The first thing that comes to mind is that in addition to calligraphy and painting, the quintessence of the Chinese nation is Peking Opera.
However, calligraphy and painting are indeed the quintessence of the Chinese nation. The calligraphy and painting here need to be viewed separately, that is, calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting. I don’t think our artists would call oil paintings and watercolors the quintessence of our country.
Calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting are artistic carriers that originated in China and can reflect the cultural heritage and connotation of the Chinese people. Regardless of the commercial value of calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting, from the perspective of appreciation, Mr. Qi Baishi can outline a vivid shrimp with just a few strokes, and Mr. Xu Beihong can show a galloping horse with just a splash of ink. This expressive technique is enough. The world was amazed. Between the black and white of paper and ink, the brush and water mix the paper and ink into five colors: burnt, thick, heavy, light, and clear. In the rendering, mountains are stacked up; the meticulous outline makes birds and insects want to fly. It can be said that Chinese painting itself has infinite charm. After all, when the famous painter Picasso talked about Chinese paintings, he would not hesitate to praise: "The first people who are qualified to talk about art in this world are you Chinese; the second is the Japanese, and Japanese art originated from China."
It can be seen that Chinese painting is not only the quintessence of the country, but also the artistic quintessence of the entire world.
Let’s talk about calligraphy again. Although calligraphy is not only used in China, it is also used in Japan and South Korea. But the roots of calligraphy still belong to China. Every stroke left on the paper is the accumulation of time and effort. The same words in running script, cursive script and seal script have different interpretations in the hands of calligraphers. Some are delicate, some are rough, some are regular and complete, or some are flying and white. A layman may not be able to tell the difference, but an insider can tell the difference at a glance.
When we often say that you can see people by their words, we don’t mean pen calligraphy, but calligraphy. A person's personality can be fully reflected in his calligraphy works. Therefore, through occasional copying, apart from the techniques, it is more about feeling the integrity of the ancestors. And this is the essence of calligraphy inheritance.
Chinese calligraphy and painting are just techniques on the surface, but behind them they are full of feelings, vision, insights and thoughts. Everything drawn between the brush and rice paper has a unified spiritual core. And I think art that reaches this level is not only the quintessence of China, but also a world art treasure.