of calligraphy. They either carved out a family, extended to other families, or learned from both, and then formed a family of their own. Today's middle school students' calligraphy is not so much a free style, it is better to say it is a wild style, and it does not stand out from a certain school. Zhong Yao of Cao Wei transformed official script into regular script, and Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty learned from others to make regular script more perfect. His representative works of regular script "Huang Ting Jing", "Yue Yi Lun" and "The Stele of Filial Piety Cao'e" have been published for more than 1600 years and have been regarded by calligraphers of all dynasties. For top-grade, high-quality, and model study, such as the temporary work "Huang Ting Jing" preserved in the museum, the authors include Anonymous in the Tang Dynasty, Zhao Mengzhaoye in the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yunming and Dong Qichang in the Ming Dynasty, and Wang Duo in the Qing Dynasty. Modern calligraphers believe that learning regular script without learning "Huang Ting Jing" will lead to wild ways. The Tang monk went to the West to learn the scriptures, and obtained the scriptures in regular script. The scriptures are the "Huang Ting Jing". Wang Xizhi's works are China's excellent cultural heritage, which still radiate dazzling brilliance and can be inherited as they are. His scriptures are brush scripts, which students can copy. Hard-tipped characters are biochemically derived from brush characters, and the writing method can only follow the rules of brush characters. No matter how many schools of calligraphy, the rules are still the origin of Wang Xizhi. ". The ancients paid attention to the eight methods of the word "Yong" in writing official scripts, that is, the current dots, horizontal (le), vertical (nu), short skimming (pecking), long skimming (plundering), picking (polishing), pressing (棔), The eight kinds of strokes such as hook (趯) should be written according to Wang Xizhi's rules. As for "Lanting Preface", it is also a must-see work for those who study calligraphy.
Zhuge Liang's "Before the Teacher's Biao" is a famous article through the ages. Mr. Liu Xiaoqing, the author of the regular script "Executing Teachers", is a famous middle-aged calligrapher and theorist in my country. His works are stable and neat, elegant and beautiful, with profound artistic conception, and both refined and popular. He once performed calligraphy for Mr. Clinton. He attaches great importance to traditional laws and regular script. Taking the example of Wang Xizhi, he has unique experience in Tang Kai. This post is especially suitable for beginners of regular script, and it is a good model. As long as the students have mastered two or three hundred characters, regular script will be able to advance to a higher level. The characters for homework are naturally neat and tidy. Teachers will be happy to see the characters on the composition grid.
Calligraphy circles emphasize "the literary accomplishment of calligraphers". The author believes that calligraphy is the essence of Chinese culture and the quintessence of the country. Professor Ouyang Zhongshi gave a speech at Shandong University last year. He said: "For example, in a certain hotel, there is a calligrapher's word 'return to come' hanging on the door. These four words clearly mean that you should go home quickly, we don’t welcome you here.” When writing, one must consider the content of writing, the object of service, the environment in which they live, etc. There are issues of culture and literary accomplishment. In addition to the skills required for calligraphy, calligraphers must also have considerable literary accomplishment and literary writing ability, which is the same as calligraphers must have philology and aesthetics. Mr. Li Kuchan, a master of traditional Chinese painting, once said: "Calligraphers and painters write wrongly and paint badly, and they will be underestimated." He also said: "There is calligraphy above painting, literature above calligraphy, and music above literature. What is painting and calligraphy? Home knowledge? This is it.” The word is “facade”, and the decoration of the facade is not good, so it is difficult to attract people, so we must solve the problem of “books”, improve the writing efficiency, and write in a scientific and standardized manner. The artistic realm is dominated by beauty. Therefore, it is also necessary to write beautifully, so that students can accept it, read it willingly, like your writing, and like you as a person. The teacher's handwriting has a great influence on the students. If you write well, maybe the students' handwriting is like yours. This is called subtle influence. Calligraphy can not only reflect a teacher's artistic skills in the classroom, but also reflects his personality to a certain extent.
