中国书法｜徐英才作｜吴桐诵(英文)

Chinese Calligraphy
Written and translated by Xu Yingcai

Mona Lisa’s smile
is lifelike
------The art of painting is so vividly real
it exhibits the ultimate in concreteness, imagery, and color
but lacks rhythm to inspire dances

Beethoven’s “The Destiny”
is majestic
------The art of music is so emotion-capturing
it exhibits the ultimate in abstractness, rhythm, and color
but lacks concreteness to amaze listeners

Is there, in this world
an art that is inclusive of all these artistic elements
If so
what an ideal art that would be

Yes, there is
That is the very Chinese calligraphy

Chinese calligraphy
through small seal, clerical, running, cursive, and regular scripts
presents concreteness

through Zhang, Jin, Xing, Kuang’s cursive scripts
reveals abstractness

through saturated, burned, light, dry, wet, thirsty inks
displays color

and through quick, rushing, shifting, accommodating, connecting brush-movements
shows rhythm

Chinese calligraphy
comes from Fuxi’s Eight Trigrams
which reveals
with the meaning of lines, the philosophical connotations of Yin and Yang

comes from Legalist’s Small Seal script
which reflects
with the light and shadow of swords, the decisive individuality

comes from Confucianist’s Clerical script
which highlights
with the politeness, vigorousness, and quaintness, the essence of the Doctrine of the Mean

comes from Wang Xizhi’s Lanting script
which illustrates
with its flow and elegance, Lao Zhuang’s thoughts

comes from Zhang Xu’s wild cursive script
which projects
with the indulgence of frenzied speed, the freedom of expressing

comes from the regular script of the four masters, Yan, Liu, Ouyang, and Zhao
which looks neat yet dances
the graceful three-step dance
and steady yet glows
with the vibrant life of flowing spirit

The most beautiful thing in this world
is not a mountain or a running river
nor a tree, or a flower, or grass
It is life
Chinese calligraphy
is live with blood, flesh, muscle, bone, and air

The most beautiful thing in this world
is not a walking animal, or a flying bird, or a crawling insect
nor a deer, or a bumblebee, or a butterfly
It is life with a soul
Chinese calligraphy
with every character in a square shape internally and round externally
implies the cosmology of dome-shaped heaven vs. square-shaped earth and motion vs. static

Chinese calligraphy
with the contradictions of long vs. short, thick vs. thin, saturated vs. light, front vs. back……
suggests the contradiction of Yin and Yang and dialectics
------Philosophy
Philosophy is the soul of life of Chinese calligraphy

With this art
when in a gentle mood
I can make lotus flowers over the pond dance
With this art
when in indignation
I can make the Yellow River run thousands of miles in one gush
With this art
when in high spirits
I can make thousands of horses on prairie chase wind and thunder

Oh, with this art, the art of Chinese calligraphy------
the most expressive of individuality
I can express any kind of thought-waves welling in my heart