When it comes to Mr. Qian Zhongshu, the first thing that comes to most people's minds is his identity as a writer and scholar. There is no doubt that "The Siege" is a household name, while "The Pipe Cone" is a literary work involving a breadth and depth that many people even take a long time to fully understand.
However, Mr. Qian Zhongshu has not only made remarkable achievements in the field of literature and scholarship, but his calligraphy works are equally impressive. Although Qian Zhongshu himself did not consider himself a calligrapher, his calligraphy works still reveal his literati style and unique temperament.
Qian Zhongshu was born on November 21, 1910, his original name was Yangxian, the word Zheliang, and later changed his name to Zhongshu. He was a modern Chinese writer and literary researcher who entered the Department of Foreign Languages at Tsinghua University in 1929. In 1932, he met Yang Jiang in front of the Guyue Hall of Tsinghua University, and the two became engaged in 1933, and in 1937, he received a bachelor's degree from Oxford University with a paper entitled "China in Seventeenth-Eighteenth Century English Literature". In 1941, he completed the writing of "Tan Yilu" and "Written on the Edge of Life", and in 1947, his masterpiece "The Siege of the City" was published.
Qian Zhongshu is not arrogant about his calligraphy, he thinks that his calligraphy is only for the purpose of expressing affection, and it is not elegant enough. For example, he once politely declined the invitation of Chen Yinke, a teacher at Tsinghua University, on the grounds that his own words were too ugly, and he was afraid that he would laugh at his generosity and insult Chen Yinke's chastity.
Although Qian Zhongshu's calligraphy did not reach the level of a professional calligrapher, his calligraphy works are still full of literati atmosphere. This literati atmosphere is not only manifested in the law of calligraphy, but also in the criss-crossing of calligraphy and the change of handwriting at will. Although this kind of literati character is not as constrained by the norms as the standardized and neat printing or innovative characters, it is beautiful and charming!
To write such literati, the cultural system to which calligraphy is attached is crucial. If it is detached from the cultural connotation, no matter how exquisite calligraphy skills are, they are just empty techniques, and no matter how creative they are, they are just formalism. Therefore, knowledge and culture are the soul of calligraphy, while technique is only the surface.
Mr. Qian Zhongshu's calligraphy is also in his education, and his calligraphy works are not deliberately pursuing the display of skills, but naturally reveal his literati temperament. His calligraphy is not only an art, but also an expression of work and life, which is the real calligraphy.
Therefore, it is ridiculous to regard calligraphy as a profession or to pretend to be a master. Although Mr. Qian Zhongshu's calligraphy works are not perfect, they are real and natural, which is the charm of real calligraphy.