1， The oldest Chinese characters are pictography.
Oldest script characters (shell bone script, bronze script, and big seal script), are contour outline, even simpler.
From left to right:
Child (Big seal script, ~ 3000 years ago)
River (Big seal script)
Melon (Shell bone script, 3500+ years ago)
They are drawings, you see pictures.
2， Chinese characters lost pictography.
When Chinese character evolved into small seal script, then clerical script, the pictography of the characters is disappeared, writing characters is more like writing a language which can translate the writer’s ideas.
From left to right
Child (clerical script, ~ 2000 years ago to current)
River (clerical script)
Melon (clerical script)
The pictography features are lost.
3， About 2500 years ago, Chinese calligraphy became a carrier for letters, books, and documents. For long time (hundreds to one thousand years), Chinese calligraphy had been used just for communication as a language, not an art. There were no professional calligraphists who lived rely on writing calligraphy until a few hundreds of years ago. In comparison, there were professional painters long long time ago.
The most famous Chinese calligraphists, 王羲之 - Wang-Xizhi (Sui Dynasty, -), 颜真卿 – Yan-Zhenqing (Tang Dynasty), and 苏轼 – Su-Shi (Song Dynasty, ), all didn’t have calligraphy scrolls which are so popular that every Chinese family has one or more hanging on the walls. Their artworks are drafts with many errors and altering because they didn’t write calligraphy as an artwork, just normal letters, articles.
The most popular form of Chinese calligraphy is a Chinese poem written in Chinese calligraphy, a combination of poem and calligraphy, which is powerful expression of artistic feelings. The popular scripts used are running script, clerical script, and clerical script. Most scrolls hanging on the walls of Chinese families are this kind calligraphy artworks
4, Chinese calligraphy is not like fine art, but a unique art
Because it is based on Chinese characters which has its own meaning, and pictography in oldest script specifically, but late scripts lost the pictography, more like language not still not a pure language. It is a carrier for poems, and aphorism. So you have to know Chinese poems, aphorism well, and calligraphy too to be able appreciate Chinese Calligraphy artworks, which is too difficult to do for foreigners.
You may understand Chinese paintings, because they are similar to western or other foreign paintings. You may understand Chinese ceramic art, because they are similar to glass art. You may understand Chinese music, because they are similar western or other music. Any Chinese art, you can find a similar foreign art, but there is NO similar foreign art to Chinese calligraphy, NONE, ZERO.
This is why so few foreigners who know Chinese calligraphy well.
5, Can we overcome the challenges?
In the past ten years, I have tried to find a way to let non-Chinese speakers be able to understand and appreciate Chinese calligraphy, I created Pictographic Chinese Calligraphy, which emphasizes the pictography of Chinese characters. Basically, you see the oldest script, like shell bone script, which is a drawing same as I mentioned above. It is the oldest Chinese Calligraphy, you see pictures, not complicated current Chinese characters lost pictography. However, the characters are written by brush, and exactly or very close to the old scripts. No matter how much Chinese you know, you can understand, and appreciate the artworks.
Where the water flows, a canal is formed － 水到渠成.
The character in the artwork is shell bone script of Water.
Which is a river with 4 dots (water drops) because ancient Chinese got water from the water. I just drew many it from the small to big, which looks like a river flowing from far to near.
You don’t need to know Chinese to understand the work.
Deer in the forest - 林中小鹿
There are two characters in the work
1, Deer (shell bone script)
2, Forest (shell bone script)
Do you understand the work? Of course, it is just a drawing.
This is what I do, to show pictography of Chinese characters (old scripts) in my calligraphy artwork, everyone can understand and appreciate. This is the oldest Chinese Calligraphy, picture-like art, everyone understand, a best way to learn Chinese Calligraphy for foreigners.
If you are interested in this kind Chinese calligraphy. You could click the link to see more Pictographic Chinese Calligraphy (1) Fly － 飛, you get the first post “Fly” page, which explains what the Fly character original meaning, and pictographic drawing. On the right side of the page, you can see “Blog Archive”, there are links for other posts, just find one post you are interested, and click the link to see the artwork in another page. Every page has the “Blog Archive” links, you don’t need to back to the original page, just click on any link on that page, you can go a new post page.
Note: Update information
1, Amazing Chinese Characters blog has changed name to Learn Chinese with Pictography, and changed its URL address too, the new URL is
Learn Chinese with Pictography.blogspot.com/
2, Pictographic Chinese Calligraphy blog has changed name to Chinese Pictographic Calligraphy, and the new URL is
Chinese Pictographic Calligraphy.blogspot.com/
You are welcome to access the new sites for Chinese learning. Please update your bookmarks.
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