Hiding the Tip: Gateway to Chinese Calligraphy

Based on the author’s experiences and materials used in teaching Chinese calligraphy for over a decade at elite universities in the United States, this text features the basic brush techniques and selected masterpieces from the history of Chinese calligraphy and is useful for beginners to learn and practice with or without an instructor. The ten chapters cover the intellectual features of Chinese calligraphy, the basic techniques starting from how to hold a brush, the basic rules/methods of Chinese calligraphy, and a systematic survey of the major scripts from oracle bone inscription to the standard script, following a chronological order.

“Hiding the Tip” is the basic brush technique used by calligraphy beginners. As a gateway to Chinese calligraphy, this book introduces this basic technique in the context of traditional Chinese culture and, in particular, in the context of the argument that Chinese calligraphy is a cosmology. As an expert on ancient Chinese calligraphy and manuscripts, the author selectively includes recently discovered excavated manuscripts of Chinese calligraphy. Thus, instead of conventional rubbings, illustrated here are ancient examples of Chinese calligraphy—original ink masterpieces that have never been available in previous works on calligraphy.

• Wen Xing, Author