【Topic】Let the aesthetics of Chinese characters return to the correct orientation

Recently, the State Press and Publication Administration and the State Administration of Radio and Television jointly issued the "Circular on Carrying Out Special Rectification Work on the Irregular Use of Chinese Characters in the Press, Publication, Radio and Television Fields" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), requiring a comprehensive self-examination and clean-up of the use of Chinese characters in publications, television, and online audio-visual programs.

Let the Chinese character aesthetic return to the correct orientation

"Jianghu characters" are inexplicably prevalent

The carved symbols at the Baoji Beishouling site are the earliest physical records of the original form of Chinese calligraphy in China; the ancient oracle bones shine on the Baoji Zhouyuan site and are the magnificent buds of Chinese calligraphy; the Da Lu Ding, Sanshi Pan, Mao Gongding, and Yu Jizi White Disc unearthed in Baoji are known as the "Four Great Treasures" in the history of calligraphy... All these interpret Baoji worthy of being the source of Chinese calligraphy. Therefore, we respect Chinese characters even more!

Chinese characters are one of the oldest characters in the world, the crystallization of the culture and wisdom of the Chinese nation, and an important carrier for inheriting China's excellent culture.

However, in recent years, I don't know when there have been some "ugly books" and "strange books" in the field of Chinese character writing. In order to attract attention and be innovative, some individuals ignore the writing norms, writing techniques and cultural connotations and aesthetic characteristics of Chinese characters in public, and deliberately deform the strokes and structures of Chinese characters in vulgar and hasty exaggerations.

Tan Yongming, a calligraphy enthusiast in our city, said that when he brushed short videos before, he saw an old man, dressed in black and black pants, with a black top hat on his head, with a white beard, holding a syringe on the paper for a "mess", and a piece of calligraphy appeared. After inquiring on the Internet, I learned that this old man was actually a member of a book association, which made Tan Yongming, who had studied calligraphy for several years, confused, he did not know when such "calligraphy" could also prevail on the Internet, and even a large number of touters.

Coincidentally, some people take a mop and scribble on paper, and some put a brush in their nostrils to write. Humorous netizens also commented: "This is the most flavorful calligraphy I have ever seen." "It's not so much that they're writing, it's that they're putting on a show." It is these "ugly books" that cannot be called calligraphy that have gradually infiltrated the Zhongshu Association, and some members of the Zhongshu Association have also begun to create "ugly books" and "strange books".

At the same time, the wind of "ugly books" and "strange books" has also invaded the field of information font products. In order to seek novelty and curiosity, some developers of fonts in the font library have broken the original interstitial structure of Chinese characters, compressed or expanded a certain part of Chinese characters, and even increased or subtracted strokes, and various fonts known as "jianghu body" have appeared. These dazzling "ugly books" and "strange books" even appear on street billboards, product packaging, game pages, book covers, film and television titles...

Tong Kai, a designer who lives in Baoji High-tech Zone, said that in recent years, there have been many strange fonts in the font library, and some designers have added these elements to their works in order to meet the needs of the market. Although such works can attract people's attention for a while, the harm to teenagers cannot be underestimated.

The beauty of Chinese characters lies in their horizontal and vertical lines

In today's Internet age, cultural dissemination is like a river that breaks the embankment, and everyone can show their own way and content through the Internet. It is in this environment that "jianghu characters" enter the network and font library through self-media, short videos and other channels, and many audiences are influenced by some media, believing that such calligraphy fonts are formal or popular, so that the Internet, film and television, and advertising have no rules in the use of calligraphy works, and a large number of works that violate the aesthetic laws of calligraphy flood the network and screen, making people mistakenly think that those are standard calligraphy, that is, the standard Chinese character beauty.

Because the "jianghu characters" in these network font libraries do not cost and are easy to use, the advertising industry, film and television industry and various media use a lot, which in turn increases the dissemination of such "jianghu characters". Once these "jianghu style" calligraphy is labeled as "modern, fashionable, alternative, and eye-catching", its spread and influence have caused a strong visual impact on the general public, so that some students regard this kind of "jianghu character" as a learning model.

At the same time, we have also seen that in recent years, traditional culture has also returned to the public vision through the short video boom, as a classic existence in the "national style" trend, Chinese characters, lyrical in text, and meaning in characters, are also constantly being paid attention to.

The design of the Emblem of the Winter Olympic Games is based on the cursive Chinese character "Winter", the upper part of the emblem shows the shape of the skater, the lower part symbolizes the heroic posture of the skier, and the curve in the middle represents the undulating Great Wall.

Professor Chen Nan of the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University, under the guidance of the principles of paleography and oracle bone calligraphy, designed a set of oracle bone scripts, which avoided the obscure communication limitations of oracle bones, and made this ancient text jump on the paper again through vivid creation. After being new to the font library, it has been well received by many people.

There is also the two-year variety show "Magical Chinese Characters", through relaxed Chinese character games and detailed and vivid Chinese character explanations, so that many young people can better understand the stroke and painting that condenses the essence of Chinese culture.

In the long history of thousands of years, Chinese characters have been constantly evolving, and the jiajin seal is in the grass line, and different fonts have different charms. Each Chinese character has its own unique taste and meaning, and behind the evolution of a Chinese character, it reflects the traditional way of thinking and visual aesthetics of the Chinese. However, no matter how it changes, Chinese characters are always a combination of horizontal and vertical, one skim and one stroke.

Chinese characters are an important carrier of cultural soft power

Yang Zesheng, professor and doctoral supervisor of the Department of Chinese of Sun Yat-sen University, once expressed his opinion: "Chinese character confidence is actually Chinese character confidence. Chinese characters have many qualities that are confident enough, including Chinese characters that are words that keep pace with the times, are inclusive and open characters, are high-value characters, and are highly standardized characters. Chinese characters are the most important carrier of China's cultural soft power, cherishing and inheriting this precious wealth, improving the cultivation of Chinese characters, and enhancing the self-confidence of Chinese characters are the responsibilities and obligations of every Chinese. ”

In recent years, while everyone has continued to criticize the chaos such as "ugly books" and "jianghu characters", relevant units are also clearing the source of calligraphy art and continuously exerting efforts to improve the level of calligraphy aesthetic education. In recent years, with the goal of building a famous historical and cultural city that highlights Chinese civilization, the Baoji Municipal Party Committee and the Baoji Municipal Government have successively held national calligraphy exhibitions such as the "Linyou JiuchengGong Cup" National Calligraphy Competition and the 12th National Calligraphy and Seal Engraving Exhibition, held more than 100 solo exhibitions and seminars and exchange activities, and was named one of the first batch of calligraphy cities in Shaanxi Province.

Nationwide, there are also many youth calligraphy competitions, advocating "inheriting calligraphy classics, rejecting ugly books and strange books", starting from dolls, guiding young people to correctly understand the cultural value of calligraphy and understand the accumulation of Chinese civilization behind calligraphy.

Liang Zhengqi, a member of the Baoji Chinese Calligraphers Association, said: "Chinese calligraphy is an elegant art, which is constrained by the norms of Chinese character writing, mainly inheriting traditions and then innovating. Many calligraphers and calligraphy enthusiasts are striving for this. ”

Press, publication, radio and television are the main fronts for propaganda and standardizing the use of Chinese characters. What you see and see in your work life subtly affect people's cognition and aesthetics of Chinese characters. The "Circular" clearly checks all kinds of text carriers, such as books, newspapers, audio-visual products, online publications, radio and television, and online audio-visual programs, and requires the administrative departments to guide relevant units to promptly clean up and replace shoddy, clumsy, exaggerated, and poorly perceived fonts.

Standardizing the use of Chinese characters does not mean rejecting personalized Chinese character writing. The "Notice" also wrote that it is required to guide font library production enterprises to create more font products that not only meet market demand, but also standardize beautiful font products, so as to create space for expanding the boundaries of Chinese character fonts at present. In the context of the increasingly mature development of written calligraphy and the combination of famous artists in the past, some people strive to break through and make new achievements. But innovation is not equal to spoof, breakthrough is not equal to separation, keep the right side can innovate!

Baoji Daily all-media reporter Yu Hong

Editor: Wang Xiufang

Final Judge: Han Zhengqiang