Brushes with Power: Modern Politics and the Chinese Art of Calligraphy 9780520910898, 9780520072855

Table of contents :
CONTENTS
PREFACE
PART ONE The Institution of Calligraphy in Imperial China
ONE Chinese Calligraphy as a System of Power
TWO Demystifying Chinese Characters
THREE The Legend of the Calligraphy Sage, Wang Xizhi
FOUR The Brush as an Instrument of Rule
FIVE Art Criticism as Political Commentary
PART TWO Calligraphy and Revolution
SIX The Cultural Dilemma of the Revolutionary Elite
SEVEN The Gentlemen Scholars of the Central and South Lakes
EIGHT The Failed Assault on Chinese Characters
NINE Leninist Calligraphy for Mass Politics
TEN Cultural Revolution Calligraphy: Big Characters and Leftist Lines
ELEVEN Evil Characters, Poison Pens
TWELVE The Unsuccessful Penmanship of Chairman Hua Guofeng
PART THREE Postrevolutionary Calligraphy
THIRTEEN Calligraphy's New C onventions
FOURTEEN A Personal Art in a Changing Society
FIFTEEN The Orchid Pavilion's Modern Legacy
NOTES
CREDITS FOR ILLUSTRATIONS
INDEX

Citation preview

Brushes with Power

Brushes with Power Modern Politics and the C hinese Art of C alligraphy

Richard Curt Kraus

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley

Los Angeles

Oxford

This book is a print-on-demand volume. It is manufactured using toner in place of ink. Type and images may be less sharp than the same material seen in traditionally printed University of California Press editions.

University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. Oxford, England © 1991 by The Regents of the U nivcrsity of California

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kraus, Richard Curt. Brushes with power: modern politics and the Chinese art of calligraphy I Richard Curt Kraus. p. em. I ncludes index. ISBN 0-520-07285-5 (cloth: alk. paper) I . Calligraphy, Chinese� Political aspects. 2. China�Cultural policy. I. Title. N K3634.A2K73 1991 90-23590 745.6' l 9951--dc20 CI P

Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO

Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper). 0

For 1Vlary S. Erbaugh, honeyed words

CONTENTS

PREFACE

I

ix

PART I• THE INST I T U T I O N O F C A L LIGRA PHY I N IMPERIAL C HINA ! . C hinese C alligraphy as a System of Power I

2. Demystifying Chinese C haracters

I 3

I 15

3 . The Legend of the Calligraphy Sage, Wang Xizhi ·1. 5.

I

The Brush as an I nstrument of Rule

1

Art C ri ticism as Political Commentary

I

36

I

45

I

PART I I • CALLIGRAPHY AND REVOLUTION I

6. The C ul tural Dilemma of the Revolutionary Elite

7 . The Gentlemen Scholars of the C entral and South Lakes

I

8. The Failed Assault on C hinese C h aracters 9 . Leninist C alligraphy for Mass Polities

26

I

53

55 65

I

75 83

1 0 . C u ltural Revol ution C alligra phy : Big C haracters and Leftist Lines ll

. Evil C haracters, Poison Pens

I

PART III • POSTREVO LUTIO NARY C A L LIGRA P H Y

vii

96

109

1 2 . The Uns uccessful Penmanship of C hairman H u a Guofeng

1 3 . C alligraphy ' s New Conventions

I

I

141

123

I

I

139

viii

CONTENTS

I

1 4. A Personal Art in a C h anging Society 1 5. The Orchid Pavilion' s Modern Legacy NOTES

I

173

CREDITS FOR ILLUSTRATIONS

INDEX

I

203

I

199

151 159

PREFACE

During the Cultural Revolution, I acquired as a souvenir in Hong Kong a Maoist fingernail clipper. I knew it was Maoist because its white plastic handle bore the slogan "Serve the people" in tiny red characters easily recog­ nizable as Mao Zedong's handwriting despite their miniature size and kitsch setting. l was puzzled to discover that the Great Helmsman was auto­ graphing toilet articles, even if by machine and with appropriately populist sentiments . I subsequently learned that C hinese leaders have long spread their calligraphy across the nation to demonstrate both their learning and their authority and that C hinese citizens and organizations have long accepted and displayed s uch writing as emblems of patronage and fealty . Thus I was less surprised when I awoke in Fuzhou one summer morning in 1 989 and realized that the top of the mosquito net that had protected my slumbers bore the name of my host institution and work unit, Fujian Teachers U niversity, stenciled in red in a rather clumsy imitation of Mao Zedong's hand . Mao had apparently once honored the u niversity with an i nscription of its name, much as he wrote the characters that form the mast­ head of People 's Daily. But I was mistaken; the " Fuj ian Teachers University" inscription was bogus . Eager to demonstrate enthusiasm for Mao while he was still alive, university officials had created their own composite inscription by lifting the two characters for "Fuj ian" from the mas thead of the Fujian Daily newspaper ( characters that Mao had indeed written) and combining them with a "Teachers U niversity" that he had written at the request of some other institution. The new officials of the university would discuss this counterfeit with me only because Mao had been dead for thirteen years and the university had already invi ted another influential calligrapher, Zhao Puchu, head of the Chinese B uddhist Association, to write a new version of the s chool name, one that will no doubt be stenciled on future mosquito nets . lX

X

PREFACE

Besides, one calligraphy critic confided to me, the somewhat deceitful j oining of two samples of Mao's handwriting had produced an awkward, ill­ proportioned logo for the university . I have not yet concluded whether these words were intended as art criticism or as political commentary. This book explores that ambiguity through an examination of Chincsc calligraphy as a social and political institution . Brushes with Power alludes in three ways to the connection between the realms of art and politics . First, I refer to Chinese writing brushes wielded by important political personalities . Chinese culture has an elaborate set of con­ ventions by which the handwriting of powerful individuals is accorded spe­ cial honor and sometimes treated with almost magical significance. Such calligraphy is a steady feature of Chinese culture and may be viewed as a little-understood weapon in the arsenal of devices employed in China's political conflicts . My simplest purpose is to describe and comment on this tradition and its contemporary manifestations . I also hope to elucidate for students of modern C hina an aspect of politics that Chinese readily take for granted but rarely discuss in writing. More ambitiously , Brushes with Power views calligraphy as a metaphor for the elite culture of imperial China, a grandiose legacy that C hinese of the late twentieth century have received with ambivalence. Cultural institutions and state power have collided as C hinese debate how they might use their past heritage without being smothered by it. I argue that the Communist revolu­ tionaries adapted this tradition to fit the needs of a modernizing and Leninist society . This seemingly innocuous argument flies in the face of many simplis­ tic claims that Communism has obliterated traditional Chinese culture or, conversely, that this culture has finally overwhelmed the revolution once waged against it. Only a profound misunderstanding of the intersection of culture and politics can sustain either of these notions. Y ct such assertions still lace much popular and scholarly writing on China. Finally, the book refers to what I see as a normal condition of tension between art and politics. It is our modern Western conceit to imagine a pure and serene realm of art rising high above a soiled world of political squab­ bling. I mplicit in our thinking is the ideal of a state which will leave the arts to flourish without impediment. Yet at the same time, artists and their audi­ ences often demand public support of the arts in the form of grants , arts education programs , tax subsidies, and publicly supported galleries, opera houses, and concert halls. We rarely even identify these contradictions , much less resolve them. The arts in China operate in a sharply different context. Chinese assume an intimacy between art and politics to be a normal aspect of culture . I ndeed, a radical disj unction between the two would be profoundly upsetting to most intellectuals . China's example clearly illustrates the inter­ dependence of art and politics in a way that should enable us better to under­ stand how art brushes against power everywhere .

PREFAC E

Xl

" Make the past serve the present, make foreign things serve China. " I s eck to u nderstand the political and cultural intricacies condensed into each half of Mao Z edong' s pithy slogan . This volume is a companion to my Pianos and Politics in China: Middle-Class Ambitions and the Struggle over Western Music. There I used the piano ( representing European bourgeois culture) to ap­ praise conflicts over foreign culture's place in C hina today . I n Brushes with Power, I examine controversies over how contemporary C hinese should re­ spond to their nation's own imposing cultural legacy. I see calligraphy as both a metaphor for that legacy and a central institution in its transmission and adaptation . Piano music and calligraphy arc altogether dissimilar arts, with distinctive circles of advocates and enthusiasts, yet each offers a clear and rather uncrowded window from which to survey contemporary C hinese society and politics . I n the West, Chinese calligraphy is usually the province of art historians; they have their own important research interests, often d ifferent from the questions raised by social scientists. Although I have relied extensively upon the literature of art history, I am concerned almost exclusively with questions of power rather than aesthetics. I am not an art historian, nor a literary critic, nor a cultural and social historian; I am a political scientist with my own approach to these sometimes curious materials . While I do wish to en­ gage the interest of colleagues in other disciplines, I beg their forbearance if I do not always treat calligraphy in ways they find familiar. I must confess that my handwriting in English is unsightly at best; my ill-formed C hinese characters should be a source of personal humiliation . Only because I am a foreigner will Chinese friends and associates excuse my barbarian and childlike hand . My distance from this artistic tradition is enormous. I ndeed, C hinese calligraphers cannot imagine that I can write intelligently about their art without practicing it. I n many ways they are correct. Only by ofkring a new perspective to their art can I hope to say something worthwhile. Many individuals and institutions aided me in this study . This would be a much more meager book without the steady aid and encouragement of Mary S. E rbaugh, my mate and resident linguist, who deserves something better than a mere dedication . I owe special gratitude to Deborah Baumgold , Joseph Esherick, Sue Glover, Ellen Johnston Laing, Wendy Larson, and Vivienne Shuc, who offered unusually thoughtful advice on how to improve an earlier version of this study. In Fuzhou and Xiamen, calligraphers Chen Sanwei, Huang Zhenci, Sun Xiaofeng, vVeng Mingquan, Xie Chenguang, Yu Gang, and Zhu Yisa kindly shared their learning and their art. Timothy C heek, John DeFrancis, Fu Zongwen, Huang Hao, Anthony Kraus, Michael Shoenhals, Dorothy J. Solinger, Ezra Vogel, Ye Wa, and Yu Taoping sup­ plied much-appreciated information, advice, and assistance . The U niversity of O regon Humanities C enter provided a fellowship in the fall of 1 988 that

xii

PREFAC E

enabled me to get this long-contemplated proj ect under way. I have received critical assistance from four other universities which were my hosts as I worked on this study: the Center for C hinese Studies of the U niversity of C alifornia at Berkeley; Fuj ian Teachers University in Fuzhou; the Fine Arts Department of Xiamen U niversity; and the U niversities Service C entre of the C hinese U niversity of Hong Kong. I thank them all for their generosity and courtesy. The writing of this work was supported by a research grant from the Joint Committee on C hinese S tudies of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council, with funds pro­ vided by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W . Mellon Foundation . I n the course o f this project I have learned just enough about China's great calligraphic heritage to realize that my text must contain some conspicuous errors, which I hope the reader will forgive .

PART ONE

The Institution of Calligraphy in Imp erial C hina

ONE

Chinese Calligraphy as a System of Power

Of China's traditional arts , calligraphy is the clearest focus for a com­ plex web of social assumptions abou t the empowering nature of art. The seventeenth-century dramatist, musicologist, and waterworks official Kong Shangren described the Kangxi emperor's imposing pen: From outside, I could see into the Palace where there was a table with candles over four feet high. His Imperial Maj esty took ofr his headdress and leaned on the table to write a commemorative placard for the eightieth birthday celebra­ tion of the Duke's grandmother, Lady Tao of the First Rank. The Duke and others were kneeling at the bottom of the steps. I n a short while, the inscription "Her Virtue Matches That of the I m mortal Pine" was completed . Attendants held i t up for all the officials to view. The calligraphy ascended like a dragon and soared like a phoenix; the ink was suffused with fragrance. I was ordered to read i t aloud as the Duke and his younger brother knelt and received it, per­ forming three kowtows . 1

Kong assumes that the creation of authority and of beauty are fused in a single act. This intimate bond survives in the People's Republic; the practice of calligraphy by leading C hinese politicians, who still carry on such literati conventions as exchanging poems among themselves and writing moralistic inscriptions for their underlings, demonstrates this continuity . Yet a s tudy of calligraphy also helps isolate what has changed : as politics has become ever more tightly organized, so traditional cultural practices have been adapted to such needs of mass politics as the creation of legitimacy, the demarcation of patronage networks, and service as an emblem of nationalism. Although the results are sometimes aesthetically grotesque, at least by traditional man­ darin standards, they demonstrate the resilience and adaptability of Chinese culture. 3

4

CALLI GRAPHY I N I M PERIAL C H I N A

Like all writing systems, Chinese characters embody relations of power. Some of these are shared with alphabets and other writing systems; some are distinctive to Chinese characters . I distinguish three kinds of power inherent in calligraphy: the power of magic over superstition, the power of ideological control over the Chinese state, and the power of cultural tradition over the, individual . T H E POWER OF MAG I C OVER THE I L L IT E RATE

At some shadowy period in C hina's past, the mastery of writing was an aspect of magic. The oldest surviving forms of C hinese characters are the oracle bones . The king' s diviners marked characters onto these turtle shells and cattle shoulder-blades. Heating the bone created cracks that gave clues to the initiates for reading heaven's will in the characters . The proportion of Chinese people who can read characters has certainly increased since the Shang dynasty (ca. sixteenth to eleventh centuries B.c. ) , but those who can­ not read have long associated literacy with mysterious powers . 2 Arthur Wright argued that written words carried greater weight in China than in other civilizations: A single symbol system was m continuous use for more than thirty-five hundred years . Those symbols were, in early times , manipulated with great solemnity by a small class of scribes . The written symbols were viewed with awe-as indeed they were in many early societies-because they were thought to evoke the potency of whatever they denominated. Some of this attitude carried over into the culture of imperial China where the mass of illiterates looked up to a small elite above them-an elite differentiated by i ts mastery of the written word . Further, the individual symbols did not change; they--and particularly those with value connotations-accumulated with the passage of time a tremendous weight of contextual reference and allusive meaning. To this was added what we can only call aesthetic weight, that is, regard for the well­ written word as an aesthetic obj ect. :l

Chinese have shown their respect for written characters by building special furnaces in which waste paper bearing writing might be burned with respect, separated from ordinary trash. This practice still lingers in parts of Taiwan . The brother of China's great writer Lu Xun recalls his childhood in late nineteenth-century Shaoxing: Unwanted things were burned . Most of what was destroyed in this manner was printed paper of one sort or another. In those days it was customary for us to "respect" all things carrying printed or written words and the inscription " Re­ spect Words Printed on Paper" was often seen on walls. Printed matter could be burned only in big iron basins, never in stoves .·!

C HINESE CALLI GRA PHY AS A SYSTEM OF POWER

5

C alligraphy was treated with such awe that the ink used for writing charac­ ters was often believed to have magic properties . Once when Lu Xun ' s father was sick and vomiting blood, the traditional physician prescribed a dose of old ink, since it would stop the bleeding by blotting out the red colour of blood . Lu Xun brought Father a glass of ink, and after some hesitation he gulped i t down. He looked like a child who had licked his brush while practic­ ing calligraphy 5

That even a scholar's family would join the ranks of ink-drinkers gives some indication of the depth of veneration of calligraphy in traditional China. Yet supers tition about calligraphy's accoutrements was not unusual among the elite. Nathan Sivin describes a Yuan dynasty prescription offered when a young man became impotent after his new wife had refused to have inter­ course with him. The remedy prescribed was the ultimate symbol of male dominance in a literati family--old writing brush hairs-ashed and downed in wine .6

The tradition of calligraphy as magic was colorfully represented in a 1 989 television series based on the youth of Shao Shiping, a governor of Jiangxi province. When young Shao, the brightest lad of his village, is about to be sent off to school in the city, his proud but superstitious neighbors hold a ceremony in the village temple . They feed the young man a soup into which they have mixed freshly ground ink, thereby empowering his body with the scholar's fluid . 7 Magical calligraphy is important in Daoist rituals in which the gods inspire entranced human intermediaries to write on their behalf. Secret societies also have special magical characters, and many C hinese use calligraphic charms to ward off a variety of evil spells .8

T H E POWER OF I DEOLOGICAL C O NTROL OVER T H E C H I N E S E STATE

Control over written characters has conveyed power over C hina as a nation. Before the Qin dynasty of the third century B.c., China was divided into many warring states, each of which had its own form of C hinese characters . Some words were written in as many as two hundred different ways .9 The great achievement of the Qin and its tyrannical emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, was to unite all of C hina for the first time. As part of his reforms, this em­ peror dictated standard written characters for the entire nation, j us t as he standardized weights and measures and even the axles of carriages (so that the ruts they cut into the earth might form a unifying set of national roads) . 1 0 The Qin s tandard lasted for over two millennia, with occasional reforms

6

CALLIGRAPHY I N I M PER I A L C H I NA

sanctioned by the central government and its official scholars . I n the most recent reform, by the Communists in the 1 950s, the writing of several hun­ dred characters was simplified to make it easier for common people to learn to read and write . 1 1 Thus, as John K. Fairbank observes, " the two great institutions that have held the C hinese state together-the ruling elite and the writing system­ have coexisted in mutual support for three thousand years . " 1 2 At times indi­ vidual emperors showed special interest in the writing system. Tang Taizong (r. 626-49) promoted the work of his favorite calligraphic master, Wang Xizhi, as the new standard for the bureaucrats of his state . The Song dynasty emperor Huizong (r. 1 1 00- 25) developed an idiosyncratic but highly elegant style known as "slender gold . " The Qing dynas ty's Qianlong emperor (r. 1 735-96) ordered a massive compilation of copies of the best calligraphy in C hina' s past, the "Hall of the Three Rarities . " 1 3 The writing system has preserved national unity where otherwise China might well have been fragmented , European-style, into smaller states. Al­ though C hina' s written language is shared among all C hinese people, spoken C hinese exists in a bewildering variety of dialects . 1 4 These so-called dialects are in fact different languages, no more mutually intelligible than French and Romanian or Norwegian and English . There arc seven major dialects : the Mandarin of north and western China (spoken by 7 1 . 5 percent of the population) ; Wu of the Shanghai area ( 8 . 5 percent) ; C antonese, or Yue, of Guangdong (5 percent) ; Xiang of Hunan (4.8 percent) ; Min of Fu­ j ian and Taiwan ( 4. 1 percent) ; Hakka, spoken in isolated mountain areas throughout south C hina (3. 7 percent) ; and Gan of Jiangxi ( 2 .4 percent) . Many of these dialects , especially Min, Yuc, and Hakka, are also spoken by many Chin� abroad . Some 93 percent of the people of China speak one of these dialects, each of which comes in radically different versions-often mutually unintelligible within the same dialect group. Citizens of northern Fuj ian, for instance, cannot understand the related version of Min dialect spoken in southern Fuj ian and Taiwan . The spoken language of the court, or Mandarin, has long been the stan­ dard for attempting to establish some unity in the spoken tongue. But many officials have spoken poor Mandarin. Both Mao Zcdong's thick Hunan ac­ cent and C hiang Kai-shek' s incomprehensible Ningbo tongue were sources of frustration and amusement for their underlings . Only in written language has the C hinese state historically been able to overcome the fragmenting ten­ dencies of regional languages , for Chinese characters have the same meaning in any dialect. They are pronounced differently : in C antonese, for example, Mandarin's lai, " to come, " is leih and guo, "nation , " is guok. Moreover, while all versions of C hinese usc intonation to make important phonetic distinctions, each dialect distributes its vocabulary according to a different system of tones (four in Mandarin , eight in Cantonese) . Dialects do have

C HINESE CALLI G RAPHY AS A SYSTEM OF POWER

7

sometimes significant vocabulary differences, but there is sufficient overlap for the written characters to provide a common medium of communication. Thus control over the written language has a historical significance of which any educated C hinese today is aware, and one of the traditional bases of state power i s the authority to determine how Chinese is written. T H E POWER OF C U LTURAL TRAD I T I O N OVER T H E I N D I V I D UAL

The writing system also exercises a profound power over individual C hinese. This process may be less grand than an emperor's authority to shape China's national destiny through state sponsorship of dictionaries and promotion of favored calligraphic styles, but every literate C hinese becomes something of a calligrapher merely by learning to write. Through calligraphy individuals are both taught discipline and given a sense of personal participation in a living culture of nearly incredible antiquity. Because C hinese characters arc more numerous and more complex than the symbols of an alphabet, the initial steps in learning to write impose a clear discipline upon young C hinesc . 1 '' Students must first master the brush, learning to hold and manipulate i t, applying and releasing subtle pressure to control the shape of each line. Characters are composed of many s eparate brushstrokes, which must be mastered in the correct order (fig. I) . There is a conventional order of beginning to write at a character' s top left corner and finishing at the bottom right, with horizontal strokes generally preceding vertical s trokes . Violation of this rule produces awkward , unbalanced cal­ ligraphy, comparable to crude misspelling in English writing. Because many

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Fig. I . C hinese students must learn not only to shape characters with accuracy, but also to write their strokes in the correct order. C haracters written with improper stroke order seem out of balance. A C hinese textbook shows the correct stroke order for three characters: from top to bottom xin, " heart , " wo, " I , " and bian, "side. "

8

CALLI GRAPHY IN I M PERIAL CHINA

characters do not have top left corners , students must approach each charac­ ter as a separate aesthetic task . Beyond the elementary discipline of stroke order-shared by all the billions of Chinese who have ever written-lie the more subtle questions of how to give a character balance, force, and harmony . 1 6 Studying calligraphy is much like learning to play the piano. Students are eager to rush through the basics and play some C hopin while their teachers nag them to practice their scales. Young calligraphers want to learn quickly to emulate the styles of such past masters as Yan Zhenqing or Su Shi, but their instructors demand that they write yet again the eight brushstrokes of the character for yong, "eternal , " which is said to contain all of the strokes needed to write any character (fig. 2 ) . The discipline of calligraphy docs not end with adulthood, as the study of piano often does. All literate C hinese must maintain and improve their writing skills through the thoughtful cultivation of calligraphy . The writing of handsome characters has long been taken as the standard of civilization. Adults in responsible positions are expected to take pride in their calligra­ phy, and any document, whether a petition to the throne, a letter to a friend , or a simple receipt, loses authority if written in an ungainly hand .

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o Even the titles he wrote gradually disappeared from use: C hina's Central Television replaced his calligraphy on its logo with printed characters . 3 1 On August 1 3, 1 93 1 , the Shanghai Wenhuibao replaced Hua's masthead with new calligraphy, written in complex characters as if to emphasize the change . More pettily, in 1 98 3 the Party ordered the removal of certificates of merit issued to workers and peasants and distributed under Hua's name and with facsimiles of his calligraphy . 3 2 Despite his humiliation, Hua Guofeng' s purge was in the end a relatively gentle one. No longer even a marginal member of C hina's leadership, Hua visited Mao Zedong' s mausoleum in Tiananmen on Mao's birthday in 1 93 3 . There, s tanding beneath his own huge characters at the entrance, Hua admitted to a reporter that he still practiced a bit of calligraphy when he could find the time. 33

PART T H R E E

Pos trevol u tionary C alligraphy

TH I RT E E N

C alligraphy ' s N ew C onventions

Hua Guofeng' s brief rule marked the most extravagant marriage of calligra­ phy to statecraft in China's history . Hua's desperate ambition sparked a foolish mimicry of Mao Zedong , but his calligraphic excess did little to strengthen his own power. Although calligraphy has not been depoliticized since Hua's fall from power, its union with power has certainly become less fevered . This new mood has permitted a restructuring of calligraphy' s place in Chinese society . TAM I N G T H E P O L I T I C I A N S ' B RU SH E S

Deng Xiaoping encouraged big-character posters against Hua Guofeng and his allies i n the fall of 1 9 7 9 . But after crippling his rival, Deng quickly reined in the poster-writers lest their popular criticism at Beij ing's " Democracy Wall" be turned against him. I n February 1 980, Party leaders denounced big-character posters as a dangerous heritage of the Cultural Revolution; they removed from China's constitution the right to hang big-character post­ ers, along with guarantees of free expression. The Party also imposed restrictions on the use of calligraphy by central officials. 1 Their brus hes were by no means taken away, but they were ex­ pected to return to conventions ignored by Hua Guofeng. Senior leaders con­ tinued to use their calligraphy to demonstrate their power and learning, but in a more restrained manner. Deng Xiaoping frequently inscribed the titles for ceremonial books (Dr. Sun Yat-sen: A Photo A lbum ) , and provided charac­ ters for public monuments ( Hunan's Comrade Liu Shaoqi Memorial Hall, the Memorial Hall to the Compatriots Murdered in the Massacre of Nanjing Committed by Japanese Forces in C hina) . 2 But on other occasions, Deng used his calligraphy for political advantage . After Deng visited China's spe141

POSTREVOLUTI ONARY C A L L I G RA P H Y

142

Fig.

56.

Deng Xiaoping wri ting an inscription for t h e Xiamen S pecial Economic

Zone .

cia! economic zones in early 1 984, he left a bundle of inscriptions in his wake, such as "Run the special economic zones in a faster and better way , " which he wrote in Xi amen (fig. 56) . Local officials subsequently cited these inscrip­ tions as their highest j ustification for their actions . 3 Deng Xiaoping also turned t o calligraphy in the crisis that followed his decision to massacre the citizens of Beij ing on June 4, 1 989. To show, how­ ever belatedly, that he was in command, Deng concocted a posthumous title, "Guardian of the Republic, " to confer on twelve of the soldiers who died in battle with the citizens of Beij ing. Chinese television flashed Deng's fountain­ pen calligraphy across the nation .4 Restraining the brushes of China's politicians is not easy . When Beijing introduced regulations in 1 988 to slow down the runaway construction of public memorials, they specified that builders could not bypass proper au­ thorization by waving inscriptions written by leading comrades .5 The first deputy chairman of the Central Advisory Commission wrote characters for a new commercial building in Heilongj iang's Mudanj iang City; after a lavish banquet to celebrate his artistry, a Hong Kong magazine asked , "How much per character does Bo Yibo's inscription cost?"6

C A L L I G RA P H Y ' S N E W C O N V E N T I O N S

143

The new model of the statesman as calligrapher was Hu Yaobang, Hua Guofeng' s nemesis . He served as general secretary of the Communist Party until he was dismissed in early 1 98 7 , held responsible for the 1 986 wave of student demonstrations. Until his death in 1 989, Hu remained a member of the Political Bureau but had no specific responsibilities. He passed his time reading and practicing calligraphy, activities appropriate for a retired of­ ficial . On H u 's final visit to his native Hunan in the fall of 1 988, he modestly but cleverly avoided repeated efforts to trick him into leaving examples of his calligraphy. One textile factory manager had brush, paper, and ink all ready when Hu toured his plant. Hu demur red when led to the brush by the man-­ ager. " Leading m e into this kind of trap, what inscription can I write? 'The Monkey King carne here to playJ' " All the bystanders began to laugh , but the manager persisted , again asking Hu to take up the brush . H u then turned to the guest book and signed it; his name was the only calligraphy the man­ ager could obtain. At a bridge party with C hangsha journalists, Hu also begged off a request from Hunan Daily: "No, no, the central regulations won' t allow us t o slap our characters around s o freely . " When this excuse proved insufficient, Hu refused to usc the expensive paper offered and asked instead for a score sheet from the bridge game, leaving the disappointed j ournalists with the two words, "bridge friends . " vVhen H u visited C hangsha' s ancient Yueli Academy on the eve of his departure, he realized that his entourage expected him to write a few words. Conceding defeat, he offered , " Let me write an inscription-one character worth a thousand pieces of gold . " But pointing to the preparations set out on a table, he said, "This paper is too big, let me write something at horne and send it to you, all right?" To mur­ murs of discontent, Hu finally agreed to leave one formal inscription in Hunan: a simple and elegant " Respect knowledgc. " 7 The calligraphy o f unpopular politicians remained a t risk. When Premier Li Peng declared martial law in Beij ing on May 2 0, 1 989 , observers at Shenyang's Liaoning University noted that "on the portico of the main class­ room building, a twisted mess of gilded metal j utted out from the brickwork. C loser investigation revealed the contorted characters ' Li Peng' , whose cal­ ligraphy and signature had been used for the building's emblazoned name. " Li's vandalized signature was replaced j us t in time to be destroyed a second time on June 4, the day of the Beij ing massacre.8 D I PLOMA T I C C A L L IGRAPHY

C hina's art of calligraphy is s hared by other land s . It flourishes in Japan, where Chinese characters have long been used , along with a native syllabary, to record the Japanese language, Tens of thousands of serious calligraphers live in Taiwan and Hong Kong; even more are found among the millions of

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Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and around the world . The People's Republic consciously uses calligraphy to strengthen its relations with these groups. I n China's effort to reach out to Asia's calligraphy lovers , the simplified characters of the mainland pose a problem everywhere except Singapore, which has adopted many of the simplifications . J apancse, and most C hinese from outside the People' s Republic, cannot easily read many of the simplified characters. They find other simplifications legible but j arring in their appear­ ance. For diplomatic reasons, C hina has not pressed its calligraphers to usc simplified characters exclusively. Because of their shared script and culture, Mao Zcdong could write a funeral inscription ( " I mmortal glory to Comrade Tokuda Kyuichi" ) for the late head of the Japanese Communist Party in 1 955.9 When a Japanese par­ liamentarian visited Beij ing in 1 9 72 and asked for a sample of the work of noted calligrapher W ci Changqing, Zhou Enlai' s staff, ever sensitive to the need to cultivate Japan esc opinion, tracked W ci down, even though he had been labeled a "reactionary capitalist" and put to work as an attendant at a bicycle parking lot. 1 0 As the numbers ofJapanesc tourists grew rapidly after the Cultural Revolution, China emphasized the accoutrements of the schol­ ar's studio, earning considerable foreign exchange by selling calligraphy, brushes, and inks tones ( the last sometimes priced as high as U . S . $ 1 5 ,000) . 1 1 Japan also cultivates calligraphic tics with C hina; an exhibit of works by two hundred Japanese calligraphers was sent to Beij ing in 1 988. 1 2 Japanese calligraphy has developed in its own directions , favoring the freer forms of the grass and running scripts , while C hinese calligraphers have emphasized seal script and the maj estic Northern Wei inscriptions. L 3 Japanese imperial­ ism also exploited its calligraphic tics to other nations in the days of Japan' s " Greater E a s t Asia Co-prosperity Sphere . " Then Japan established "same script societies" to stress the shared cultural legacy of Japan, China, Viet­ nam, and Korea. 1 4 Taiwan poses a different challenge for the People's Republic, which has assiduously wooed its former adversary since the end of the Cultural Revolu­ tion. Calligraphy has been one of many inducements offered . 1 5 A covert trade in the finest mainland brushes has long existed , but by 1 989 Taibci shops were openly displaying ink from the People' s Republic as well as back issues of the mainland ' s Calligraphy magazine. People 's Daily has described develop­ ments in Taiwan calligraphy to its readers, stressing the role of Taiwan's 1 949 refugees from the mainland and the presence in Taiwan of priceless treasures of calligraphy that were removed by the Guomindang from museums in Beij ing and Nanj ing. 1 6 I n the mid- 1 980s Taiwan calligraphy was exhibited in Fuj ian province, although it did not include artists with s trong Guomindang ties. By 1 989 the works of Fuj ian calligraphers were being shown to their cousins across the Taiwan S trait.

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1 45

The relationship between calligraphy and politics in the Republic of China is similar to that on the mainland . President Li Denghui' s calligraphy graces public buildings, and Confucian virtues written in C hiang Kai-shek' s hand stand solemnly i n front o f elementary schools t o inspire young C hinese. The island ofJinmen, just off the Fujian coast, has been occupied by Guo­ mindang troops since they defeated a Communist assault in 1 949 . On a rock facing the mainland is a huge inscription by C hiang Kai-shek, "Never forget what happened at J u , " a reference to a patient and successful reconquest over two thousand years ago. In Taiwan, as in the People' s Republic, the handwriting of powerful politicians is also invoked to protect controversial books. I n the 1 960s, Taiwan historian Wang Jianmin wrote a s tudy of the Communist Party that included remarks mildly critical of C hiang Kai-shek. Wang wisely sought protection by requesting a title inscription from General Chen Cheng, head of a powerful Guomindang faction and sometime rival to C hiang. But when General Chen died, Wang suddenly became vulnerable; he was reduced to selling his books one by one out of his home because no bookstore would carry them. 1 7 Taiwan authorities are fond o f presenting their island a s the last refuge of traditional culture, but its s tandards for calligraphy may be lower than on the mainland, at least among urban youth . One j unior high school teacher re­ ported that fewer than l 0 percent of her students could use a writing brush; the rest could not even hold it correctly, much less write attractive characters. H l A t a n exhibition o f contemporary pottery a t Taibci's National Historical Museum in September 1 989, visitors asked to sign a guest book were offered not a writing brush but a felt-tip marker, a writing instrument incapable of making even the coarsest distinctions among strokes and shadings . Perhaps more progressively, an exhibition of calligraphy by bankers at the Taiwan Provincial Museum used a new Japanese-style writing brush constructed on the principle of the fountain pen, with its own small reservoir of ink. Hong Kong shows less interest in calligraphy. True, Hong Kong is the home of Shupu, a calligraphy magazine much read on the mainland, but one seldom sees signed calligraphy in public places, such as the names of build­ ings . Most signs use conventionally printed forms of characters . One great exception is the series of twelve stations on the Hong Kong I sland subway line, which announce their names in calligraphy two meters high; but even here the work is not signed . It turns out to be the hand not of an important official but of a young architect employed by the subway company. Many of his fellow workers in fact opposed using old-fashioned calligraphy for such a modern proj ect, but one of the subway bosses, a serious amateur callig­ rapher, backed the idea. l 9 Beij ing tries to attract political support and economic investment from Overseas C hinese by emphasizing its strength in all aspects of traditional

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Chinese culture. The overseas edition of People 's Daily, for instance, carries far more articles about calligraphy than the national edition. One example discusses an inkstone presented to Mi Fu by the Song emperor Huizong (r. 1 1 0 1 -25 ) , also a noted calligrapher. 20 Another describes a recently veri­ fied 1 052 copy of a s ignboard written by Wang Xizhi in 358. 2 1 China's calligraphers frequently refer t o the importance o f their art in China's diplomacy when they lobby for s tate support. One of the great callig­ raphers of this century, Shen Yinmo, complained to Foreign Minister C hen Yi at a dinner in 1 959 that calligraphy in Japan was organized, but C hina's was not, so how could there be cultural exchange? Chen Yi, a fellow callig­ rapher, took the matter up with Mao, who agreed to make Shen the head of a calligraphy and seal-carving research association in Shanghai . 22 I n 1 98 1 the eighty-one-year-old calligrapher C hen Sheliang argued that C hina needed a national organization for calligraphers in order to catch up with Japan . 23 C A L L IGRAPHY GETS ORGAN I Z E D

C alligraphy is t h e least organized o f C hina's arts . Although t h e C hinese gov­ ernment established associations of professional writers , painters , musicians, and dramatists soon after the revolution, calligraphers had no national asso­ ciation until 1 98 1 . One reason for this delay was suspicion of calligraphy' s feudal taint; another was the persisting self-image o f C hina's calligraphers . The concept of a professional calligrapher is incompatible with the tradi­ tional principle that calligraphy is not done for profit. C hina's calligraphers were slow to adjust their self-image to gain equal treatment for their art. I ndeed, to accept a salary was to reduce the power of their characters. China' s Calligraphy magazine was first published in S hanghai in 1 9 78, fea­ turing in its inaugural issue characters by Mao, Zhou Enlai, Hua Guofeng, several nonpolitical aficionados, and the Tang dynasty master Zhang Xu. 2 4 When Beij ing had an " Exhibition of C alligraphy of the Tiananmen Poems," the new magazine printed a selection. 2 5 To win calligraphy a more regular place among China's arts, its promoters needed to emphasize the rej ection of its feudal past. One commentator observed that calligraphy had always served politics in the past, and that for the present "we should write out even more calligraphic works to propagate Marxism-Leninism- Mao Z edong Thought and to praise socialist revolution and construction . " Yet calligra­ phy's problem was said to be aesthetic as well as political: " I t does not mat­ ter how progres sive is the content of the characters we write . . . . U p to now we s till lack representative calligraphers with influence among the masses, and we still lack calligraphy which can be popular among the masses and appreciated by them as works of art . " 26 In June 1 979, Calligraphy convened a symposium of cultural leaders who articulated a broad range of j ustifications for a new stress on calligraphy in

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Chinese society. 2 7 Many insisted that the handwriting of young C hinese was unbearably bad . Literary critic Wang Ruowang argued that calligraphy is good for one's health : "your heart must be calm, your spirit relaxed , your thought composed; taking up the brush and grinding ink is better exercise than [the martial art of] taijiquan . " Zhou Rongcheng attributed to Mao Zedong the view that "I don ' t unders tand how using a brush to write a few characters is such a danger for the People's Republic of C hina . " O thers hoped that practicing calligraphy would keep young people out of mischief. Unspoken, because it was so obvious, was the direct association of calligra­ phy ' s status with the position of intellectuals in Chinese society . If intellectuals at large were pleased b y n e w attention t o their emblematic art, many groups recognized their particular interests in a broader callig­ raphy revival and thus lobbied for an expansion of popular calligraphy . One 1 98 1 conference in Shaoxing included delegates from Beij ing's Palace Museum, the Zhej iang Fine Arts Academy, Fudan University, the Shanghai Chinese Painting Academy, the Ningxia Academy of Social Sciences , the Ningxia Library, a Shanghai arts publishing house, and a Sichuan ink factory. 2 8 By 1 98 1 , politicians were dominating calligraphy less blatantly but sup­ ported it lor diplomatic reasons . Arts czar Zhou Yang addressed the new C alligraphers ' Association with some embarrassment: "To launch this asso­ ciation today, thirty-one years after the establishment of the People's Repub­ lic, one must say that it is a little late . " Zhou accepted responsibility for blocking s uch a group in the 1950s , when several of its advocates had turned out to be rightists . " Some also thought, since we will reform the shapes of the characters , why care so much about calligraphy?" 2 9 The new association was modeled after the long-established bodies for China's other arts; it was intended to promote the interests of its members through exhibitions, meetings, and publications . The organization made of· ficial a long-standing network of personal relationships . It also introduced clear s tatus distinctions between calligraphers who were admitted to the association and those who were not. Following the pattern of other arts asso­ ciations, there were provincial and municipal branches with lower qualifica·· tions for membership and a national association that all aspired to j oin. Thus there arc two hundred members of the Fuj ian Provincial C alligraphers ' Asso­ ciation, each of whom must have exhibited work in at least two province­ wide shows . Some of these Fuj ian calligraphers are also among the 1 97 mem­ bers of the Xiamen Municipal C alligraphers' Association. One j oins this municipal association with the sponsorship of an existing member and by submitting sample calligraphy in two different styles, along with a resume of one's training and achievemcnt.30 The first head of the national C alligraphers' Association was Shu Tong, an old revolutionary who had used the backs of horses to write on as he

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Fig.

57.

Shu Tong, the Red Army calligrapher and pro­

paganda worker on the Long March, led the C allig­ raphers' Association in the 1 980s. This old soldier holds his brush as if it were a bayonet.

combined calligraphy and propaganda on the Long March (fig. 5 7 ) . After 1 949, Shu Tong served as provincial Party chief for both Shandong and Shanxi and was a member of the editorial board of Red Flag. Despite his revolutionary credentials, calligraphy became increasingly conservative as it grew more autonomous . Several members debated again the old question of whether calligraphy has a class nature. This discussion, much of which cen­ tered on the tension between calligraphy' s content and its form, faded out in 1 9 8 4; apparently neither side was interested in talking about the class issue

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any more. This outcome effectively favored those who denied a link between characters and class . 3 1 The other old controversy was the issue o f simplified characters, which many calligraphers had accepted only grudgingly . The hard-line opposition insisted that simplified characters were vulgar and ugly; even many callig­ ra p hers born after the 1 956 language reform have abandoned simplified characters, claiming that calligraphy is only art if written in old-fashioned, complex forms . 32 The leftmost faction insisted that all calligraphy be in sim­ plified characters, even the pre-Han seal script. Many, if not most, callig­ raphers now use both simple and complex forms , depending upon the aesthe­ tic and social context. Calligraphy i s becoming specialized in a way unimaginable in imperial China. Traditional elite culture had little place for narrow expertise, so all educated men were expected to be calligraphers as a matter of course. To­ day, calligraphy has become an academic course of study in which university s tudents can concentrate. 33 A u n i v e r s i ty s best calligraphers were formerly found in departments such as C hinese literature or his tory; now many, such as Xiamen U niversity's Y u G a n g , have been transferred to fine arts depart­ ments, where they teach specialized courses on what was formerly a beloved avocation. The gap between specialist c al li gr aphy and the handwriting of educated C hinese, although s ti l l narrow, is likely to widen as calligraphy increasingly assumes the status of a separate aesthetic sphere . There is an active move­ ment for " contemporary calligraphy, " whose artists self-consciously violate the conventions of calligraphic trad i tion by writing characters inside charac­ ters , or by writing in co l o r ed ink. "Contemporary calligraphy" uses this ancient art for highly personal s e l f exp re ss i on , much as the Tang masters of grass script did over a thousand years ago ( fi g . 5 8 ) . O n e advocate argues that psychology reveals that "feelings should be freely expressed , and the freer the expression, the closer it i s to the basic nature of art and of humanity. "34 Traditionalists predictably criticize these experi m e n t s as s e l f- i n d u l ge n t . I n contrast, a growing n u m b e r of educated younger C hinese respect cal­ ligraphy and th e older gene ra ti o n s interest in i t, but have no interest them­ selves in ever picking u p a bru s h . Academic i n tellectuals are content to see calligraphy j oining the other brushes i n fi n e arts departmen t s , even though the n ex t generation of calligraphers may consequently have a s h akier com­ mand of C h i n a ' s l iterary tradi tion . Younger bureaucrats also tolerate a col­ league ' s passion for calligraphy , b u t t h e y regard i t as idiosyncratic ra th e r than a norm f o r a l i fe as scholar and offici a l . :o:> The p a s t decade has been good for calligraphy, bringing it new prestige, government s upport u n ac co m p a n i ed by political demand s , artistic exch ange with c al l i g r aphe r s beyond the mainland , and i n teresting experi m e n tatio n . But t h e traditional conception o f calligraphy a s an i n tegral part o f t he l i fe o f '

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150

Fig.

58.

An example of " contemporary" calligraphy:

Yi wei da;:;hong,

"Art for the

masses , " by Ge Hongzhen. Such works annoy traditionalists, as they are no doubt intended to do.

an educated elite is beginning to unravel. Many of the founders of the Peo­ ple's Republic received a traditional education; they found it unthinkable that they would not be calligraphers . The current batch of leaders includes people like Jiang Zemin, Li Peng, and Li Tieying, men trained in technical subj ects in Eastern European universities . They can still perform as callig­ raphers, and they recognize that their jobs require them to do so, but they are certainly not likely to treat calligraphy so seriously as did Mao, Guo Moruo, Zhu De, and Zhou Enlai. Serious calligraphers express some ambivalence about the newly light­ ened hand of politics over their art. They appreciate that it is now easier for individual artists to do as they please, but the price is a lack of public support for calligraphy at the top of the political system. Moreover, the poor quality of the handwriting of some officials threatens to erode the social standing of calligraphy .

F O U RTEEN

A Pers onal Art in a C hanging Society

With calligraphy no longer merely arrogated for use as a weapon in high politics , the art' s development in the last decades of the twentieth century reflects the contradictions of C hinese society, including the uneven growth of the new commercial economy . C hina's intellectuals have used calligraphy as of old to assert their claims for social privilege; yet now calligraphy is also reaching deeper into society than ever before, for ordinary C hinese also enjoy its pleasures and savor its connotations of upward mobility. C A L L IGRAPHY B E C O M E S A C O M M O D I TY

There is s till much privately owned art and calligraphy in China; it was hidden away during the Cultural Revolution or earlier either to preserve family wealth or for the appreciation of connoisseurs. Deng Xiaoping' s res­ toration brought some of this calligraphy into the open . A 1 9 79 exhibition of privately owned art in Luoyang, arranged by a neighborhood association, included calligraphy by the Southern Song dynasty philosopher Zhu Xi. 1 Around the same time a Liaoning peasant donated eight s crolls to the state, including treasures by Sun Guoting of the Tang dynasty and M i Fu of the Northern Song. 2 But China's economy, even after a decade in which a hand­ ful of people have enriched themselves, has too few individuals with the means to build private collections. As a result, many calligraphic treasures are smuggled abroad for sale to foreigners, especially to Japanese and Over­ seas Chinese. Living calligraphers, however, can make considerable money from their art, even though this contravenes the fundamental association of the callig­ rapher with the gentleman. The market-reform policies instituted in 1 9 79 have created new opportunities f o r the sale of calligraphy. These policies 151

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have also been accompanied by fierce inflation, which has encouraged many calligraphers to use their art to supplement their fixed incomes ; most work as full-time college professors, bureaucrats , or occasionally staff artists for some government unit. Professor Zhu Yisa of Fuj ian Teachers U niversity in Fuzhou, a young calligrapher with a growing national reputation, can earn one hundred yuan for each character he writes . A four-character sign for a restaurant or for a company would thus earn him over U . S . $ 1 00, or at least twice his monthly salary . I n Xiamen, Fuj ian's commercial capital, the value might be four times higher. When Professor Zhu writes examples for his students, he writes them at an angle to the paper, deliberately reducing their commercial value. Public commissions enhance a calligrapher's ability to attract private pa­ trons . Professor Zhu is known for his characters on a stone at the Yellow River. Zhang Tongqin, a calligrapher in the People' s Liberation Army whose work is on display inside Tiananmen' s Mao Zedong Memorial Hall, has also written characters on commission for signs for an American manufacturer of packaging machinery in China and for the Taiwan Alishan Foodstuffs Company . 3 Wang Mingyuan, a n official o f the C hinese C alligraphers ' Association, offers a stirring justification for the economic value of his characters . In 1 987 Wang gave a demonstration of his art at Beij ing's Shangri-la Hotel. A Japanese tourist complained that ·wang wrote quickly , "in a single stroke, in the twinkling of an eye, " yet charged several hundred yuan for his calligra­ phy. How could it be worth so much? Wang replied with slight smile, "Con­ centrated in this single stroke of mine is two thousand years of C hina' s re­ fined artistic tradition, as well as my own blood and sweat from thirty years of studying calligraphy. How can you say that a few hundred yuan are not measure enough?" Cowed, the J apancsc tourist nodded his head and bought his calligraphy . Wang recounted this story hom his new apartment.4 The commodification of calligraphy has proceeded most thoroughly along China's southeastern coast. Fuj ian, with its active commercial economy and steady flow of C hinesc··spcaking tourists from Taiwan, now has many shops that sell calligraphy and other art; the city of Xiamen has more than forty, most of which sell calligraphy as souvenirs rather than as art. What is perhaps Xiamen' s best private art gallery is run by Sun Xiaofeng, a graduate of Anhui University and a member of the national Calligraphers' Associa­ tion. The emerging price structure for calligraphy in his gallery repeats pat­ terns familiar in capitalist countries . Works by older calligraphers are worth more than those by middle-aged or young artists . The most expensive works are by dead calligraphers, who cannot flood the market with additional prod­ uct. A 1 98 7 scroll by Hong Liang was priced at 700 yuan ; if Hong Liang were still alive, it would be worth only 400 yuan ." The economic reforms have helped the public calligraphers who support

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themselves by writing characters : professional letter-writers who station themselves outside post offices to help the poorly educated and street callig­ raphers who sell festive couplets on red paper to hang on door frames at C hinese New Y car. Many members of China's new petty bourgeoisie are only marginally literate and need to hire scribes to write contracts and let­ ters . Rural prosperity has increased the demand for New Year's couplets, even though the more sophisticated city-dwellers abandoned these after the Cultural Revolution. C arvers of characters have organized themselves into private companies. This craft is typically handed down over many genera­ tions in a single family, such as the Liu family of.Jiangsu, which has carved inscriptions into stone for three centuries . Its eight members , including three women , have become a private company. 6 Yet some calligraphers bi tterly reject the commercial exploitation of their art. C hen Sanwei, an eighty-year-old retired university official, revealed real anger as he deplored the selling of characters . There should be a difference between scholars and merchants, he said . "C alligraphy is a way of trans­ mitting a moral stance toward l ife . How can you do this if you accept money for your writing?" 7 C A L LI G R A P H Y S N O B B ERY

The C hinese Revolution only subdued calligraphy's role as a social marker. I n the elitist 1 980s , calligraphy once again became a useful test by which C hinese intellectuals could pleas urably distance themselves from the herd . By the middle of the decade calligraphers no longer needed to protect their art by limiting their texts to Mao's poems; once more they began to write traditional poetry and C onfucian classics . Many resumed the prerevolution­ ary practice of dating their work not by the "West's Gregorian calendar but by the old-fashioned sixty-year cycle of " s tems and branches . " C alligraphy became a convenient lens for concentrating the educated elite's condescension toward the poorly lettered . A Fuj ian village commis­ sioned calligrapher C hen Fenwu to write a signboard . The village' s name included the character for rning, meaning " brigh t . " C hen wrote an elegant although archaic " bright, " made of two components , a window and a moon . This reflects the true etymology of " bright , " but most people incor­ rectly believe that the character has always had its modern form, which looks like a combination of a sun and a moon . In fact, for ease of writing, callig­ raphers simplified the window into a sun many centuries ago . The two ver­ sions of this character appear in figure 9 . When the signmaker looked at C hen's calligraphy, he changed the rning character, commenting that even a renowned calligrapher could s till make errors in his writing. This provoked patronizing laughter from C hen Fenwu . 8 Sometimes the new snobbery claims to defend aesthetic standards against

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the allegedly ignorant masses . A professional designer of commercial signs faulted China's new class of petty bourgeois entrepreneurs for indiscrimi­ nately asking just anybody to write characters for their shop signs . A profu­ sion of ugly characters pollutes the visual environment, he said . 9 Another critic conceded that people whose calligraphy is a little lacking are still enti­ tled to write signs but that they need to become more aware of their limita­ tions . They should not strive for effects beyond their means lest " characters lose their forms, and styles lose their essence . " 1 0 Grumbling about a decline of standards is hardly remarkable in itself, but its public airing indicates that now, a generation after the revolution, C hina's educated elite has reasserted its right to j udge the cultural efforts of its social inferiors . This once-humbled intelligentsia has now successfully rej ected some simplified characters . I n 1 97 7 the state issued a list of 853 simplified characters, its first list since 1 964. Many intellectuals complained that this product of Cultural Revolutionary language planners was too extreme and that a number of the new characters lacked balance . The 1 97 7 character list was never widely adopted, and in 1 986 it was quietly withdrawn, although the several hundred characters simplified by 1 964 remain the standard forms. 1 1 Simplified characters are in decline especially in Fuj ian and Guang­ dong, where Taiwan and Hong Kong tourists and investors have become economically important. Private printers are now free to advertise name cards printed in complex characters . 1 2 Yet popular simplifications continue to appear, much to the annoyance of educated C hinese. For instance, xia, the first character in the name of the city of Xiamen, takes twelve strokes to write: rl . An unofficial simplification reduces the character to five strokes : FF' . This handy simplification includes a phonetic cue to the character' s pronunciation in Mandarin. Although intel­ lectuals shudder when they see it, muttering that only truly vulgar people would ever write it, it even appears on provincial highway signs. Worse yet, apparently, are popular simplifications written well: " I ncorrect characters frequently appear in public places, and these, especially ones that are beauti­ fully written, have a negative influence on people . " 1 3 O f all China's calligraphic traditions , Buddhist calligraphy has been slowest to revive. Alongside the Confucian tradition that dominated the his­ tory of C hinese penmanship, Buddhist calligraphers wrote beautiful copies of sutras, praising Buddha with their exquisite handwriting. Since the revolu­ tion this heritage has been little in evidence both because it is mystical in content and because it embodied such practices as ( occasionally) writing scriptures in human blood . But Buddhist masters such as Hongyi are now featured in People 's Daily. 1 4 I ndeed, the most prominent calligrapher in China in the 1 980s was Zhao Puchu, head of the C hinese Buddhist Associa­ tion, who scattered his characters about the nation almost as freely as Guo Moruo. 1 5 C alligraphy remains very much a male-dominated art. I n part this i s be-

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cause of discrimination in education. The 1 982 census revealed that China had 238 million illiterates, of whom nearly 70 percent were women. Among 1 4- to 25-year-olds, 1 5 percent of the women but fewer than 5 percent of the men were illiterate. 1 6 The male domination of calligraphy also reflects its traditional association with power. C alligraphy is simply regarded as an affair for men . The 1 99 members of the Xiamen C alligraphers' Association include only thirteen women. 1 7 When a magazine publishes a woman ' s cal­ ligraphy, her name is inevitably followed by a parenthetical "woman . " Like many of her male counterparts , Xiamen calligrapher C hen Xiuqing was sent to the countryside during the C ultural Revolution . Unlike many men, she remained there for ten years, then had to work for an additional decade at the Fuzhou post office before finally winning reassignment to the Fuj ian Arts and C rafts School as a calligraphy teacher. 1 8 MASS C A L L IGRAPHY

Despite the commercial economy, calligraphy remains primarily an amateur endeavor; but it is also a mass activity, not merely an elite avocation. The enlargement of calligraphy's social circle results from the expansion of liter­ acy in the People's Republic. C alligraphy competitions are very popular; one recent contest received one million submissions. Commercial enterprises sometimes join official bodies in s ponsoring competitions ; Hunan Television and a refrigerator manufac­ turer organized a 1 988 contest that attracted thirty thousand entries from twenty-nine provinces and fifteen nations and regions . 1 9 Enthusiastic amateurs are celebrated in the press , like Ji Taihong, a forty­ six-year-old Jiangsu official who copied out five hundred characters per day of the novel Dream of the Red Chamber in his spare time, using up seventy brushes over four years. 20 By 1 988, the death of Wang Xizhi was included in a People 's Daily series of "History's Mysteries . " 2 1 Similarly, a prettily illus­ trated book introduces children to the youth of the Tang dynasty master Huaisu, telling how as a young monk Huaisu practiced his calligraphy on banana leaves because paper was too expensive.22 Most cities have spare-time calligraphy classes, often run by the local Workers' Cultural Palace. Xiamen 's Arts Association operates an evening calligraphy school with fourteen classes of students, including young workers and retired bureaucrats. 23 C hina's schools do not emphasize calligraphy, de­ spite an appeal in the mid- 1 980s by Political Bureau member Chen Yun (fig. 59) . 24 Beginning in the third grade, students in a model elementary s chool in Xiamen spend one forty-five-minute period each week learning to write with brushes . This school is in a university neighborhood, with many faculty chil­ dren. Xiamen U niversity supplements these offerings with a special Sunday afternoon calligraphy class for faculty children . 25 Interest in calligraphy has risen even among peasant youth. When the

Fig.

59.

Party elder C hen Yun appealed uns uccessfully for greater emphasis on cal­

ligraphy in the schools . H ere he offers advice to his granddaugh ter.

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United S tates fought Vietnam , it sent Bob Hope to entertain its troops . I n contrast, C hina sent the calligrapher L i Duo, a researcher a t Beij ing's Museum of Military History . Li, who learned calligraphy after hours dur­ ing a childhood as an apprentice tile worker, visited China's troops on the Vietnam border; there he gave peasant recruits one hundred copies of his book on how to write calligraphy and two hundred books of model charac­ ters . He also wrote over two hundred inscriptions for the soldiers before he returned home. 26 A 1 9 8 4 Handbook for Village Youth included basic instructions on how to write artistic characters amidst charts of pig diseases and other information traditionally believed more central to village life . 2 7 But opportunities for studying calligraphy in the countryside are meager, even when students are enthusiastic. Supplies are often simply not available. Fuzhou calligrapher Zhu Visa j udged one national competition in which peasants submitted their work on ordinary notebook paper or on calendar pages. Rural teachers often cannot write well themselves, far less teach their students; this situation has worsened in recent years . 2B People believe that calligraphy cures many ills . I t is the first hobby recom­ mended in a handbook f()r retired officials, preceding painting, poetry, rid­ dles , opera, music, s tamp collecting, mahjong, chess, C hinese chess, bridge, bonsai, fishing, growing flowers, and raising fish and bird s . " From calligra­ phy we can absorb spiritual nourishment of high value, dispelling disease and s trengthening the body, leading to a grand old age . " Because it helps blood to circulate freely, " many calligraphers live long lives . Some convales­ cent hospitals use the three methods of calligraphy, taijiquan, and fishing to treat neurasthenia in their pati ents . Their results demonstrate that calligra­ phy is the most efficacious treatment. " 29 Others believe that calligraphy helps reform criminals. Gu Xiaoyan, a former parole officer, described a visit to a school teacher, the father of a youthful convict. When the father asserted that he no longer had a son, the parole officer handed him a bundle of letters writen by the young convict. Astonished by the calligraphy, the father asked , " 'Did he really write these?' ' So you 're still in doubt. ' 'I j ust don 't believe he could write this well . ' 'Those of us who know him think that he is very talented , that he has a s trong talent for doing applied work. He learned electronics very rapidly , you know . ' " lO China has more calligraphers than ever before . Revolution and indus­ trialization have inevitably brought changes that will offend those nostalgic for a day when all officials were educated men and used brushes for everyday writing. In an era of ballpoint pens and mass education , the relationship of calligraphy to society must change. What can the Confucian tradition make of Yu Tao, a 1 95 1 graduate of the Dalian Police Academy, who began cal­ ligraphy as art editor for Dalian Public Security magazine?3 1 Modern technology poses no immediate threat to calligraphy. I t is true

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that intellectuals in the sciences are less interested in the art than those in the humanities; and some technologies have forced C hinese to use alphabetic transcriptions , while others, such as the telegraph, have transmitted C hinese characters as a series of four-digit numbers . However, some newer tech­ nologies are better suited to characters . The fax machine, for instance, is ex­ tremely popular in East Asia because it transmits characters so easily . Recently Sony has developed a "palmtop" computer the size of a writing tablet, which recognizes characters written on its screen according to their stroke order. 32 Modern technology has given ordinary people their first access to accurate copies of calligraphy' s mas terpieces. Formerly, the finest pieces were hidden in literati or imperial collections, giving the upper class control over the def­ inition of the calligraphic tradition . 33 Because photo-reproduction is both cheaper and more accurate than rubbings and inkblock copies, modern s tu­ dents of calligraphy can use as models precise copies of outstanding works from the past. Bookstores stock a wide range of inexpensive models . Now even such an elite collection as the Qianlong emperor's Model Calligrapfry from the Hall of the Three Rarities is widely available. A recent edition of 2,4 l 0 pages, in four hardbound volumes , sells for thirty yuan ( around U . S . $6-8) . This price is still expensive, but well within the means of a serious enthusiast.34 Many amateurs are serious , even organizing themselves into informal clubs, unapproved by any authority, to meet and discuss the problems of their art. Old standards are unenforceable. Beij ing's February 1 989 Exhibi­ tion of Contemporary Art included a calligraphic piece made up of meticu­ lously written nonsense characters , resembling classics that have never existed in a language no one has ever read . Although established callig­ raphers showed no interest in such a work, many ordinary viewers were in­ trigued . The combination of mass literacy in C hinese and the end of the old ruling class's cultural domination seem likely to rej uvenate Chinese calligra­ phy in unanticipated ways .

FI FTEEN

The O rchid Pavilion ' s Mod ern Legacy

C alligraphy is at once a metaphor for China's cultural legacy and a primary institution which conveys that tradition to new generations. The social prac­ tice that envelops this high art is diverse and changing. This s tudy has per­ force drawn its evidence from widely scattered sources; some examples may seem extravagant, if not absurd . Y ct calligraphy is by no means bizarre, but utterly integral to the way culture is produced and reproduced in China. After reaffirming the vitality of calligraphy in contemporary China, this con­ cluding chapter will appraise five arguments about the role of China's tradi­ tion today and then consider what calligraphy shows us about the changing bond between art and power. C A L L IG RAPHY'S E N D U R I N G A P PEAL

One February morning in 1 989, as early spring blossomed in the rich farmland of Zhej iang province, I went in search of the Orchid Pavilion, the home of the fourth-century calligraphy sage Wang Xizhi. The current Orchid Pavilion dates from the sixteenth century; it is s till charming, although it is certainly a more elaborate structure than the original. The bumpy ride in the back of a three-wheeled motor-cart winding some twelve kilometers among Shaoxing's famous canals convinced me that the C hinese government does not yet see the Orchid Pavilion as an important stop on the tourist circuit. Yet the government has maintained and refurbished this monument to feudalism. An aura of high culture suffuses the bamboo grove and the creek where Wang and his friends drank themselves into poetic ecstasy. The Orchid Pavilion abounds with large stones inscribed with fine characters . On one, Wang's " Preface" i s copied out in the hand of the Kangxi emperor; the Qianlong emperor' s essay in admi ration of Wang Xizhi adorns the reverse 159

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side of this emperor-heavy stele. Other copies of the " Preface" are on dis­ play, including one by the notorious Zhao Mengfu . A framed letter in French from the former Cambodian head of state Prince Norodom Sihanouk com­ memorates his 1 988 visit. I saw no geese, but I lingered at the "ink pool, " a pond that Wang is said to have blackened by cleaning his brushes . A handful of Chinese tourists took photos of their children standing humbly beneath giant stelae, perhaps in hopes that some civilization might rub off on them . Calligraphy lives . Traditional elite culture is also echoed in a national obsession with characters . The first Chinese child I ever met, a two-year-old boy, repeatedly and happily hollered , "Oracle bones ! Oracle bones ! " upon entering Taibei's National Palace Museum in 1 9 70. Two decades later, at a banquet at Fuj ian Teachers U niversity, my hosts debated their favorite cal­ ligraphers. Yan Zhenqing is ultimately boring, one said; another insisted that the beauty of Zheng Banqiao's art becomes evident from entire page of his calligraphy, as the individual characters are ugly . Calligraphy influences the selection of names for children; Chinese will ponder not only a name's sound and meaning, but also how it looks on paper, often consulting a schol­ arly relative for advice . Supers titious Chinese continue to worship characters . I n Xiamen in 1 989, Buddhists worshipped a huge red character Jo, " Buddha , " carved into a cliff behind the Nanputuo Temple (fig. 60) . Nearly a hundred years ago, a monk of the temple wrote this handsome character, which is two and a half meters high. But it did not become a focus for worship until the Cultural Revolution, when Red Guards from neighboring Xiamen University raided the temple, destroyed its four guardian gods, and compelled the vegetarian monks to eat meat. Devout Buddhists began to avoid the temple with its Red Guard pat­ rols, instead climbing the mountain to worship Buddha in his calligraphic form. Calligraphy also serves science . When the dissident astrophysicist Fang Lizhi visited Beij ing U niversity on May 4, 1 988, he responded to student requests for an inscription by writing, "Democracy and science . " 1 And in the great tradition of touring Chinese intellectuals, the 1 989 Chinese scientific expedition to Antarctica left behind calligraphy carved on a monumental stone. Yet the context in which calligraphy operates is changing . After a binge of political calligraphy in the 1 960s and 1 9 70s, China's current leaders are un­ sure how to treat calligraphy . Shu Tong, head of the Calligraphers' Associa­ tion, proposed in 1 982 to send calligraphers to villages, factories , and army units in order to strengthen their art's ties to the masses . 2 C alligraphers ignored this appeal, riding the new prestige of intellectuals to revive tradi­ tions that had been dormant for a generation. The future is obscured by two new doubts . One is the impact of a new generation of politicians who are less confident about their calligraphy than were the founders of the People's

Fig. 60 . Worshippers at the character Jo, " B uddha , " behind Xiamen' s Nanputuo Temple in December

1 989.

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Republic. Another is the emergence of a young generation of specialist calligraphers trained in art schools , who have an uncertain mastery of China' s literary tradition and are more willing than their teachers to sell their art as a commodity. Popular puzzlement about calligraphy also prevails. A recent study of architecture in Zhej iang province noted changes in the use of calligraphy to adorn buildings . The genteel calligraphy painted over landlord houses was once replaced with such Maoist slogans as " Revolution to the end . " Now these have faded or been destroyed by new construction in prosperous areas . Today in the Zhej iang countryside only a dim consciousness of C hinese traditions remains : Many aging C hinese have only a vague remembrance of the vestigial callig­ raphic phrases and historical vignettes adorning old buildings . For many of the young people, the symbols are opaque and obsolete, mere ornamentation with­ out meaning. Many of China's youth are ambiguously insecure about the past with a ready willingness to abandon it and adopt whatever is considered supe­ rior because of its foreign or technological origin. 3

Yet at the same time, new calligraphy honors families whom local govern­ ment designates as "five-good" or "civilized" households. C alligraphy re­ mains important, even if C hinese are sometimes uncertain j ust what to make of this heritage. THE S IGN I FI C ANC E OF TRAD I T I ONAL C U LT U RE : F I V E I N C O M PATIBLE A PPROAC HES

What does it mean that calligraphy' s brushwork and carvings persist in modern society? The reemergence of the "Chincsencss" of the People' s Re­ public over the past decade lends urgency to a topic that in other times might appear arcane. The lively reappearance of traditional practices , including Daoist religion, clan activities, and folk customs in marriage, suggest that past social science concern for revolution and its impact was one-sided and left students of modern C hina ill-equipped to understand the apparent re­ vival of traditional culture. Several approaches to the current significance of traditional C hinese culture compete for attention . Thesis No. 1 : Traditional Elite Culture Has Been Destroyed Many Westerners believe that the Communists were hell-bent on obliterat­ ing all traces of traditional culture and that they mostly succeeded . The purest manifestation of this thesis may have come from a well-meaning friend who insisted in 1 989 that "China hasn't had any culture for over thirty years . " This idea makes little sense: how can any nation have no culture? Yet

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this notion is so pervasive among otherwise intelligent people that it merits discussion. The Guomindang shrilly argued this view from its Taiwan refuge. When the victorious Communists introduced simplified characters in 1 956, the Guomindang refused to acknowledge that the purpose of simplification was to teach people to read and write more easily . They insisted that the Com­ munists were out " to exterminate our nation's culture, and so in 1 949 on usurping and occupying the mainland , they established a so-called 'Com­ mittee for the reform of C hinese characters' in Beiping in order to ' re­ form' C hinese characters . The goal was to eliminate C hinese characters and substitute an alphabet . " The reform of C hinese characters was " truly like the ravings of a madman talking in his sleep . "4 Guomindang propaganda long asserted that the revolutionaries simplified characters in order to render China's past literature unintelligible to young people. These charges were untru e . Any prc- 1 949 schemes for alphabetizing C hinese had been effectively derailed . The mainland government has pub­ lished thousands upon thousands of classics of history and literature in new editions of simplified characters , and anyone with s erious antiquarian in­ terests is free to learn the old forms in order to read books written earlier. Yet the political turbulence on the mainland during the Cultural Revolu­ tion certainly encouraged malicious or sincere misinterpretation. Before the central government could control the campaign against the four olds in the fall of 1 966, many Red Guards enthusiastically smashed porcelain, seized books, and burned calligraphy . This destructive malevolence lasted only a few months, but the constant manipulation of the image of Red Guard van­ dals by Taiwan and Western journalists assured long life to the idea of a ceaseless Communist war against traditional elite culture. C ertainly many twentieth-century radical and cosmopolitan intellectuals set out to destroy elite culture. Many Cultural Revolutionaries boasted that they had "swept away the dregs of the past." But no revolution can transcend the culture of its people. New institutions, however radically constituted, quickly reabsorb serviceable elements from the old order. The death-of-culture theme has been argued most forcefully by Simon Leys ( the pseudonym of Australian sinologis t Pierre Ryckmans ) . In a s eries of brilliantly written and mean-spirited polemics , Leys presents an image of C hinese civilization in decline for a thousand years and finally killed off in this century by barbarous Marxists . 5 This 1 978 outburst is typical : The most radical reform of writing ( the substitution for Chinese characters of a phonetic transcription of them in Roman letters ) - a decision of enormous im­ portance for eight hundred million people-is simply decided without any p u b ­ lic debate, on the sole basis of a Mao saying. Of course it will take some time before the decision can be effectively carried out; technical problems and all the inertial forces of passive resistance will fend off, but not change, the inevitable

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conclusion. This reform of writing will allow the Maoist powers to do at one stroke and for good what a hundred Cultural Revolutions with all their autos­ da-fe could not do: make all that has been thought, felt and written in C hina from antiquity until the present day uncommunicable and unreadable for all future generations of C hinese-with the exception of the books that, having found grace in the eyes of the government, will be adapted as the authorities wish for transposition and publication in alphabetic writing.6

When professional sinologists actively promote misinformation, it is little wonder that lay people believe that the C hinese government has obliterated its nation' s past. A 1 986 English translation of Yu Luojin's novel A Chinese Winter's Tale is a particularly appalling example of the destruction-of-culture thesis. 7 Translators Rachel May and Zhu Zhiyu decided to create a new vocabulary for " Maospeak, " apparently believing that conventional English would not suffice to convey the radical departure of C hina' s totalitarianism from C hinese culture . The translators invented an alienating vocabulary of their own . In imitation of Orwell's Newspeak, " cultrev" takes the place of the mundane " culturai revolution" ; " drossnik" translates liumang, "vag­ rant" ; and "krat" represents ganbu, "official. " The translators turn C hinese into a parody of some unknown Eastern European tongue, turning intellec­ tuals into " leeks " and " study" into "prolethought. " " S crit ' ' replaces the cus­ tomary " self-criticism . " The translators thus spoil a very interesting book about life under the "proledic" ( "dictatorship of the proletariat , " get it?) . The death-of-culture thesis tends to be soggy with nostalgia when cham­ pioned by Westerners . But such nostalgia falsely sentimentalizes someone else's past. It presumes a class equality and access to elite culture that never existed and supposes that social change is only a product of our own recent and tragic times . When voiced by C hinese, nostalgia is more understandable, although sometimes even more propagandistic. Thesis No. 2: Chinese Culture Is a Dead Handfrom the Past The thesis that C ommunism destroyed C hinese culture is a j arring contrast to a newer theory : the revolution made no difference . I n this now popular view, China's problem is not that the old culture has been obliterated, but that it continues to hold C hina in its deadening grip . This Dracula thesis maintains that reformist and revolutionary movements have battered in vain against traditional culture, which repeatedly rises from the grave to wreak destruction upon the current generation. I n the 1 980s, works appeared on both sides of the Taiwan Strait bemoan­ ing the heavy hand of traditional culture . The controversial 1 988 television documentary Heshang ( River elegy) argued that the problem with Commu­ nism was not that it destroyed China's old culture, but that it absorbed the wors t features of feudal society. C hinese culture had become a nearly insur­ mountable impediment to modernization.s The speeches of Fang Lizhi de-

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veloped similar themes, as did many other discussions in the People's Republic.9 Mainland readers also enthusiastically praised the essays of Taiwan writer Bo Yang, who reviled the deficiencies of China's traditional culture in The Ugly Chinarnan. 1 0 Less pessimistic, or at least less impassioned , versions of this thesis also circulate . These often come from Westerners , who, after all, do not have to live in China or try to solve its immense problems. Etienne Balazs argued eloquently that C hinese society and its culture today face problems s trik­ ingly similar to those of the past; C ommunist revolution may add a few tech­ nological tricks to the repertory of its bureaucrats , but the old culture lives on in a new guise. I I Protests by students and young intellectuals in the spring of 1 989 s temmed from anger against a perceived failure of the C ommunist Party to throw of!· the shackles of C hina's past. Political activist and literary critic Liu Xiaobo said in a Tiananmen speech on June l , "I hope that this action can finish of!· the spinelessness which has afflicted C hinese intellectuals for thousands of years : we only move our mouths , but not our hands . " 1 2 Or as the writer of a big-character poster put it, I n the forty years since the founding of the People's Republic, the struggle against feudalism has never been interrupted, yet feudalism's ancient roots disappear only to reappear, tugging on people's souls. The older a person the greater the accumulated power of the specter of feudalism in his heart . Mao Zedong's " love of the old" was a vivid example of this_I:l

I n the wake of the Beijing massacre, the Communist Party backed itself into a corner in the debate on traditional culture . The Party justified its violence as a defense of the revolution, yet it simultaneously defended the glories of China's traditional culture against the most recent wave of re­ formers . "What gives you the right to curse our ancestors?" asks a typical piece from the campaign against the television documentary River Elegy. 1 4 I n China's now tense political climate, the past is freighted with bitter emotions fueled by contemporary disputes . A hatred for C hinese characters still simmers in the hearts of a minority of Western-oriented intellectuals . " C hinese characters must be destroyed ! " cried one Beij ing linguist, waving his arms excitedly in the midst of dinner-table conversation . But would lit ... eracy be universal if C hina adopted an alphabet? Opening more elementary schools in the countryside seems more to the point. While calligraphy gained new enthusiasts during the Deng Xiaoping era, the literacy rate decreased as mass education, one of the achievements of Communist rule, declined. Were the extraordinary calligraphic adventures of Mao Zedong and Hua Guofeng examples of feudalism? Nothing like them had existed in premodern times. The Dracula theory correctly points to the persistence of past practices but cannot distinguish among them . It fails to ask why some practices sur­ vive while others have vanished .

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Thesis No. 3: Conjucian Values Stimulate Economic Growth The indictment of traditional culture holds that it is undemocratic, anti­ individual, d evoid of any concept of legality, and dependent upon personal relationships . These charges arc all true, but arc they incompatible with rapid economic growth? A third theory reverses the thesis of the dead hand of the past. A common Confucian background is invoked to explain the recent economic successes of Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore . The "four dragons" share a Confucian emphasis upon education and disci­ pline that is said to have stimulated rapid growth in recent decades. An associated revival of nco-Confucianism argues that what C hina needs is more traditional culture, not less . "' If mainland China s hares this Confucian past but not its profits, perhaps flexible management and concentrated foreign investment and aid might bet­ ter explain their rapid growth. The nco-Confucian argument that traditional values spur economic growth contradicts the Dracula theory that Confucian­ ism retards all progress. Moreover, the four dragons were no doubt more Confucian in the 1 930s than they arc now . Why did they not grow then or in 1 900, when they were certainly still more Confucian? And while the Confu­ cian influence is evident in Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, capitalist Hong Kong does not fit the pattern so easily . The nco-Confucian approach treats culture as an active force in society , rather than as a passive o�ject. In contrast to the death-of-culture theory, this approach sees culture as a set of behaviors that suffuses public action. While its contribu tion to economic growth is debatable, a serious revival of nco-Confucianism might at least raise the level of calligraphy, inducing lead­ ers to write ever more inscriptions exhorting their people to do good . Thesis No. 4: Traditional Culture Is Irrelevant Many social scientists avoid the issue of C hina's past. Sometimes the past is irrelevant to their topic; sometimes they may wish that it were . This stance is more difficult to maintain as the sterner ways of the revolution give way to practices that resemble traditional culture. Yet we should be skeptical about this apparent resurgence of tradition . Even so revered a "tradition" as the Scottish kilt was in fact invented by the English in the eighteenth century as a new national costume for the vanquished Scots .U' Andrew Walder carries skepticism to considerable lengths. I n his excel­ lent analysis of the densely personal social relations that bind together the C hinese workplace, Walder explicitly denies that these relationships repre­ sent the survival or even the adaptation of traditional practices . Against a wealth of historical and anthropological evidence that C hinese society has been identified by similar patron-client tics for centuries, Walder stubbornly insists that the particularis m he describes is "nco-traditional," a sui generis creation of Communism.

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We cannot ex p lain contemporary nco- traditionalism by referring to cultural traditions, for two reasons. First, a cultural tradition cannot explain its own continuity (or lack thereof) without resorting to tautology : the continuity of culture itself must be explained by its relation to institu tional structures that serve to perpetuate it. Second , we cannot safely assume that there is a " tradi­ tion" with which contemporary social institutions exhibit continuity. In C hina, as in japan, contemporary patterns of industrial au thority that might appear at firs t glance to be traditional in fact have no precedent in the forms of industrial organization of early periods . . . . Communist nco-traditionalism is a modern type of industrial authority . 1 7

Walder may understandably b e annoyed by the general haziness of the question of past influence; he reacts by rej ecting a historically informed analysis. Nco-traditionalism "is not intended to convey a proposition that is a virtual truism--that authority relations in contemporary industry reflect the influence of prerevolutionary cultural traditions . " But surely it is possible to discuss the impact of the past upon the present with greater subtlety . What would Walder make of such phenomena as the calligraphic rituals of the People's Republic? They are obviously not the same as traditional prac· tice, but neither were they freshly fabricated by the Central Committee in 1 949. Thesis No. 5: Traditional Culture Has Been Relegated to a Museum Joseph R. Levenson , the late University of C alifornia his torian, took a more measured view in his graceful classic, Confucian China and Its Modem Fate (orig­ inally published in three volumes in 1 958, 1 964, and 1 965) . After consider· ing tensions between C ommunist ideals and traditional C hinese culture, he predicted that the C ommunists would make traditional culture trivial in practice but accord it an empty honor, like an exhibit in a museum. Leven­ son pointed out that " art, in one of its qualities, is alienation, the removal of an obj ect from its cus tomary environment, where it might be used, to a spe­ cial place of preservation, where it might be aesthetically contemplated . " 1 B

The relegation of the past to the museum denotes its impuissance . For a while, during the C ultu ral Revolu tion, it appeared that Levenson had underestimated the capacity of the Communists to ignore traditional culture. But two decades later, many migh t think that Levenson erred by understating the ca p acity of traditional culture to dominate current events , Levenson ' s view shares with the other four approaches considered here a tendency to pose a dichotomy of old versus new, an almost irresistibly appealing framework for thinking about culture in modern China. This dichotomy's severity promises clarity. Anyone who has ever taught about modern C hina knows how easily the questions of students seem to lead in­ exorably to the opposition of past to present. What has changed? What has not? And what is the relationship between them?

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But the seductive simplicity of the past-and-present framework is prob­ lematic. If "old" behaviors and institutions are mere holdovers from " tradi­ tional " society that have not yet been rationalized, the C hinese will never be able to transcend their nation' s feudal past, for some other bit of "old" China will always pop out. Recent Western discussion on the impact of feudal cul­ ture on modern Europe has posed the relationship between past and present in subtler terms . 1 9 Pitting old against new has been encouraged by C hinese reformers and revolutionaries for the past century. When C hinese reformers refrain from wild railing against their past, they assume that they can select aspects from this past at will. Mao's slogan " Make the past serve the present" encourages this selective borrowing. Levenson' s museum imagery echoed conversations by C hinese revolutionaries as they examined the "storehouse of C hinese culture" they had captured . For instance, leaders in the 1 950s and 1 960s debated the impact of staging operas featuring ghosts. Many of the most popular traditional operas had scenes in which the spirits of the dead com­ municated with the living, but some revolutionaries argued that these works should be expunged in order to combat superstition and hasten the de­ velopment of scientific thinking. 2° But the political issue of cultural heritage is not a series of either/or choices for simple social engineering. When tradition really seizes hold , it is unconscious; it cannot be pushed back into the storehouse at will. Some fea­ tures of old society arc easy to identify, such as ghost operas or lineage orga­ nizations . Others, however, are so deeply ingrained that members of a cul­ ture presume that they are part of the natural order of things . The complex behavior that surrounds calligraphy so permeates C hinese life that most C hinese arc not fully conscious of its prcsence . 2 1 Levenson' s remains a more useful guide t o the question o f C hinese culture than other analyses . After considering the analogy of Marxism to Confucian­ ism, Levenson distinguishes sharply between "likenesses " and " changeless­ ness , " r�j ecting the superficial notion that nothing is new in C hina. H e qual­ ifies his museum metaphor, arguing that what determines cultural survival is the utility of the past to the present: Still, the appearance of survivals is by no means j ust a trick of the eye. Many bricks of the old s tructure are still around- but not the s tructure. Fragments may survive because they meet a modern taste, not because ( more than the fragments forgotten) they must be conveying the essence of an invincible tradi­ tion. And the taste, the language of the culture, cannot be explained as created by the fragment.22

Levenson' s implications are clear: we cannot indulge ourselves with sweep­ ing assertions about the relationship between past and present but must ex­ amine each fallen brick and ask how it is used in constructing C hina' s present-day culture .

T H E O RC H I D P.\ \ ' ! LI O Y S :\ l O D E R :'\ L E G .\CY

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RECAS T I N G THE B O :\ D BET\\' E E :\ ART A:\D PO W E R

Art and power remain linked ; yet t heir connection has changed remarkably in this century after ]\{arxist rn·olution, the institution of mass education, and the demise of a class of landed and leisured patrons . The institu tion of calligraphy has persisted not because 1\Iao and his colleagues selected it con­ sciously , but sim ply beca use it embodies communicatio n . \Yhen reformers failed to replace characters with the latin alphabet, calligraphy was saved , and with it the impossibility of separating written communication from elitist aesthetic evaluation . The reconstitution of the bond between art and politics is encapsulated in the transfrxmation of calligraphy fi,om a private to a public art. Calligraphy in the People's Republic publicizes relationships that were conventionally private by using an art that was traditionallv personal . Emperors did not write signs and newspaper mastheads ; the great calligraphers from C hina's classic tradition could not easily imagine that their genteel art could be turned into a tool of mass mobilization. The cultural performance of calligra­ phy gained an audience in unimaginecl ways. including photographic records and video cameras. The reconstruction of calligraphy was left to the politicians because the calligraphers were tain ted by feudal associations. This loss of authority by the calligraphic elite increased the ambiguity between high art and ordinary writing, as did the parallel development of mass education and the incor­ poration of the art into political movements . \\'riting and calligraphy became more easily confia ted as the edge between public and private was dulled. At the same time, the expansion of literacy enabled many ordinary C hinese to take the first steps on a calligraphic road that promises a powerfu l mix of pleasure, upward social mobility, and self-respect in a culturally approved format. Ledderose points out how C hina's traditional elite turned calligraphy into a brilliant game: The inherent potential of calligraph\· to furnish social coherence was realized to its fullest degree when the tradition of the Jin masters was instituted as the classical one. The technique of writing, the system of forms , and the aesthetic s tandards of calligraphy underwent no fundamental change thereafter: the technique was hardly ever modified, because the material used, that is, brus h, ink, inks tone, and paper or silk, remained the same. The repertoire of types of script was not enlarged any further, and a universally accepted artistic stan­ dard was established in the handwritten pieces of the classical masters . A game was set up in which all the participants used the same elements and observed the same rules . 2 1

I n imperial C hina, the power of the brush separated those who could play the game from those who could not. The game reassured the players of their shared status as it excluded all others . But in modern China, the calligraphy

1 70

POSTRE\' O L U T I O '\ARY C A L LI G RA P H Y

game was adapted to serve as a curious channel for delivering coded mes­ sages across political s tra ta. Calligraphy began to be adapted for its utility in modern politics early in this century. Sun Yat-sen used calligraphy to strengthen his ties to his sup­ porters . According to the testimony of Sun's bodyguard , Morris "Two-Gun" Cohen, " the doctor received countless requests for an inscription by himself. He kept a list of these and on a good evening he'd send for it and knock off forty or fifty at one go . " 2 1 Sun and others used calligraphy a s a n alternative to public speaking in a nation whose leaders often speak the official Man­ darin dialect with heavy regional accents . Sun Yat-scn ' s utilitarian approach to calligraphy persisted with his Communist successors' discovery that cal­ ligraphy was useful to them in many ways . Calligraphy helped provide legitimacy to some political leaders , and their successful usc of it encouraged emulation. Mao Zedong effectively used his dis tinctive calligraphy to underscore his accomplishments and to build up a personal political cult that eased his dependence upon the Party organiza­ tion . In contrast, Hua Guofeng' s attempts to brush a personality cult into being made him look foolish. Perhaps more important than such individual cases, however, was the use of calligraphy in countless small rituals to paint the entire Communist bureaucracy with the luster of authority. The new technology of television was also useful for bolstering political authority after the expansion of broadcasting in the 1 980s ; but C hina's leaders have com­ bined the new medium with the old , broadcasting inscriptions by Deng Xiaoping and Li Peng across the nation. Calligraphy offered a special channel of communication from leaders to their followers , joining mass communications, education, ideology, and propaganda in binding the new Chinese elite to their citizens . The display of calligraphy provided an instant cue to the political health or illness of impor­ tant leaders . C eremonial inscriptions were public expressions of patronage from the leader and loyalty from the receiving unit. At a key point in the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong used his right to present units and pub­ lications with inscriptions to create an alternative system of political com­ munications . Hua Guofeng used his 1 9 7 7- 78 calligraphy campaign to touch base with his allies. H u Yaobang wrote inscriptions to remind all of his sup­ port for intellectuals. Calligraphy enabled Communist intellectuals to maintain a unifying so­ cial bond that transcended political factions. Beij ing cultural boss Deng Tuo employed calligraphy to form bridges to both the conservative painter Qi Baishi and the radical politician Kang Sheng. Moreover, the elite ' s shared participation in calligraphic rituals proclaimed its cohesion to the nation, however false this unity sometimes may have been. Officials of the People ' s Republic lack permanent individual assets beyond those controlled by bureaucratic office. The former literati were landlords ,

T H E O RC H I D l'AV I L L I O � ' S \l O D E R � LEGACY

171

with property to fall back upon when their p olitical careers went awry , 2 5 Communist officials arc more vulnerable to political p ressure and even more dependent upon personal ties than their mandarin predecessors , They seck the protection of senior officials , who in turn bind themselves into a web of social relationships with their colleagues and superiors , C hina' s calligraphic rituals are well suited to serving as markers for such a system of tenuous authority, indicating subtly the progression of power and sending signals of its demise. C alligraphy' s traditional role as an escape from power atrophied . O nly Mao could play at escape; but he did it in a peculiarly p ublic way , broad­ casting his subtle calligraphic resistance to the nation . For others , the only escape was to put down the brush altogether. \Vhen Liu l\'laobi was in elementary school in C hengdu in ! 958, her father was labeled a rightis t. 26 Liu learned about this humiliatiou during a public announcement at school . Her classmates sent her to sec a big-character poster denouncing her father, an intellectual who was serious about calligraphy . The pos ter caricatured Mr. Liu attacking the Communist Party with his writing brush. In 1 96 1 , when Liu Maobi's fifth-grade class began to learn to write with the brush , she refused to take part, although she had already studied calligraphy with a tutor at home. This determined child refused to take up the brush at all when she discovered that calligraphy no longer offered any opportunity of escape from politics . Sophisticated C hinese observers have long maintained that culture is both an important source of power and a signal of its metamorphoses; this insight remains appropriate for the People' s Republic. The elegance of calligraphy is a central part, if not the irreducible core, of C hina's high-art tradition . De­ spite the revolutionary des truction of the im p erial social order, the mys tiq ue of calligraphy endures in C hina today. Calligraphy's fate as an elite art can­ not be disentangled from shifting social practices as the C hinese people in­ vent new ways of being Chinese and develop new methods by which art is endowed with political meaning. C hina, like any other nation, renews those parts of its tradition that powerful groups find most useful and discards those that have lost their social basis .

NOTES

I.

C H I N E S E C A L L I G RAP H Y AS A SYSTEM OF POWER

I . Kong Shangren' s account is in Richard E . Strassberg, The World of K 'ung Shang­ jen: A Man of Letters in Early Ch 'ing China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1 98 3 ) , 1 1 2- 1 3 . 2 . See David Keightley, Sources of Shang History (Berkeley: University of California Press , 1 9 78) ; K . C. Chang, A rt, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China ( Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1 983 ) ; and Jonathan C haves, "The Legacy of Ts' ang Chieh: The Written Word as Magic, " Oriental A rt 2 3 ( new series ) , no. 2 ( Summer 1 9 7 7 ) : 200-2 1 4. 3 . Arthur F. Wright, "Chinese C ivilization, " in Propaganda and Communication in World History, ed. Harold D. Lasswell , Daniel Lerner, and Hans Speier, vol . l , The Symbolic Instrument in Early Times ( Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1 979) , 2 2 2 . 4. Zhou Y e , An Age Gone By: Lu Xun \· Clan i n Decline, recounted b y Zhclu Jianren ( Beij ing: New World Press , 1 988) , 1 6. 5 . I bid . , 1 00 . 6 . Nathan Sivin , "Ailment a n d Cure in Traditional China , " paper for t h e Uni­ versity of C alifornia, Berkeley, China Seminar ( March 1 2, 1 990) , 6 1 -62 . 7 . Fujian Television (April 1 989) . 8 . On written characters in ritual, see Emily Martin Ahern, Chinese Ritual and Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge U niversity Press, 1 98 1 ) , 1 6-4 1 , 49-52, 89-9 ! . On Daoism , see Lothar Ledderose, " Some Taoist Elements in the C alligraphy of the Six Dynasties, " T'oung Pao 70 ( 1 984) : 246- 78; and Laszlo Legeza, Tao Magic: The Secret Language of Diagrams and Calligraphy ( London: Thames & Hudson, 1 97 5 ) . For exam­ ples of secret society characters , see Lian Lichang, Fujian Mimi Shehui ( S ecret societies of Fuj ian) ( Fuzhou : Fuj ian Renmin C h u banshe, 1 988) , 1 1 7 , 228. For calligraphic charms in Zhej iang houses, see Ronald G. Knapp, China 's Vernacular A rchitecture: House Form and Culture (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1 989) . 1 4 7 , 1 7 1 - 7 2 . 9. Wang Jingfen and S h u C a i , eds . , Shufa Jichu Zhishi (The fundamentals o f cal­ ligraphy) (Bcijing: Jiefangjun C hubanshe, 1 988) , 1 9 . 1 73

1 74

NOTES TO PAGES 5- 1 3

I 0 . See Derk Bod de, China 's First Unifier: A Study of the Ch 'in Dynasty as Seen in the Life of Li Ssu ( 280?-208 B . c. ) ( Leiden: E. J . Brill, 1 938) , esp. 1 4 7-6 1 . Qin Shihuang's story has recently been offered in a lively if lurid novel by Jean Levi, The Chinese Emperor ( New York: Vintage, 1 989) . I I . In fact, simplified characters are not noticeably easier to read, although they are certainly easier to write. 1 2 . John King Fairbank, The Great Chinese Revolution: 1800- 1985 ( New York: H ar­ per & Row, 1 986) , 3 . 1 3 . This proj ect was carried o u t in the same spirit a s his massive library o f all C hinese literature described in R. Kent Guy, The Emperor's Four Treasuries: Scholars and the State in the Late Ch'ien-lung Era (Cambridge: Harvard Universi ty C ouncil on East Asian Studies , 1 987) . 1 4. S . Robert Ramsey, The Languages of China ( Princeton: Princeton U niversity Press, 1 98 7 ) , 9 1 - 1 1 5; John DeFrancis, The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy ( Hono­ lulu: U niversity of Hawaii Press, 1 984) , 53-6 7 . 1 5 . On learning t o write, s e e the memoir b y Jade Snow Wong, Fifth Chinese Daugh­ ter ( New York: Harper & Brothers, 1 945) , chap. 2 . 1 6 . A very sensible introduction to t h e practical side o f calligraphy is Jean Long, The A rt of Chinese Calligraphy ( Poole: Blandford Press, 1 98 7 ) . 1 7 . Yang Buwei, Yige Niiren de Zizhuan ( The autobiography of a woman) (Chang­ sha: Yuelu Shushe, 1 98 7 ) , 32-33. A rather different version of this book was originally published in English under the title Autobiography of a Chinese Woman, Buwei Yang Chao , Put· into English b y H e r Husband Yuenren C hao ( 1 94·7 ) , 2d ed . , Westport, Conn. : Greenwood, 1 9 70) . 1 8. I bid . , 63. 19. Ibid . , 394·. 20. Liu Daren , " Fengjing j iu ceng'an" (Scenery of an old acquaintance) , Qishi Niandai ( The Seventies) (April 1 983) , 88-95 . See Wendy Larson, "Writing and the Writer: Liu Daren , " in Proceedings: Summer 1986 Intensive Workshop in Chinese and Russian, ed. Albert Leong ( Eugene: University of Oregon, Department of Russian, and U ni­ versity of Oregon Books, 1 987) , 59-63. 2 1 . See also the account by the American painter Katherine C arl of a calligraphic performance by the empress dowager Cixi at the end of the Qing dynasty. Katherine A. C arl, With the Empress Dowager of China ( London: Eveleigh Nash, 1 906) , 1 35-36, quoted in Marsha Weidner, " Empress Dowager Cixi (Yehe Nala) , " in Marsha Weid­ ner, Ellen Johnston Laing, I rving Yucheng Lo, C hristina Chu, and James Robinson, eds . , Viewsfrom jade Terrace: Chinese Women A rtists 1300- 1912 ( Indianapolis : Indianapo­ lis Museum of Art, 1 988) , 1 59 . 22. Robert van Gulik, Chinese Pictorial A rt a s Viewed by the Connoisseur ( Rome: lsti­ tuto I taliano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1 958) , 343, quoted in Lawrence Sick­ man, "General Introduction" to Chinese Calligraphy and Painting in the Collection ofjohn M. Crawford, Jr. ( London : Arts Council of Great Britain, 1 965) , 7. For the sake of uniformity, romanization has been altered as necessary to conform to the Hanyu pinyin system of phonetic transcription . 2 3 . Fuj ian Television ( April 9, 1 989) . The show was mildly controversial because it portrayed C hiang Kai-shek, T. V. Soong, H. H . Kung, and other Guomindang leaders . It was a prod uction of Shanghai Television, and Jiang Zemin, as the head of ·

NOTES TO PAGES 1 6-20

1 75

the Shanghai Communist Party, silenced potential critics through his calligraphic endorsement. 2.

DEMYST I F Y I N G C H I N E S E C H ARACTERS

I . George A . Kennedy, "Fenollosa, Pound and the C hinese C haracter, " in Selected Works of Gem;t;e A . Kennedy, ed . Tien-yi Li ( New Haven: Yale University Far Eastern Publications, 1 964) , 45 1 , 45 7 . 2 . Ernest Fenollosa, The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry, e d . Ezra Pound ( San Francisco: City Lights Books , 1 964) . This strange book was written in 1 908 by Fenollosa, edited by Pound in 1 9 1 8, and published in London in Instigations ( 1 920, reprinted 1 936) . 3 . Fenollosa, Chinese Written Character, 24. Pound maintained that a phonetic interpretation of C hinese "contradicts the law of evolution , " 30. 4. I bid . , 25. 5. Ramsey, Languages of China, 1 36--3 7 . 6. DeFrancis, Chinese Language, 1 39. 7 . Some scholars argue inconclusively that Japanese and Korean are distantly related languages. Even if this is someday proved, it would be a gross error to regard them as linguistic cousins like I talian and French or English and German. 8 . John DeFrancis , Visible Speech: The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems ( Honolulu : U niversity of Hawaii Press , 1 989) , 269. Scholars who should know better sometimes perpetuate mistaken ideas about the C hinese language. For example, Nathan Sivin, the distinguished historian of C hinese science, claims that the phonetic aspect of characters is weaker than the pictographic element. He offers the example of the "woman" radical, which "nearly always indicates that the character relates to women. Thus, the woman radical with the graph for 'child' means 'happiness'; the radical for woman with the graph for ' broom' means 'wife . " ' But then he shows the character made of three woman radicals, which means " treachery" (or "licentious­ ness " ) , which I think is not a peculiarly female quality. See The Contemporary A tlas of China, ed . Nathan Sivin ( Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1 988) , 1 29 . The woman radical does mark such feminine characters as "younger sister," "old woman, " "concubine, " "pregnant," and "widow, " b u t it also denotes "slave, " " monster," " beginning," " to ridicule, " " to deputize," and "dignity . " 9. William Willetts, Chinese Calligrap�y: Its History and Aesthetic Motivation ( Hong Kong: Oxford University Press , 1 98 1 ) , 2 5 3 . 1 0 . Zhang Minggao, "Shufaj ia Zhang Denghuan" ( Calligrapher Zhang Deng­ huan ) , Zhongguo Wenhua Baa (February 24, 1 988) . 1 1 . Shen C . Y. Fu, Marilyn W. Fu, Mary G. Neill, and Mary J ane Clark, Traces of the Brush: Studies in Chinese Calligrap� ( New Haven: Yale U niversity Art Gallery, 1 9 7 7 ) , xi. It is unfortunate that in the foreword to this excellent book the directors of the Yale and Berkeley art museums contradict the authors by babbling enthusiasti­ cally about calligraphy and abstract expressionis m . 1 2. I nterview with calligrapher Weng Mingquan a n d painters Wang Zhongmou , Zhang Renxi, and Wei C huanyi at the Xiamen C alligraphy and Painting Gallery (November 1 7, 1 989) .

1 76

NOTES TO PAGES 2 1 - 2 5

1 3 . An especially silly, if influential, example of linking "abstract" calligraphy to an imagined higher Asian appreciation for nature is C hiang Yee, Chinese Calligraphy: An Introduction to Its Aesthetic and Technique, 3d ed. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1 9 73) , I l l , 1 1 3 : "The fundamental inspiration of calligraphy, as of all the arts in China, is nature . . . . It follows that our appreciation of calligraphic strokes is in proportion to our feeling for nature . . . . But we claim that not only the separate strokes but the struct ures of the complete characters are basically inspired by Na­ ture . " 1 4. I have this story o n good authority, although m y relationship with the prosely­ tizers was not intimate enough to gain access to their marvelous document. After returning to the United States, I found what is likely the book in question: C. H . Kang and Ethel R. Nelson, The Discovery of Genesis: How the Truths of Genesis were Found Hidden in the Chinese Language ( S t. Louis : Concordia Publishing House, 1 979) . Kang and Nelson argue that the C hinese migrated from Mesopotamia around the time of the Tower of Babel, carrying in their language Old Testament wisdom in the shapes of their characters . Bizarre etymologies purport to discover pictographs for the gar­ den of Eden and forbidden fruit within many C hinese characters . Covert missionaries now constitute a larger portion of the foreign English teachers hired by the C hinese government in its drive to prepare part of its population for tourism and international trade. 1 5 . Yu-Kuang Chu, "1 Comparative Study of Language Reforms in China and Japan (Saratoga Springs, N . Y . : Skidmore College, 1 969) , 9- 1 0 . 1 6. For instance, see the Random House advertisement for J an Morris's travel book Hong Kong, which reproduced the "Hong" character upside down . The New York Times Book Review ( February 1 2, 1 989) , 24. New York's Metropolitan Museum in­ cluded an inverted page of calligraphy in its 1 989 engagement calendar: Shi Tao's " Peach Blossom at My Window , ' ' facing week April 8- 1 4 in The Company of Flowers: A New A rt Book and Engagement Book 1990 (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1 989) . 1 7 . Flier from publisher advertising Eduardo Fazzioli, Chinese Calligraphy: From Pictograph to Ideogram, the History of 214 Essential Chinese/japanese Characters (New York: Abbeville Press, 1 986) . This book discusses not characters, but the C hinese radicals ( the meaning components that must be paired with phonetic elements to form charac­ ters) . Many of these radicals are also characters , of course, but excluding phonetic­ based characters makes the language seem far more pictographic than it is. 18. Evelyn Sakakida Rawski, Education and Popular LiteraCJ! in Ch 'ing China (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press , 1 979) , 1 40 . 1 9 . See Olivia Smith, The Politics of Language 1 791- 1819 ( Oxford : Oxford Univer­ sity Press, 1 984) , 1 6 1 . 20. Compare Robert K . Logan, The A lphabet Effect: The Impact of the A lphabet on the Development of Western Civilization (New York: William Morrow & C o . , 1 986) , and "Chinese C haracters and I ntelligence," Beijing Review 30, no. 28 ( July 1 3 , 1 98 7 ) : 26- 2 7 . 2 1 . William S - Y Wang, " Language in C hina: A C hapter in t h e History o f Lin­ guistics , " Journal of Chinese Linguistics 1 7 : no. 2 ( 1 989) : 208. 22. Raymond C hang and Margaret Scrogin C hang, Speaking of Chinese ( New York: W. W. Norton, I 9 78 ) , 1 70. This is a very sane discussion of the C hinese language and

NOTES TO PAGES 25-34

1 77

contains a useful introduction to calligraphy. 23. However, there are still too many who agree with Pound that " the C hinese language naturally knows no grammar. " See Fenollosa, Chinese Written Character, 1 7 .

3.

T H E LEGEND O F T H E C A L L I GRAPHY SAG E , WANG X I Z H I

I . Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization i n China, vol . 5 , Chemical and Chemical Technology, part I , Paper and Printing, by Tsien Tsuen-hsuin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1 985) , 360-63 ; "Dunhuang chutu wenwu shi Z hongguo zaozhi 1ishi tiqian 1 70 nian" ( Dunhuang excavations advance the history of C hinese paper manu­ facture by 1 70 years) , Fuzhou Wanbao ( May 22, 1 989) ; and Long, A rt of Chinese Cal­ ligraphy, 2 7 . 2 . I m portant dates in Wang's life are in dispute, including his birth and death dates . See Pan Dexi, " Wang Xizhi nianbiao" (Chronology of Wang Xizhi ) , Shuja, no. 24 ( May 1 932) : 23-21. 3 . Chen Weij un, Wang Xizhi Chuanshuo Gushi Xuan (Selection of traditional stories about Wang Xizhi) ( Shaoxing: Shaoxingshi Wenxue Yishu Gongzuozhe Liehenhui, 1 98 3 ) , 9 3 . 1. S e e Ledderose, " S o m e Taoist Elemen ts in t h e Calligraphy o f t h e S i x Dynas­ ties, " 246- 7 8 . 5 . Willetts, Chinese Calligraphy, History and Aesthetic Motivation, 8 7 . 6 . Lothar Ledderose, }.1i Fu and the Classical Tradition of Chinese Calligraphy ( Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1 9 79) , 29. 7 . C hen Weij un , Wang Xizhi Chuanshuo Gushi Xuan, 45-46. 8 . I nterview with calligrapher H uang Zhenci, Fuzhou ( May 1 5, 1939 ) . 9 . Chen Weij un , Wang Xizhi Chuanshuo Gushi Xuan, 3 7-38. 10. I bid . , 3 . 1 1 . I bid . , 1 1 - 1 3 . 1 2 . Ibid . , 3 1 - 3 2 . 1 3 . Ibid . , 4 1 -42 . 1 4 . Han C huang [John Hay] , " Hsiao l Gets the Lan-t' ing Manuscript by a Con­ fidence Trick, " National Palace Museum Bulletin 5, no. 3 ( July-August 1 979) : 1 -7 , and 5, no. 6 ( January-February 1 9 7 1 ) : 1 1 7 Hay links the history of a ninth-century painting of this incident to changes in the evaluation of Wang Xizhi' s calligraphy. See also Ledderose, ivfi Fu, 20; Chen Weij un, Wang Xizhi Chuanshuo Gushi Xuan, 5 7-6 1 ; Willetts, Chinese Calligraphy, History and Aesthetic Motivation, 88. 1 5 . Wang Jingfen and Shu Cai, Shufa }ichu Zhishi, 96-97 . 1 6. Ledderose, A1i Fu, 20, 2 5 . Tang Taizong further demonstrated his interest in calligraphy by establishing an Office for the Propaganda of Culture to teach calligra­ phy to the sons of high officials. This school used models based upon the kaishu characters of Ouyang Xun and Lu Shinan, two of the greatest calligraphers of the generation. Their style thus became widely used by oflicials throughout the empire (27) . I 7 . Ledderose, "Some Taoist Elements in the C alligraphy of the Six Dynasties, " 275. 1 8 . Ledderose, Mi Fu, 1 3, 20. --

.

1 78

NOTES TO PAGES 34-40

1 9 . Fu et a!. , Traces of the Brush, 5. See also Rong Geng, " Wang Xizhi j i qi moj i " ( Wang Xizhi and his works ) , Shufa, n o . 2 4 ( May 1 982) : 1 8-20. 20. See Guy, Emperor's Four Treasuries, 55. 2L Li Bingj in, Wenyi Zhishi Daquan (Compendium of arts information) ( Shi­ j iazhuang: Huashan Wenyi Chubanshe, 1 988) , 949 . 2 2 . Quoted in Theodore D. Huters, "A New Way of Writing: The Possibilities for Literature in Late Qing C hina," Modern China 1 4, no. 2 ( 1 988) : 2 1 2 . 2 3 . A similar quest for a purported long-lost perfect system of musical intonation dominated C hinese musicology for centuries. I discuss this in Pianos and Politics in China: Middle- Class Ambitions and the Struggle over Western Music ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1 989) , 2 1 -2 3 . 4.

T H E BRUSH AS AN I NSTRU MENT O F RULE

l . See James H . Cole, Shaohsing : Competition and Cooperation in Nineteenth-Century China (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1 986) . 2 . Zhou Enlai was born in Huai'an, Jiangsu, but his family was from Shaoxing. Other prominent Shaoxing bureaucrat-literati of modern times include Yao Wen­ yuan, Wang Jingwei, and Cai Yuanpei. 3. See Raymond Williams, The Sociology of Culture ( New York : Schocken Books, 1 982) , 93-94. 4. Ledderose, Mi Fu, 3 . 5 . C hung-li Chang, The Chinese Gentry: Studies o n Their Role i n Nineteenth-Century Chinese Sociery (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1 955) , 1 1 3 . 6 . Guy, Emperor's Four Treasuries, 68. 7 . Frederick W. Mote, "A Fourteenth-Century Poet: Kao C h ' i , " in Confucian Per­ sonalities, ed. Arthur F. Wright and Denis Twitchett ( Stanford : Stanford U niversity Press, 1 962) , 239. 8 . I bid . , 240 . But this generalization must be qualified. "Of the Four Great Mas­ ters of the Ming dynasty, Shen Zhou and Qiu Ying never took the civil service exams, Wen Zhengming tried nine times to pass them and finally got an appointment, and Tang Yin was involved in an examination scandal which cost him his official career. " Ellen Johnston Laing, personal communication ( February 1 990) . 9. Yang Lien-sheng, "Chinese C alligraphy, " in Chinese Calligraphy and Painting, 2 5 . I 0 . I bid. , 28. I I . Chung-li C hang, Chinese Gentry, 1 7 7- 78n; William Ayers , Chang Chih-tung and Educational Rijorm in China (Cambridge : Harvard University Press, 1 97 1 ) , 1 87 . 1 2 . I t was exceptional that when the Yuan dynasty emperor Renzong ( r . 1 3 1 22 1 ) instructed Guan Daosheng to write the Thousand-Character Classic for the imperial collection, he also ordered calligraphy from her husband Zhao Mengfu and their son. " 'Later generations can know that my reign not only had an expert female callig­ rapher, but a whole family capable in calligraphy, which is an extraordinary cir­ cumstance. " ' Weidner et a! . , Views from jade Terrace, 6 7 . 1 3 . Albert Feuerwerker, State and Sociery i n Eighteenth- Century China: The Ch 'ing Empire in Its Glory (Ann Arbor: U niversity of Michigan Center for C hinese Studies, 1 976) , 63-64, quoted in Ahern, Chinese Ritual and Politics, 1 7 .

NOTES TO PAGES 40-48

1 79

1 4. Ledderose, Mi Fu, 3 3 . 1 5 . Simon de Beaufort ( pseud . ) , Yellow Earth, Greenjade: Constants i n Chinese Politi­ cal Mores ( Cambridge: Harvard Universi ty C enter for I nternational Affairs, 1 978) , 50. 16. For an illustrated history of the manufacture of these items, see Su Yuming, We11[ang Sibao ( The four treasures of the scholar's studio) ( Taibei : Xingzhengyuan Wenhua jianshe Weiyuanhui, 1 986) . 1 7 . " Inkstones from the collection of Mr. Lin Po-shou , " flier from exhibition at the National Palace Museum, Taibei ( August 1 989) . 1 8. Wu Mofang, "J iayan fusu huaJ uxi " ( S peaking of the elegant inks tones reborn in juxi ) , Renrnin Ribao (overseas edi tion) (August 2 3 , 1 988) . 1 9 . Ledderose, Mi Fu, 32-34, 44. For a discussion of the individualism in "wild cursive" script, see Fu et al., Traces �[ the Brush, 8 1 . 20. Wang J ingfen and Shu Cai, Sh11fa }ichu Zhishi, 2 1 9. 2 1 . Zhang later flattered the emperor by building a new hall in his home for displaying calligraphy with which the emperor had presented him. Ray Huang, 1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline (New Haven; Yale University Press, 1 98 1 ) , 1 2, 64. 22. Joseph Esherick, personal communication ( May 1 0, 1 990) . 5.

A R T C R I T I C I S M AS P O L I T I C A L C O M M ENTARY

l . Li Bingjin, Werryi Zhishi Daquan, 946. 2 . Zhou Huij un , quoted in Gu Wei , ''C hengru rongyi que j ianxin " ( I t looks easy despite the hardships ) , Shufa, no. 1 7 ( M arch 1 98 1 ) : 2 1 . 3 . I nterview with F u Zongwen, professor of history, Xiamen University, in Fuzhou (April 7 , 1 989) . 4. "Fanrong shufa yishu banhao Shufa zazhi" ( Let the calligraphic art flourish, manage well Calligraphy magazine) , Shufa, no. 8 ( October 1 979) : 2 2 . 5 . T . C . Lai, Chinese Calligraphy: An Introduction ( Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1 973) , I 00. 6 . Mark Salzman, Iron and Silk ( New York : Random House, 1 986) , 9 3 . 7 . S e e J o h n Hay, "The H urn an Body a s a Microcosmic Source o f Macrocosmic Values in Calligraphy , " in Theories of the A rts in China, eel. Susan Bush and C hristian Murck ( Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1 983) , 74- 1 02 . The quotation is on p. 98. 8 . Zhu Baoquan, "Yi Yinmo ersanshi" ( Recalling two or three things about Yin­ rna ) , Shufa, no. 33 ( June 1 983) : 35- 36. 9 . J ames F . Cahill, "Confucian Elements in the Theory of Painting, " in The Co11fu­ cian Persuasion, ed. Arthur F. Wrigh t ( StanfiJrd : Stanford University Press , 1 960) , 1 2 7 . 1 0. Chiang Yee, Chinese Calligraphy, An Introduction, 8 3 , 75, 1 2, 82. I I . Wang Ningj un, "Sanctuary for Buddhist Monks, " China Daily ( February 4, 1 989) . I n contrast to her husband , Wu Zetian was a forceful calligrapher. She has also been denounced by male historians for overstepping her female role. 1 2. Joseph R. Levenson, Confucian China and Its Modern Fate ( Berkeley: University of California Press, 1 9 72 ) offers the classic discussion of the tension between throne and bureaucracy.

180

NOTES TO PAGES 49- 6 1

1 3 . Jonathan Spence, "The Seven Ages o f K'ang-hsi ( 1 654- 1 7 2 2 ) , " journal of Asian Studies 26, no. 2 (February 1 967 ) : 206, 209. 1 4. Harold L . Kahn, Monarchy in the Emperor's Eyes: Image and Reality in the Ch 'ien­ lung Reign ( Cambridge: Harvard U niversity Press , 1 97 1 ) , 99. 15. I bid . , 1 35 . 1 6 . C hiang Ye e , Chinese Calligraphy, An Introduction, 1 30- 1 3 1 . Willetts says that the Qianlong emperor' s "brush work is flabby, and the strokes monotonous in their even­ ness, as though pressed out of a tube of toothpaste. " Chinese Calligraphy, History and Aesthetic Motivation, 1 96. 1 7 . Liao jingwen, Xu Beihong-Life of a Master Painter (Beij ing: Foreign Languages Press, 1 98 7 ) , 300. 1 8 . Kahn, Monarchy in the Emperor's F,yes, I I , 1 35-36. 19. Ibid . , 1 36 . 20. L i u Rong, " The Wonderful World o f C alligraphy, " China Reconstructs ( Novem­ ber 1 985) . 2 1 . Liu Huan, "Yi gu wei shi yi gu wei xin" (Treat the ancients as masters , treat the ancients as innovators ) , Zhongguo Shufa, no. I ( January 1 989) : 23-24. 22. I nterview with Fu Zongwen (April 7 , 1 989) . 2 3 . Zhou Yiliang, " Shufa suixiang" (Thoughts on calligraphy) , Zhongguo Shufa, no. 3 ( August 1 988) : 4 7 . 2 4 . Q i Zhongtian , "Shaoshu minzu shufajia Kangli Naonao" ( M inority callig­ rapher Kangli Naonao) , Shufa, no. 14 ( July 1 980) : 2 1 - 24. Fu et a!. , Traces of the Brush, 256- 5 7 . 25. Nelson J . Wu, "Tung Ch'i-ch'ang ( 1 555- 1 636) : Apathy in Government and Fervor in Art," in Wright and Twitchett, Confucian Personalities, 288. For more on Dong Qichang's villainy, see Robert E. Hegel, The Novel in Seventeenth-Century China ( New York: Columbia University Press, 1 98 1 ) , 1 8- 1 9 . 6.

THE C U LT U RAL D I L E M M A OF T H E REVOLUTI O N ARY E L I T E

I . Lu X u n , " Silent C hina, " in Silent China: Selected Writings of L u Xun, ed . and trans . Gladys Yang (New York: Oxford University Press, 1 97 3 ) , 1 63- 1 64. On Lu Xun, see Leo Ou-fan Lee, Voices from the Iron House: A Study of Lu Xun ( Bloomington: I ndiana U niversity Press, 1 98 7 ) . 2 . Zhou Ye, An Age Gone By, 64-65, 1 00, 1 5 . 3 . In L u Xun, Silent China, 55. 4. S tuart R. Schram, Mao Tfe-tung ( Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1 966) , 63. 5 . Dong Zhiying, ed . , Mao Zedong Yishi (Tales of Mao Zedong) ( Beij ing: Kunlun C hubanshe, 1 989) , 69- 70. 6. Guo Moruo," Geming chunqiu" ( Spring and autumn of the revolution ) , in Guo Moruo Zizhuan (Autobiography of Guo Moruo) ( Beij ing: Renmin Chubanshe, 1 979) , 254. 7. Dong Zhiying, Mao Zedong Yishi, 73-76. 8. Yan Zheng, ed . , Zhongguo Dangdai Shufa Daguan (An overview of contemporary C hinese calligraphy) ( Beij ing: Wenhua Yishu C hubanshe, 1 988) , 1 1 7 . 9 . C hen Bingchen, "Huiyi Mao Zhuxi Zhou Zongli Zhu Weiyuanzhang shufa huodong pianduan " ("A partial recollection of the calligraphic activities of C hairman

NOTES TO PAGES 6 1 -65

181

Mao, Premier Zhou, and Commission Chairman Zhu " ) , Shuja, no. I I ( 1 980) : 1 7 . 1 0 . Dong Zhiying, Mao Zedong Yishi, 7 5 . l l . I bid . , 76. On the shortage of brushes and paper in Yan'an, see Yan 'an Suiyue [Days i n Yan'an] , ed . Sun Xinyuan and Shang Dezhou (Xi'an: Shaanxi Meishu Chubanshe, 1 985) , 274. 1 2 . A Ying, "C hen Yi tongzhi yu Subei de wenhua gongzuo" (Comrade C hen Yi and cultural work in northern JianiSsu ) , in Huainian Chen Yi Tong;:;hi ( Cherish the memory of C omrade Chen Yi) , ed. Zhonggong Zhuzhou Shiwei Xuanchuanbu ( Changsha: Hunan Renmin C hubanshe, 1 9 79 ) , 224, 230-3 1 . 1 3 . David Holm, "The Literary Rectification in Yan' an , " in Essays in Modern Chinese Literature and Literary Criticism, ed . Wolfgang Kubin and Rudolf G. Wagner ( Bochum: B rockmeyer, 1 982) , 2 7 2-308. 14. Bonnie S . McDougall, Mao Zedong's "Talks at the Yan 'an Conference on Literature and A rt ": A Translation qf the 1943 Text with Commentary (Ann Arbor: U niversity of Michigan C enter for C hinese Studies , 1 980) . 1 5 . Ellen R. Judd, " C ul tural Redefinition in Yan'an C hina , " Ethnos 5 1 , nos . 1 -2 ( 1 986) : 3 T 7 ; see also Ellen R. Judd, " Prelude to the 'Yan'an Talks ' : Problems in Transforming a Literary I ntelligentsia , " i\1/odern China I I , no. 3 ( July 1 985) : 3 7 7-408. 1 6 . McDougall, lvfao Zedong 's "Talks, " 7 5 . 1 7 . Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, vol . 3 ( Beijing: Foreign Languages Press , 1 965) 58-59. ! 8 . Selected Works of A1ao Tse-tung, vol . I ( Beij ing: Foreign Languages Pn�ss , 1 965) , 86, modified by comparison with Mao Zedong Xuanji ( S elected Works of Mao Zedong) , vol. I (Beij ing: Renmin Chubanshc, 1 965 ) , 69- 70. 19. Lao }iefangqu jiaoyu Cailiao ( Ed uca tion materials from the old liberated areas) , vol. I ( Beij ing: Jiaoyu Kexue Chubanshe, 1 98 1 ) , 1 04, 1 1 3 . 2 0 . Dong Zhiying, 1Hao Zedong Yishi, 7 6 . 2 1 . I bid . , 209- l l . 2 2 . Ye J unj ian, Shancun ( Mountain Village) ( Zhcngzhou: Henan Renmin Chu­ banshe, 1 982) , 1 95 . 2 3 . Dong Zhiying, 1Hao Zedong Yislzi, 225- 226. ,

7.

T H E GENTLEMEN S C H O LARS O F T H E C ENTRAL AND SOUTH L A K E S

I . Photos of t h e Zhongnanhai buildings are in "Zhongnanhai" Huace Bianj i Weiyuanhui, ed . , Zfwngnanhai ( Beij ing: Xinhua Chubanshe, 1 98 1 ) . Mao's study is in the two photographs marked 1 5 . Zhongnanhai was occasionally opened for visits by specially selected guests (Youth League activists, outstanding minority leaders, etc . ) after the fall of Hua Guofeng . 2. See Howard L. Boorman, "The Literary \Vorld of Mao Tse-tung, " in China under Mao : Politics Takes Command, eel. Roderick MacFarquhar ( Cambridge: M I T Press, 1 966) , 368-39 1 . Boorman presents Mao a s a great renegade, alone favoring old artistic forms while his government pushed the rest of society toward socialist realism. I n his excellent article Boorman underestimates the extent to which Mao's contradic­ tory cultural values were shared by othet top Party leaders . 3 . Dong Zhiying, Mao Zedon,g Yishi, 7 1 . ''

''

182

NOTES TO PAGES 66- 7 1

4 . A recent edition i s i n 2,4 1 0 pages i n four volumes : Sanxitang Fatie ( Beij ing: Zhongguo Shudian, 1 986) . The " three rarities" of the imperial calligraphy collection were pieces by the jin dynasty masters Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi, and Wang Xun ( a second cousin of Xizhi) . Chen Bingchen, "Huiyi Mao zhuxi Zhou zongli Zhu weiyuanzhang shufa huodong pianduan , " 1 7- 1 8 . 5 . The bride also received a gift of 300 yuan. Feng Shufan, ed . , Zuotian de Zhongguo (Yesterday's China) (Xi'an: Shaanxi Renmin Chubanshe, 1 988) , 1 00 . 6 . Yang Dongye, "Mao Zedong y u L i u Yazi de 'shijiao " ' (The 'poetry friendship' of Mao Zedong and Liu Yazi) , Renmin Ribao (overseas edition) ( .January 1 3 , 1 989) . The book was entitled Commemorative Volume I of the Yi Pavilion. See The Writings of Mao Zedong, 1949- 1976, ed. Michael Y . M . Kau and john K . Leung (Armonk, N . Y . : M . E . Sharpe, 1 986) , vol . I , 44-45 . 7 . C hen Bingchen, " Huiyi Mao zhuxi Zhou zongli Zhu weiyuanzhang shufa huodong pianduan , " 1 7 . 8 . I bid . , 1 7- 1 8; Kau and Leung, Writings of Mao Zedong, vol . 1 , 225-26. Mao also presented Ming and Qing dynasty calligraphy to museums in Shanghai and Hunan . 9. Bonnie S . McDougall , " Poems , Poets, and Poetry 1 976: An Exercise in the Typology of Modern Chinese Literature , " Contemporary China 2, no. 4 (Winter 1 978) : 1 0 7 . On Mao's poetry-reading habits, see Zhang Yij i u , "Wannian Mao Zedong yu Zhongguo gudian shici" (The elderly Mao Zedong and C hinese poetry) , in Wannian Mao Zedong (The elderly Mao Zedong) , ed. Xiao Yanzhong ( Beij ing: C hunqiu Chu­ banshe, 1 989) , 3 5 7 - 7 5 . 1 0 . Jerome C h ' e n , Mao and the Chinese Revolution, with thirty-seven poems b y Mao Zedong translated by Michael Bullock and Jerome Ch' en ( London : Oxford U niver­ sity Press , 1 965 ) , 35 7 . I I . Quan Yanchi, Zouxia Shenton de Mao Zedong [Mao Zedong o ff the Altar] ( Bei­ j ing: Zhongguo Wenhua Chubanshe, 1 989) . 1 2 . I bid . , 26, 54, 70, 89-90. 1 3 . Mao furiously dismissed a bodyguard who, without getting in the water, re­ ported that he found the Yangzi unsuitable for swimming. I bid . , 67-70. 1 4. "Topple Ch'en I , Liberate the Foreign Affairs System," Wen-ke Fengyun, no. 4 ( 1 96 7 ) , in Survey of China Mainland Magazines, no. 635 ( December 2, 1 968) , 1 2 . 1 5 . Quan Yanchi , Zouxia Shentan de ll1ao Zedong, 1 62 . 1 6 . Ibid . , 1 1 7- 1 8, 1 4 1 . 1 7 . Ibid . , 1 20, 1 59 . 1 8. I bid . , 1 1 5- 1 6. Those given t o psychological analyses o f politics will enj oy the following dialogue between Mao and his bodyguard Li Xinqiao. Mao: " When do you say is the best time to think over problems?" Li: " Probably . . . lying in bed?" Mao: "Wrong. I ' l l tell you . It is while you are shitting. When the shit comes out, there is sudden relaxation. This is ideal for thinking through problems . " 1 9 . Mao should have understood Huang's anxiety . Mao wrote o u t a poem a s a keepsake when his bodyguard Li Xinqiao went on to a new j ob in Tianj i n . The first Party secretary there asked to have a look at Mao's calligraphy and then claimed to have lost it. I bid . , 6 1 , 1 64-65. 20. I bid . , 1 33 , 1 38 . 2 1 . C h e n Bingchen, "Huiyi Mao Zhuxi, " 1 9 . This pressure continues: o n e o f Pre­ mier Li Peng's secretaries is said to be an excellent calligrapher but finds that he

NOTES TO PAGES 7 1 - 7 7

183

cannot express his personality or feelings when he writes at work, where his hand must be careful and restrained. I nterview with Zhu Yisa, professor of C hinese, Fuj ian Teachers University, in Fuzhou ( May 1 7, 1 989) . 2 2 . Feng Shufim, Zuotian de Zhongguo, 1 0 1 . 2 3 . Helmut Martin, Cult and Canon: The Origins and Development of State Maoism ( Armonk, N . Y . : M . E. Sharpe, 1 98 2 ) , 71. 24. For a recent Hong Kong example of this argument, see Jia Zi, " Zhonggong pizi wenhua xungcn" (The C hinese Communist riff-raff culture seeks its roots) , Zhengming, no. 1 42 (August 1 989) : 87- 89. 25. Di Sici Wendaihui C houbeizu Qicaozu , Liushinian Werryi Dashiji ( weidinggao) ( Record of major arts events of sixty years [incomplete draft ] ) ( Beij ing: Wenhuabu Wenxue Yishu Yanj iuyuan Lilun Zhengce Yanj iushi, 1 979) , 1 24 . 26. T h e former point i s stressed b y D. W. Fokkema, Literary Doctrine i n China and Soviet Influence, 1956-- 1960 ( The Hague : Mouton, 1 965) , I 03-8; for the latter view, see Bonnie S. McDougall , Mao Zedong 's "Talks, " 79-80. 2 7 . Mao Zedong Sixiang Wansui ( Long live Mao Zedong thought) ( 1 969) , 1 80 . 28. Zang Kej ia, "Chen Yi tongzhi yu s h i " ( " C omrade C hen Yi a n d poetry" ) , i n Zhonggong Zhuzhou Shiwei Xuanchuanbu, Huainian Chen Yi Tong::.hi, 305.

B.

T H E F A I L E D A S S A U L T ON C H I N E S E C HARACT E RS

I . John DeFrancis, "China's Literary Renaissance: A Reassessment," Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 1 7, no. 4 ( December 1 985) : 52-63. 2 . " Zhongguo wenmang eryi saomang renwu j ianj u " (C hina has two hundred million illiterates, the task of ending illiteracy is formidable) , Renmin Ribao (overseas edition) (August 1 8 , 1 988) . 3 . The best brief for rornanization is DeFrancis, Chinese Language. 4. Ramsey, Languages of China, 4 1 . Although the four tones of Mandarin should logically combine with '105 monosyllables to produce 1 620 sounds, many syllables do not use all four tones , such as gei, which exists only in the third tone, or ou, which has no second-tone words. 5 . I bid . , 1 3 . 6. Tse-tsung C how, The May Fourth lv!ouement: Intellectual Revolution in Modern China ( S tanford: S tanford University Press, 1 960) , 368. 7 . Quoted in De Francis, Chinese Language, 250. 8. Edgar S now, Red Star over China (New York: Grove Press, 1 968) , 446 ; emphasis in the original. Quoted in DeFrancis, Chinese Language, 247-4 8 . 9 . DeFrancis, Chinese Language, 248. 1 0 . Yu-Kuang Chu, A Comparative Study of Language RejoTms in China and Japan ( Saratoga Springs , N . Y . : Skidmore College, 1 969) , 29. When the United S tates mass media finally adopted the pinyin system in 1 979, many Americans believed that the C hinese had changed the names of their cities . I I . January 24, 1 956 speech to the C entral Committee, "The Problem of Intellec­ tuals, " quoted in DeFrancis, Chinese Language, 2 6 3 . 1 2 . " T h e Immediate Tasks in Writing Reform" ( .January 1 0 , 1 958) , quoted in Ramsey, Languages of China, 1 45 .

184

NOTES TO PAGES 7 7--84

1 3 . Yu-Kuang Chu, Comparative Study of Language Reforms, 2 1 . Tao-tai Hsia, in China 's Language Reforms (New Haven: Yale U niversity Institute of Far Eastern Lan­ guages, 1 956) discusses the antiquity of moves to simplify characters; some of the simplifications of the Communist reform were already in use nearly two thousand years ago. 1 4. Zhou Youguang, "Wenzi gaige" (Writing reform) , in Zhongguo Dabaike Quan­ shu: Yuyan Wenzi (Great C hinese encyclopedia: language and writing) ( Beij ing: Zhongguo Dabaike Quanshu Chubanshe, 1 988) , 404. 1 5 . Ramsey, Languages of China, 1 46-47 ; DeFrancis, Chinese Language, 260. 1 6 . Zhou Enlai, "The I mmediate Tasks of Writing Reform, " quoted in Ye Laishi, " Dangqian Wenzi Gaige de Renwu" ( Present-day tasks of language reform ) , in Zhongguo Dabaike Quanshu, 49. 1 7 . Quoted in Kau and Leung, Writings of Mao Zedong, vol . 1 , 3 1 0. 1 8 . Quoted in DeFrancis, Chinese Language, 267. 19. Yao Wenyuan in Renmin Wenxue ( September 1 95 7 ) , quoted in Lars Ragvald, Yao Wenyuan as Literary Critic and Theorist: The Emergence of Chinese Zhdanovism ( S tock­ holm: U niversity of Stockholm , 1 978) , 80. 20. Roderick MacFarquhar, Timothy C heek, and Eugene Wu, eds . , The Secret Speeches of Chairman lvfao: F'rom the Hundred Flowers to the Great Leap Forward (Cam­ bridge: Harvard University Council on East Asian Studies, 1 989) , 400. 2 1 . Reprinted in Shufa Jiaoxue (Teaching calligraphy) , ed. Dai Y aotian and Zhao Yixin ( S hanghai: Shanghai Shuhua C hubanshe, 1 98 1 ) . 22. For details on Deng Tuo's career, see Timothy C heek, "Deng Tuo: C ulture, Leninism and Alternative Marxism in the C hinese Communist Party, " China Quar­ terly, no. 87 ( September 1 98 1 ) : 470-9 1 ; see also Timothy C heek, "The Politics of C ultural Reform: Deng Tuo and the Retooling of C hinese Marxism , " Chinese Law and Government (Winter 1 983-84) , 3-30. 2 3 . Two pieces about calligraphy are in Ma Nancun [Deng Tuo] , Yanshan Yehua [Evening talks at Yanshan] ( Beij ing: Beij ing Chubanshe, 1 979) , 39-4 1 , 3 7 5-86. 24. I bi d . , 385. 25. I bid . , 380. 26. Xin Fengxia, Reminiscences ( Beij ing: Panda Books, 1 98 1 ) , 80. 27. For instance, Shen Liufeng, Gangbi Zi de Xiefa he Lianxi ( How to write and practice characters with a fountain pen) ( Shanghai: Shanghai Wenhua Chubanshe, 1 959) . 28. I n terview with Yu Gang, professor of fine arts, Xiamen University ( Novem­ ber 2 1 , 1 989) .

9.

L E N I N I S T C A L L I GRAPHY FOR M A S S P O L I T I C S

I . Xiamen Television (October 1 0, 1 989) . I regret that I missed the beginning of this show and thus do not know its name. 2 . The calligraphic web grows even denser. For C hina's 1 989 National Day fes tiv­ ities, theaters tried to boost Li Peng's reputation by showing a documentary about Deng Yingzhao, Zhou Enlai ' s widow . The title for this documentary , Women de Deng

NOTES TO PAGES 84-93

185

Ying::.hao Dajie (Our big sister Deng Yingzhao) , was inscribed by Li Xiannian. Li Peng's calligraphy was not on central television prior to the massacre of.June 4 but was frequently shown in traditionally ceremonial settings throughou t the fall, for example on Xiamen Television (October I , 1 989) . 3 . Zhong Jingzhi, Yan 'an Luyi (The Yan'an Lu Xun Arts Academy) ( B eijing: Wenwu Chubanshe, 1 98 1 ) , 1 8 . 4. Theoretical Group o f the Ministry o f Culture, " Learn from the Brilliant Exam­ ple of Premier C hou and Advance Courageously along C hairman Mao's Revolution­ ary Line in Literature and Art," Jen-min Jih-pao ( May 24, 1 9 7 7 ) , in Survry of the China Mainland Press, no. 6354 ( June 6, 1 9 7 7 ) : 2 . 5 . Selected Works of L u Xun, vol . 3 (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1 964) , 3 2 728; Zhou Yiliang, " Shufa suixiang" ('l'houghts on calligraphy) , Zhongguo Shufa, no. 3 (August 1 988) : 4 7 . 6 . A l l these inscriptions appear in K a u a n d Leung, Writings of Mao Zedong, vol. I . 7 . Zhao Lianj ia, "Yi shufazhuankejia Wei C hangqing" ( Recalling calligrapher and engraver Wei C hangqing) , Renmin Ribao (overseas edition ) ( S eptember 22, 1 988) . 8. I nterview with a former Guangzhou cultural official, Hong Kong ( January 1 980) . 9. De Beaufort, Yellow Earth, Green Jade, 49-50. 10. Shi Yanzhi, "Chunfeng manyuanluo" (A spring breeze fills the gallery ) , Xia­ men Ribao ( November 5, 1 989) . 1 1 . For example, Fang Yi wrote "\Vest Lake is Beautiful" for a stele in Fuzhou's newly renovated West Lake Park, and his "Mawei Economic and Technical Develop­ ment Zone" is proudly reproduced in huge gold characters . 1 2 . Beij i ngshi Yuyanxuehui, ed . , Xiandai HanyuJiang::_uo ( Beij ing: Zhishi Chuban­ she, 1 983 ) . 1 3 . Fang Youde, " Preface" to Zhangjinj ian, Zhongguo Hua de Tihua Yishu (The art of inscribing C hinese paintings) ( Fuzhou : Fuj ian Meishu Chubanshe, 1 98 7 ) , 3. 1 4. See Qinqu Jicheng, vol. I , part 1 ( Beij ing: Zhonghua Shudian, 1 96 3 ) . 1 5 . Kau and Leung, Writings of Mao Zedong, vol . I , 359. Similarly, Mao wrote out a poem to fob off a 1 955 request for a title from an old friend from C hangsha, Zhou Shizhao, who had written a book on the Qing poet C heng Songwan. When Zhou asked again six weeks later, Mao s talled : ' ' I'd like to let the subj ect sit for a while; is that all right with you?" I bid . , 62 7-28, 676. 1 6. Z uo Ni, "Chen Yun Wang Zhen nao maodun" (Chen Yun and Wang Zhen at odds) , Zhengming, no. 1 35 ( January 1 989) : 1 2- 1 3 . 1 7 . I nterview with Fu Zongwen in Fuzhou ( April 5, 1 989) . 1 8 . Perry Link, " I n troduction, " Stubborn Weeds: Popular and Controversial Chinese Literature after the Cultural Revolution ( Bloomington: I ndiana University Press, 1 983) , 1 2- 1 3 . I n a similar case, the Guangdong Provincial First Party Secretary, Ren Zhong­ yi, provided the cover characters for another troublesome literary magazine, Huacheng (City of flowers) . See Zeng Wei, "Lin Ruo keneng dang Guangdong sheng­ wei diyi shuj i " ( Lin Ruo may become Guangdong first Party secretary ) , Zhengming, no. 82 (August 1 984) : 25. 19. China Topics, no. YB368 ( February 15, 1 966) : 5 . I nscriptions are from Appen­ dix B ( New C hina News Agency , December 8, 1 965) .

186

NOTES TO PAGES 93-98

20. Zhang Jinj ian, Zhongguo Hua de Tihua Yishu, 1 28-56. 2 1 . Ogawa Heishiro, " Deng Xiaoping he tade zizhou" ( Deng Xiaoping and his calligraphy scroll) , Guangjiaojing, no. 65 ( February 1 978) : 4-6 . 2 2 . O n e prominent victim o f t h e Cultural Revolution was Deng Tuo, who com­ mitted suicide in 1 966. His pos thumous rehabilitation coincided with a maj or burst of interest in his calligraphy, leading to Deng Tuo Shufaxuan (Selection of calligraphy by Deng Tuo) ( Beij ing: Renmin Meishu Chubanshe, 1 980) . The first selection is a phrase, "Away with all pests" (from a poem by Mao Zedong) that was originally written in characters one and a half meters tall . 2 3 . See Bi jizhou, " 'Renmin Yinyue' de guoqu he xianzai" (The past and present of " People's Music" ) , }ing Bao, no. 22 ( May 1 0, 1 979) : 64-65. Bi gets the dates wrong, but the idea is right. 24. See john Gardner, "Study and Criticism: The Voice of Shanghai Radicalism, " in Shanghai: Revolution and Development in an Asian Metropolis, ed. C hristopher Howe (Cam­ bridge : Cambridge University Press, 1 98 1 ) , 327; and Lowell Dittmer, China 's Con­ tinuous Revolution: The Post-Liberation Epoch, 1949-1981 ( Berkeley: University of Califor­ nia Press, 1 98 7 ) , 1 8 7 .

1 0.

C U LTURAL REVOLU T I O N C A L L I GRAPHY

! . Mao Tsetung, " I ntroducing a Co-operative, " Selected Readings from the Works of Mao Tsetung (Beij ing: Foreign Languages Press, 1 967) , 403-4. 2 . The campaign against the four olds was an urban movement, but there was also organized destruction of calligraphy in the countryside in the 1 960s . On the eve of the C ultural Revolution in Shandong, local officials broke up a stele carved for a tomb in A . D . I 74 and used it to repair a bridge . Sixty-nine characters were rescued in 1 980. Li Zhexian and Li jinshan, " Xin faxian de Zhang Shanzi Xiping Sannian Canbei" (The newly discovered Zhang Shan;:: i fragmentary tablet inscribed in the third year of the Xiping reign) , Shufa, no. 6 1 ( July 1 988) : 50. 3 . C ai jing, " S hen Yinmo yu shufa" ( Shen Yinmo and calligraphy) , Meishu ( July 1 979) , in Xinhua Yuebao ( September 1 9 79) , 204-5; Lin Tong, " Liu Haisu yu Mote'er fengbo" ( Liu Haisu and the controversy over models) , Chuanji Wenxue, no. 334 ( March 1 990) : 1 3- 1 4 . 4. Dong Zihua, " Qingnian shufajia Wang Mingyuan" (Young calligrapher Wang Mingyuan) , Renmin Ribao (overseas edition) ( March 9, 1 988) . 5. Xin C hen, "Nongqing yanchu j ij iangj ishen" ( Strong feelings lightly expressed, at once simple and deep) , Zhongguo Shufa, no. I ( 1 989) : 20. 6 . Ping Yan, "Wang Naiqin shufa" (The calligraphy of Wang Naiqin) , Shufa, no. 6 1 ( J uly 1 988) : 2 1 . 7 . Guo Dong and Xin Bi, "Zhan shanhe xiuse sheshenzhou fengzi" ( Load the brush with mountains and rivers of excellent ink, write of the sacred land' s charm) , Zhongguo Wenhua Bao ( M arch 8, 1 988) . 8. David Jim-tat Poon, " Tat;::epao: Its History and Significance as a Communica­ tion Medium," in Popular Media in China: Shaping New Cultural Patterns, ed. Godwin C . C h u ( Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1 9 78) , 1 84-22 ! .

NOTES

TO

PA G E S 9 8 - I OB

187

9. Guang Hong, Nii Gangqinjia de 'Lishu (Confessions of a woman pianist) ( Chang­ sha: Hunan Wenyi Chubanshe, 1 98 7 ) , 25-26. 10. See Gao Yuan, Born Red: il Chronicle of the Cultural Revolution ( Stanford : Stan­ ford University Press, 1 98 7 ) , 3 1 7 . I I . Lei Feng Riji ( Diary of Lei Feng) ( Shanghai : Shanghai Dongfanghong Chu­ banshe, 1 966) . 1 2. I nterview with Yu Gang ( November 2 1 , 1 989) . 1 3 . On the Mao cult, sec Maurice Meisner", A1arxism , lvfaoism, and Utopianism : Eight Essays ( M adison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1 982) , 1 55-2 1 1 . 1 4. "\Varmly Hailing C hairman Mao's I nscription for Chung-kuo Fu-nu , " Zhongguo Funii ( Women of China) , no. 9 ( September 1 0 , 1 966) , in Survey of China Mainland Magazines, no. 552 ( November I I , 1 966 ) : 1 --4. 1 5 . Wang Lienying and Liu Runai, " Mao Zhuxi tizi guwule an" (Chairman Mao's inscription inspires us) , Zhongguo Funii, no. 10 (October 1 966) , 2 7 . 1 6 . "Chairman Mao Tse-tung Writes Inscription for New Journal of Peking Uni­ versity" ( New C hina News Agency-- English, Peking, August 23, 1 965) , in Survey of the China Mainland Press, no. 3 769 (August 26, 1 966) : 1 4. On this episode, see Yue Daiyun and C arolyn Wakeman, To the Storm: The Odyssey of a Revolutionary Chinese Woman ( Berkeley: University of California Press, 1 985 ) , 1 97-98. 1 7 . An unfounded rumor in 1 9 79 maintained that Jiang Qing had mastered Mao's calligraphy so perfectly that no one could tell which of the C hairman' s instruc­ tions had been genuine and which she had forged . 1 8 . C h u , Comparative Stu4y of Language Reforms, 3 1 . 1 9. Jiang Hui and Lu Ge, " Revelations Derived from the Original Handwriting of Lu Xun , " Guangming Ribao ( O ctober 1 0 , 1 97 3 ) , in Survey �f the China A1ainland Press, no. 5483, ( O ctober 29, 1 97 3 ) : 6- 7 . 2 0 . H o Hsiao-lu, " A Detour to Dragon Village , " i n The Seeds and Other Stories ( Beij ing: Foreign Languages Press, 1 972) , 94. 2 1 . M a Nancun [Deng Tuo] , ' " Kao' zi kao" ( Investigation of the character "roas t" ) , Beijing Wanbao ( June 2 1 , 1 962 ) . 2 2 . Hou Xuezhao and Lu .Jianming, ' " " Kao" z i kao' shi yizhi duj ian" ( " I nves­ tigation of the character 'roast' " is a poisoned arrow) , Wenzi Gaige ( May-June 1 966) , 57-58. 2 3 . Y c Jian, " Yongxin xiang de yichang naoj u- chede qingsuan 'Siren bang' zai S haanxisheng dagao 'piheihua' de zuixing" (An intentionally malicious farce�­ thoroughly clear up the "Gang of Four's" crime of " criticizing black paintings" in Shaanxi province) , Shaanxi Ribao ( J une 1 0, 1 9 78) , in lvfeishu, no. 1 6 (September 2 .5 , 1 978) : 1 4- 1 6, 3 5 - 3 6 . For background o n t h e " black art" exhibitions, s e e Ellen .John­ s ton Laing, The Winking Owl: il rt in the People 's Republic of China ( Berkeley: University of C alifornia Press, 1 988) , 85- 8 7 . 24. L i n g Guabiao, " 'Yishu de daolu j iu zaiyu tansuo' " ( "The road of a r t is in the search" ) , Shehui Kexue Zhanxian, no. 3 ( 1 980) : 308- 1 4. 25. For example, he painted lotus blossoms in the wind, but with their stems motionless, which in C hinese convention proclaims an unwillingness to bend with changing political fashion. I bid . , 3 1 3 . 2 6 . Ch'iu Hsi-kuei, "The People Are the C reators a s Well a s Reformers of

NOTES TO PAG E S 1 08- 1 1 4

188

C hinese C haracters , " Guangming Ribao (October 25, 1 973 ) , i n Survey of the China Main­ land Press, no. 5494 ( November 1 3 , 1 973 ) : 49-54. 27. Lanting Lunbian ( Debate about Orchid Pavilion) (Beij ing: Wenwu Chubanshe, 1 973 ) . Some of the essays are technical and argue from stylistic evidence that Wang could not have written the " Orchid Pavilion Preface , " which must have been a Sui or Tang creation . See also Wang Yuchi, " Lanting lunbian zhong de wuhui ji qita" ( Misunderstandings in the Orchid Pavilion debate and other matters ) , Zhongguo Shu­ fa, no. 3 (August 1 988 ) : 38-4 1 .

l l.

EV I L C HARACTERS, POI SON PENS

I . Mao Zhuxi Yulu (Quotations from Chairman Mao) (Beij ing: Zhongguo Renmin J iefangj un Zongzhengzhibu, 1 96 7 ) . 2. One Henan official apparently showed his resistance to Lin Biao' s growing power by excluding one of Lin's inscriptions from an exhibition. See "Revolutionary C adres of Offices Directly Controlled by Provincial Authorities in Honan Denounce Anti-Party, Anti- Socialist Element Sung Yu-hsi," Canton Hung-wei Pao ( S eptember 27, 1 966 ) , in Survey of the China Mainland Press, no. 3 796 ( October 7 , 1 966 ) : 4-5 . 3 . "On Writing" ( 1 96 7 ? reported b y L i n Tou-tou ) , in The Lin Biao Affair: Power Politics and Military Coup, ed. Michael Y. M. Kau ( White Plains, N . Y . : I n ternational Arts and Sciences Press, 1 975 ) , 474- 7 5 . 4. S e e t h e documents in K a u , Lin Biao Affa ir. The official story has never made a lot of sense, but no completely satisfactory alternative has yet been advanced . One possibility is that Lin Biao was not fully informed in advance of a coup planned by his son, the air force officer Lin Liguo. Mongolian officials have recently stated that Lin Biao's body was not found on board the plane, despite C hinese claims to the contrary. 5. Roxane Witke, Comrade Chiang Ch 'ing (Boston : Little, Brown, 1 9 7 7 ) , 3 7 1 - 7 2 . Lin's words are from Lei Feng. 6 . Lin Biao's calligraphy decorated all four sides of a seven-meter pedestal for a twelve-meter gold statue of Mao in Guiyang. " Large-Size Sculpture of Chairman Mao Completed in Kweiyang, " Chinese Literature, no. 4 ( 1 969 ) : 98-99. 7 . Guang Hong, Nii Gangqinjia de Zishu, 46. Lin's first inscription is a quotation from Sanguo Yanyi (The romance of the three kingdoms) , words spoken by Lin Bei just after C ao C ao has said that Liu and C ao are the world 's only two true heroes . 8. Xiao Xiao, "Changqi baizhao zai lishi yinying zhang de Lin Doudou" ( Lin Doudou, long hidden in the shadows of history) , Jing Bao, no. 1 3 1 (June 1 988 ) : 2 1 . One scroll said, " Laughter will make you live ten years longer" ; the other, "The heavenly horse ascends into the heaven s . " 9. S e e " Pi 'kej i fuJi"' (Criticize "Restrain oneself and restore t h e rites " ) , Renmin Ribao editorial (February 20, 1 9 74 ) ; Mass C ri ticism Groups of Peking University and Tsinghua University, "What Was Lin Piao's Motive in Vigorously Brandishing the Black Banner C alling for Self-Denial and the Restoration of the Sense of Propriety?" Renmin Ribao ( J anuary 29, 1 974 ) , in Foreign Broadcast Information Service ( J anuary 3 1 , 1 974 ) , B 3 . 1 0. I heard this story from a Taiwan official in September 1 989.

NOTES TO PAGES 1 1 4� 1 1 7

189

1 1 . For instance, see the poem · ' Kang S heng" from Tai Chi's "An E ternity of Deeds and Misdeeds , " Harvest, no. l ( 1 979) : 1 5 , in David S . G. Goodman, Beijing Street Voices: The Poetry and Politics i!f China 's Democracy Movement ( London : Marion Boyars, 1 98 1 ) , 78-79. See also Li Ying, " Kang Sheng shi gui bushi ren" ( Kang Sheng is a devil, not a man ) , Beijing ::.hi Chun ( March 1 979) , reprinted in Dongxifang, no. 18 (June 1 980) : 1 6- 1 9 . I n contrast t o the preceding two unofficial attacks during the 1 979 Democracy Wall movement, the official press did not criticize Kang Sheng by name, but referred to him as " that ' advisor . " ' 1 2 . Ross Terrill, The White�Boned Demon: A Biography of Madame Mao Zedong ( New York: William Morrow, 1 984) , 1 52� 55. 1 3 . Di Sici Wendaihui C houbeizu Qicaozu , Liushinian Werryi Dashiji, 1 64; Lin Qingshan, Kang Shenp, Wai::.huan (An unofficial biography of Kang Sheng) ( Hong Kong: Xingchen Chubanshe, 1 98 7 ) , 1 1 8. This , the only full�lcngth biography of Kang Sheng now available, is unreliable. The author's zeal for attacking Kang Sheng overrides accuracy. For example, when he describes the controversy over Roxane Witke' s Comrade Chiang Ch'ing, he is wrong about the author, the title of the book, and the year of publication . 1 4 . Michael Schoenhals , personal communication (April 24, 1 989) . 1 5 . Kang Sheng adopted the pseudonym Lu Chishui in order to make himself the nominal antithesis of Qi Baishi, a painter much scorned by China's leftists for using profits from his paintings to become a landlord in his old age. Lu C hishui means Shandong Red Water; Qi refers to an ancient rival kingdom to Lu, or Shandong; Bai means white, and shi is stone. Deng Tuo's two essays about Kang Sheng are in his Yanshan Yehua, 259- 6 2 , 46 1 -64, and are dated December 1 4, 1 96 1 , and july 29, 1 962 . They were excluded from a 1 979 edition o f Deng Tuo's book. 1 6. Ibid . , 46 1 . 1 7 . I bid. 1 8. Shi Shangsong, ' " Kang Sheng wenti zhenxiang chubai" ( The truth about the problem of Kang Sheng becomes clear) , Zhengming, no. 7 ( May 1 978) : 8; Ke Qian, " Kang Sheng qi ren qi shi" ( Kang Sheng--the man and his deeds) , Guangjiaojing ( Wide angle) , no. 76 ( J anuary 1 979) : 11- . 19. Jin Li, " I nside Story About the Reshuffle of High�Level CCP Personnel , " Dongxiang, n o . 4 ( January 1 6, 1 9 79) , i n Foreign Broadcast Information Service ( J anuary 2 3 , 1 979) , N3-N4; China News Analysis, no. 1 1 6 1 (August 1 7 , 1 979) : 6. 20. Lin Qingshan, Kang Sheng Wai::.huan, 3 3 2 . This section also draws upon Wang C hunxun, " Kang Sheng duoqu wenwu yu \Vang Yeqiu diuguan" ( Kang Sheng's plunder of cultural artifacts and Wang Yeqiu ' s loss of office) , Dangdai, no. 6 (February 1 5, 1 98 1 ) : 44-46 , and Hao Xuan, "Tushu wenwu dadao-Kang Sheng" (A great thief of books and cultural artifacts-- Kang Sheng) , in Lishi Neimu }ishi ( What Really Happened behind the Scenes in History) , ed . Gao Ge ( Lanzhou: Gansu Renmin Chubanshe, 1 988) , 247-50 . Lin Qingshan's charge that Kang sent out minions dis� guised as Red Guards to raid Deng Tun's house seems hyperbolic. 2 1 . Zhu Zongyu , Yang Yuanhua, and Zhen J unyan, Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo Zhuyao Shijian Renwu ( I mportant events and persons of the People' s Republic of China) ( Fuzhou : Fuj ian Renmin Chubanshe, 1 989) , 4 1 6- 1 7 . 2 2 . Xi amen Television, Yidai FenJ;Iiu (The great fi g ures of a generation) ( October 9- 1 4, 1 989) .

1 90

NOTES TO PAGES 1 1 7- 1 2:>

2 3 . Ouyang Sheng, "Chongxin pingj ia Guo Moruo" [Reevaluation of Guo Moruo] , Jing Bao, no. 47 ( J une 1 0, 1 98 1 ) : 22. 24. I nterview with Fu Zongwen (April 7 , 1 989) . 25. Shulai M�ji Zhutangtang ( Imposing calligraphy) (Hangzhou: Xihu Wenyi Bian­ j ibu, 1 9 79) , 1 49 . 2 6 . On a 1 962 trip t o Shaoxing, where h e inscribed a sign for the Lu X u n Memo­ rial Hall, Guo acknowledged that he had never met Lu Xun. I b id . , 1 2 1 . In keeping with Guo's antipathy toward Wang Xizhi, he apparently did not visit the Orchid Pavilion, although he did go to the Shaoxing home of Xu Wei, a Ming dynasty callig­ rapher. 2 7 . I nterview with Zhu Visa ( J une 7 , 1 989) . 28. Letter from anonymous reader to Zhengming, no. 7 ( May 1 978) : 63. 29. Gordon A. Bennett and Ronald A. Montaperto, Red Guard: The Political Biogra­ phy of Dai Hsiao-ai (Garden City: Doubleday, 1 9 7 1 ) , 1 8 1 . 30. C hen Vi's calligraphy for the signboard of the Shanghai Municipal Art Museum, which had been rescued and hidden during the Cultural Revolution, was reinstalled above the museum's en trance after the fall of the "Gang of Four. " Ellen Johnston Laing, personal communication ( February 1 990) . 3 1 . C hai Yuan, "Guo Lao wei j iaoyihui tishu" ( Elder Guo's calligraphy for the exhibition hal i ) , Jing Bao, no. 1 3 (August 1 978) : 39. 32. Van Van, "Yulu de haiyang zai xiaoshi zhang" (The disappearing sea of quotations) , Dongxiang, no. 10 (August 1 9 79) : 27-29.

12.

T H E U N S U C C E S S F U L PENMANSH I P OF CHAI RMAN HUA GUOFENG

I . Michel Oksenberg and Sai-cheng Yeung, "Hua Guofeng's Pre-Cultural Revolu­ tion Hunan Years , 1 949-66: The Making of a Political Generalist , " China Quarterly, no. 69 ( March 1 9 7 7 ) : 3-53. 2 . Liu Xiuying, "Sange xing Hua de guer" (Three orphans named Hua) , Renmin Ribao ( May 3 1 , 1 9 7 7 ) . The following day brought a feature on the comparable love for orphans of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. " 'Wo ba dang lai bi muqin' " ( " I take the Party as my mother" ) , Renmin Ribao (June I , 1 9 7 7 ) . 3 . S u n Yiqing, "How Did Hua Guofeng Pursue Personality Cult?" Zhengming Ribao (July 26, 1 98 1 ) , in Foreign Broadcast Information Service (July 28, 1 98 1 ) , W l -W 2 . 4. Renmin Ribao ( March 5 , 1 97 7 ) . 5 . Beij ing New C hina News Agency in English ( March 25, 1 9 7 7 ) , in Foreign Broad­ cast Information Service ( March 25, 1 9 7 7 ) , E2. 6 . Beij ing New China News Agency Domestic Service in Mandarin (.June 2 , 1 9 7 7 ) , in Foreign Broadcast lr!fonnation Service (June 8, 1 9 7 7 ) , H I ; Changsha Hunan Provincial Service in Mandarin ( May 2 1 , 1 9 7 7 ) , in Foreign Broadcast Information Service ( May 24, 1 9 7 7 ) , H I ; C hangsha Hunan Provincial Service in Mandarin ( May 2 3 , 1 9 7 7 ) , in Foreign Broadcast Information Service ( May 26, 1 97 7 ) , H I ; C hangsha Hunan Provincial Service in Mandarin ( May 2 1 , 1 9 7 7 ) , in Foreign Broadcast Information Service ( May 25, 1 9 7 7 ) , H I . The inscription is on the front page of Guangming Ribao (June 2 , 1 97 7 ) . 7 . Beij ing New China News Agency Domestic Service in Mandarin (June 2 ,

NOTES TO PAGES 1 25- 1 3 3

191

1 9 7 7 ) , in Foreign Broadcast Information Servia (June 8, 1 97 7 ) , H ! . 8 . Nanchang J iangxi Provincial Service in Mandarin (June 4, 1 9 7 7 ) , in Foreign Broadcast Information Service (.June 8, 1 97 7 ) , G I 0 . 9. Renmin Ribao (August 3 0 , 1 9 7 7 ) . 1 0 . Renmin Ribao ( J une 5, 1 9 7 7 ) ; Peking New C hina News Agency Domestic Ser­ vice in C hinese ( June 5 , 1 97 7 ) , in Foreign Broadcast Information Service ( June 6 , 1 9 7 7 ) , E4. 1 1 . Renmin Ribao ( December 1 3, 1 97 7 ) . 1 2. At a celebration of Hua's new mastheads for Changchun Ribao and Xin Jilin, Party leader Wang Enmao claimed that Hua had "regained control over propaganda and the mass media usurped by the Gang of Four." C hangchun jilin Provincial Ser­ vice in M andarin ( May 20, 1 97 7 ) , in Foreign Broadcast Information Service ( May 2 3 , 1 9 7 7 ) , L 1 . On t h i s trip Hua also wrote a title for t h e n e w theoretical j ournal o f the Liaoning Communist Party, Theory and Practice. Shenyang Liaoning Provincial Service in Mandarin ( June 4, 1 9 7 7 ) , in Foreign Broadcast lriformation Service (June 1 3, 1 97 7 ) , L3. 1 3 . Hangzhou Zhej iang Provincial Service i n Mandarin (August 9, 1 97 7 ) , in For­ eign Broadcast lriformation Service (August 1 0 , 1 9 7 7 ) , G3-G7 . Not content with the pro­ vincial newspaper, H ua also wrote a new title for the Hangzhou Daily . Hangzhou Zhejiang Provincial Service in Mand arin (November 20, 1 9 7 7 ) , in Foreign Broadcast Info rmation Service ( November 22, 1 9 7 7 ) , G4. 1 4. For instance, on August 1 0, 1 9 7 7 , and September 2 1 , 1 9 7 7 . 1 5 . L u C hangsheng, " 'Xue shu dang xue Yan' " ( " I n studying calligraphy one must study Yan " ) , Guangming Ribao ( November I I , 1 97 7 ) . 1 6. See China Newr Analysis, no. 1 1 05 (January 6, 1 9 78) : 2 - 3 . 1 7 . F o r representative comments about t h e " poor quality" of H u a ' s "labored hand , " see Sun Yiqing, " How Did Hua Guofeng Pursue Personality Cult?" and Martin, Cult and Canon, 54. 1 8. Zhou Enlai ' s ashes were scattered , so he has no tom b . A poem posted by one of the demonstrators at the Monument to the People's Heroes in the center of the square concludes : "When we look at the southern side of this monument, we can only shed tears in silence . " Because Zhou ' s calligraphy is inscribed on that side of the monument ( Mao's is on the other side ) , it is a natural place to honor him. Hong Kong Agence France Presse in English (January 9, 1 9 78) , in F!neign Broadcast Information Service ( J anuary 1 0, 1 978) , E I . A summary of the 1 976 Tiananmen incident and its aftermath is in "Wenge " Shiqi Guaishi Gua!yu ( Peculiar events and language of the "Cultural Revolution" era) , eci. Jin Chunming, Huang Yuchong, and C hang Huimin ( Beij i ng: Qiushi Chubanshe, 1 989) , 9 1 - 96. 19. Chinese Literature, no. 3 ( 1 9 79) : :z4; Georges Biannic, " 'C landes tine' Literary Work Appears in Peking," Hong Kong Agence France Presse in English ( J anuary I I , 1 978) , in Foreign Broadcast !'!formation Seroice ( J anuary I I , 1 9 78) , E6. 20. Xiao Lan, ed . and trans . , The Tiananmen Poems ( Beij ing: Foreign Languages Press, 1 9 79) , 24. The author of these lines was recently sentenced to thirteen years in prison for his role in the 1 989 Tiananmen protests . 2 1 . Wei Ran, "Ziwng,guo Qingnian koufa shij ian" (The Chinese Youth suspension incident) , Dongxiang, no. I ( October 20, 1 978) : 1 7- 1 8; Luo Bing , "The Fall of the " Whatever Faction , " ' Zhengming, no. 16 ( F e bruary 1 9 79) , in Foreign Broadcast Informa­ tion Service ( J anuary 30, 1 979) , N4.

192

NOTES TO PAGES 1 3 3- 1 43

22. Zhongguo Qingnian, no. 1 (September 1 1 , 1 978) . 2 3 . "Tiananmen shij ian zhenxiang" (The truth of the Tiananmen incident) , Ren­ min Ribao ( November 2 1 , 1 978) . 24. Xu Xing, " Beijing zhi chun, zhanuan huanhan" ( B eij ing's spring, first warmer, then cold again) , Guanchajia, no. 14 ( December 1 978) : 8. 25. Beij ing Agence France Presse, November 2 1 , 1 978. 26. Frederick C. Teiwes, Leadership, Legitimacy, and Conflict in China: From a Char­ ismatic Mao to the Politics of Succession (Armonk, N . Y . : M. E. Sharpe, 1 984) . 2 7 . Hua wrote one of his last examples of public calligraphy on December 1 5, 1 978, the final day of the Central Committee's Third Plenum: the title for In Com­ memoration of Our Premier, a volume of photographs taken at Tiananmen in April 1 976. Hua's calligraphy appeared despite the protests of the book's editor. Wei Xia, "The Tiananmen I ncident: Ten Years After," Beijing Review 29, no. 14 (April 7 , 1 986) : 24. 28. Shi Huzhi, "Hua Guofeng fandui zai zaoshen" (Hua Guofeng opposes again creating gods) , Zhengming, no. 25 (November 1 9 79) : 42-43. Hua's inspection of the hatchery and pig farm is amply illustrated in Renmin Ribao ( October 7, 1 97 7 ) . 29. "Wei 'Bai Qiuen jinianguan' 'Ke Kanghua jinianguan' tici" ( I nscriptions for the "Norman Bethune Memorial Hall" and "Ke Kanghua Memorial Hall " ) , Guang­ zhou Ribao ( November 9, 1 9 79 ) . 30. Zhi Zhi, "Hua xiang ye chuxiale" (Hua Guofeng' s portrait is also coming down) , Dongxiang, no. 26 ( November 1 6, 1 980) : 8. 3 1 . "Editorial Report, " Foreign Broadcast Information Service ( January 2 , 1 98 1 ) , L4. 32. Michael Schoenhals, "Censors are Bad for Business," Index on Censorship 1 8, no. 2 ( February 1 989) : 1 9 . 3 3 . W u Lei and X u e Ming, cds . , Zongshou Tianxia Fengyun (Talking freely about the world's stormy situation) (Xi'an: Shaanxi Renmin jiaoyu Chubanshe, 1 989) , 7 7 .

13.

C A L L I GRAPHY ' S N E W C ONVENTI O N S

I . Wu Guping a n d L i u Pingchun, "Hu Yaobang zuihou de guxiang z h i xing" (Hu Yaobang's last visit home) , }izhe Wenxue ( Journalists' Literature) ( J une 1 989) , 1 0 . 2 . Beijing Xinhua i n English ( October 1 0, 1 986) , i n Foreign Broadcast Information Service ( October 1 5, 1 986) , K22-K23; Liu Chunxian and Liu Zhiquan, " Liu Shaoqi tongzhi jinianguan kaiguan" (Opening of Comrade Liu Shaoqi memorial hall) , Ren­ min Ribao ( overseas edition) (November 25, 1 988) ; Y. L. Ting, " Nanjing Massacre: A Dark Page in History , " Beijing Review 28, no. 35 ( September 2, 1 985) : 1 5 . 3 . Suzanne Pepper, "China's Special Economic Zones : The C urrent Rescue Bid for a Faltering Experiment," USFI Reports, no. 14 ( 1 986) : 5. 4. Central Television news, Guangzhou ( July 28, 1 989) . 5 . "Y enge kongzhi j ianli j inian shes hi" ( Strictly control the building of memorial facilities) , Renmin Ribao (overseas edition) ( September 2 , 1 988) . 6. Qian Shangyi, "Qian de qiwen" ( Strange news about money ) , Zhengming, no. 1 3 1 ( September 1 988) : 1 2. 7 . Wu Guping and Liu Pingchun, "Hu Yaobang zuihou de guxiang zhi xing , " 4·- 1 6; Feng Shufan, Zuotian de Zhongguo, 1 9 7 . 8. Anne Gunn, " 'Tell the World About Us' : The Student Movement i n Shen­ yang, 1 989, " A ustralian journal of Chinese Affairs, no. 24 ( J uly 1 990) : 252, 255.

N O T E S TO PAG E S 1 44-- 1 46

193

9 . Kau and Leung, Writings of Mao Zedong, vol . I , 62 1 -22 . 1 0 . Zhao Lianj ia, " Y i shufazhuankej ia Wei C hangqing" ( Recalling calligrapher and engraver Wei C hangqing) , Renmin Ribao (overseas edition) ( September 22, 1 988) . 1 1 . For a report on the mix of calligraphy and Japanese tourism , see Gao Jianxin and Zhang C hengzhi, "Tiandao chouqin--fang Guangxi Guilin Zhongri Youhao Shufa Yanjiuhui fuhuizhang C hen Peibin" (Heavenly rewards-interview with C hen Peibin, deputy director of the Sino-Japanese C alligraphy Research Association of Guilin, Guangxi) , Renmin Ribao (overseas edition) (September 2 1 , 1 988) . The trade is apparently lucrative, as C hen Peibin donated 1 00,000 yuan toward the construction of a "SinoJapanese friendship stele forest" in Guilin. See "Travel Notes , " China Daily ( October 28, 1 989) . 1 2 . Gu Zixin, " Banlan duocai biekai shengmian" ( Gorgeous and multihued, in­ troducing a novelty ) , Renmin Ribao ( overseas edition) (April 19, 1 988) . 1 3 . For a C hinese view , see Liu Yi, "Zhongri shufa zhi yuanliu ji yitong" (The origins and differences of C hinese and J apanese calligraphy) , Renmin Ribao ( overseas edition) ( June 2 3 , 1 989) . 1 4. Huang Fuqing, Jindai Riben ;;ai Elua Wenhuaji Shehui Shiye ::,hi Yanjiu 1898- 1945 ( J apanese social and cultural enterprise in C hina, 1 898- 1 945) ( Taibei: Zhongyang Yanjiuyuan Jindaishi Yanj iusuo, 1 982 ) , 5 . See also Mark Morris's review of David Pollack, The Fracture of Meaning: Japan 's Synthesis of China from the Eighth through the Eighteenth Century ( Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1 986) , in Journal ofJapanese Studies 1 5, no. 1 ( 1 989) : 2 7 5-84. 1 5 . Liu Yi, "Haixia liang'an shufa j iaoliu de haoshi" (A harbinger of calligraphy exchange on both sides of the Taiwan Strait) , Renmin Ribao (overseas edition) ( Octo­ ber 29, 1 988) . 16. Liu Yi, "Taiwan shufa chuyi" ( My opinion about calligraphy in Taiwan) , Renmin Ribao (overseas edition) (August I I , 1 988) . 1 7 . Wang Jianmin, Zhongguo Gongchandang Shigao (A draft history of the C hinese Communist Party) ( n . p . , n . d . ) . 1 8. Hai Qiu, "Guoxiao yuwen jiaoxue de j i antao" ( A critical discussion of lan­ guage arts in our grade schools) , originally in Guoyu Ribao (August 1 7 , 1 9 76) , in Guoli Jiaoyu C ailiaoguan, Guoyu Wen Gaijin Yijian Bian (A selection of opinions about writ­ ing reform for the national language) (Taibei: Guoli .Jiaoyu C ailiaoguan, 1 980) , 5 7 0 . 1 9 . W e n Qingming, "Shei meiyou j ianguo Ou Jietang de mobizi?" ( W h o h a s not seen the calligraphy of O u .Jietang? ) , Hong Kong Dagong Baa ( July 30, 1 989) . 20. Ge Ke, " Song Huizong si Mi Fu de yantai" (The inkstone that Song Huizong bestowed upon Mi Fu) , Remnin Ribao ( overseas edition) (August 3, 1 988) . 2 1 . Jin Zhenlong and Zhang Jianmin, "Shufamiao" (Temple of calligraphy) , Ren­ min Ribao ( overseas edition) ( December 25, 1 98 7 ) . 22. Zhu Baoquan, "Yi Yinmo ersanshi, " 35--36. 2 3 . Renmin Ribao ( March 7 , 1 982) , quoted in China News Anafysis, no. 1 236 ( J uly 2 , 1 982) : 8 24. "A New Magazine 'Calligraphy' Published in Shanghai , " Chinese Literature, no. 8 ( 1 9 78) : 1 22 . 2 5 . Some o f this calligraphy i s in "Tiananmen shici xuan" ( S election o f verses from Tiananmen) , Renmin Ribao ( N ovember 1 7, 1 9 78) . 26. Liu Gangj i , Shufa Meixue Jianlun (A brief discussion of the aesthetics of cal­ ligraphy) ( Wuhan: Hubei Renmin C hubanshe, 1 979) , 96 97 . -

NOTES TO PAGES 1 4 7- 1 52

1.94

2 7 . "Fanrong shufa yishu banhao Shufa zazhi," 22-23, 26. 28. Zhao Yixin and Hong Pimo, "Guanche shuangbai fangzhen, fanrong shuxue yanjiu" ( Implement the double hundreds policy, let research into calligraphy flour­ ish) , Shufa, no. I ( 1 982) , in 1.982 Zhongguo Yishu Nianjian ( 1 982 C hina arts yearbook) (Beijing: Wenhua Yishu Chubanshe, 1 982) , 637-38. 29. Zhou Yang, "Zai Zhongguo shufajia diyici daibiao dahui kaimushishang de j ianghua" ( Speech at the opening ceremony of the first representative congress of Chinese calligraphers ) , Shufa, no. I ( 1 982) , in 1982 Zhongguo Yishu Nianjian, 634- 3 5 . 30. Interviews with Z h u Visa ( J une 7 , 1 989) a n d with X i e Zhengguang, chair of the Xiamen Arts Association, in Xiamen (November 1 7 , 1 989) . 3 1 . See Tan Y ouming, " Shufa ruhe wei sihua fuwu de tansuo" (An exploration into how calligraphy can serve the four modernizations) , Shuja, no. 25 ( 1 982 ) , in 1.982 Zhongguo Yishu Nianjian, 635- 3 7 ; Sun Huaj un, "Ye tan shufa yishu zhi ] iej ixing' " ( Again discussing the art of calligraphy's " class nature" ) , Shufa, no. 2 7 (November 1 982 ) : 25-26; Li Huan, "Ye tan shufa yishu youwu jiej ixing" (Again discussing whether or not calligraphy has a class nature) , Shufa, no. 34 ( J anuary 1 984) : 28-30. 32. Zhang Xinzhi, " Shufa zuopin yao j inliang shiyong j ianhuazi" ( Works of cal­ ligraphy must utilize simplified characters as often as possible) , Shuja, no. 30 ( May 1 983) : 28. 3 3 . The young calligrapher Luo Yongsong graduated as a calligraphy maj or from Beij ing Teachers College in 1 98 7 . See He Yinghui, " Luo Yongsong shufa" (The cal­ ligraphy of Luo Yongsong) , Shufa, no. 61 ( July 1 988) : 1 9 . 3 4 . Lu Huaizhong, " Xiandai shufa chuyi" ( My views o n contemporary calligra­ phy ) , Zhongguo Wenhua Bao ( May 3 1 , 1 988) . 3 5 . For instance, Gao Zhanxiang, later vice-minister of culture, described his work with Youth League officials : "The Youth League Central C ommittee put on a calligraphy exhibition, or what we should really call an exhibition of written charac­ ters. Why did we do this? The cultural level of youth officials is certainly not low, but they write ugly characters . When we send out documents, some local comrades say that we must be so busy that we have students write the addresses on our envelopes . " Gao Zhanxiang, "Zai Zhongguo shufaj ia xiehui diwuci changwu lishi kuangda huiyi de j ianghua" ( Speech at the fifth enlarged conference of the standing committee of the C hinese Calligraphers' Association) , 1983 Zhongguo Werryi Nianjian ( 1 983 C hinese arts yearbook) (Beij ing: Wenhua Yishu C hubanshe, 1 985) , 654.

1 4.

A PERSONAL ART I N A C HANGING SOC I ETY

I . I nformation from Professor Byron Weng, C hinese University of Hong Kong ( January 1 980) . 2 . " Peasant Donates Rare Scrolls to State," Beijing Review 2 2 , no. 1 9 ( May I I , 1 979) : 2 7 . 3 . G u o Dong and Xin B i , "Zhan shanhe xiuse sheshenzhou fengzi" ( Load the brush with mountains and rivers of excellent ink, write of the sacred land' s charm) , Zhongguo Wenhua Bao ( March 8 , 1 988 ) . 4. Dong Zihua, "Qingnian shufaj ia Wang Mingyuan" (Young calligrapher Wang Mingyuan) , Renmin Ribao ( overseas edition) ( March 9, 1 988) .

NOTES TO PAGES 152- 155

1 95

5 . I nterviews with Xic Zhengguang ( :'-Jovember 1 7 , 1 989) and Sun Xiaofeng, manager of a private art gallery on Gul angyu island, Xiamen ( November 1 6, 1 989 ) . 6. Huang Yahe, " Lishi de chuanren" (Transmitters of history) , Renmin Ribao ( overseas edition) (April 30, 1 988) . 7 . I nterview, Xiamen University ( November 23, 1 989) . B. " Shufaj ia Chen Fenwu" (Calligrapher Chen Fenwu ) , Fu;:hou Wanbao (April 1 6, 1 989) . 9. Xiong Wen, "Shufa yishu yu huanj ing meihua" (The art of calligraphy and beautifying the environment) , Renmin Ribao ( overseas edition) ( May 9, 1 989) . 1 0 . Huang Wuqiu, "Tici shufa de yishuxing" (The artistic nature of calligraphic inscriptions) , Renmin Ribao (overseas edition) ( January 9, 1 989) . I I . " Decision on Use of SimpliJied C h inese Characters , " BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, no. 8376 ( September 29, 1 986) : i . 1 2 . Xiamen Ribao ( November I , 1 989) . 1 3 . Dong Yuguo, ' ' Standardizing C hinese Characters , " Beijing Review 30, no. 1 7 ( April 2 7 , 1 98 7 ) : 32-3 3 . 1 4. Zhao Puchu, " Hanmo yinyuan " ( For the sake of pen and ink ) , Renmin Ribao ( overseas edition) ( M arch 26, 1 988) . 1 5 . For example, Zhao Puchu wrotr� characters f()f the signs of dozens of temples, for Fuj ian Teachers University, for H angzhou's Dragon Hotel, and for the book Zhonghua Minzu Fengsu Cidian (Dictionary of customs of C hina's peoples) ( Nanchang: J iangxi Jiaoyu C hubanshe, 1 988) . 1 6 . Beverly Hooper, Youth in China ( Ridgewood, Victoria: Penguin Books, 1 985 ) , 99. 1 7 . Xiamenshi Shufaxiehui Huikan ( Journal of the Xiamcn C alligraphers' Associa­ tion ) , no. 2 ( October 1 988) : 99. 1 8 . Her " patron" remarked, " I 've never before seen this kind of woman; you can succeed . " Ai Li, " Qiaoxiang nushufajia C hen Xiuqing" ( Overseas C hinese district female calligrapher C hen Xiuqing) , Renmin Ribao (overseas edition) ( December 8, 1 988) . 1 9 . Xie Yong, " H unan Dianshitai , Zhongyi Dianbingxiangchang lianhe j uban longnian guoj i shusai huoj iang zuopin zhanlan kaimu" ( H unan Television Station, Zhongyi Electric Refrigerator Factory j ointly sponsor dragon year international cal­ ligraphy competition, exhibition of prizewinning works opens ) , Shuja, no. 6 1 ( J uly 1 988) : 6 3 . 20. ' j iangsu yeyu shufajia xiaokai chaoxie Hongloumeng " ( Jiangsu amateur callig­ rapher copies Dream of the Red Chamber in s mall regular characters ) , Hong Kong Dagong Bao ( July 1 6, 1 989) . 2 1 . Yu Shen, " Wang Xizhi zhonglao hcchu" ( Where did Wang Xizhi spend his old age?) , Renmin Ribao (overseas edition) (October 1 5, 1 988) . Two years after his " Orchid Pavilion Preface" in March 3:) 3 , traces of Wang fade. 2 2 . Ma Susu, ed . , Zhong}iao Xue Shu- Huaisu de Gushi (Growing bananas in order to s tudy calligraphy-The story of Huaisu) ( Beij ing: Zhongguo Heping Chubanshe, 1 988) . 2 3 . I nterview with Xie Zhengguang ( November 1 7, 1 989) . 24. I nterview with Yu Gang ( November 2 1 , 1 989) . 2 5 . I nterview with Cai Xiaozhang, deputy principal of Xiamen's Yanwu

196

NOTES TO PAGES 1 5 7- 1 65

Elementary School ( November 22, 1 989) . 26. Shu Yu and Feng Wen, " Hanmo wei daqun diaoshu quan youqing" ( Quill and ink for the masses, calligraphy hung for friendship ) , Renmin Ribao (overseas edi­ tion) (October 6 , 1 988) . 2 7 . Nongcun qingnian shouce ( H andbook for village youth) ( Beij ing: Zhongguo Qing­ nian Chubanshe, 1 984) , 426-28. 28. I nterview with Zhu Yisa ( ] une 7 , 1 989) . 29. " Lao Ganbu Shouce" Bianzu , ed . , Lao Ganbu Shouce ( Handbook for old of­ ficials) ( Shenyang: Liaoning Kexue Jishu C hubanshe, 1 98 7 ) , 303-4. 30. Gu Xiaoyan, Zhongguo de.Jianyu (China's prisons) (Changchun: Jilin Renmin C hubanshe, 1 988), 3 3 . 3 1 . Yan Zheng, ed . , Zhongguo Dangdai Shufa Daguan (A survey o f contemporary Chinese calligraphy) ( Beij ing: Wenhua Yishu Chubanshe, 1 988) , 1 2 1 . 3 2 . David E . Sanger, "Japan's Scratch-Pad Computers , " New York Times ( March 26, 1 990) . 3 3 . Ledderose, Mi Jrt, Yellow Earth, Green Jade. 1 2 . Wang Shao, " Zhuazhu Liu Xiaobo de heishou" ( Grab Liu Xiaobo ' s black hand) , Fujian Ribao ( J une 21, 1 989) . 1 3 . From a big-character poster of April 30, 1 989, in Cries for Democracy: Writin.�s and Speechs from the 1989 Chinese Democracy Movement, ed . Han Minzhu ( Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1 990 ) , 38 . 1 4. G u o Ping, "You shenme zige ma 1aozuzong?" (vVhat gives you t h e right to curse our ancestors ? ) , Zlwngguo Wenhua Bao (November 1 2 , 1 989) . 1 5 . See especially the writings of Harvard University professor Du Weiming, which are widely read in China: Du Weiming, "Ruxue disanqi fazhan de qianj ing wenti" (The prospects for C onfucianism in its third period of development) , in Wenhua: Zhongguo _yu Shijie ( Culture- : China and the world) , ed. Gan Yang, vol . 2 ( Beij ing: Sanlian Chubanshe, 1 98 7 ) , 1 00- 1 40; Du Weiming, "Rujia chuantong de xiandai zhuanhua" (The modern transformation of the Confucian tradition) , in Dangdai Xinrujia (Contemporary neo--Confucians) , ed . Feng Zusheng (Beij ing: San­ Han Chubanshe, 1 989) , 203- 2 3 . A recent overview of the revival of nco-Confucianism is Li Zonggui , " Fan ben kaixin : xiandai xinrujia de j iazhi quxiang he wenhuaguan" ( Return to the sources and begin again : the trends and cultural perspective of contemporary nco-Confucianism) , Zhongguo Wenhua Bao ( March I , 1 989) . 1 6. See Erie Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, eds . , The Invention of Tradition (Cam­ bridge: Cambridge University Press, l 9B3 ) . 1 7 . Andrew Walder, Communist Neo- Traditionalism ( Berkeley : University of C alifor­ nia Press, 1 98 7 ) , 9 -- 1 0. See the critique by Deborah Davis, " Patrons and Clients in Chinese I ndustry , " Modern China 1 4, no. 4 (October 1 988) , 487-- 9 7 . 1 8. Levenson, Confucian China, vol . 3 , I H . 1 9 . See Arno J . Mayer, The Persistence of the Old Regime: Europe to the Great War ( New York: Pantheon Books , 1 98 1 ) ; and Martin Wiener, English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit, 1850- 1980 (Cam bridge : Cambridge University Press, 1 98 1 ) . For an opposing view, see Simon Gunn, "The ' Failure' of the Victorian Middle C lass: A Critique, " in The Culture �[ Capital: A rt, Power and the Nineteenth- Century Middle Class, ed . Janet Wolff and John Seed ( Manchester: Manchester University Press , 1 988) , 1 8-43. 20. For example, see Mao's tolerant 1 95 7 stance toward ghost operas (which he reversed in the 1 960s) in MacFarquhar ct al . , Secret Speeches of Chairman Mao , 242-43, 339-40 . 2 1 . For instance, Zlwnghua Min::.u Fengsu Cidian, while including much material on Han Chinese, completely ignores calligraphy, the writing of ceremonial couplets, in­ scribing names for books, and other calligraphic rituals . 2 2 . Levenson, Confucian China, vol . 3, 1 1 3. 2 3 . Ledderose, Mi Fu, 3 3 . 2 4 . Charles Drage, Two- Gun Cohen ( 1 954) , quoted in Hugh Baker, " Memories o f a Great Revolu tionary , " South China Aforning Post ( February 9, 1 979) . 2 5 . I compare Communist officials to their mandarin precursors in "The Chinese State and I ts Bureaucrats, " in State and Society in Contemporary China, ed . Victor Nee and David Mozingo ( I thaca: Cornell University Press , 1 98 3 ) , 1 32-4 7 . 26. I have changed t h e name and city of L i u Maobi, who told me this s tory in 1 990.

C RED I TS F O R I L L U S TRAT I O N S

I . L i Linzhong and Liu Fan , eds . , Xiaoxuesheng Qianbi Shufa Rumen ( I n troduction to pencil calligraphy for elementary school students ) ( Shenyang: Liaoning Renmin Chubanshe, 1 988) . 2 . Poster: Xuexie ::::hengkai maobi;::: i dejibenfangfa (Basic method for studying regular characters with the writing brush) (Chengdu: Sichuan Meishu Chubanshe, 1 98 7 ) .

3 . Ding Gong Manhuaji ( Collection of cartoons by Ding C ong) (Chengd u : Sichuan Meishu Chubanshe, 1 98 7 ) . 4. China Pictorial ( April 1 9 79) . 5 . China Pictorial ( November 1 96 7 ) . 6. John DeFrancis, The Chinese Lan,2, uage: Fact and Fantasy ( Honolul u : University of Hawaii Press, 1 984) . © 1 984 by the University of Hawaii Press . 7 . The New Yorker ( October 1 7 , 1 988) . Drawing by Eric Teitelbaum. 8 . Renmin Ribao ( overseas edition ) ( December 5 , 1 988) . 9 . Wang C hang, eel . , Bati Zhongwen Zitie ( Model characters in eight styles ) ( Hong Kong: Wanli Shudian Youxian Gongsi, 1 989) . 1 0 . Wang Dongling, ed . , Shufa Yishu ( The art of calligraphy) ( H angzhou: Zhe­ j iang Meishu Xueyuan Chubanshe, 1 986) . I I . Shen Dingyan and Chen Qiutian, " I nscribing-the-Fan Bridge , " in C hen Wei­ j u n , Wang Xi::::h i Chuanshuo Gushi Xuan ( Selection of traditional stories about Wang Xizhi) (Shaoxing: Shaoxingshi Wenxue Yishu Gongzuozhe Liehenhui, 1 983) . 1 2 . Shen Dingyan and Chen Qiutian, "One Character is Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold, " in Chen Weij un, Wang Xi;:::h i Chuanshuo Gushi Xuan ( Selection of tradi­ tional stories about Wang Xizhi) ( Shaoxing: Shaoxingshi Wenxue Yishu Gongzuozhe Liehenhui, 1 983 ) . 1 3 . Wang .Jingfen and Shu Cai, eds . , Shufa }ichu Zhishi (The fundamen tals of cal­ ligraphy) ( Beij ing: Jiefangjun Chubanshe, 1 988) . 199

C RE D I TS FOR I LLU STRAT I O N S

200

1 4 . Wang Dangling, ed . , Shufa Yishu (The art of calligraphy) (Hangzhou: Zhe­ j iang Meishu Xueyuan Chubanshe, 1 986) . 1 5 . Poster: Xuexie zhengkai maobizi dejibenjangfa (Basic method for studying regular characters with the writing brush) ( Chengdu: Sichuan Meishu Chubanshe, 1 98 7 ) . 1 6 . Wang jingfen and Shu Cai, eds . , Shufa jichu Zhishi (The fundamentals of cal­ ligraphy) (Beij ing: Jiefangj un C hubanshe, 1 988) . 1 7 . China Pictorial (August 1 9 78) . 1 8 . Ou Yang and Yang Zhiguang, " Inspirational Writing," in Mao Zhuxi Yang­ JUan Huozai Renmin Xinzhong (Chairman Mao lives forever in the hearts of the people) (Tianjin: Renmin Yishu Chubanshe, 1 979) . 1 9 . Renmin Ribao ( December 3 1 , 1 97 7 ) . 20. China Pictorial ( November 1 976) . 2 1 . Richard Kraus, 1 989. 22. Mao Zhuxi Shici Shoushu (Shiwu Shou) (Chairman Mao' s poems in his own hand [fifteen poems] ) ( Beij ing: Wenwu Chubanshe, n.d. ) . 2 3 . Martin Krott, in Helmut Martin, Cult and Canon: The Origins and Development of State Maoism (Armonk, N . Y . : M . E . Sharpe, 1 982) , 74. Reproduced by permission of M. E. Sharpe, Inc. 24·. China Pictorial ( January 20, 1 959) . 2 5 . Zhongguo Funu, no. 6 ( 1 958) . 26. Li Shiping. 2 7 . Shanxi "Dazhai" Huace Bianjizu, ed . , Dazhai ( Shanxi Renmin Chubanshe, 1977). 2 8 . Beijing Ribao, reprinted i n Fuz;hou Wanbao ( February 2 , 1 989) . 29. New C hina News Agency. 30. Xiamen Daxue Tekan ( Xiamen University special edition) ( January 1 986) . 3 1 . China Pictorial (February 1 968) . 3 2 . China Pictorial (April 1 96 7 ) . 33. Lei l