An investigation of Cai Xiang's calligraphy thought from the perspective of Confucianism
Authors:   The Korean Society of Calligraphy, Wang Xiao-yu 
Published: September 2022

During the Song Dynasty in which Cai Xiang lived, Confucian ideology formed a powerful force in both public and private life. His calligraphy thought was also deeply influenced by this ancient philosophy, ethics and educational concept. Taking Confucianism as the starting point, this paper attempts to examine the influence of Confucianism on Cai Xiang's calligraphy thought and calligraphy creation. In the study of Cai Xiang's calligraphy thought, if it is only discussed from the simple aspect of calligraphy, it will inevitably be incomplete. Calligraphy is a unique art gradually conceived and developed in the soil of traditional culture. As a scholar-bureaucrat deeply influenced by Confucianism, Cai Xiang's calligraphy thought must have a profound and intricate relationship with Confucian cultural thought. From the perspective of Confucianism, to examine Cai Xiang's calligraphy thought and to seek the correlation among them can make Cai Xiang's image of a literati calligrapher more three-dimensional and comprehensive.In the thesis, relying on the evaluation of Cai Xiang's calligraphy by contemporaries and later generations, it illustrates Cai Xiang's position in the history of calligraphy and the rationality of his calligraphy thought from the side. Relying on Cai Xiang's own calligraphy theory, we then examine the meaning and value contained in his calligraphy thought. The paper mainly involves several parts: First of all, in the context of the sluggish calligraphy circle in the early Song Dynasty, Cai Xiang's advocacy of "methodology" and "ancient meaning". It makes the development of calligraphy in the early Song Dynasty to undertake the main line of Jin and Tang Dynasties again and return to Daotong. Secondly, while attaching importance to the value of "methods" in calligraphy, Cai Xiang also emphasized the pursuit of "charm" and "spirit" in calligraphy works. Personality spirit and artistic spirit are always complementary and unified in traditional aesthetics. The pursuit of "Charm" and "Spirit" is also a manifestation of the pursuit of the harmonious and unified realm of human and artistic environment. Thirdly, the inheritance and innovation of calligraphy under the thought of "Zhizhonghe". In his calligraphy theory, Cai Xiang showed his traditional Confucian mentality of "Zongyong" aesthetics, and at the same time, he highly praised the ideal realm of the beauty of neutrality in Wei and Jin calligraphy. Cai Xiang's grasp of the common laws of different calligraphic styles is also the embodiment of the Confucian "neutralization" thought in his creative practice. Cai Xiang completes his own personality cultivation in the seemingly contradictory but complete and unified calligraphy thought and creative practice. It is also the "unbiased" style of his calligraphy that established his key position in the calligraphy circle of the mid-Northern Song Dynasty.
蔡襄所生活的宋朝时期，儒家意识形态在公共和私人生活领域形成一股强大力量，其书学思想也深受这种古代哲学伦理和教化观念观的影响. 本文以儒家思想作为切入点，试图考察儒学对于蔡襄书学思想和书法创作的影响. 在对于蔡襄书学思想的研究中，若仅仅只是从单纯的书法方面去论述，难免会不够完善. 书法是在传统文化的土壤中逐渐孕育和发展出来的独特艺术，而蔡襄作为深受儒家思想影响的士大夫，其书学思想必然与儒家文化思想有着深刻而错综复杂的关系. 而从儒学的视角出发去考察蔡襄的书学思想，并寻求其中的相关性，则能使蔡襄的文人书家形象更加立体而全面的呈现出来. 论文中以时人和后人对蔡襄书法的品评为依托，说明了蔡襄在书法史的地位，以及从侧面佐证了其书学思想的合理性. 以蔡襄本人的书法理论为依托，进而考察其书学思想中所蕴含的意义和价值. 论文中主要涉及了几个部�