Chinese writing styles (e.g. Regular script. Cursive script etc.)

1. Which script should I start practicing?

The traditional concept of the way to learn calligraphy is that one should start with Tang Regular Script, go against the time and further practice Southern Running Script, Northern Tablet, Han Clerical Script and Qin Seal Script on the basis of writing good Regular Script. Another conception is that from the immature development of hand muscles of youngsters, they can start from the Qin Seal Script which is less varied, and go down with the times, from the Running Cursive Script and then the Regular Script. These two concepts have their own reasons. However, I believe that the hard brush calligraphy we learn is fundamentally different from the brush calligraphy mentioned above, so we cannot follow its practice method, let alone be confused by the traditional notion that we should learn the brush first and then the hard brush. We are now widely used is the hard pen, writing bad brush characters can still write good hard pen characters, there is no need to take a detour.

What kind of fonts should we start practicing? I think: from the youth of the hand muscle development and the characteristics of the hard-copy calligraphy stroke uniformity, less change in the characteristics, should be practiced from the font does not seek to run the pen fast and slow and light weight changes. The best is the black letter in printing, the beauty of this type of font is mainly expressed in its structure, we can master the structure of the word through the speculation and analysis of the black letter. Only on this basis can we choose our favorite fonts to practice hard according to our own personalities and hobbies.

2. What should I practice?

First of all, we should practice our eyes, that is to say, we should read posters carefully. Huang Tingjian, a calligrapher of the Song Dynasty, said, "Ancient people didn't learn to write by copying, they often hung the ancient calligraphy works on the wall, watched it intently, and put down the pen only when they saw it right." Ouyang Xun of the Tang Dynasty found a stele written by Suo Jing of the Jin Dynasty, and loved it so much that he couldn't bear to leave it, so he sat down and read the stele for three days. The more stele you read, the better your eyesight will be, and you will know how to write well and where to write well. There is an idiom called "high eyes, low hands", I think: high eyes is the premise of high hands. Can not find beauty, do not know what is beautiful, let alone create beauty. There are many students who think that scribbling is the so-called cursive writing, leading them to ugly for the beauty of the reason is that they are "low-eyed and low-handed".

Secondly, we need to practice the brain or the heart. On the basis of careful observation, we should also keep the well-written characters in our heart, and engrave their shapes y in our brain, so that whenever we mention the character, we will be able to think of the shape of the character on the post immediately. The first thing you need to do is to have a post in your chest and a word in your head.

The third thing to do is to practice your hands. The purpose of practicing the eye and the brain is to figure out how to write the character. The heart can think of the best effect of the word, the hand may not be able to write the best effect, because the brain may not be able to command the hand, the hand may not be able to command the pen. Practicing the hand is to achieve the realm of the heart and the hand, the hand and the pen are the same, so practicing the hand is also crucial. Hand training is mainly to practice finger strength, wrist strength, hand feeling. Writing for a long time will feel the finger pain, wrist soreness, the hand does not listen to the command, more exercise this phenomenon will disappear. Often help the teacher on the blackboard copying students and blackboard newspaper students often write fast and well, their finger and wrist strength is so practiced. Also pay attention to the practice of hand feeling, so that the brain can command the hand, feel the pen into a part of the hand, become an extension of the hand, the hand can easily command the pen, want to fast, want to slow, want to slow, want to light, want to light, want to heavy, want to write what kind of effect can write what kind of effect.

The fourth is to practice the structure, because the key to practicing is to master the structure of the word. The structure of the character refers to the proportion of the length of the strokes of the character and the interspersed avoidance relationship between the strokes. Xie Xiaodong sang in the song "Chinese People": "The most favorite word is the square character taught by Mr. Square, square and square to be like him ......" "Square and square" summarizes the structure of Chinese characters. The word "square" summarizes the structure of Chinese characters. If you have mastered the structure of Chinese characters, you will be able to write square and beautifully structured black characters, and if you change the strokes a little, you will be able to write Chinese characters in various fonts, such as Song, Wei, Regular, Imitation Song, Pang, Sima, and Clerical Script. If you cannot master the structure of a Chinese character, no matter how you modify and beautify the strokes of the character, it will be an unsightly superfluity, and the more you change it, the more unsightly it will become. Therefore, mastering the structure of characters and writing good black characters is the key and foundation of practicing all fonts.

Fifth to practice strokes. Many students have practiced calligraphy, they practiced from the regular script, many of the rules of the pen are forgotten, only remember the staccato. As a result, the word written is dragged and cumbersome, like a ghost drawing. I advocate that we start practicing with bold characters, seize the shape of the characters, and eliminate the staccato strokes. I will introduce you to several common strokes and most of the students in the writing of these strokes are prone to faults:

① point, from the upper left to the lower right, there is a process of transportation. Note that the "dot" has a length and cannot be painted as a dot.

②Horizontal, from left to right, equal strokes. The key is to be flat, not high on one end and low on the other, or wavy on the other. According to the shape of the characters need to control the length of the square character, not too short or too long.

3 vertical, from the top to the bottom of the vertical stroke. The key is "straight", not crooked, not to write vertical hooks. According to the shape of the character, the length of the square character needs to be controlled, not too short or too long.

4. The apostrophe, from the upper right to the lower left, should not be written as a point or horizontal apostrophe.

⑤ Folding, when writing the folding stroke, the corner of the fold should be square rather than rounded. Don't make a big strop at the corner and write it as two obtuse angles off the shoulder, but write it as a right angle.

The words written in this way, such as writing with a ballpoint pen, is similar to matchstick young rounded art characters; such as writing with a fountain pen, is the standard black letter. Although the strokes are monotonous, but as long as the structure is accurate, it is still beautiful and good-looking. Just as the squatting horse stance is the basic skill for practicing martial arts, the horizontal and vertical is the basic skill for writing Chinese characters. The reason why many people cannot write well is that their strokes are not flat or straight, and their structure is not accurate. If the structure is not right, no matter how rich the variations of strokes are, you can't write good characters.

3. General Steps for Practicing Characters

Based on practicing blackletter characters, mastering the structure of characters, and practicing the basic skills, you can choose your favorite fonts to practice. The process of selecting a font is called post selection. On the basis of post selection, you have to go through the five steps of post reading, tracing, posting, memorizing and creating.

The first step is to read the post. Post on the pronunciation of Chinese characters we all know, no need to read. Read what? Read the shape of the word, read the structure, read the strokes, analyze and speculate on the characteristics of the word strokes and the interrelationship between the strokes. For example, when we read "中 "in bold characters, we need to read that the vertical part of "中" goes through the center of "口", and that "口" is slightly flattened, and the horizontal part of "口" is slightly flattened. The character "口" is slightly flattened, the length of the horizontal is twice as long as the length of the vertical, and the long vertical in the center is divided into two equal segments by the lower horizontal of the character "口", and the upper segment of the character "口" is divided into two equal segments by the upper horizontal of the character "口". This is to read the shape and structure of the character. Different fonts, the strokes have different characteristics, the changes in the strokes of the hard-copy calligraphy is not obvious, and not easy for secondary school students to grasp, here will not say more.

The second step tracing. "Trace" refers to the tracing of red, that is, beginners in the printed red letter post along the handwriting with a blue pen tracing. "Facsimile" refers to facsimile post, that is, with transparent paper over the word on the model, along the shadow of the word on the paper one by one, also known as writing imitation shadow.

The third step of the post. This method is conducive to the mastery of word strokes, but it is not easy to grasp the structure of the word.

The fourth step is to memorize the post. This is the method of removing the character post on the basis of the post, recalling the shape of the characters on the post according to one's own memory, and writing them on the homework paper. This is a key step in practicing good calligraphy. Only when the words written are carefully scrutinized and well thought out can they be written accurately. When you write, if you can see the exact shape of the Chinese characters you want to write on the white paper you are writing on, you will be able to "write on the paper, write on the chest", and you will be able to write a good handful of characters as if you were tracing them.

The fifth step is to create. In the mastery of the character post on the basis of the writing of the word, touching on the understanding of the character post on the writing of the word is not. According to their own expression of the need to write a paragraph with a center, content, self-contained system of text, this is the creation.

If you can write a handful of words that are close to those on the posters in your regular school life, the purpose of practicing calligraphy for middle school students will be achieved.

4. The precautions to be taken in practicing writing

Now I will talk about a few more issues that should be taken into account in practicing writing:

The first issue is the choice of writing tools. "If you want to do a good job, you must first get the right tool." Whether it is a pen or a ballpoint pen should be selected to write smoothly, the line thickness uniformity of a good pen. Ink color is too light, it is difficult to identify; ink color is too black, and gives a sense of depression. In the examination will often therefore affect the mood of the marking teacher, resulting in unnecessary loss of points, so the ink color of the handwriting to blue-black for the best.

The second problem: practice should pay attention to the writing posture and pen method. Since the vast majority of secondary school students are now using ballpoint pens, I will take the ballpoint pen as an example to talk about the writing posture and the method of holding the pen. Writing with a ballpoint pen should adopt a sitting posture, so that "the head is straight, body straight, arm open, foot security. Because ballpoint pens write small words, so the activity of the pen tip should be in the area of the best visual effect. Generally, the right hand holds the pen, and the position of the pen should be slightly to the right. The eyes are about 30 centimeters from the paper and the chest is about 10 centimeters from the edge of the table. Both arms are naturally extended, with the lower arm resting flat on the table. Thumb and forefinger belly were pressed on the left and right sides of the pen, the first joint of the middle finger on the left side against the bottom of the pen, ring finger and little finger in turn against the middle finger naturally bent into a half-fist shape, the role of municipal control. The distance between the thumb and the point of contact with the pen barrel and the pen tip is about 4 centimeters. The pen leaning on the tiger's mouth, and the paper surface into 45-60 degrees, the smaller the word, the greater the angle. If you write with a fountain pen should also pay attention to the nib outside, the tongue in, so that the nib of the seam contact paper to ensure that the water is even, smooth lines.

The third problem: the practice of writing should be calm and quiet, good start and finish, can not be impatient, perfunctory. Writing should be done meticulously, and every stroke should be written realistically. Some people practice writing, like to draw a gas before the end of the mess, this is a big no-no to practice writing, not only damage the life of the nib, but also let the practice of half a day, just made progress into thin air.

The fourth problem: do not easily change the font. Practice words to have perseverance, perseverance, to practice solid in the basic skills. Practice word to adhere to often, not a day's sun, three days fishing, two days sunshine net. Must know: one day to practice one day work, one day not to practice ten days empty. On the basis of mastering the font structure, you can choose your favorite fonts to persist in practicing, do not easily change the font. Because once you change the font, you have to start from scratch.

The fifth problem: to learn to use the combination of practice and writing one, some students write very well when practicing, but write homework and blindly write a gas, they are never practiced word. Practiced words usually used, should write as good as when practicing, practicing a use a, in the use of learning, learning to use, learning to use the combination of good word practice.

The sixth problem: teachers of all subjects to grasp **** management close cooperation. First of all, teachers should write standardized characters, and secondly, we must encourage students to practice. Students who have scribbled homework should be criticized and educated so that they can be corrected. Supervise students to practice writing is not only the responsibility of language teachers, every teacher has a responsibility.

5. There are three realms of character practice.

Everyone has read Jin Yong's novel "The Smiling Pride of the Wanderer", which contains a pithy discussion of sword practice: When you first learn to practice, you can use your hand to make the sword, and sometimes the sword doesn't listen to the call of duty, and you may even injure yourself. After practicing for a period of time, when the hand and the sword are united, and the sword is made by the heart, the sword follows the heart, and the sword art reaches a higher level. The highest level of swordsmanship is the unity of heart and sword, no sword and no self. Raise hands and feet is the sword, flying flowers pick leaves, all are sharp sword, a fine embroidery needle can also resist three sword masters, such a sword art can be said to have reached the realm of the gods.

The same is true for practicing calligraphy. The initial stage of our practice is likewise to make the pen with the hand. There is a process by which the pen does not obey the call of the hand and gradually becomes skillful, which can be further developed to the realm of the pen and hand unity. At this point, when you write, you feel that the pen is part of your hand, and you are not writing with the pen, but with your hand. As long as we practice carefully, it is possible to reach this state.

The second realm of practicing is to use the heart to make the pen, the heart and the pen are united, the heart moves, the pen moves. What you write is what you think in your heart, and when you reach this state, you can say that you have achieved a little success in calligraphy. All of us, including me, should strive to move towards this goal.

The third realm of practicing calligraphy is to learn from the law of creation, without me, without pen. Many famous and great calligraphers in ancient times were like this. Such as wang xizhi see white goose swimming posture, realize the "floating goose hooks" of the pen; Zhang Xu see tanya fight road, Gongsun dame dance sword, from the realization of the structure of the dots and paintings of the fight to let the interspersed relationship and the use of the pen of the speed and rhythm, greatly enriching the writing of its wild grass; Huaisu see summer clouds and sea waves, realize the atmosphere of the cursive, the momentum of the overturning river; Yan Zhenqing see Yan Zhenqing viewed the house leak marks, cone painting sand, understanding the lateness and strength of the pen. This is the ideal state of our character practice, to achieve this state, no matter with or without pen, soft pen, hard pen, even if it is a section of dead branches, a broken broom, can write a wonderful calligraphy.

Let's write with our hearts, not just our hands, and try to move toward this ideal realm!

Let's move on to the fourth question: how I practiced my calligraphy.

In the beginning, I used a brush to practice the Yan Qinli Stele, and then I found a book called 99 Days of Pen Characters, which is a selection of 99 representative Chinese characters, and requires the practitioner to practice one, memorize one, and learn one every day. After practicing for 99 days, I knew how to write all 99 Chinese characters, and when I touched them, I knew how to write all the other Chinese characters as well. I found these Chinese characters from the Yan Qinli Stele, practiced them one a day, and within a month, I had made significant progress.

Afterwards, a student said that the Yan style I wrote was very Yan-like, but it was just soft and weak, because I couldn't do the "center stroke" when I was moving the brush, and I was dragging the brush in many cases. This student is a person with a high level of skill, who found my fault, but could not help me to correct it. I sought advice from many sources and carefully observed how other people write, and finally discovered the trick: it turns out that when other people write, they often twist the pen, so that the tip of the pen rotates with the pen, and is always in the middle of the stroke, which makes the "center stroke".

Afterwards, another student of mine said to me: "Your strokes are very standardized, but the combination is not beautiful, the main reason is that the structure is not right. To master the structure of the character, you might as well follow me to learn how to write black characters with strokes like matchsticks, which are only beautiful if they have the right structure." So I dipped a board brush in water and practiced on the floor following the boldface headlines of the newspaper news. Soon I mastered boldface lettering and wrote large-print banners for some of my classes. I found that after learning boldface, many fonts that I had never practiced before could be written with a little practice of their basic strokes. This is the reason why I suggest today that students should start practicing with black characters.In 1993, I won the third prize in a painting and calligraphy competition organized by the Shijiazhuang Municipal Education Commission.Nowadays, I often help my colleagues to put out wall posters and write large characters, which not only consolidates the effect of practicing but also improves the level of writing, and not only helps other people but also cultivates myself.

Above we talked about the method of practicing writing and the precautions, if you do what I said, I think you will make progress, because I guide students to practice writing on the good results, and finally I will talk about this issue.

As a language teacher not only to write well themselves, but also to guide students to write a good hand. In order for students to write a good word, I once let the students write a "word of the day", after practicing, 98 students Li Chao learn Pang Zhonghua body pen character to reach a very high level, Niu Kunpeng pen character square and strict self-contained. I have also held many calligraphy lectures for students, and many times to organize students to participate in calligraphy competitions. 2001 students Hu Zhanxiong, Li Mo and other people's hard-copy calligraphy works in the "Star of the Century" Calligraphy Competition awards. Now, I am in the students to carry out the evaluation of "star writing master" activities, students are very enthusiastic about practicing calligraphy. Sun Ruijing, the "three-star writing master", not only writes neatly and clearly, but also achieves a writing speed of more than 50 words per minute.

Lastly, I would like to tell you that it is not difficult to write beautiful Chinese characters, as long as you practice and write by heart, you will always succeed. When you see a dignified and beautiful Chinese character flowing out from your pen, when you see a page of neat and clear homework being born under your pen, when you see the red hooks and "excellent" on the workbook, don't you think that writing good Chinese characters is also a kind of artistic enjoyment? Let's go into the art world of Chinese calligraphy and splash our ink to our heart's content!