橫 Heng - Are they really horizontal in Kaishu Chinese calligraphy?

Basic Strokes of Chinese Calligraphy 楷書基本筆劃 Playlist
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=PLA1037A48E6964C46

Free download Chinese calligraphy models
http://www.9610.com/Index1.htm

By observing the differences in degrees or how much Heng strokes are slanted and other details from the model, we may have a better understanding of the posture, structure, and spirit of the calligraphy.

If we keep writing the Heng as purely horizontal strokes, we may miss the essence of posture, structure, and spirit of a Chinese calligraphy character. If we are copying the models of great ancient calligraphers such as Ouyang Xun, Yan Zhenqing, or Liu Gongquan and are writing the Heng as purely horizontal, we don't benefit from learning from their models at all.

Observe how Heng strokes are written in Wei Bei style
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6SCdJ8hSEg

The misconception of the Heng strokes as purely horizontal is only one of the many misconceptions and misnomers regarding Chinese calligraphy. However, this misconception is probably the most common one.

Filename: HengStrokesAreUsuallyNotHorizontal-ChineseCalligraphy-Kaishu.wmv

Category:

Howto & Style

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• horizontal stroke
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[DrRXJ]

Although not strictly related to this video, I have a question...What is the style called "高書" found in many copybooks? I can't find a calligrapher by this name... It seems to be a very regular script with not much variation in stroke width, stance of the characters, etc. Thank you for your videos and lessons!

[artvirtue]

@DrRXJ Welcome. I Googled 高書 and the third result shows a calligrapher 高建標（1872年－1941年），又名高雲塍，南陽鎮原倉前村­（現龍虎村）人。他是當時中華書局旗下三位著名書法家之一. He was one of the three famous calligraphers of that publisher. There were other calligraphers of his time, such as 陸潤痒 and 黃自元, who had similar styles.

[001Asoer]

In my experience, it's more common to write them all too slanted, or all slanted the same way. Getting the feel of the degrees of slant is one of the more difficult aspects of structure, in my opinion.

And I hear 王立平 again. You must be a fan!

[artvirtue]

@001Asoer Thank you. In my next video of 分筆 I refered in More Info to three of your videos by Prof. Tian. I must thank you for the sources and objectivity and proof.

[cristobelle56]

Thank you for another informative lesson. I may not understand chinese characters, but I can see the difference between slanted, very slanted and horizontal strokes. Best,

[artvirtue]

@cristobelle56 Good! I refused what I saw for many years until one day my other teacher told me what I had neglected for this stroke. This happened to many people as well, especially for this Heng stroke.

[artvirtue]

@CControl Thank you. Have a nice day.

[CControl]

Great Video!  Thanks!

[artvirtue]

@tutusgram Thank you. I will.

[tutusgram]

Very good information. I hope you will do some more videos like this.