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

THE STYLES

venience in writing forces them to yield place to K‘ai-Shu, Hsing-Shu, and Ts‘ao-Shu. They are used occasionally, however, even to the present day, but only by trained calligraphers. The three simpler forms have really dominated calligraphic “practice ever since their establishment.

The elements of the characters in all styles were fixed in the Han period and no changes have since been made in their formation, all the attention of subsequent writers having been turned to the shaping of the strokes and the arrangement of them in patterns. When beginning to learn calligraphy, K‘ai-Shu should be practised first, then the other styles in the order of the learner’s preference.

I recommend the reader not to proceed to Chapter IV until he has looked again at the examples given in this chapter, examining them attentively and deciding for himself what constitute the essential differences between the various styles.

[ 105 ]