A Study On Kang Yu-wei's Aesthetics Thought Of Calligraphy

K'angYu-wei(1858—1927), the well-known statesman, philosopher, calligraphist, calligraphy esthetician in the late Qing Dynasty and Republican period, is the leader of both the"Reform Movement"of 1898 and the movement of the study of stone inscriptions in the Qing Dynasty. He is not only the terminator and summarizer of the traditional calligraphy aesthetics but also the creator of modern calligraphy aesthetics. Based upon the philosophy of the Elementary-Qi theory, his calligraphy aesthetic thoughts could be considered as the concept of the Elementary-Qi theory.K'ang Yu-wei's philosophy falls into that of the theory of Elementary-Qi, which sees "Elementary-Qi" as the ontology of the universe. Elementary-Qi is both the terminal existence and the beginning and ending of the world. In this philosophical system, the cosmic movement is a circular process of "gasification", in which all things are created " through "gasification" and they convert into Elementary-Qi. All the phenomena in the universe exist in this endless circular process, whose essence is the condensation and dispersion of Elementary-Qi. What Kang calls "Elementary-Qi", a kind of Trinitarian, is the consistency of concept and objective existence. In other words, it is concept, reality represented by concept and the consistency of them. For him, it is the nature, characteristics and the operation law of Elementary-Qi that his aesthetics is based upon. From the perspective of principle, Elementary-Qi is the origin of the beauty of nature, society and art. It is also the essence of the appreciation of beauty. Essentially, all the phenomena are a kind of gasification. Consequently,"qixiang"is what Kang calls"beauty"in his aesthetics. From the perspective of calligraphy aesthetics, Elementary-Qi is the source of calligraphic beauty, whereas"qixiang"is a specific demonstration of calligraphic beauty, and"sense"is the core of Calligraphy Appreciation.Kang regards Elementary-Qi as the origin of calligraphy. The implication of what he calls Elementary-Qi is as follows: First,"yuan"is"qi","Taiji"and"Taiyi". Second, Elementary-Qi is the ontology of the universe, the base for the existence of the world. Third, "qi" is the original source of all things. Fourth,"Elementary-Qi"is both entity and subject. The main proposition of its philosophy includes the following: Firstly,"qi"precedes principle. Secondly, the two characters"condensation"and"dispersion"can account for the law of the world. Thirdly, the whole world is just made up of"qi"and the principles stem from it. Fourthly,"reason"and"nature"are that of the human being, which cannot find their way into the world without"qi", Fifthly,"qi"goes with"yin"and yang. Sixthly, the principle of the world is nothing but"yin"and"yang". Seventhly,"yin"can not exist without"yang"and vice verse. Eighthly, yin and yang are both involved in the law of the world, in which all things may ultimately find their way into unification. Ninthly, the law of the world is that"yang"is superior to"yin". Tenthly, his specific nature comes into being after a person was born in the world. Generally, in essence these ideas means that the Elementary-Qi of the universe consists of"yin"and"yang", the two kinds of"qi"with both distinction and identity, which constitute the internal contradictions of all things and the driving force for the development of the universe. In the unity of"yin"and"yang","yang"takes the dominant position, determining the direction of the development of things. Nature and principle represent the nature of"qi"and the law of motion. From the perspective of aesthetics, Elementary-Qi has the following attributes of beauty appreciation: The first one is concreteness. That is because Elementary-Qi, a type of new object, can be addressed as image or imaginative existence. The second one is its motion nature. In Kang's philosophy and aesthetics, Elementary-Qi is the release of energy of its own accord. Consequently, it shows itself in the form of gasification. The third one is its nature of emotion. Elementary-Qi possesses its own quality. Accordingly, it has it specific"emotion". That is one of the reasons why it can become"appreciation existence".In Kang's calligraphy aesthetics, Elementary-Qi manifests itself as"qixiang". As a result,"qixiang"is a specific aesthetic form. The idea, which enjoys a long history of aesthetics, inherits and develops the traditional aesthetics. It is the continuation and development of traditional aesthetic"qixiang"theory. For Kang,"qixiang"is "gasification of"qixing", which can apply to such fields as politics, literature, ethics, nature and art. It has the following appreciation characteristics: First, natural beauty."Qixiang"is the overall spiritual outlook of the appreciation of beauty, which is the life of the object being appreciated. Second, spatial beauty. All things in the world are made up of Elementary-Qi, which is bound to have its time and space for existence. Third, beauty of lingering charm. Fourth, beauty for ensemble. Being a concept of macro appreciation for beauty, qixiang has its feature of unity. Fifth, the nature of hierarchy. The closer"qixiang"gets to the essential state of Elementary-Qi, the higher the level of hierarchy will be. On the contrary, the level will be lower. Kang categorizes"qixiang"into three types:"qixiang"with"yang"character,"qixiang"with"yin"character, and"qixiang"with neutral nature,which respectively represent magnificence, elegance, and the neutralized beauty. In Kang's calligraphy aesthetics,"qixiang"is of great significance and it is the hallmark of the quality of level of hierarchy. That is because"qi"is life itself and"xiang"is the demonstration of life. And the denser and stronger"qixiang"of level hierarchy is, the more vigorous it will be.The aesthetic existence of"qixiang"in calligraphy can not be detached from the form of object."Qixiang"in calligraphy aesthetics is conceived in the calligraphic form. Kang attaches great importance to the objective form of calligraphy, putting forward the idea that calligraphy is art of form. Hence, he grasps the key point of"qixiang". In Kang's theories of calligraphy aesthetics, quantities of discussion have been made about the rules of calligraphy, styles of calligraphy, ideas conveyed through calligraphy, and chirography, which are the content and manifesting form of calligraphy as well.Kang's probe into calligraphy contains techniques of brushwork, the organization of brushwork, formation of characters, techniques of using ink and techniques of using paper. His main ideas are as follows: First, the skillfulness of calligraphy counts upon techniques of using brushes. Inheriting the traditional idea that techniques of using brushes are the key to calligraphy, he classifies the basic forms of techniques of using brushes into the following three categories: square style, round style and the mixture of the both. His summary in this respect is rather sound and complete. Second, the square style of brushwork facilitate regular script, whereas the round style facilitates the running script and the cursive script. Without the round style, regular script lacks cleverness; without the square style, the running and cursive script is deficient in magnificence. Accordingly, both the styles are employed interchangeably. Third, when driving brushes, the driving of wrist goes first. Fourth, the hiding of sharpness is valued in using the brushes. Fifth, techniques of using brushes is connected with the posing of brushes, without which techniques of brushes cannot exist. Sixth, it is required that brushes are handled, the palm emptying, fingers clasping, wrist leveling and sharpness erecting. Seventh, the formation of characters is based upon"thickness"in a natural way. Eighth, weight of the structure of characters is paid attention to, whereas the mere concentration on structure is opposed. Ninth, regardless of neatness or clumsiness artistic effect, the composition of calligraphy should be appropriately thick and loose, thickness being the keynote. Tenth, thickness of ink should be proper, with the thick ink enjoying priority. Eleventh, techniques of using paper require that brushes, ink and paper should be consistent. The tough paper should go with the soft brush, whereas the soft paper should match the tough brush.With regard to the demonstration of calligraphy, Kang, inheriting the tradition of freehand brushwork in traditional Chinese art, puts forward the idea that form of calligraphy goes first before the show of temperament. In this respect, Kang's apprehension resembles"xingyi boxing"in Chinese wushu, which, to some extent, possesses the nature of dialectics. Moreover, he highlights the significance of innovation of form, which is the reflection of Kang's evolution theory in his calligraphic aesthetics.Kang addresses three basic types calligraphic style, namely, magnificence, elegance, and the neutralized beauty. It is the complete theoretic summary, which is consistent with"qixiang"with"yang"character,"qixiang"with"yin"character, and"qixiang"with neutral nature. These three types can be divided endlessly. Consequently, there are boundless styles. Kang's theory concerning style is sound and complete, involving the styles of nationality, time, period and some particular individuals.The most important contribution made by the chirography theory of Kang is the study of"variant"and"bafen". Generally speaking, the so-called"variant", which is also called"variant of the original form","changes of form","breaking from the original form", is a concept in contrast to"regular form". However, from the perspective of dialectic, all"variants"are"regular form"as well, and vice versa. This is because any chirography is both"itself"and"transitional chirography". Therefore,"variant"is a"flexible reference", which refers to the relation between chirographies other than a certain kind of chirography. In the process of calligraphic development,"variants"have two basic functions: first, they act as weapons used to"break the original chirography"; second, a transitional bridge from"the original chirography"to"the new chirography". The essential significance of"variant"is that changing the original chirography properly is the key to chirography innovation, and"variant", or"variant of the regular form","changes of form","breaking from the original form", conceives the secret of the development of chirography. From Kang's view point, changing the original chirography successfully has some laws to follow, or, to put it another way, the scale of"bafen"must be abided by. Specifically speaking, if the"original chirography"is scaled as"100%", then the"new chirography"must inherit"80%"of the"original chirography", and the new factors got during the course of innovation should account for"20%"; these new factors must be kept within the limits, no matter whether they borrowed from other chirographies or created by the author. To put it another way,"80%"of the constituent elements of the"newly created"chirography must be from"the original chirography", with"20%"being from other sources. This is based on historical experience, and is also a reasonable conclusion.Kang's aesthetics of calligraphy takes"magnificence"as its aesthetic ideal, and requires that calligraphy should have awe-inspiring magnificence, powerful strength, enormous size, fantastic and varied form, tremendous momentum, and so on. In order to achieve this ideal, Kang devises a practical plan: to learn from"Wei rubbings and Nan rubbings". Kang holds forth the idea that Wei rubbings and Nan rubbings have"ten points of beauty", namely, vital force, vigor of strokes, changeable brushwork, massy stippling, fantastic and excellent form, enormous Elementary-Qi, extraordinary aftertaste, penetrating stroke, natural structure, and plump and well-developed strokes. Indeed, all these"ten points of beauty"are aesthetic characteristics of magnificence. In addition, he also points out the advantages of learning from"Wei rubbings and Nan rubbings": first, their strokes are intact, the spiritual components are distinct, and they are easy to copy; second, it can help to"study the change from li script to regular script; third,"it is helpful in studying the origin of later chirographies"; forth,"all chirographies are available"; fifth, the brushwork is"stretching, impressive and bewildering". He put his views on calligraphy into practice, and created the calligraphy of"Kang chirography"characterized by vigorous stokes and spirit, thick structure, and awe-inspiring magnificence , thus making his aesthetics of calligraphy more convincing.Kang's calligraphic appreciation theory centers on"sense theory". This appreciation criterion used to belong to the tradition of Chinese calligraphy. Kang's sense theory is the further elucidation based upon predecessors'ideas. His exposition on"sense theory"contains: sense of life, sense of characters in metals and stones, sense of elegance and worldliness, sense of ancient, sense of warriors and vulgar person, sense of generosity. Sense of generosity, among others, is what he appreciates and highly valued most, because it is the beauty with full Elementary-Qi, which is consistent with his calligraphy aesthetic ideal of Zhuangmei (Sublime or Magnificence). Kang's calligraphic aesthetics starts with Elementary-Qi theory and ends with sense theory, forming a spiral circle from the creation of Elementary-Qi to the appreciation of Elementary-Qi. In the theory of calligraphic appreciation, what he leaves behind is the"qixiang"of graveness and greatness, surging Elementary-Qi, or in other words, beauty with full Elementary-Qi.A survey of Kang's calligraphic aesthetics shows his calligraphic aesthetics is the overall result of the development of traditional. It is an integral part of the trend of the calligraphic aesthetics after the Mid-Ming dynasty. It also absorbs achievements from western aesthetics and opens the door to the transformation from the tradition to the modern. In the history of calligraphy aesthetics, he carries forward thought of WangYangming, Li Zhi, Fu Shan, RuanYuan, Bao Shichen, Liu Xizai and enlightens scholars like Liang Qichao. Therefore, he can be hailed as both the terminator of the traditional calligraphy aesthetics and the creator of modern, whose calligraphy aesthetics is the turning point of the traditional and the modern.