Chinese Calligraphy
Written and translated by Xu Yingcai
Mona Lisa’s smile
is lifelike
――――The art of painting is so vividly real
it exhibits the ultimate in concreteness, imagery, and color
but lacks rhythm to inspire dances
Beethoven’s “The Destiny”
is majestic
――――The art of music is so emotion-capturing
it exhibits the ultimate in abstractness, rhythm, and color
but lacks concreteness to amaze listeners
Is there, in this world
an art that is inclusive of all these artistic elements
If so
what an ideal art that would be
Yes, there is
That is the very Chinese calligraphy
Chinese calligraphy
through small seal, clerical, running, cursive, and regular scripts
presents concreteness
through Zhang, Jin, Xing, Kuang’s cursive scripts
reveals abstractness
through saturated, burned, light, dry, wet, thirsty inks
displays color
and through quick, rushing, shifting, accommodating, connecting brush-movements
shows rhythm
Chinese calligraphy
comes from Fuxi’s Eight Trigrams
which reveals
with the meaning of lines, the philosophical connotations of Yin and Yang
comes from Legalist’s Small Seal script
which reflects
with the light and shadow of swords, the decisive individuality
comes from Confucianist’s Clerical script
which highlights
with the politeness, vigorousness, and quaintness, the essence of the Doctrine of the Mean
comes from Wang Xizhi’s Lanting script
which illustrates
with its flow and elegance, Lao Zhuang’s thoughts
comes from Zhang Xu’s wild cursive script
which projects
with the indulgence of frenzied speed, the freedom of expressing
comes from the regular script of the four masters, Yan, Liu, Ouyang, and Zhao
which looks neat yet dances
the graceful three-step dance
and steady yet glows
with the vibrant life of flowing spirit
The most beautiful thing in this world
is not a mountain or a running river
nor a tree, or a flower, or grass
It is life
Chinese calligraphy
is live with blood, flesh, muscle, bone, and air
The most beautiful thing in this world
is not a walking animal, or a flying bird, or a crawling insect
nor a deer, or a bumblebee, or a butterfly
It is life with a soul
Chinese calligraphy
with every character in a square shape internally and round externally
implies the cosmology of dome-shaped heaven vs. square-shaped earth and motion vs. static
Chinese calligraphy
with the contradictions of long vs. short, thick vs. thin, saturated vs. light, front vs. back……
suggests the contradiction of Yin and Yang and dialectics
――――Philosophy
Philosophy is the soul of life of Chinese calligraphy
With this art
when in a gentle mood
I can make lotus flowers over the pond dance
With this art
when in indignation
I can make the Yellow River run thousands of miles in one gush
With this art
when in high spirits
I can make thousands of horses on prairie chase wind and thunder
Oh, with this art, the art of Chinese calligraphy――――
the most expressive of individuality
I can express any kind of thought-waves welling in my heart
作者徐英才
徐英才，汉学教师、汉英双向翻译家、古当代诗人。先后开设过古现代汉语、古现代中国文学、中国电影史、中国书法理论与实践等。出版过多本译著，有些被用作国礼、教材；主/合编过多部著作。他出版过的诗集有《诗意江南》、《来自大自然的灵感――徐英才汉英双语诗集》、纯英语版的《我们在这里绘画》。他是华人诗学会会长，汉英双语纸质诗刊《诗殿堂》总编。
中文主播
漫黎
漫 黎：原名俞曼莉，曾用笔名曼莉，原籍上海，定居美国芝加哥，现为互联网朗诵联盟会员，芝加哥“风城诗社”社员，华人诗学会会员，原为上海东方电影频道节目编导，合作执导的纪录片《记忆电影》于2006年获第二十五届夏威夷电影节纪录片成就奖。爱好绘画、写作、朗诵。近年来有不少诗作发表或散见于国内外各大网络平台或纸刊。
华人诗学会理事会组织机构
会 长：徐英才
副会长：冰花
秘书长：李莉
成 员: (按拼音排列)
冰花、焦海丽、李莉、徐英才、薛凯
华人诗学会专刊《诗殿堂》编委成员
总 编：徐英才
内容总监：冰 花
主 编：程家惠（新诗部）
主 编：申美英（古诗部）
主 编：焦海丽（评访部）
主 编：李 莉（配音部）
主 编: 释圣静 (头条部)
副主编：焦海丽（新诗部）
副主编：耿 慧（古诗词）
副主编：李 莉（评访部）
副主编：张 挺 (新旧诗部)
副主编：俞曼莉 (配音部)
编 辑：(按拼音排列)
达文、李玥、艾尔肯·吾斯曼
英语诗歌编辑部
主 任：薛 凯
主 编：Sylvia Cavanaugh
副主编：Lisa Vihos
编 辑：(按字母顺序排列)
Gerry Brauer, James Burton, Cheryl Hamann, Scott Mills
翻译部
主 任：张挺
翻译主编：(按拼音排列) 李正栓、史潘荣、张智中
执行主编：丁立群、段冰知、吴伟雄、任诚刚、石永浩、解斌、颜海峰、叶如钢、杨秀波、杨中仁、于元元、张琼、张俊锋、张紫涵、赵宜忠（拼音排序）
文宣拓展部
部 长：薛凯
微信微刊分部
主 任：焦海丽
副主任：耿慧、邓玉兰
中国文宣拓展分部
主任：释圣静
国际文宣拓展分部
主 任：Cheryl Hamann
副主任：李玥
杂志社信息
地址：5923 N Artisan Ave Chicago IL 60659
邮箱：info@poetryh.com
网址：poetryh.com
新诗投稿箱：npoems@poetryh.com
古诗投稿箱：cpoems@poetryh.com
英诗投稿箱：englishpoetry@poetryh.com
其他投稿箱：contact@poetryh.com
换一换
