Beijing This Month | Business Beijing | Beijing Official Guide | Map of Beijing | Beijing - The Magnificent City | Beijing Investment Guide | Beijing Fact File
Article featured in Beijing Official Guide, BOG2004
Publication sponsored by Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government,  Beijing Municipal Bureau of Tourism

Beijing 2008 Olympics

Arts & Culture
Beijing Basics
Business
Dining
Editorial
Health & Wellness
Love & Life
Nightlife
Shopping
Sport
Classifieds
Get by in Beijing
English 1000, Chinese 1000

Painting and Caligraphy

2004/06/23

Beijing's culture is today a complex reflection of China's history and its position in a rapidly changing world. Full of contradictions and spectacular exclamations, it's a city partially frozen in time as well as light-years ahead. As culture is everything, not just the art and grandiosity of its heyday, there is much to see, and enjoy.

Painting and Calligraphy

Chinese calligraphy (or brush calligraphy) is an art distinctive of Asian cultures. Regarded as the most abstract and sublime form of art in Chinese culture, calligraphy is often thought to be most revealing of one's personality. Unlike other visual art techniques, all calligraphy is permanent and irredeemable, demanding careful planning and confident execution. While one has to conform to the defined structure of the words, the expression is often extremely creative. To exercise the imagination, but follow the laws and regulations of the craft, is its principle virtue.

There are five major styles of calligraphy:

  1. 篆 (zhuan) seal script
  2. 隶 (li) clerical script
  3. 楷 (kai) standard script
  4. 行 (xing) semi-cursive script
  5. 草 (cao) cursive script

The origin of Chinese painting can be traced to the patterns carved, or drawn, on bronze and pottery in prehistory. From the Han Dynasty (BC 206-AD 220), when paper was invented, Chinese painting began to develop into its present form.

Early paintings record religious iconography, such as the Buddha. During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 BC), the trend turned towards landscapes. The following dynasties revealed different characteristics: flower-and-bird paintings in the Song (AD 960-1279); ink painting and figure paintings in the Yuan (AD 1271-1368); court paintings in the Ming (AD 1368-1644) and a revival of landscape painting and the introduction of Western-style painting in the Qing (1644-1911).



 
*