In other words, calligraphy refers to writing with its brushwork structure and composition according to the characteristics and significance of words, making it a beautiful work of art. In addition to Chinese characters, calligraphy in a broad sense also covers many non-Chinese writing arts, such as Arabic calligraphy, Sanskrit alphabet calligraphy, Vietnamese calligraphy and so on.
Calligraphy in a narrow sense, also known as "China Calligraphy", is the art of writing Chinese characters, especially the method and law of writing Chinese characters with a brush. China's calligraphy is not limited to China, but also has a very long history in other countries deeply influenced by China culture.
Chinese characters are different from foreign languages in stippling, structure and form. It has subtle changes, different forms and different interests. Through the rich changes in the strength, shade and thickness of stippling lines, the ups and downs of writing content and thoughts and feelings, and the distribution of fonts and lines, a beautiful composition layout is formed. Some are carved like jade dragons, some are towering peaks, some are handsome and unrestrained, and some are unrestrained. All these make the written words have a strong artistic color.
China's calligraphy has a long history and reflects the spirit of the times with different styles. Throughout the history of calligraphy, from Oracle Bone Inscriptions and bronze inscriptions to grand strategies, strategies and official scripts, the cursive script, regular script and running script stereotyped in the Eastern Han Dynasty and Wei and Jin Dynasties are all beautiful. "Jin has, law has, Song has Shangyi, Yuan has, and Tai has. Calligraphy in Jin Dynasty is beautiful, charming, romantic and unique, which embodies the elegance of literati and reveals a kind of demure beauty.
The calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty is rigorous and full of courage, which shows the national strength and pioneering spirit in the heyday of feudalism and is very beautiful. Calligraphy in Song Dynasty was ups and downs, calm and enjoyable. It was in the situation of national disaster and literary prosperity that literati were dissatisfied with the realistic personalized calligraphy and expressed their feelings with books.
Since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, China's feudal society has been stagnant and dying, which is reflected in the calligraphy advocating Gu Zhuo. As for the "anti-vulgarity" upsurge in calligraphy in the late Ming Dynasty and the rise of the wind of advocating inscriptions in the late Qing Dynasty, it is a sign of great social change. Tracing back to the development of calligraphy for 3,000 years, we can clearly see that it keeps pace with the development of China society and strongly reflects the spiritual outlook of each era.