Practical Large Character Copybook. 16, Selected Characters from Cai Xiang's "Stele of Wan'an Bridge"

Author: Cai Xiang (Song Dynasty), Pillow Stone, compiled and edited by Li Zhiwei
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-07-01
Features: In daily life, writing standardized and aesthetically pleasing characters not only facilitates communication and interaction but also often brings people a sense of power and beauty effortlessly. Chinese calligraphy art remains radiant after millennia of continuous development, primarily because it combines both aesthetic and practical functions. Even today, with the widespread use of hard-tip writing and computers, calligraphy art maintains an unshakable position. In China, and even in East Asian regions deeply influenced by traditional Chinese culture such as Japan and South Korea, the ability to write well is still one of the criteria for measuring a person's comprehensive cultural literacy. Calligraphy refers to the rules of writing Chinese characters in various scripts ( Seal, Clerical, Regular, Running, Cursive) with a conical brush, as well as a traditional art that emphasizes grip, stroke, brush movement, structure, arrangement, composition, ink technique, and style. It typically requires a firm grip with an empty palm, five fingers working together, a relaxed and level wrist, and from a suspended position; strokes must be executed with a central brush tip, with each stroke reaching its full potential; structure should harmonize strokes and create a cohesive whole; arrangement and sequence should be varied yet unified, with a flowing rhythm that reflects the calligrapher's aesthetic taste and personality. To provide beginners with a solid foundation, we have selected this "Practical Large-Character Manuscript." We invited calligraphers to choose commonly used and particularly outstanding examples from ancient masterpieces, arranging them in the order of strokes and structure to help readers progress from simple to complex and master them step by step. Each example is accompanied by an auxiliary illustration showing the brush movement process, aiding readers in understanding and practicing. This manuscript is selected from Cai Xiang's (1012-1067) representative regular script work, the "Stele of Wan'an Bridge." Cai Xiang, styled Junmo, was a native of Xianyang, Fujian, and served as a member of the Endymion Hall. He excelled in regular, running, and cursive scripts, as well as clerical script, studying under Yu Shinan and Yan Zhenqing while also incorporating the techniques of the Jin dynasty. He was ranked alongside Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, and Mi Fu as the "Four Masters of the Song Dynasty," and was praised by Su Shi as "unmatched in talent and learning for his time." His regular script is dignified and steady—"large characters span several feet, while small ones are as fine as hair; in large characters, precision is maintained without loss of detail, and in small characters, spaciousness is preserved without excess." (Tao Zongyi's "Comprehensive Records of Calligraphy History") This manuscript fully validates the views of the ancients.