Beautiful video by 國立故宮博物院 Republic of China's National Palace Museum, explaining what each kind of stroke, each kind of dot in Chinese calligraphy represents. Please enjoy. What does Chinese calligraphy have to do with guqin? Well, learning the wrist movements of doing Chinese calligraphy (XingBi 行笔) may also help in playing guqin. For example, learning how to 'toss' the brush effortlessly in a certain angle as the hand is still moving while holding the brush in the air (KongZhong PaoBi 空中抛笔) may possibly help the guqin player to effortlessly and powerfully 'land' one's left hand ring finger or the left thumb in a certain angle onto the fingerboard of the guqin. Yes, I am cognizant that most people use their right hand to write but playing guqin takes both hands. However, in my personal opinion, the spirit of calligraphy (ShuDao 书道) may also benefit guqin players tremendously.
In my humble opinion, people who can only spend time playing the guqin but do not practice Chinese calligraphy may have deprived themselves of the wonderful experiences of learning to execute bold beautiful dance strokes on paper, which they could otherwise also learn to execute on the fingerboard of the guqin. Effortlessly powerful wrist movements are very important, without which guqin playing may seem mechanical, dispirited or dull (like mine, I still have much to learn). *smile* Please enjoy the video!
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