Being born in America, I was always fascinated by China. Chinese things always found their way in my room. I still have a few pieces from my collection that has survived. I've also been fascinated with calligraphy. I tried American calligraphy but instead I just wrote and wrote and wrote in my journals all the time. I recently after studying occultism found I ching. I've been doing that for a while and fell in love with the philosophy and how connected the I ching is. I also recently bought some things to do Chinese calligraphy and study the language. I didn't realize how connected calligraphy and I ching were connected. I felt a little confused as to why that would help me learn I ching but I wanted to read I ching in it's natural language which is Chinese. So, I said I guess I better learn the language. That way I can read and write the characters and know their meaning. I love how each character describes a scene. I still find it interesting that Calligraphy is actually part of the philosophy and had no Idea of the connection. I also found your channel and love it. I've always loved channels like this.

This series is brilliant, very accessible. My father (American) was born in Beijing in 1910, and I have been studying calligraphy many years, off and on, and as an East Asian art historian, Chinese calligraphies are essential in j\understanding Chinese history and its esteemed culture. Thank you!

Fascinating indeed.

Interesting and accessible introduction to this esteemed art form, too little known and appreciated in the West. The illustration of the variety of renderings Wang Xizhi made of a single character really drove home why he is universally regarded as one of the supreme masters of calligraphy. I am already looking forward to the other episodes of this survey of the Chinese art of writing.

@teawitherping7126

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

6/12/2021 I am a student of Ancient Chinese and Japanese History. I absolutely Love “Tea With ERPING.” I am already studying Japanese Kanji. This particular show on “The History of Chinese Calligraphy” pulls Everything together for Me! I am seeking a published version of “Tea With ERPING” to add to My Reference Library. As a Member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I find this series beautiful to view, relaxing, uplifting, inspiring. Thank You, Mr ERPING, for Your excellent series. I only wish I could know You, shake Your hand (or bow) to express My gratitude for All You are teaching Me. I refer My Family and Friends to “Tea With ERPING.” Mostly sincerely, Jorja Risinger, Austin, TEXAS. 🎋🙏🎋🇺🇸🎋🙏🎋

@bossb7045

Жыл бұрын

Rx but

@teawitherping7126

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

You are right my friend. I am not the same person. Thank you!

Nice video. I lived in Nanjing, and there I learned Shufa. The characters, the way the bristle moves across the paper. Sublime.

@teawitherping7126

Жыл бұрын

Hope you keep up the Shufa - it is an art form after all.

Very good. Thank you

a rich and clear presentation of Chinese calligraphy

@teawitherping7126

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Very good channel 👍 Bright, clean, well-thought-out content, neat editing, and of course, the radiant host 🌞

@sextusempiricus7819

3 жыл бұрын

The video was well done from an aesthetic point of view but is nonetheless riddled with unforgivable inaccuracies. I'll list them soon.

@teawitherping7126

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

👍

Wow great video. Masterful presentation👍

Do you ever drink the tea?

不错

As a comic book art fan, these guy are real artists like modern day Alex Raymond, Jack Kirby, Neal Adams.

@teawitherping7126

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

4 Arts. 琴 music 棋 chess 書 calligraphy 畫 painting

9:46

i wonder what is revealed in my calligraphy.

UNA EXQUISITESSE DE TEA.......

Thuganomics is not 1 of the 4 arts? Just kidding. I really admire the Chinese approach of mind over muscle, brain over brawn approach. Wile E. Coyote over Road Runner. Modern American culture take the muscle approach from Greek history. (They don't care about Euclid and stuff). They like the Olympics, the muscles of the statues, the 300 Spartans, Hercules and stuff. The real supermen are the Lex Luthors, the Brainiacs.

Poetry is actually considered the highest art. In 書法 書 doesn’t mean book, it means writing 書寫.

@Tyrhonius

11 ай бұрын

The highest art is generally said to be calligraphy, but a strong case can also be made for poetry of course. You are however right about the meaning of 書. I also point this out in my critique above.

Greetings. I'm an American graduate student studying calligraphic theory in Taiwan. Here are my observations and critiques after viewing this video. 0:45 The literal meaning of the character 書 is "writing," not book. It is phonetic-compound based on the semantic element 聿 (yu4), which means brush, and the phonetic component 者, which was simplified to 日, thus giving us the character 書. The character 法 means method (or standard), so 書法 (calligraphy) is more accurately translated as "method of writing." See the entry for 書 in the Shuo Wen Jie Zi (說文解字). 2:20 "The Chinese language is the oldest language in continuous use." I think the presenter means "written Chinese" is the oldest continuous "written" language, as spoken "Chinese" is not a language, but rather a blanket term for over 300 languages spoken in China today. Mandarin Chinese, spoken by 70% of the Chinese population, has only been around since 1932. That said, the earliest languages spoken in China have long since died out and it is not clear at present which written language has been in use the longest. 3:10 Knowing 2-3000 characters "alone" isn't sufficient to read a newspaper. Characters can stand alone but most often they combine to from words. For example, big 大 combined with small 小 means "size" 大小, but small 小 combined with heart 心 means "careful" 小心. Some character combinations can even take on different meanings when their positions are switched, such as 蜜蜂 bee and 蜂蜜 honey. Thus, you may know every character in a sentence while still being unable to "read" it. 4:50 Qin Shihuang’s unification of China last 15 years, not 11. 5:45 Just to clarify, clerical script first appeared during the Qin, not the Han. 6:00 In cursive writing, the brush DOES of course leave the page. One can verify this simply by looking the cursive characters presented here. 7:45 There is consensus on the exact number of brush strokes (the number “37” is mentioned here) for standard script. 

7:55 The running script, according the historical record, was invented by Liu Desheng 劉德昇 of the Later Han. 8:20 ”The cursive script, standard script and the running appeared during the time of the Six Dynasties." This is an odd claim. The standard, running and grass scripts all first emerged during the Han. The speaker in fact previously stated that the cursive script actually first appeared in the Han Dynasty. 9:20 Tang and Song were the “Golden Ages” of Chinese calligraphy? The Jin and Tang dynasties are typically regarded as the Golden Ages of Chinese philosophy. Contrary to what the speaker says, the latter half of the Song was actually a low point of calligraphic history as no towering figures emerged during this period (which is often characterized as a return to traditionalism). The emergence of theFour Great Calligraphers of the Northern Song (Cai Xiang, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu) on the other hand marked a high point in creativity (except for Cai Xiang who really deviated from the Jin style) though nature and status of their contributions have long been debated. 

Overall, the Song calligraphy is typically not seen as surpassing the splendor of the Tang, much less the Jin. This point can be illustrated by the fact that the "Top Three" running script texts hail from the Jin, Tang and Song respectively (the fourth and fifth are also from the Jin and Tang respectively). Yuan and Ming calligraphers for the most part saw the Jin as the Golden Age that has never and will never be surpassed. Some Qing calligraphers and critics even looked down upon the Tang, seeing it has having lost the ancient methodology of the Han and Six Dynasties periods. 9:35 The term “Four Treasures of the Studio” is said to have arisen during the Six Dynasties period according to Wikipedia (Chinese), though no textual evidence is provided. The earliest reference I could find is indeed from the Song. 10:20 Common misconception. Not all the brush strokes in calligraphy can be reduced to the Eight Strokes. Some obvious examples are 女, 戈 and 局. They all contain elements not found in the Eight Strokes. 10:30 The main definition of 永 yong3 is "forever” or “perpetual.” “Endurance" or "perseverance” are human traits. 永 has a wider extension than these two meanings. ” 10:35 The demonstration is not accurate. The dot typically requires an additional turning and pause before finishing the stroke. For the horizontal stroke, the edge is usually sharp or rounded, not squarish. The vertical stroke typically has slight curvature with nuance in the thickness. The hook following the vertical stroke is more restrained and should touch the left falling stroke. The left falling stroke for its part should be finished with an upward motion where the brush tip goes beyond of the boundaries of the stroke itself. The final stroke should not touch the falling left stroke. This is not an accurate depiction of how 永 should be written. One can check it against the 永 character at 10:35. 13:00 Calligraphers don’t necessarily need to find balance in themselves before writing. Running and cursive script (especially wild cursive) writings often reflect a wide range of emotions. 14:20 The great Tang calligrapher Yan Zhenqin was strangled to death, not released, on the orders of Li Xilie after the fire incident referenced in the video. Yan, due to court intrigue, was tasked with the impossible mission to persuade the rebel faction to surrender. Yan was immediately detained and then executed months later upon his continued refusal to defect. 15:35 Although Wang Xizhi is known as the Sage of Calligraphy, his seventh son, Wang Xianzhi, is typically regarded as his father’s equal. One's preference depends solely on artistic taste---Wang Xizhi for structural firmness and closer adherence to formal methods and Wang Xianzhi for his aesthetically-pleasing innovations that disintegrate the boundaries between the running and cursive scripts. 15:55 Liang Wu Di’s quote did NOT come after viewing Wang Xizhi’s Xing Rang Tie (行禳帖; the work shown in the video is a Tang copy) as stated here (or at least there is no evidence that supports this statement; the inscription of the quote seen on the left was written by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing. 
The famous phrase in question was actually BORROWED from Yuan Ang, a minister of the Liang court and calligraphy critic who had previously used it to describe Xiao Sihua’s (蕭思話) calligraphy. Liang Wu Du frequently discussed calligraphy with Yuan, eventually decreeing the official to produce a book critiquing the greatest calligraphers of all time. The work is entitled “Critiques of Calligraphers Past and Present” (古今書人評) and contains this famous quote that was later used to describe Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy. Side note: The final ruler of the Liang was Liang Yuan Di, who, upon his final defeat, committed his ENTIRE library, which purportedly included half of all of Wang XIzhi’s calligraphic works, to the flames. The event, which was nothing short of a cultural holocaust, is historically known as the “Burning of Books at Jiangling” (江陵焚書). 

17:10 The 42 literati at the Orchid Pavilion gathering were actually "punished" with cup of wine (罰酒) if they could NOT compose a poem--that was the whole point of the game. Thus, there is no reason to assume those who successfully wrote poems would have enjoyed a cup of wine afterwards. 19:30 According to Wang Xizhi’s own autobiography (part of which is quoted in Sun Guoting’s Shu Pu), the calligrapher claimed Zhang Zhi 張芝 (Eastern Han) washed his brush so much his pond turned completely black (and thus explaining why Zhang’s cursive was script to be superior to Wang’s own). Wang never claims to have done it himself. 20:30 Wang resigned out of frustration with a superior (Wang Shu) not to dedicate himself to calligrapher. According to Wang’s own words (see 十七帖 “The Seventeenth” Copybook), he enjoyed spending his days gardening. 20:45 The authenticity of the Lanting Xu has long been in question. That's an issue for another day.

@mousedynasty4953

10 ай бұрын

I agree with most of your points, and although i havent read all of them, i disagree on some of your counters: - There are many ways to write 永 in 楷書 script, in fact there are many ways to write a character in any script. If you look at a character dictionary you will see this variation. The only rule is that the character is balanced and to some extent, it uses the correct strokes (but this latter rule is sometimes ommited by experienced calligraphers). - I want to say that the 八法 method was introduced by 智永 but i dont remember. But yeah, I agree that the number of basic strokes has changed from time to time. I remember there was a lady calligrapher who came up with 60 something basic strokes and there was another dude who came up with 80 or 90 something. I guess this isnt really a counter to your counter😂😂. - I think to say 王獻之 was just as good as his father is not 100% correct. Maybe because his father came first and therefore his father became the pinnacle of calligraphy, but it seems to me that most books put more respect into 王羲之. But yes, the 二王 are definitely in the top 10 calligraphers of all time. I am interested in studying in Taiwan in the future too. I am thinking of going to National Taiwan University of Arts, where are you studying and how do you like your courses? I would appreciate what are some of the courses you are taking and need to take. Hope to hear back from you, take care😉

@Tyrhonius

8 ай бұрын

@mousedynasty4953 Thanks for your reply. While there is variation in styles and scripts, the character written here doesn't demonstrate any real knowledge of brush technique and is nowhere near on par with the characters you'll find a standard calligraphy dictionary. Just look at the squarish tip or starting point of the first horizontal stroke. That is definitely not how one should "enter the tip" (入鋒). Yes, 王獻之 is just as good as his father. Just compare Duckhead Pill 鴨頭丸 with any of 王羲之's standard or cursive script writings. The father's characters are sturdy and aesthetically pleasing but nonetheless lack the fluidity and stylistic flair that sets the son's writings apart. There's really no way to compare the two styles. Preference for one over the other entirely comes down to on one's individual aesthetic tastes. Actually I'm thinking of transferring to the school. I'm currently at NTNU (Normal Univ), but the training on calligraphic theory and history is sort of subpar. The same goes for NTU as well. I ended up stop auditing courses altogether because I got tired of correcting and debating whether to correct the teachers' mistakes. I've taken courses on cursive writing as well as four undergraduate level classes on basic calligraphy history and technique. We learned how write most of the scripts and various styles, design seals, read excerpts of classical calligraphic treatises (such as Shu Pu 書譜), write on fans, along with absorbing a tone of character etymology. I also took courses on traditional Chinese painting theory. That professor was the last of his kind, as there is waning interest in traditional or ancient artistic thought (which I find to be very inspiring). Mainland China is far better in terms of calligraphic research. There are no real scholars here or even serious journals for that matter. Essentially every book I have on the subject is from a mainland writer. Taiwan has been de-sinicizing the textbooks in public schools here for decades, so although lots of people still practice calligraphy, few generally know much regarding its history and theory. The National Palace Museum is no exception. The writing staff and "scholars" there are some of the most mediocre I've ever seen for a museum of such supposed stature. You can also check out on my corrections on another video: The Great Chinese Calligrapher Wang Xizhi | Ep. 96 (Teacup Media)

@mousedynasty4953

8 ай бұрын

@@Tyrhonius I would use your last point on your second paragraph to argue that in fact he could be writing well. Just like certain styles become more appreciated by future generations when they were not in the past. That kind of sucks, but it is understandable. I have also heard that in China, traditional brush painting has become less popular and calligraphy, well, my friend there who is a teacher is mandated to practice once a week, so that kind of tells the situation of such art,hehe.

@Tyrhonius

8 ай бұрын

@@mousedynasty4953 Well, you'd to tell WHY he could be writing well. If you're just invoking doubt without sufficient knowledge of brush methods and character structure, then there's no real conversation to be had on this issue. That overly long, quick, flippant hook at the end of horizontal stroke is the sign of an amateur writer. The brush typically needs to be pressed and turned before executing the hook. There are exceptions, but only those with a high level of mastery can pull it off without the result being mediocre.

@Tyrhonius

8 ай бұрын

@@mousedynasty4953 At least a lot kids there are writing. It's always refreshing dozens of them in their Hanfu writing at their little desks in public spaces during festivals. You won't find anything like that in Taiwan.

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