A brush with history

The continuous reforms in execution by exponent figures like Zhao helped regenerate calligraphy throughout centuries, through their efforts to be a consummate artist.

Meanwhile, there have been personalities who articulate the importance of appreciating calligraphy in the course of public education. Perhaps outperforming them all is Liang Qichao, the foremost intellectual and educator of modern China, who considered the research and promotion of calligraphy an integral part of his life's work.

Liang's contribution to the calligraphy renaissance of his time is hailed at Old China's New Citizen, an ongoing exhibition to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth at the Tsinghua University Art Museum, which runs until Jan 14. His collection of calligraphy rubbings and his own written works are on show.

Du Pengfei, executive director of the museum, says Liang was a great man who "believed in the necessity of cultivating an interest in things of aesthetic value, such as calligraphy".

He says Liang was devoted to the study of calligraphy and to spreading its beauty, and the significance of carrying on Chinese cultural lineage, to the public.

In 1926, Liang gave a speech titled "A Guide to Calligraphy" at the Tsinghua campus, during which he said that "calligraphy is the most beautiful and convenient tool for entertaining … to sooth one's heart and mind". He went on to note that "calligraphy shows the beauty of lines, the reflective glare of ink, and the strength of handwriting".

He donated a large part of his collection of ancient tablet rubbings to the Beiping Library, now the National Library of China.