Chinese calligraphy : an introduction to its aesthetic and technique : with 6 plates and 155 text illustratons

ORIGIN AND CONSTRUCTION OF CHARACTERS

ings ‘ to give an order’ or ‘a person giving an order’. Chang (4) means ‘long’ as opposed to ‘short’, and has been “ borrowed ’ to represent an adult, because he is taller than a child ; or an aged person, because he is older than a youngster; or an officer or governor, because he is a leader of others. Hsz

( 西 ) was in ancient writing & & and 4, originally constructed out of the bird returning to its nest at sunset; but as the sun sets towards the West, this character has been permanently borrowed for the meaning ‘west’. Péng (JH), in ancient writing 易 was originally the image of the phoenix, and has

been permanently borrowed for the meaning ‘ friend ’, because in our imagination this bird is always followed by a score of other birds while flying.

To sum up: The Chinese written language has definitely overcome the difficulties which arose in the course of its development and, still alive, preserves its independent tradition. It is true that some of the present styles of the Chinese written character, with which I shall deal in the next chapter, have so far deviated from their original forms that there seems to be no connexion between image and meaning ;—thus all the advantage of Hsiang-Hsing has been lost ;—but a connexion nevertheless exists, and a study of the accompanying chart detailing the changes of Chinese written characters from the 28th century B.c. to the Han (#) dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 219), taken from the large chart prepared by Mr. Hua Shih-Fu ( 華 4@ #), will reveal this. After Han times there are few changes in stroke-making, but the evolution of different styles of calligraphy brought changes in the shaping of the strokes.

The difference between the ancient script and the method.

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