第22篇 漢語與書法

歡迎各位參加“漢語及其文字體系國際研討班”。能邀請這么多來自五湖四海的漢學家，我深感榮幸和愉快。我們將在今后的3周里進行緊張而有意義的學習和交流。

Welcome to the“International Seminar of Chinese and Its Character System”. It's my great pleasure and privilege to have invited so many Sinologists from all over the world. The next 3 weeks will see us engage in intensive and constructive studies and exchanges of opinions.

我們很高興地看到，近年來世界各地學漢語者與日俱增。對于這門擁有世界上使用人數最多、文學歷史最悠久的語言來說，這股學習熱潮早該出現了。

We are glad to see that a worldwide interest in Chinese is increasing at an accelerating tempo. Considering that Chinese has the largest number of speakers in the world and the greatest time depth in its literature, this interest is long overdue.

從某種意義上說，漢語是一種很古老的語言，其最早的漢字已有近四千年的歷史了。漢字在其漫長的發展史中演化成許多不同的書寫形式，例如篆書、隸書、楷書和行書。中國書法家筆中的漢字往往以字形的夸張取得藝術效果，例如旅游勝地的一些石刻碑文。中國書法是一門研究藝術，隨著各位學習興趣的提高，我將適時介紹中國書法的流派，以及如何欣賞中國書法的藝術性。

In a sense, Chinese is a very old language, and its earliest characters date back nearly four thousand years. During their long history of development, Chinese characters have evolved into many different script forms, such as the seal character, official script, regular script and running script. Chinese calligraphers usually render their Chinese characters in ways that exaggerate the form to yield artistic beauty, such as those in stone inscriptions seen in tourist resorts. Chinese calligraphy is a subject of artistic study. As your interest in Chinese character system increases in the days to come, I will discuss in due time the different schools of Chinese calligraphy, and how to appreciate the artistic beauty of Chinese calligraphy.