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

CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY

script had reached its greatest refinement, it had become inconvenient for writing, and, incapable of modification to meet the requirements of daily use, it fell away. But the Chinese preserved a great capacity for development, and so it keeps its life, yet without ever losing touch with its very ancient origins.

The most marked difference between a Western language and the Chinese is that the former is written horizontally from left to right and the latter vertically from right to left. Aesthetically it makes no difference whether Chinese is written vertically or from the right or left, but to write horizontally with a Chinese brush is not convenient because every Chinese character is constructed in a square and is always written from the top downwards. Now let me draw some comparisons between Chinese and those languages, such as Korean, Japanese and Hsi-Hsia (74 B), which are derived from it:

Korean writing Chinese translation ol Hl 認 去 se Sie H -3ae E oy ot 9h 4 aF ol 0! ) os > < 9! 人 ~ ao oF cL z 4 yal pe, RK Sd Vv Hi [a2 3 及 tt a ec A 4%: s % 2 {P= 4% 4 as 9

FIG. 6 [ 38 ]