November 22th, 2017
Art is used as a medium for expression of ideas, sometimes used to make a point and sometimes used to criticize. It can also be used to spread information and sometimes used as a symbol. I will be focusing on one subset of art, which is calligraphy and how it was used in Modern Chinese history. In this paper, I will explore calligraphy from different mediums and artists and how it was utilized. I will be mainly focusing on how calligraphy evolved during the Cultural Revolution. My argument for this writing is, “China’s changing political landscape plays an integral role, and is sometimes the cause of the evolution of Calligraphy. Calligraphy, a popular cultural form with rich intellectual history, was used as the tool for it’s own destruction. ”
To look at how calligraphy was used to destroy itself, one must define calligraphy. Chinese calligraphy is a form of visual art that consists of intricate movements with a writing brush to write the characters from the Chinese writing system. Calligraphic artwork can commonly be found in a variety of location such as parks and offices and many public places. In ancient times, calligraphy became a domain monopolized by the intellectual and social elite who had the leisure to practice it while the rest of the peasant society could only admire it. Gradually, due to the unique aesthetic features of the Chinese writing system, an artistic function developed that would eventually become the dominant function of brush writing. The scholar class, which was the product of the imperial civil examination system, had dominated the society and culture of ancient China and elevated written language to a status of the highest human achievement. The calligraphy is often itself a metaphor, symbolizing both beauty and vitality of nature. According to Yen Yuehping, when a brush sweeps over paper, “each brushstroke”is to be instilled with a “sense of life”(Pg84). In his work written in the seventh century, Sun Guoting stated that a stroke using the brush can be compared to “the marvels of rolling thunder and toppling rocks, the postures of wild geese in flight and beasts in fright,.. These are the same as the subtle mysteries of nature; they can not be forced”. (Pg.84) That quote explains the view the Chinese people held on calligraphy. Calligraphy was seen as more than just art and was seen as somebody’s skill and character. A good calligrapher was seen as someone of great virtue and character, and because of this, calligraphy was used through China’s modern history by leaders to convey a positive image of themselves.
Calligraphy was also used to spread information. In the ancient times, emperors and officials did not speak in public in order to persuade or inform their subjects. They instead issued orders and commands through written words. The political speeches made by national leaders were “made to be read, rather than spoken in public”. (Dance with Power, Yen Yuehping) Chairman Mao took full advantage of this fact. During the Cultural Revolution, the big character posters provided a medium in which communication between the Maoist authorities and the public masses. Pictures of Chairman Mao practicing calligraphy and writings of his speeches were the main tools used by the government to communicate and inform the public.
The Cultural Revolution, from 1966 to 1976, was considered to be a political movement that destroyed most of China’s cultural heritage and almost led the country to “cultural bankruptcy”. (Da Zhang Pg 185) However, one fact that has not be emphasized was the fact that calligraphy, a popular cultural form with rich intellectual history, was used as the tool for it’s own destruction. The traditional calligraphic works were torn to pieces and burnt and well-known calligraphers of that time were criticized. According to Da Zhang, there were almost no publications of classical calligraphy allowed during the first few years of the revolution. Between June of 1966 and 1969, there were only 9 publications of classical calligraphy publications nationwide, all of which were either Mao’s own work or “Lei Feng’s diaries”.
With the destruction of classical calligraphy, big character posters or 大字报 rose in popularity, which were just writing with a brush. The big character posters were posters what were placed in public spaces and were used to spread information. They were posters with big characters for ease of reading. The tradition of posting big character posters were an integral part of China’s political history, with some posters originating from the imperial era and were used by the central powers to communicate announcements and warnings to their subjects. In addition to that, scholars also used this form of communication to bring “their grievances to the attention of central authorities.” (CUJAH) However, during the Cultural Revolution, two specific events were credited with the popularization of the big character posters. On the 25th of May 1965, a poster, led by student Nie Yuanzi, was erected at Beijing University criticizing the university president Lu Ping for suppressing revolutionary student activities. The slogan ended with calling “all revolutionary intellectuals” to “unite under the leadership of Central Party Committee and Chairman Mao”. Mao publicly favored the poster, and responding with his own poster. August 5th of 1965, Mao Zedong published “Bombard the Headquarters: My first big character poster” (炮打司令部——我的一张大字报) The poster served multiple purposes. It is commonly believed that the poster was targeting Chinese President Liu Shaoqi and Senior Leader Deng Xiaoping, who both wanted to suppress the student fervor of the Cultural Revolution. Mao wished to attack on Liu and Deng to regain his power in the Communist Party, as his fame had fallen due to the mistakes he made during the Great Leap Forward. The poster invited people, from the highest ranking communist government officials to the lowest working peasants, to criticize the opposing faction. Most importantly, in the beginning of his poster, he praised the poster erected in Beijing University, saying “how well written was the nation’s first Marxist-Leninist wall poster and the commentary form People’s Daily newspaper”. After this, the university president was impeached and a nationwide movement of using big character posters with writing brushes started.
The other publications of classical calligraphy that weren’t Chairman Mao’s work were publications from Lei Feng’s diaries. Lei Feng was a soldier in the People’s Liberation Army and was an propaganda icon. After his death, his supposed diaries were published and his image was immortalized as someone who is a devout follower to the party. The diaries contained words describing selfless thoughts with enthusiastic comments on Mao and the party.(CUJAH) During 1964, the Lei Feng campaigns transformed from inspiring comments about the party to preaching absolute dedications to Mao. In this poster, Lei Feng is immortalized by the words written below. It states that people should study Lei Feng, and with complete dedication and full heartedly serve the people. On the top right, there is written in a running style of calligraphy, saying to be like Lei Feng is to help the party. Other than Lei Feng’s calligraphy, almost all other 大字报 were written in a style historians would call as the Neo-Wei style.
The widespread usage of big character posters of slogans and quotations from Mao pushed out the traditional calligraphers and classical calligraphy. Chiang Yee explains that in chinese calligraphy “not only serve the purpose of conveying thought but also express in a peculiar visual way the beauty of the thought.” (CUJAH) As a form of art, calligraphy
was considered as something that could reveal the personality of the artist and create a presence in the art with his/her own signature writing style. The calligraphy style that was mostly employed during the Cultural Revolution exemplifies the nature of the big-character poster. In the eyes of the Communist party, calligraphy was “regarded as a tool for the Movement of Abolishing Illiteracy and rarely promoted as art training [since] as an independent form of art, calligraphy was probably too cozy with the traditional literati for the taste of the Communist reformers.”(CUJAH) Because of this, the Regular Script and Neo-Wei style became the most commonly used during the Cultural Revolution.(Da Zhang) Da Zheng stated in his paper that these two styles consisted of “standardized strokes and rigid composition,” forming simplistic and legible characters that would be accessible to all who wanted to write and read. In addition, the characters would have to be easily replicable, as the ones writing the posters were not always fully trained in the art of calligraphy. These simplified forms of calligraphy “demystified” and made calligraphy, once the art of the elite, less exclusive.
The Neo-Wei script was the epitome of the situation in China during the Cultural Revolution. As opposed to the curved, multi-toned letters of the Running style, Neo-Wei style calligraphy disregarded any of the techniques that were used in the older script styles. In addition, it is bold, easy to read, and standardized, removing any trace of the calligrapher who wrote it. This standardization is an important aspect of Neo-Wei style: the creation of big-character posters was not meant to be an act of individuality or creativity, but a collective labour of revolution and mass production. (CUJAH) Xu Bing, a contemporary Chinese artist created many big-character posters during his tenere with the local propaganda department during the Cultural Revolution.When asked to describe the situation, “Xu compares himself to a cog in the machine of the revolution, contributing blindly to the spread of ideology.” (CUJAH) As a rule, the big-character posters were limited to very few indexical indicators of individual writers.
Mao’s “Bombard the Headquarters: My first big character poster” (炮打司令部——我的一张大字报) was hugely influential in changing the politics during the Cultural Revolution. Mao basically strongly encouraged and motivated the Red Guards to be more reckless and destructive in the process of destroying the “Four Olds”, since the god like figure Chairman Mao personally acknowledge their detrimental behaviors. One of the stated goals of the Cultural Revolution was to bring an end to the Four Olds; Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits and Old Ideas. The Red Guards movement was a student mas paramilitary movement mobilized by Mao to help achieve his goals for the revolution. By the end of the cultural revolution, some 11 million students (Da Zhang) took arms and went across the country spreading the merits of Mao. In addition, Nie Yuanzi became one of the student leaders that led the Red Guards. Because Mao had supported their cause, whatever action they took was justified to be in the name of Mao. Instead of words and phrase, many popular slogans were also used in the 大字报 that served as tenets and creeds for the Red Guards, and was sometimes a justification for violence and destruction. “Never forget the class struggle” was used with the aim of dividing the Chinese people and to polarize and discriminate the proletariat and bourgeois classes. “To rebel is justified” made rebellion against authorities symbolize an ultimate revolutionary act. “Destroy the four olds and establish the four news” was aimed to destroy the old ideologies, cultures, customs and habits. The big character posters served as an effective way to disseminate information and rouse revolutionary fervor. They polarized reality into good and evil, radicalized one’s understanding of the new and the old. Millions of Red Guards followed the lead of Mao and used this rhetorical style in the big character posters they created .
Although was designed to be a space for freedom of speech, the big character posters soon became a weapon to aid the promotion of Mao’s cult of personality. Mao used the official big character posters to criticize political opponents like Liu Shaoqi and Lin Biao. In this poster we can see a mix of writing style when used to criticize Lin Biao. The text says criticise Lin Biao for trying to revive Confucianism. The chinese characters written by the brush states ““克己复礼”就是复辟”。 By looking at this piece by piece, 克己复礼 is an Confucian teaching of having constraint. It is a belief of order and harmony. 复辟 means to restore. This sentence means that believing in the confucian teaching means reviving it and supporting it. The literal meaning of this poster is that Lin Biao is being criticized because he believes in the Confucian belief and by believing in that, he is anti revolutionary and therefore an enemy of the people. To analyze the picture, the person holding the brush and paper represents the common Chinese people and the way he his holding the brush and paper suggests that the writing is done by him that calligraphy is the tool of the people and for the people.
Although the Red Guards embarked on a campaign to destroy all traditional works of calligraphy, one cursive script remained, and it was that of Mao. A poet and calligrapher, Mao had developed a style of calligraphy distinctly his own which he used to bolster his cult of personality throughout the Cultural Revolution. Mao’s highly recognisable script came from his yearly practice and “imitation of ancient calligraphers”. (Da Zhang. Pg 188) His writing became almost as iconic as his portrait. Mao made full use of his image as a traditional literati scholar, emphasizing his poetry and calligraphy and lending authority and historical legitimacy to his role as a sagacious ruler. Mao’s calligraphy became so identifiable and symbolic in the eyes of the people that it was chosen to adorn the Red Guard armband and was frequently featured in magazines and newspapers where Mao desired a presence.(CUJAH) In the end the rest of the population was starved from accessing and practicing classical calligraphy and those who practiced it were always under in fear of the Red Guards finally coming to them. Mao Zedong fueled the popularity of the big character posters and essentially the writing style that came with it. During the 10 years of the cultural revolution, calligraphy transformed from an elite art form representing individualism to a standardized and simplified form of art used for political gain. Without the big character posters, Mao could not have initiated the cultural revolution and maintaining it for 10 years would have been nigh impossible. In the end, the big character posters represented the era it was used for; a form of calligraphy that disregarded the old traditions and destroyed the individualism of each character to create an uniform mass blindly following a cause without questioning. This was destruction of what ancient calligraphy represented and the tool used to execute such tragedy was non other than the calligraphy used in the big character posters.
Works Cited
“Relentlessly criticize China's Confucius of today and Lin Biao.” Henpi xiandai Zhongguode Kongzi-Lin Biao (狠批现代中国的孔子-林彪), Feb. 1974, chineseposters.net/posters/e13-799.php.
Churchill, Pamala. “Mao Zedong, the masses, and the art of calligraphy: Big-Character posters during the cultural revolution.” CUJAH, CUJAH, 23 July 2013, cujah.org/past-volumes/volume-ix/essay-3-volume-9/.
Da Zheng: "Chinese calligraphy and the Cultural Revolution" Journal of Popular Culture (Popular
Culture Center, Bowling Green State Univ., OH) (28:2) Fall 1994, 185. (1994)
Yen, Yuehping. “Dances with Power.” Calligraphy and Power in Contemporary Chinese Society, reserves.library.emory.edu/shib//ares.dll?Action=10&Type=10&Value=422551.
Yen, Yuehping. “Chinese Calligraphy” Calligraphy and Power in Contemporary Chinese Society, reserves.library.emory.edu/shib//ares.dll?Action=10&Type=10&Value=422551.