Text/Peking University Calligraphy Art Research Institute Gengyun Liu Shi Baiqiang
Dear leaders, experts and scholars,
Hello!
On April 27th this year, several of our classmates listened to Peking University Papers written by Xia, deputy director and mayor of Peking University Calligraphy Institute. At that time, Vice Mayor Xia particularly emphasized that rice paper is "alive" and "paper lives for thousands of years". Although several months have passed, it seems as if it was yesterday that we talked about it today. Professor Wang Yuechuan also said more than once: "Calligrapher, have you ever used Xuan paper?" Such an inspiring sentence. Looking back at their views, the problems behind them deserve attention. As Vice Mayor Xia said, "Most of the paper you use now is calligraphy and painting paper, which costs tens of dollars, and rice paper costs more than 200 dollars. Tall 1000 yuan a knife, and there are more than 2000. So, what's the difference between this kind of rice paper and painting paper? If nothing else, just say shelf life. This kind of calligraphy and painting paper can be preserved for 50 to 80 years at most, and rice paper can be preserved for more than 1000 years, and 1000 years will not be bad.
As we all know, papermaking, as one of the four great inventions in China, is closely related to the name of Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In fact, 1975 found the "Baqiao Paper" in an ancient tomb of the Western Han Dynasty in Baqiao, a suburb of Xi, Shaanxi, more than 200 years earlier than the "Cai Hou Paper". Related documents, such as The General Meaning of Customs in the 2nd century A.D., also recorded that there were papers and books written in paper long before the appearance of "Cai Hou Paper". In other words, paper has a history of at least 2000 years in China, and the appearance of Cai Hou paper indicates that China's papermaking technology has made great progress. From the 3rd century to the 6th century, paper has replaced silk and bamboo slips as the main writing materials. Since then, papermaking has also begun to affect neighboring countries and European and American countries, providing great convenience for the development and exchange of world culture. Xuan Paper in Four Treasures of the Study began in Jingxian County, southern Anhui Province in the Tang Dynasty, and was named after Xuanzhou Prefecture in history. At the same time, we know that Professor Wang Yuechuan put forward the concept of "cultural calligraphy". Then, the question we want to ask now is, what is the relationship between "cultural calligraphy" and "paper life for thousands of years"?
As we all know, Mr. Huang Hongbin, a modern painter in China, carries "Old Ink" with him. He not only paid attention to brushwork and ink painting, but also integrated the spirit of three generations of inscriptions into the landscape, creating a colorful landscape realm; Another great calligrapher, Mr. Wang Quchang, according to an insider, he used Su Mo when writing big characters, and his brushwork was very dignified. It is no wonder that Wang's "The Book" can show us the vast atmosphere of "a thousand miles of clouds". Here, we can easily find that while parents attach importance to tools and materials, their ideological realm also carries the rich, ingenious, long-standing and endless spirit of traditional culture. I think that when Professor Wang Yuechuan puts forward the concept of "cultural calligraphy", he will not only study calligraphy from the internal methods such as calligraphy, calligraphy, external methods such as life, realm and Tao, but also from the level of writing tools and materials. Facing up to tool materials, on the one hand, we should believe in the potential of tradition. For example, Xia Yuexing, vice mayor, said that "Xuan paper is alive, except for long fibers, and the microorganisms in it are very active, and the microorganisms themselves have an impact on Mo Yun". On the other hand, we should also understand its limitations, that is, the tool material is a part of the work, not the whole. Calligraphy culture can't be separated from human discovery in the final analysis.
However, in general, people's thinking is always inclined to dualism. When people face tools and materials (rice paper), they pay more attention to crops, which widens the distance between people and things for no reason and blurs the harmonious relationship between people and things. As Sun described in the Book Score, it is "paper and ink are indistinguishable", not "paper and ink are in harmony". In this sense, when we can't fully understand the performance of tool materials, we can't do everything, how can we do everything? It can be said that in a certain artistic realm, there is no absolute gap between human nature and physical property. It can even be said that human nature is realized by the nature of things. The key is the cultivation of "sincerity". Therefore, when we understand calligraphy from the perspective of creativity, imagination and intuition, and return to human nature, we also realize that the national Xuan paper business supported by him is both artistic and national. At the banquet table the day before yesterday, we noticed that Vice Mayor Xia Yuexing talked about the possibility of using the advantages of China, Japan and South Korea to make the best paper in the world. Therefore, it is not enough for calligraphers to only understand the ontological characteristics of calligraphy. It is precisely because of the integration of the nature of things and human nature that the great art of calligraphy was born. In this case, it will be very meaningful for us to review this sentence in The Doctrine of the Mean: "Only when the world is sincere, in order to make the best use of everything, can we make human nature the best and things the best;" If you can do your best, you can praise the education of heaven and earth and you can participate in heaven and earth. "
In "On Paper in Peking University", we learned that the manufacture of Xuan paper is largely handed down by hand, but the problem is that young people are working outside now, and no one wants to do this job. But in the older generation, we can find that they have the elegance of collecting antiques. Do young people have this elegance? It's hard. In fact, since the 1990s, social transformation has made this problem more prominent. How to find a balance between tradition and modernity? Traditional rice paper manufacturing will inevitably encounter this problem. At the same time, China's calligraphy is also changing, and people's vision seems to be moving from the two kings system to other places, ignoring the classical meaning and moving towards folk calligraphy. So, yesterday morning, we were really excited when we witnessed "the production skills of Xuan paper and Hui ink as China's intangible cultural heritage". On the other hand, it also urges us to further understand the current significance of "cultural calligraphy".
We are convinced that the modernization of China is more than science and technology. In other words, society is in transition, and people are also in transition, from farming to industry, from electrical appliances to the information age, from tradition to modernity and then to postmodernism. Science and technology refresh the night sky again and again, cling to cloning and nuclear weapons technology, and plan how to dominate the fate of the earth and mankind. It can be said that society is progressing, but at the same time, progress and transformation are hungry for food, and the problem is more prominent. It is conceivable that if you are an enterprising person or a closed society, you may not have so many problems and consciousness. Therefore, when more people get on the express train of science and technology and go straight to a well-off society, they forget that the driver of this train is long gone. His absence is the loss of the text world and the lateness of his thoughts. The danger of this kind of train is well known. If you want to reduce the risk factor, you can't wait for the driver any longer, you can only rely on yourself. But if there is no such problem consciousness, when we call the bodhisattva, the bodhisattva is invalid; When he called, Nietzsche said, "God is dead"; When calling for people, Foucault declared that "people are dead." Finally, I can only feel the heavy body and desire in the social transformation. Such cultural calligraphy. Because the purpose of modernization is to pursue the progress of the times without ignoring the higher quality of life, that is, "better culture and quality of life." The proposal of calligraphy culture is believed to be a subject that people who care about calligraphy culture must think deeply.
In short, this is a silent world, but full of poetic language and the fragrance of human nature. Her cleanliness even requires writers to adjust their mentality to a snow-like state, otherwise, it will be difficult to achieve. Did you pass by at the moment when the images were colorful and the essence was condensed? But when you turn your back on yourself, you find that you can't do without traditional culture and cultural China. In the transitional society, everything is changing, but change always has its inherent laws. Right or wrong, black or white, the most important thing is to keep the light in your heart. Even if it is as bright as a bean, it will illuminate the black of the Millennium. At this time, the poet's words reminded us that the night gave me a pair of black eyes, but I want to use them to find light! Of course, this does not mean that classics are omnipotent. Classics only show their significance because they can turn on the light of our wisdom. While learning classics, we should have the ability of internal transformation to make classics possible, otherwise it is useless and useless. So don't forget the corresponding tools and materials while entering the scriptures. If tools are compared to rules, then cultural calligraphy is the Fiona Fang of human nature.
Confucius said, "Knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing, and knowing is also". With this attitude, we came to Xuancheng to attend the 2nd Cultural Tourism Festival of Four Treasures of the Study's Hometown in Xuancheng, China. One of the activities "China-Korea International Paper Culture Forum" will further deepen the meaning of "Peking University on paper". We come with an open mind and an open mind, hoping to hear more experts, scholars and paper mills explain the papermaking technology and Xuan paper culture. It can also be said that it gave us a material lesson and gave us such an opportunity to learn.