Calligraphy is the quintessence of Chinese culture.When the ancient Orientals carved the earliest abstract symbols on the walls of their cave housese,and on animal bones and tortoise shells,their symbolic action marked the beginning of the Chinese wirtten language and civilization.At the same time,it indiccated the beginning of the splendor of Chinese calligraphy.Why has Chinese calligraphy been able to survive several thousand years?How could it become a rare art independent of its functions for writing and record-ing events?what kind of close relations has it developed with the aesthetic standards,value concepts and cultural spirit of the chinese people?How can we enter into this mysterious black-and-white art world?

Chinese Calligraphy introduces the origin,forms and de-velopment of Chinese calligraphy,and the various kinds of calligraphic styles and principles in a straightforward way,the author,Mr.Chen Tingyou,has devoted himself to research into the esthetics of Chinese calligraphy.In this book,he fo-cuses onintroducing representative calligraphers from the four important historical periods of the Jin,Tang,Song and Qing Dynaties-Wang Xizhi,Wang Xianzhi,Chu Suiliang,Yan Zhenqing,Su Shi,Huang Tingjian,Mi Fu and Kang Youwei.He maintains that the reforms these famous cal-ligraphers proposed and carried out contributed greatly to the continuous development of Chinese calligraphy.

The book is published in Chinese,English,Japanese,Rus-sian,French,German and Spanish versions. 作者簡介：

CHEN TINGYOU was born in 1926,and graduated in 1948 from Shanghai Jinan Uni-versity,having majored in foreign literature.From 1952 to 1974,he worked as an editor and reporter of People's China and Beijing Review.Later,he worked as an executive editor at the Commercial Press.Chen is a member of the Chinese Calligraphers' Asso-ciation and a member of the All-China Asso-ciation of Esthetics.

His works include The Beauty of Calligra-phy,The Esthetics of Chinese Calligraphy,The Esthetics of Calligraphy(published in Japanese by the Tokyo Book Co.),A New Study of the Esthetics of Calligraphy,and The Origin and Creation of the Esthetics of Calligraphy.