On 1984, Comrade Li Peiyu, a reporter from Jinghua Daily, came to me and said that there was a junior high school student weekly in Hebei and he wanted to find a calligrapher to open a column called "Talking about Calligraphy with Middle School Students". Before the Cultural Revolution, some schools had calligraphy classes. After the Cultural Revolution, most schools cancelled calligraphy classes. Now people want to learn, but no one teaches them. They hope to write some easy-to-understand, easy-to-master and enlightening essays for middle school students. Each text is about 600 words. Because the newspaper was busy, did you answer it? On second thought, I accepted the job. I learned about the desire of some middle school students and parents to learn calligraphy from my childhood experience. At the same time, I consulted some ancient and modern materials about learning calligraphy and calligraphy knowledge, and began to sketch, writing one by one, intermittently for nearly two years.
According to the leaders of junior high school weekly at that time, their columns were very popular with middle school students and parents, and the circulation of newspapers increased a lot. As a result, I was hired as a consultant by junior high school weekly, ranking behind "Qigong, Huaguan" and other famous artists. When each issue is published, these names are printed at the bottom of the first page of the newspaper. At that time, many people wrote to me and put forward suggestions, hoping to sort out what they wrote in this column and publish it into a book, which will definitely sell well. However, because of the hectic work, I always want to publish it when I have time.
During the SARS period the year before last, I began to organize and write this book. In order to let primary and secondary school students have a deeper understanding of calligraphy, I have added etymology, Liushu, pen calligraphy and artistic words, truth, line, grass, official seal, seal cutting and other contents on the original basis, striving to be short and accurate. Sometimes, in order to find out a problem, it is often necessary to consult a lot of materials in many versions. For me, writing this book is really more time-consuming than writing a book on literary creation. For example, I remember reading a piece of information that the "Song-style characters" mentioned in the book are not our "domestic products", but the creation of Irish beautification of Chinese characters. I can't just rely on memory. Later, I finally found this information, and I was only practical when I quoted it. Because, I am facing primary and secondary school students! Even a standard word in the book should be selected from the masterpieces of famous calligraphers in past dynasties.
Speaking of "Introduction to Calligraphy for Primary and Secondary School Students", we can't help but mention the large-scale social activities of "Revitalizing China" calligraphy contest held by Beijing Daily 1983. The large number of participants, extensive publicity and the grand exhibition of that event can be said to have contributed to the "calligraphy fever"-because the influence of this activity has expanded rapidly in Beijing, the political, economic and cultural center. At that time, as a reporter, the newspaper sent me to do comprehensive coverage, news, communication and photography. For a time, learning calligraphy and publishing books about calligraphy became hot. Up to now, there are so many publishing houses in China, no matter what their names are, how many have not published books on calligraphy? How many shelves are occupied by books about calligraphy in the bookstore? Publishing other books often loses money, but it is not uncommon for calligraphy books to make a profit. This shows people's love for the art of calligraphy. It should also be mentioned that in the early 1980s, after the establishment of the China Calligraphers Association, calligraphers who were keen on the excellent traditional culture of China and devoted themselves to the art of calligraphy in China felt "at home", so the upsurge of promoting the art of calligraphy gradually set off. There is not only a national calligraphy exhibition organized by China Calligraphers Association, but also important national activities, traditional festivals such as Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, collecting customs, etc., which rejuvenates the ancient art of calligraphy.
In today's world, Chinese is the oldest living language in the world, and only Chinese characters are used to form the art of calligraphy, which is something we should be proud of. Calligraphy is the quintessence of China. We should know it, understand it, learn it, master it, use it and carry it forward-this is our responsibility. Since the establishment of China Calligraphers Association for more than 20 years, the development of calligraphy art has attracted worldwide attention. However, calligraphy has not been included in the schedule of learning calligraphy for primary and secondary school students, let alone mastering the essentials and methods of learning calligraphy. Although computers are widely used now, we primary and middle school students should learn Chinese characters well and write them well.