Unit 4 Writing Assignment

BHC Identification of terms

1. fu
The term Fu was commonly known as rhapsody or poetry to many people. In
the book it describes that some poems were from Lu Jis fu on literature.
2. Tao Qian
Tao Qian was an inspirational and well known poet during the years of 365427. Tao was once in government, but quit to enjoy the easy life in the
country. Known as one of the greatest poets is Chinese culture, Taos
favorite was chrysanthemums.
3. Wang Xizhi
Wang Xizhi was one of the greatest calligraphers of his time. The Xizhi
family name gathered a lot of attention in regarding calligraphy in Daoism
and emphasis on the neutral. Xizhis work went on for generations and was
a huge influence over the years.
4. Gu Kaizhi
One of the most famous painters of the times was Gu Kaizhi. Kaizhi was
alive 344-407 and was important to all the people that he worked for. Kaizhi
could successfully capture the wisdom of a man with adding 3 hairs to the
chin of his paintings.
5. Xie He
Xie He was also a famous painter for his time. He was the man that
formulated the 6 key principles of painting. Called for painters in his 1 st key
to add a sense of life to the painting. The second key principle calls for
structural demand in the brushwork and to demonstrate a link between
calligraphy and the painting itself.
6. Wang Wei
Wang Wei was a well know poet for his time. It is unfortunate that much of
his work was lost. Wang Wei is also credited with being the man that
established the proper calligraphic way of paining in monotone as a
gentleman.
7. Li Bai

Unit 4 Writing Assignment

Li Bai was one of Chinas most beloved and admired poets. Most of the
pieces of work that he did involved nature in a way. This set him apart from
his good friend Du Fu. Li Bais work revolved around freedom and sprit and
liked to use the old fashioned style of poetry.
8. Du Fu
Du Fu was also a well known poet in China. Fus work was unlike Li Bais in
acouple of ways. Du Fus poetry had a bunch of allusions the were beautiful
and majestic. Du had a new form of poetry that he wrote in that had Lushi.
This had a rhyming scheme and 8 lines with 5 to 7 characters per line. Du Fu
is most admired for his compassion and conscience that was included in his
poetry. It is also really cool how he would write poems to people that were
close to him.
9. Bo Juyi
Bo Juyi was also a very influential poet during his time. Juyi was known for
writing in his own style. Bo wrote in easy language so many people could
read his poems and also had a large amount of his subjects referring to
strong social conscience.
10. Su Shi
Su Shi was also known as Su Dongpo and lived 1037-1101. Su Shi was
involved with the Cheng brothers whose ideas were very influential to the
Neo Confucianism movements. Much of the poetry and art used by these
guys were used to dis the government.
11. A Pure and Remote View of Rivers and Mountains
A Pure and Remote View of Rivers and Mountain is a wonderful painting that
is in the national palace museum currently. This painting is missing its
section with its signature on it, but it was originally made by Xia Gui.
12. Zhao Mengfu
Zhao Mengfu was alive during the years 1254-1322. Worked for the Mongols
and was in charge of many things. It was not till after his death that many of
his paintings became famous, but he was well known for his horse paintings.
These paintings were not directed specifically at the horse, but more at the
landscape. Many people loved the artwork that he produced simply because
the landscape was so beautiful.
13. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Unit 4 Writing Assignment

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was a book that was made for
Luo Guanzhong. This book is a historical novel that is set in the years
at the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in
Chinese history.
14. The Water Margin
Considered one of the 4 greatest novels in Chinese culture. This book is
about how 108 men were gathered to make an army to help defend the
lands. The army took time to actually become a recognized army by the
government, but eventually they were sent on campaigns.
15. Journey to the West (or Monkey)
A novel published in the 16th century is known as one of the best classics in
Chinese culture. About a Buddhist that traveled to the far west lands to find
some ancient scrolls.
16. The Plum in the Golden Vase (or The Golden Lotus)
Also known as the Jin Ping Mei. The Plum in the Golden Vase (or The Golden
Lotus)
was a well known novel in the Ming dynasty. Does not really have an author.
17. Dong Qichang
Dong Oichang was a well known painter calligrapher and scholar during the
Ming dynasty. Dong created a new type of art theory that avoided many
slick objects and tried to keep things sentimental.
18. Qi Baishi
Most well known for his watercolor works Qi Baishi was a man that was born
into peasantry. Qi traveled a lot during his lifetime and ended up settling in
Beijing.
19. Lu Xun
Lu Xun was an extremely influential man towards Chinese literature.
Lus literature was usually leftist and liberal. This helped develop china
into what it is today. Although he never joined the communist party he
was highly acclaimed by the peoples republic of china.

Unit 4 Writing Assignment

CCS Unit 46 A Scholar-Painters Diary

1) How does Guo Bi link painting, calligraphy, and poetry in his work?
Guo Bi links his painting, calligraphy, and poetry in many ways. One way
that he made his calligraphy was by referring to poetry. They all intertwine
together because many of them are about the same subjects. The topics
that he covers are
2) How would you characterize Guos average daily schedule?
Guos daily schedule was very relaxing. Guos days were spent doing as he
pleased and enjoying wine. The time was spent painting and writing most of
the time also thinking about religion and sacrifice.
3) Is there any indication that Guo draws upon religion for any of his artistic
inspiration? Why or why not?
Yes I believe that he does use religion to gather thoughts for his paintings.
Many of his best works were done in temples so that means he might have
been thinking about the gods when working.
4) How do other people treat Guo Bi? Is he respected, ignored, held in
contempt, or is he treated in some other way?
I think that he thinks of himself too highly to talk to other people.
People I am sure respect him, but none of them really talk to him. In
some of the passages he does have dinner and discuss arts with some
people, but in one passage he mentions that he is on a boat full of
common people so there was no one to talk to. This is wrong of him to
categorize the people this way and that he was higher than them.

Look at Chin Calligraphy Questions

1. What character is it?
This is one of the many characters used to describe the Dao. In the
PowerPoint there are 4 versions of the same symbol describing the
different ways it can be written.
2. What does it mean? Write an explanatory paragraph.

Unit 4 Writing Assignment

The symbol of Dao is used to describe that inner way that one must
turn to for all it answers. Just as the river flows into the see the way
must be followed.
3. How many strokes of pen or brush make up this character?
It takes about 12 strokes to make this character. 2 short opposite
slanting stokes on the top, a horizontal stroke below, a rectangular box
that takes 5 strokes, short vertical stroke that connects the stroke
below horizontal, and a major element that counts as about 3 strokes
altogether.
4. What script form is it written in? Write one paragraph to explain
your answer.
I believe that this script form used to make this symbol was hand
written. It looks as if it was hand written with a pen if some sort. You
can see the lines end clearly and at certain points.
5. Use a Web resource to research and describe the development of
Kaishu. Write one or two paragraphs.
In Chinese culture this is a form of calligraphy. This form of writing was
used mostly during the period of the three kingdoms and Western Jin.
This calligraphy was able to make the Lishu script more fluent easy to
read in its written form. It has more clear-cut corners and also has
straight strokes of varying thickness. The most important time that the
Kaishu was used was during the Tang dynasty.
6. Describe characteristics of Lishu, the earlier standard writing, which
preceded Kaishu and developed during the Chin dynasty, the first
empire.
The Lishu was the earlier standard of writing that was more difficult to
read and write with. Usually used for inscriptions in bronzes and
ceremonial traditions. Characters varied and individual stroked
different greatly. Many examples survived that were in bronzes or
spiritual bamboos.
7. How does Lishu differ from the later Kaishu?
The Lishu is a lot harder to translate than the Kaishu. Also the Lishu
was used on bronzes and many trinkets in ceremonial practice. The
Lishu also was tricky to draw or to transcribe because it involved so
many different twists a turns.

Unit 4 Writing Assignment

8. Is Lishu still used today as a style of writing? Explain your answer.

Lishu is not used that much anymore. The Kaishu phased out the Lishu
because it was more difficult then it needed to be. Kaishu is used
commonly instead of the Lishu ancient inscription technique in present
time.
9. Identify these script styles. Explain your reasoning.
These script styles are all different. Letter A is the looks most like the
Lishu writing style. I think that it is lishu at least. The second letter b
is most likely wild cursive. This picture looks like some wild scribbles
that somewhat resemble the wild cursive in the earlier slides in the
PowerPoint. The third letter c is most likely the Kaishu writing style.
This picture look exactly like the same page from the earlier slides that
have a meaning in the kaishu text.
10. Caoshu script grew out of a specific Lishu script used by the Han.
What is the name of that script? Briefly explain the development of
Caoshu.
Caoshu script was derived from Lishu and is almost the same in a
couple of ways. This form of the Lishu is wildly written and is curvy
and has many twists and turns in it. The development came from the
Lishu and can be compared to writing English as if that English was
written in short hand. So the Caoshu is the short hand version of Lishu
technically. The Han dynasty was the main user of Caoshu before the
use of Kaishu.
11. Use a Web resource to identify an historically well-known
practitioner of Caoshu. Write a paragraph or two discussing the
calligraphers career and individual style.
Wang Xizhi was a famous calligrapher back during his time. Also
known as the sage of calligraphy he was well known for his writing
skills. Especially a master at the running script many people looked to
him to seek advice in the skills of calligraphy. Emperor Taizong loved
his work so much that it was known that when the emperor died he
was buried with many of the works that Taizong did. Semi cursive was
the main practices that he excelled in and loved to do.