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

Chinese calligraphy has traditionally been an emblem of the ruling class and its authority. After a century of mass revolution, what is the fate of this elite art? Richard Kraus explores the relationship beween politics and the art of writing in China today to explicate the complex relationship between tradition and modernity in Chinese culture. His study draws upon a wide range of sources, from political documents, memoirs, and interviews with Chinese intellectuals to art exhibitions and television melodramas. Mao Zedong and other Communist leaders gave calligraphy a revolutionary role, believing that their beloved art reflected the luster of authoritative words and deeds. Calligraphy was joined with new propagandistic mass media to become less a private art and more a public performance. It provided politically engaged citizens with subtle cues to changing power relationships in the People's Republic. Claiming neither that the Communists obliterated traditional culture nor that revolution failed to relieve the burden of China's past, this study subtly examines the changing uses of tradition in a modernizing society. Frontmatter PREFACE (page ix) PART I - THE INSTITUTION OF CALLIGRAPHY IN IMPERIAL CHINA (page 1) 1. Chinese Calligraphy as a System of Power (page 3) 2. Demystifying Chinese Characters (page 15) 3. The Legend of the Calligraphy Sage, Wang Xizhi (page 26) 4. The Brush as an Instrument of Rule (page 36) 5. Art Criticism as Political Commentary (page 45) PART II - CALLIGRAPHY AND REVOLUTION (page 53) 6. The Cultural Dilemma of the Revolutionary Elite (page 55) 7. The Gentlemen Scholars of the Central and South Lakes (page 65) 8. The Failed Assault on Chinese Characters (page 75) 9. Leninist Calligraphy for Mass Politics (page 83) 10. Cultural Revolution Calligraphy: Big Characters and Leftist Lines (page 96) ll. Evil Characters, Poison Pens (page 109) 12. The Unsuccessful Penmanship of Chairman Hua Guofeng (page 123) PART III - POSTREVOLUTIONARY CALLIGRAPHY (page 139) 13. Calligraphy's New Conventions (page 141) 14. A Personal Art in a Changing Society (page 151) 15. The Orchid Pavilion's Modern Legacy (page 159) NOTES (page 173) CREDITS FOR ILLUSTRATIONS (page 199) INDEX (page 203) Explores the interplay of politics and the art of writing in China today to explain the complex relationship between tradition and modernity in Chinese culture.