The Formation of Fenggu: From Brush and Ink to Character

To further deepen our understanding of the connotations of fenggu genre, it is necessary, following an examination of the historical development and logical progression of discussions on fenggu in calligraphy, painting, and poetry, to intricately analyze the mechanisms underlying their creation by integrating the internal principles of these various art forms. Let’s begin by discussing fenggu in calligraphy. Looking at the various discussions on fenggu by calligraphers throughout the ages since the Wei-Jin period, we find that they had consistently incorporated the appropriate use of strokes and brushwork techniques, as well as the size and proportion of dot formation and its density or sparsity, in their analysis.