Page 205 - The Arts of China, By Michael Sullivan Good Book

Hsuan's pupil Chao Mcng-fu (1234-1322). the emperor found a
man ideally suited to bridge the gulf that lay between his regime
and the Chinese educated class. Chao was a descendant of the first
Sung emperor and had already served the old dynasty in a minor
post for several years when Kublai appointed him. His first job
was the writing of memorials and proclamations, but he soon rose
to the rank of cabinet minister, confidential advisor to the em-
peror, and secretary to the Hanlin Academy. Though he often re-
gretted his decision to collaborate (made the more reprehensible
by his close family relationship to the Sung royal house), it was
men of his kind who civilised the Mongols and thus indirectly en-
compassed their eventual downfall. Chao Meng-fu was also a
great calligraphcr, versed in all the styles from the archaic "big
seal" script, through the clerical (/i) style and the standard {k'ai)
style, to the running draft character.
I have said little in this book about the eloquent and exacting art of CALLIGRAPHY
calligraphy, an art whose finer points can only be appreciated with
long study and training. "Affection for the written word," wrote
Chiang Yee, "is instilled from childhood in the Chinese heart."
From the merchant who hoists up his newly written shop sign
with ceremony and incense to the poet whose soul takes flight in
the brilliant sword dance of the brush, calligraphy is revered
above all other arts. Not only is a man's writing a clue to his tem-
perament, his moral worth, and his learning, but the uniquely
ideographic nature of the Chinese script has charged each individ-
ual character with a richness of content and association the full
range of which even the most scholarly can scarcely fathom.
Our illustrations show the main stages in the development of
the Chinese script from the earliest known writing, the crude pic-
tographs and ideographs scratched on the oracle bones (chia-ku-
221 OtiilrbunrMnft.ifcj ku urn
wen) and sunk in the ritual bronzes (chin-wen) of the late Shang From Anyang. Shang Dynasty.

222 Seal script, ihuan-ihu Rubbing
from one of the Stone Drums. Chou
Dynasty,