If a calligrapher expresses his personality through ink strokes unconsciously, he nevertheless expresses his talent and aesthetic sense through strokes consciously. If a calligrapher displays his personality through works briefly and generally, he nevertheless demonstrates his talent in a
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| A Letter Informing Recovery of Relatives and Friends, written by Lu Ji. | unique, thorough and attractive way, in order to arouse a strong response from the viewer.
Talent and aesthetic sense are rational, but also emotional, and play a strong guiding and promotional role for the creative enthusiasm of the calligrapher. Without them, the calligrapher finds it difficult to create excellent works and keep up his spirits in his study of calligraphy and striving for perfection. Also, if a viewer cannot see the high aesthetic sense and features of the calligrapher while appreciating his calligraphic works, he will find it difficult to have and keep a constant interest and increase the level of his aesthetic appreciation.
The skills the calligrapher demonstrates in his works are the most important, valuable, sustained and eternal self existing forms. The characters written in ink or carvings on stone (or tortoise shells or animal bones) silently illustrate the artistic soul of the calligrapher.
The earliest intact handwriting on paper by a famous calligrapher is a letter
written by Lu Ji (261-303), a man of letters and calligrapher of the Jin Dynasty. It is preserved in the
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| Tablet to Prince Shengxian, written in running hand by Wu Zetian. | Palace Museum in Beijing. It was held up as a model of its genre by later generations. This letter - consisting of 84 characters arranged in nine lines tells about his relatives and friends during a time of civil strife. Written with a worn-out writing brush, the characters demonstrate a style similar to both the "zhang cao" cursive script and "modern" cursive script. Lu Ji was born into a noble family, and built a good reputation for writing excellent essays. But he fell victim to political intrigue, and died at the age of 42.
Wu Zefian (624-705), the only empress in Chinese history, was also a calligrapher. She copied calligraphic works by Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi of the Jin Dynasty. Her Tablet to Prince Shengxian (see next page), written in the running script, shows powerful and full strokes and dots. In it there are several strange characters which hint at her unique personality. She usurped the power of the Tang Dynasty after she became empress, and changed the rifle of the dynasty during her rule. As an empress, she was arbitrary and extravagant, and aroused much popular opposition. Nevertheless, she is admired as a calligrapher, being held second only to the famous female calligrapher Lady Wei, or Wei Shuo (272-349), a teacher of the young Wang Xizhi.
The talents of the calligrapher include the understanding of the significance of making calligraphic Works beautiful and the ability to master calligraphic techniques. Such skills are gained by constant observation, practice, summarization and understanding by the calligrapher in his Study and creation of calligraphic works. Of these, some are done consciously, while some are done unconsciously and understood later. Many excellent stories about famous calligraphers reflect the role of their skills in their creations.
Li Yangbing, a great master calligrapher of the Tang
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| Record of Three Tombs, written in seal seript by Li Yangbing. | Dynasty, made his works beautiful by observing the qualities, features and forms of various things in nature. He said that he got to know round, square, flowing and standing forms from Heaven, the Earth, mountains and rivers; the rules concerning the horizontal and vertical movements from the sun, the moon and the stars; growth and spreading from the clouds, sunrise, sunset and plants; and the functions of bending, spreading and flying from insects, fish, birds and animals. The Record of Three Tombs (see next page) written by Li Yangbing in the seal script is
praised as one of the calligraphic wonders of the Tang Dynasty for its graceful, even, delicate and flying strokes.
Lei Jianfu of the Song Dynasty drew inspiration for how to move his brush from the noise of flowing water. He always considered that his running hand works
were not as natural as those of his predecessors. Later, he was a local governor of Sichuan. One day, he was taking a nap in his office, when he heard the noise
of surging river water. Immediately, he spread a piece of paper on a table and tried to display his feelings about the rhythm and movement of the surging waves
through characters. After that, his calligraphic technique improved greatly.
Zhu Changwen of the Song Dynasty commented on the calligraphic works by Yan Zhenqing of the Tang Dynasty: The dot is like a dropped rock, the horizontal stroke like a shred of summer cloud, the hook like bending a metal stick and the backward hook like a crossbow ready shoot. Calligraphers find such forms in nature and their own lives, and use them in their process of creation. On paper it is unnecessary to illustrate a real rock, cloud, metal or bow, but the characters should display the dropping of a rock, the bending of a metal stick, the launching of the arrow and the light and changeable shape of clouds. Yan Zhenqing had outstanding talent, a sound aesthetic appreciation, and the courage and ability to use his talents and understanding for the creation of calligraphic works.
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