Calligraphy is an art unique to the Chinese nation and one of the outstanding traditional cultures of the Chinese nation. It not only has the same origin as Chinese painting and complements each other, but is also a symbol of Chinese philosophy, oriental culture and the spiritual temperament of the Chinese nation.
Mr. Lu Xun said: "The decoration of words is for aesthetic appreciation" and is "unique to China". This shows that: (1) The art of calligraphy uses Chinese characters as the carrier of expression. Chinese calligraphy is based on writing Chinese characters. Without Chinese characters as a carrier, Chinese calligraphy cannot exist at all.
(2) The art of calligraphy is expressed in the form of strokes dividing space. On paper, silk, damask, walls and other materials, according to or basically according to the knotting rules of Chinese characters, strokes are used to divide the space, and the structural form and overall image of the Chinese characters are obtained, so that they can express the formal beauty of the art of calligraphy. (3) Expressing the writer’s emotions is the connotation. Form exists to express connotation. The connotation of calligraphy is reflected in two aspects: First, the connotation expressed by calligraphy itself, which is the basis for the existence of calligraphy art. Calligraphers use skilled skills and brilliant means to pour all their artistic pursuits and aesthetic taste into their works, giving calligraphy works the richest connotation and creating high (or the highest) aesthetic value of calligraphy works. The second is to identify the connotation of the content, that is, the connotation expressed by the text content. This is an objective existence that the art of calligraphy cannot escape. Each Chinese character must express a certain content, and calligraphy must be based on Chinese characters and must contain a certain connotation. As an art, calligraphy is indispensable from the above two aspects. Only when these two aspects are unified can the art of calligraphy reach its richest connotation and highest realm.
(4) Calligraphy is a visual art. Calligraphers display high-grade calligraphy artworks with rich connotations in front of people, allowing people to appreciate the connotation of the works through examination and thinking, accept the infection of the works, feel the artistic charm of the works, and enjoy the pleasure brought by the beauty of the works. In other words, people appreciate the art of calligraphy through their visual senses.
So, what is calligraphy? In layman's terms, calligraphy is the art of writing Chinese characters. To be more precise, calligraphy is a line art that uses Chinese characters as the carrier of expression and a brush (or hard pen) as the expression tool.
In other words, the reason why calligraphy has become a unique traditional art in my country mainly benefits from two basic conditions - Chinese characters and brushes. That is, we can find the reason from the modeling foundation and expression tools of Chinese calligraphy. .