On Posting Tzu-ling to the Chinese Embassy in Berlin 送子琳隨使德意志

Calligraphy by Hu Xiaoshi. On Posting Tzu-sheng to the Chinese Embassy in Berlin

The miles are easy when riding the wind 摶風輕萬里
in a flying boat over flickering guns. 列燧照飛輈
Because you would stop barbarian arms 為斷匈奴臂
you follow our envoys toward foreign relief. 寧從若士遊
In China's heart, our foes are cruel; 中原寇忿惡
in the west too the mood is for killing. 西土殺機流
I will urge the moon over 0-mei peak 寄意峨眉月
to follow your quest to the heart of Europe. 隨君共渡歐

Inscribed: In the autumn of wu yin (1938), when we were both in Sze-chuan. Kuang-wui 戊寅秋同客渝洲光煒

The second leaf is a good example of Hu's running-cursive script. Its text is a comment on the philosopher Meng-tzu 孟子 (371-289?BCE):

Having recently reread the works of Meng-tzu, I have just now understood how unhappy this great man was with the world he lived in. 此日讀孟子方知此公是天下第一牢騷悲憤人

Calligraphy by Hu Xiaoshi. Having recently reread the works of Meng-tzu, I have just now understood how unhappy this great man was with the world he lived in.

The third leaf was brushed on a sheet of Central University 中央大學 (Nanjing 南京) letterhead lined in red. Its writing was brushed in a rough, hurried style that ignored the lines on the paper and whose style is closer to the individualism of much modem calligraphy than is most of Hu's work. Dark and fast, evincing great emotion, it reads:

Everything we see is but ugliness, low taste, and darkness. Just coldblooded rottenness. Altogether, there is nothing but evil. 此間所見惟有卑鄙闇短陋劣酸腐冷酷一言以蔽之醜惡而已

Calligraphy by Hu Xiaoshi. Everything we see is but ugliness, low taste, and darkness. Just coldblooded rottenness. Altogether, there is nothing but evil.

Matthew briefly discussed the streak of deep pessimism in the artist's personality as evident in the texts of the last two leaves and one of the artist's seals. Hu's comment on Meng-tzu, for example, seemed too pessimistic to accurately characterize this follower of Confucianism and the Middle Way. It seems more likely that this remark was more rooted in the artist's outlook on life than in the philosophy of Meng-tzu.

Willow, C.C., and Xing'er

Hu also had a seal that read " Alas, daily my homeland is further away. " The text of this seal is patterned after line 16b of the Ai Ying ( "Lament for Ying"), the third of the "Chiu Chang" ("Nine Declarations"), which is the fourth part of the Chu Tzu (Songs of Ch'u, a collection of poems traditionally attributed to Chu Yuan (fourth century BCE). The original line reads "And I grieved that the great City grew daily more far away" (Hawkes, translator, Songs of the South, page 66). This seal reflected Hu's belief that it would be best if China were to return to imperial rule and stability. His belief no doubt was strengthened by the disturbances experienced by China during the twentieth century. It was apparently in this context that he decided to remain in China after the Communists defeated the nationalists.

Members: Alan J. Berkowitz, Alex Chao, Peiyou Chang, Stephen Dydo, Matthew Flannery, Holly Grinnell, Willow Hai, Shida Kuo, Bo Lawergren, John Thompson, Marilyn Wong Gleysteen, Yuan Jung-Ping

to page 1. Playing fast like the stars .... Playing slow like a river ...
to page 2. Bo then showed a videotape he had made to augment a recent Paris lecture.