China Culture：Calligraphy中国书法艺术.pdf
China Culture：Calligraphy 中國書法藝術Calligraphy has traditionally been regarded as Chinas highest form of visual art-tothe point that a persons character was judged by the elegance oftheir handwriting!Decorative calligraphy is found all over China,in temples and adorning the walls ofcaves and the sides of mountains and monuments.The basic tools of calligraphy-brush and ink-are also the tools of Chinese painting,with linework and tone theall-important components.Despite the ravages of time,war and ideology,theres still a lot to see architecturally.Traces of the past include the imperial structures of Beijing,the colonial buildings ofShanghai,the occasional rural village and Buddhist,Confucian and Taoist temples.Funerary art was already a feature of Chinese culture in Neolithic times(9000-6000BC),ranging from ritual vessels and weapons to pottery figures,jade and sacrificialvessels made of bronze.Earthenware production is almost as ancient,with the worldsfirst proto-porcelain being produced in China in the 6th century AD,reaching itsartistic peak under the Song rulers.Chinas language is officially Mandarin,as spoken in Beijing.The Chinese call itPutonghua.About 70%of the population speak Mandarin,but thats just the tip of thelingusitic iceberg.The country isawash with dialects,and dialects within dialects-and few of them are mutually intelligible.Of the seven major strains,Cantonese is theone most likely to be spoken in your local Chinese takeaway.Its the lingua franca ofGuangdong,southern Guangxi,Hong Kong and(to an extent)Macau.Chinas literary heritage is huge,but unfortunately its untranslatability makes much ofit inaccessible to Western readers.Traditionally there are two forms,the classical(largely Confucian)and the vernacular(such as the prose epics of the Ming dynasty).Chinese theatre is also known as opera because of the important role played bymusic,and has spawned such diverse arts as acrobatics,martial arts and stylised dance.ManyWestern film-lovers are fans of Chinese cinema,with releases enjoying success atfilmfestivalsand art-house cinemas.Recently there has been an emergence of talentedfifth-generation post-Cultural Revolution directors,including Zhang Yimou(RedSorghum,Chen Kaige(Farewell,My Concubine),Wu Ziniu and Tian Zhuangzhuang.Add to them Hong Kongs East-meets-West action directorsJohn Woo(Hard Boiled)and Ringo Lam(Full Contact)and you have a full-fledged,extremely successful filmindustry.Chinese cuisine is justifiably famous,memorably diverse-and generally not for thesqueamish.The Chinese themselves like to say theyll eat anything with four legsexcept a table.For the most part,however,its a case of doing ingenious things with alimited number of basic ingredients.The cuisine can be divided into four regionalcategories:Beijing/Mandarin and Shandong(with steamedbreadand noodles asstaples),Cantonese and Chaozhou(lightly cooked meats andvegetables),Shanghainese(the home of red cooking and wuxi spare ribs)and Sichuan(spicy,with lots of chilli).Tea is the most common nonalcoholic beverage on sale,although Coca-Cola(bothoriginal and bogus)is making inroads,whilebeer is by far the most popular alcoholicdrink.Wine is a loose term which can cover oxidised andherb-soaked concoctions,rice wine and wine containing lizards,bees or pickled snakes.Another favourite ismaotai,a spirit made from sorghum which smells like rubbing alcohol and makes agood substitute for petrol or paint thinner
