There are two main factors that make the words written by China people become works of art: one is that the beginning of Chinese characters is pictographic, and the other is the pen used by China people. Xu Shen's Preface to Shuo Wen explains the definition of writing: Cang Xie's early book, Gai Yi is like a pictograph, so it is called writing. Later, the sound and form brought out the best in each other, that is, the called word, the spoken word and the word were nurtured and soaked (this is based on Xu Xuan's version, and Duan Yucai's version of Zuo Zhuan Justice supplemented the sentence "the image of the author is the foundation"), and the words and characters were processed. Monosyllabic characters, like Shui Mu, are "characters", and traditional Chinese characters, like Liuliu, are "characters", which are derived from "sound and form are beneficial to each other, but they are soaked with evil milk". In ancient times, the correct name of writing was "book".
The task of a book is, for example, to write words that "resemble" our grasp and understanding of objects in our hearts. Abstract stippling is used to express "object images", that is to say, "characters" in object images are the order interwoven in an object image or the relationship between object images: length, size, density, bow, response, back-to-back, interspersed and other laws and structures. And this grasped "text" also reflects people's emotional response to them. This kind of "emotion-based, emotion-based" word has been sublimated to the artistic realm, which has artistic value and become the object of aesthetics.
The second main factor is the pen. Calligraphy comes from the hand of (), which is a pen, seal script, like a pen handle, and the pen is sticky. Yin people have pens. This special tool makes it possible for China people's calligraphy to become a unique art in the world, and also makes Chinese painting have a unique style. China people's pens are made of animal hair (mainly rabbit hair). It is extremely flexible, so its size and variety are infinite. This is unmatched by Europeans with pens, signature pens, pencils and oil painting pens.
From the invention and application of this pen in Yin Dynasty, the art of calligraphy was created and developed greatly in past dynasties. The Preface to the Orchid Pavilion by Wang Xizhi, a peerless treasure of Li Shimin of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, was reluctant to put it down when he was dying, begging his son to let him take it into the coffin. You can imagine the position of China's calligraphy art at the peak of China's art. How is this possible?
As we have said before, it is based on two main factors. First, Chinese characters are pictographic from the beginning, and this visual artistic conception is hidden and implied in the "font" of "more milk and more bubbles" later. In the strokes, structure and composition of Chinese characters, the association of bones, tendons, flesh, blood and movements in the image is displayed.
Later, from pictographic to homophonic, the form and sound complement each other, enriching the artistic conception of the word' Jiang', such as the words' Jiang' and' He', making people seem to have witnessed the water flow and heard the sound of water. Therefore, a quatrain in the Tang Dynasty, if written in beautiful calligraphy, can not only make us appreciate poetry, but also be picturesque. Poems written on couplets or banners hanging on the wall are as beautiful as paintings, and they are also a comprehensive art, like many other arts in China.