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

ORIGIN AND CONSTRUCTION OF CHARACTERS

of writing after Han times is manifest, but there is not much change in construction and shape. Clearly the first glyph of a character—the original reduction of a concrete object to a few simply written lines—must have been a task of great difficulty. The ancient script has no consistent form, no definite sound, no recognized position, and it could not have had any great use because the number of its characters was so limited. And yet the same idea remains evident in a character through all the variations, without any confusion resulting. The first image is a solid representation of the object; double lines are then substituted for this; then a single simplified line; and then different shapes of stroke come into being. The varying methods of construction to convey the same meaning must have been inconvenient for daily use, for character-formation underwent systematization and unification many times before the Han dynasty ; but although nearly two thousand years have passed since Han, no further radical change has occurred. Evidently China reached the peak of her culture before the end of the Han dynasty. And whatever limitations there may have been to the practical uses of this Chinese ancient script, one cannot but admire, from an artistic standpoint, its simple beauty. In the present-day style of writing, though the original image has in many cases been lost, there is still a vivid enough image to move the reader’s feeling and stir associations with other characters. These images are complicated and the characters include many elements. Just as a good picture may send a man’s thought beyond the bounds of the frame, so a character can move his imagination beyond itself. This is what we mean when we say that ‘ to look at the figure engenders thoughts’. A character, being evolved from a picture, displays [35 ]