October 21, 2009
True Beauty Of Beijing: Take A Beijing City Tour To Find Exquisite Chinese Calligraphy
A spectacular achievement of eastern Asian art, Chinese calligraphy is almost as old as Chinese characters. Considered as one of the three “essential skills” for ancient Chinese to master in order to enter the scholar class, it was developed throughout China’s history by innovative artists and scholars striving to create new styles based on a number of established, well-developed models. Even nowadays, the mastery of this art is regarded as a great achievement in the Chinese society that is sure to win praise and admiration. In Beijing, a Beijing tour guide can take you on a Beijing city tour to shop for exquisite Chinese calligraphy works in the city’s amazing local shops.
Chinese calligraphy is as beautiful as it is mysterious and profound. Characters on a work, especially those written in cursive or semi-cursive script, usually represent a calligrapher’s personality, aspiration, outlook of life, and inner state of mind. Beginners of this art often find the exercise restricting and unfulfilling, since there are a number of strict rules to follow. But it is generally agreed that once a certain level of proficiency is achieved, a calligrapher is able to express any idea in almost any style he/she desires.
Chinese characters were already written in a stylistic way on oracle bones dating back to the Xia dynasty, about 3,000 years ago. In the ancient Yangshao culture site of China, archaeologists discovered 6000-year-old pottery items with primitive patterns that looked like simple symbols with meanings, which were considered by some as the origin of Chinese characters and the art of calligraphy. 2,000 years ago, Qin Shi Huang Di, the first emperor of China, standardized the use of Chinese characters. After which the development of Chinese calligraphy began to follow a stable trajectory, with artists and scholars inventing new styles in each dynasty.
Chinese calligraphy, like ink and wash painting, is done by using four basic tools collectively called the “Four Treasures of Study”: brush, ink, inkstone, and paper. Each of these tools is an art in itself with a long history of development. A master calligrapher can use these four items skillfully to write beautiful, excellent works with high quality.
New styles of writing Chinese characters kept springing up throughout China’s history, but most of them could be traced back to the five major scripts: regular script, seal script, clerical script, cursive script, and semi-cursive script.
Regular script: This is a standard form of script for Chinese characters. It is a popular practice for beginners of Chinese calligraphy to imitate exemplary works of master calligrapher written in this script. Appearing late in the history of the development of this art, it was developed from a semi-curisve form of clerical script.
Seal script: One of the oldest styles of Chinese calligraphy, it was imposed by Qin Shi Huang Di as the standard script in the Qin dynasty. Nowadays very few people can read this script, which has become an undecipherable code of a few scholars and seal experts. But it is still the popular script used on Chinese seals. So its English name is called “Seal”.
Clerical script: A style that appears flat and wide with a tendency toward a square form, clerical script is believed be have been invented during Warring States period or Qin dynasty as an alternative style to seal script. As a high artistic type of writing, it is generally used in advertisement and artistic calligraphy.
Cursive script: Cursive script is a way of fast writing that developed in the Han dynasty. A style known for its omission of parts and lack of complicated strokes, it is popular with experienced calligraphers who wish to fully express their ideas and emotions in an unrestrained way. With irregular forms and random strokes, it is generally unreadable for a person untrained in the art of Chinese calligraphy.
Semi-cursive script: Of all styles of writing, semi-cursive scripts bears the most resemblance to normal hand writing. A style that borrows elements from both regular script and cursive script, it can be read by most people who understand Chinese characters.
In the fantastic local shops of Beijing, there are excellent, beautiful Chinese calligraphy works done by some of the best artists in all of China. Go with a Beijing travel guide to discover these wonderful, high-value products.
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October 19, 2009
Shop For Exquisite Beijing Opera Masks In Beijing
Worn by the Beijing Opera performers to represents characters with unique traits, Beijing Opera masks provide a kaleidoscopic views of the anicent Chinese psyche. Beautiful, unique patterns on a mask are filled with brilliant, complex colors to symbolize personality, emotion, and virtue of a character as interpreted by the designer. While Beijing Opera itself is only 200 years old, the traditon of wearing elaborately-designed masks in plays has a history of at least 4,000 years. It’s a great idea to go on a Beijing China tour with a personal shopper in Beijing to buy some exquisite Beijing Opera masks in the amazing local shops.
The countless famous figures from China’s long history are often grouped by Chinese into several broad, contrasting categories: good vs. evil, uprightness vs. foxy, loyal vs. unloyal, impulsive vs. cool-headed, and naive vs. sophisticated. These dispositions are all represented in the designs of facial makeups for Beijing Opera, with only small variations. Watching a play, one can judge the personality and role of a specific character from the mask he/she wears, without knowing anything about the story being told.
The colors of a Beijing Opera mask is the main clue that gives away the character. Patterns may vary among facial makeup designers, but there is a universal rule that governs the use of colors. Below is a short list with the major colors used for Beijing Opera masks and the characters they represent.
Red – uprightness, courage, loyalty
Green – impulsiveness, violence, lack of self-control
Black – boldness, fierceness, impartialness
White – evil, craftiness, treacherousness
Yellow – ambition, cool-headedness, fierceness
Blue – wildness, stauchness, shrewdness
Purple – sophistication, nobleness, uprightness
Gold/Silver – representing gods, spirits, and fairies.
Masks used for performance may have originated from masks worn by ancient dancers to expel ghosts and evil spirits in ceremonies. Many people believe that masked used by performers from the Tang dynasty had a great influence on the designs in later periods. The legendary Prince Lanling from the Northern Qi period was a fearsome warrior but with a handsome, feminine face that looked less than frightening. In order to frighten and overwhelm his enemies, Lanling wore a ferocious-looking mask every time he went to the battlefield. This is also believed by some to be a possible origin of performance mask.
The roles of actors in traditonal plays were formalized during the Ming dynasty, and so were the facial designs worn by the actors. Beijing Opera was created and rose to prominence in the late Qing dynasty, and it was during this period that the major facial designs were improved to a high level of sophistication and finalized.
There are 14 basic facial designs for the Jing and Chou roles in Beijing Opera, the only two roles allowed to wear a variety of makeups. They include: “whole face”, “three tile face”, “quartered face”, “six division face”, “tiny flower face”, “lopsided face”, “monk face”, “eunuch face”, “shoe-shaped gold face”, “spirit resonance face”, “deity face”, “clown face”, “elfin face”, and “hero face.”
In recent years, Beijing Opera masks became increasingly popular as a form of gift. Beautiful, unique masks, in different sizes, colors, and designs, are a popular product in almost all local gift shops in Beijing. This makes a sharp contrast to the art of Beijing Opera itself, which, due to a lack of funding and a diminishing audience, is thought to be on a general decline.
When shopping for Beijing Opera masks in Beijing, you need a Beijing guide to help you find shops with products made by the best local artisans.
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