Calligraphy, Painting & Seal

Chinese characters are more than records: the line itself holds a power that moves the heart.

One brush, the whole world: seal, clerical, regular, running and cursive scripts evolved over two thousand years. Calligraphy is honoured in China as “the art of arts” — writing is practice, and the stroke is the trace of the mind.

UNESCO intangible heritage: from seal to cursive scripts, writing elevated into an independent art.

Within a few square inches of stone, characters and seals are cut — carrying trust and beauty.

UNESCO intangible heritage: the knife on stone and metal, spirit gathered in a tiny space.

It does not copy photographs; it seizes the vital resonance of mountains, waters and all things.

Not likeness but spirit: the blue-green of A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains has not faded in a thousand years, and Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains holds an entire world of reclusion. The highest praise for a Chinese painting is four words — qi yun sheng dong, spirit resonance and life movement.

Landscape, flowers-and-birds and figures, with brushwork and blank space — a painterly language all the East’s own.

A sheet of paper cut by blade carries the auspicious wishes and folk taste of the countryside.

Paper-cutting cuts patterns with shears; woodblock New Year prints press story images from carved boards — Yangliuqing, Taohuawu and Yangjiabu are the classic workshops, UNESCO-listed folk art.