Elegant Life of the Noble Chinese Scholar: The Four Arts of Ancient China

While commoners and peasants were the backbone of Chinese empires, the nobles and scholars were the face. They spent their whole lives devoted to various disciplines, some with origins that can be traced back to the beginning of Chinese history. The first official recognition of these disciplines was the six arts of the Zhou dynasty. According to the Book of Rites, all rulers must learn rites, music, archery, charitering, literacy, and mathematics. These six arts became the original foundation of noble education, with an interesting combination between martial and scholarly skills. Education in the Zhou dynasty taught that the stability of the empire depended on morally cultivated rulers. Education creates order, and order creates legitimacy. Over time, the ruling class of ancient China shifted away from martial noble families and towards scholar-officials. These scholar-officials valued introspection and personal refinement over military or administrative skill, which transformed the focus of education with an emphasis on scholarly pursuits. In the Tang dynasty, we started to see a cultural evolution of the noble arts, which became more officially recognized in the Song dynasty. All scholars value music, qi, calligraphy, and painting. These four arts are what we most commonly see in many Xi dramas today. Music was meant to harmonize the heart, qi was for the development of strategic thought, calligraphy was for moral expression, and painting was philosophy made visible. While the six arts of the Zhou dynasty trained rulers, the later four arts cultivated scholars. Hey everyone, I'm Amy. Today, we'll be exploring the four arts of ancient China. What are they? And what do they mean? The master of music attains openness and composure. The music of Chinese history is filled with many instruments. But the ancient zither, qin, was elevated above them all, eventually becoming the very symbol of the art of music itself. It was believed that the qin was the most effective tool for self-cultivation, and to master the qin was to master the very essence of music. In ancient China, music was far more than just entertainment. It was a tool for shaping the heart and harmonizing the world. According to a legend from Master Liu's Spring and Autumn Annals, Ling Lun discovered music for the ancient Yellow Emperor. Ling Lun was sent to the Western mountains to find a way to bring order to the sound of the world. He took bamboo pipes and tuned them to the call of the phoenix. He cut 12 pipes, six to match the song of the male phoenix, and six for the female. These became the 12 pitches. It was believed that music was not invented by men, but was instead discovered from nature itself. Then, through a process of math and philosophical selection, the 12 pitches became the five notes. These five notes were more than sounds. They were also the five elements that formed the entire foundation of the world and the structure of society. Gong represented earth and the emperor. Shang represented metal and the ministers. Jue represented wood and the people. Zhi represented fire and state affairs. Yu represented water and nature. In the earliest dynasties, music was used for massive state rituals and sacrifices. If a piece of music was out of tune, it wasn't just a bad performance. It was an omen that the government was failing or the world was in chaos. However, music was also used as medicine. In traditional characters, the character for medicine actually uses the character for music as its fanatic component. According to the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon and traditional Chinese medicine, the human body is like a musical instrument. Each of the five major internal organs resonates with one of the five notes. Gong resonates with the spleen, aiding digestion and calming a scattered mind. Shang resonates with the lungs, treating grief and respiratory conditions. Jue resonates with the liver, treating anger and depression, and promoting the smooth flow of energy. Zhi resonates with the heart, helping blood circulation and treating coldness of the spirit. And Yu resonates with the kidneys, treating fear and strengthens the body's core essence. In the Zhou Dynasty, with music primarily for large events, the signature instruments were heavy bronze bells and stone chimes, meant to harmonize the empire with the heavens. However, many other instruments already existed during this time, such as the iconic qing. Records from the Han Dynasty claim that the qing was originally a five-stringed instrument, perfectly aligning with the five elements and the five human organs. According to the records of the grand historian, the ancient emperor Shun brought music to the people as a tool for peace. He standardized musical pitch and created the first five-string qing. However, while the five-string were complete for nature, it was not enough to capture the full range of human emotions. Legend says that King Wen, the founder of the Zhou Dynasty, was mourning the death of his eldest son, Bo Yikao. To express a grief so profound, it couldn't be captured by the five existing notes. He added a sixth string, known as Wen Xian. This string created the sixth note, the Bian Gong, which was the note of sorrow. Later, his son, King Wu, was preparing his troops for the great battle to overthrow the Shang Dynasty. He needed to inspire his soldiers with courage and strength, so he added a seventh string, known as Wu Xian. This string created the seventh note, the Bian Zhi, which was the note of martial spirit. With the seven-string qing, later scholars matched its seven notes to the seven emotions of traditional Chinese medicine. Gong represented pentedness, Shang represented grief, Jue represented anger, Zhi represented joy, Yu represented fear, Bian Gong represented worry, and Bian Zhi represented shock. As the martial culture of the Zhou Dynasty gave way to the philosophical culture of the later dynasties, the focus of music shifted from the harmony of the empire to the internal harmony of the individual. It became a form of personal contemplation or for close friends. Interestingly, a true friend in Chinese is known as a Zhi Ying, which literally means one who knows the tone. Music was the bridge between two kindred spirits. It was a way to communicate when the words were not enough. By the Han Dynasty, the qing had emerged as the representative instrument of the art of music. The qing was a quiet, intimate instrument with a hollow wooden body and silk strings. The physical body of the qing was designed to be a map of the universe. The top is curved, representing the round sky, and the bottom is flat, representing the square earth. The musician, as the human, was the bridge between heaven and earth. The historic standard length of a qing, using ancient Chinese measurements, was three shi, six cun, and five fen, symbolically representing the 365 days of a year. And last, the qing has 13 studs, known as hui, inlaid along the side, which represents the 12 months and leap month of a year. In the Tang Dynasty, the technique of playing qing was codified into the Ba Fa, or the Eight Fundamental Finger Techniques. The right hand plucked the strings and was the voice. The left hand manipulated the vibrating strings, creating the spirit. Mastery of the Ba Fa was required for reading the music notation known as jian zi pu. This notation was created by Cao Rou during the Tang Dynasty and was evolved from the even more ancient music notation known as wen zi pu. Unlike modern sheet music, which tells you when note to play, the jian zi pu tells you how to move. A single symbol might tell you how to move your fingers and where to put your hand. By the Song Dynasty, the jian zi pu had become the standardized music notation for the qing, and it is still the standardized notation used today. It was believed that the qing was a lie detector for a person's soul. By mastering the qing, you would master yourself. Only once a person obtained that inner state of openness and composure was he truly ready to engage with the world. The master of qi gains strategic foresight and wisdom. The art of qi or wei qi literally means the game of surrounding. Unlike chess, where the goal is to take the opponent's king, wei qi is about the efficient control of space. The art of qi was valued as a game that trained a person's patience and focus and is sometimes translated as the art of strategy. However, unlike the more common concept of strategy, the game of wei qi is less about objectives and conflict and more about shaping outcomes through position, timing, and influence. Legend credits the game's invention to the ancient emperor Yao, who created a game to teach discipline and concentration to his son, Dan Zhu. The original wei qi board size is unknown, but the modern 19x19 board size that we see today was standardized around the Tang dynasty. This 19x19 board contains 361 intersections, which was seen as representing the 360 days of the lunar year, with the central point of Tianyuan representing the cosmic center. It uses black and white stones, which represented yin and yang, locked in an eternal struggle to surround and define territory. The first recorded wei qi player was Yi Qiu from the Warring States period, around 350 BCE. The ancient text Mengzi uses Yi Qiu as a teaching example in a famous story about two students. One student focused entirely on Yi Qiu's instructions, while the other sat dreaming of shooting a swan with a bow and arrow. Even though they had the same master, their skills were world apart, with the student that focused becoming the better player. The story established the art of qi as the ultimate training for concentration and focus, which was required for the learning of all things. Early wei qi in China began to flourish during the chaotic Warring States period, possibly used by military strategists as a military tool. Historical records describe strategists and generals using wei qi as a model for territorial control and political maneuvering. In the Song dynasty, the scholar Liu Zhongfu wrote the wei qi shi jue, or the ten maxims of wei qi. These were the legendary ten rules of strategy that was passed down from the famous wei qi player Wang Jixing of the Tang dynasty. These ten rules were Do not be greedy for victory. Enter the opponent's territory slowly. Watch your back when attacking. Sacrifice is used to gain advantage. Abandon the small to gain the large. Face danger with sacrifice. Be cautious and do not rush. Your moves must work together. Protect yourself first when facing strong attacks. Make peaceful moves with isolated pieces. Based on other historical texts, some historians believe that these ten rules were actually originally created for Chinese chess, another strategic board game with ancient origins. However, these ten rules were so philosophically profound that they also became perfect for wei qi. While wei qi continued to develop as an art of ancient China, it truly evolved after it reached Japan, where it became known as go. During the Tang dynasty, Japanese envoys and monks brought wei qi back to Japan from the Tang dynasty court, introducing it as an elegant game of the court nobility. For many years after, wei qi became established as a game of focus and a symbol of elegance in both China and Japan. And then in 1612, the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu decided to treat go like a martial art. He created a state-sponsored system of professional go players, which led to the Four Go Houses. These Four Go Houses were essentially professional guilds for the art of wei qi, where talented players were discovered and trained, and competition was created for the prestigious title of neijin. From these Four Go Houses came the legendary player Honibo Dosaku, who was often referred to as the father of modern go. He created the concept of towari, which was a mathematical way to analyze the efficiency of stones. He taught that the goal of the game was to use your stones more efficiently than your opponent. And then in the 1800s, another legendary player was Honibo Shusaku, who created new strategies and new opening moves that redefined the play style of the game. He frequently quoted the 10 maxims of wei qi and helped to popularize them as the iconic rules that we know today. During its evolution in Japan, the art of wei qi transformed into a science of efficiency and influence. The Japanese strategists taught that capturing the corners were the most efficient, changing the game from the popular ancient Chinese method of starting around the center. The patterns of play and formation of stones also became standardized, becoming the defining foundation of modern wei qi. And while the art of wei qi became more scientific in Japan, it continued to evolve as a form of artistic expression in China. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the art of qi had become the ultimate training ground for the big picture view, known as da ju guan. Through the lessons of the 10 maxims, the scholar learned that winning wasn't about the total destruction of an opponent, but about the efficiency of their own influence and ability to coexist within a finite space. In the Qing Dynasty, there were three legendary wei qi players that became known as qi shen, or sages of wei qi. First, there was Huang Longshi, who was often called the master of the great landscape. He was the first to move the game away from the stiff, formal styles of the past toward a fluid, unpredictable strategy that prioritized the spirit of the board. Following his footsteps were the two greatest rival in the history of this art, Fan Xiping and Shi Xiangxia, often called the li bai and du fu of wei qi. They represented two different pillars of mastery. Fan Xiping was the immortal, known for his wild, creative, and almost supernatural intuition. Shi Xiangxia was the sage, a master of logic, calculation, and tactical precision. The peak of their legacy was the dang hu shi ju, or the Ten Games at Danghu, played in 1739. These were ten matches that are still studied by professional players today as the absolute technical ceiling of ancient wei qi. Modern computers were even used to analyze these game records, and they found that the mid-game moves were extremely accurate and optimal. To master qi was to understand that every action had a ripple effect across the entire universe of the board. It taught the scholar that the true mastery is not found in the victory itself, but in the clarity of mind and the strategic intent required to achieve it. Having tuned the heart with music and the mind with strategy, the scholar was finally ready to pick up the brush. The master of calligraphy reveals sincerity and true nature. The art of calligraphy held a unique and elevated position in ancient China for its philosophical intimacy with the written word. A person's brushwork was believed to be the mirror of the soul. And this discipline was not just about writing, it was an act of personal and intellectual cultivation. The history of calligraphy began with the earliest form of writing, such as the carved oracle bone script of the Shang dynasty. But its true transformation into an art occurred with the invention and mastery of the brush and ink. And then another important moment came with the invention of paper by the eunuch Cai Lun during the Han dynasty, which fundamentally enabled calligraphy to emerge as a fully independent art form. And the heart of the art of calligraphy was the Wen Fang Si Bao, or the four treasures of the study. The first of these treasure is the brush, Bi. According to legend, a proper brush was standardized around the Qing dynasty by General Men Tian, containing the four virtues. Jian, a sharp point when wet. Qi, evenness of the bristles when spread. Yuan, a perfectly round body. And Jian, the resilience of the brush to bounce back after a stroke. The second treasure is the ink stick, Mo. This was basically a solid block of ink, first developed by the Han dynasty. It was believed that the grinding of the ink was a meditative ritual that forced the scholar to grind away his own restless thoughts before writing. The third treasure is the paper, Zhi. While the early forms of paper were invented during the Han dynasty, the paper that this is referring to is a special type of higher grade paper from the Tang dynasty known as Xuan Zhi. This paper was traditionally made from the bark of a blue sandalwood tree that was precious because it could survive a thousand years without yellowing. The fourth and the last treasure is the ink stone, Yan. This was a stone intended for the grinding of ink and was designed to keep the ink moist so it doesn't dry out. While stone tools for grinding pigments have existed since ancient times, the use of an ink stone as a scholar's tool first occurred during the Han dynasty. During the Tang dynasty, the ink stone evolved from a simple tool into sculpted art, becoming a status symbol for the scholar class. In the Song dynasty, these four treasures became standardized as the four treasures of the study. According to the treatise on superfluous things from the Ming dynasty, there were even rules for how a study and desk should be arranged. From the placement of the ink stone to the type of incense burnt, it was believed that even these material things were a reflection of a scholar's internal spiritual purity. Calligraphy is deeply rooted in the Confucian tradition of relentless study and ethical self-discipline. The pursuit of writing the perfect character requires a unity of mind and body, demanding the scholar to balance the cosmic force of yin and yang in every stroke. Balancing dry ink versus wet ink and the deliberate pause versus rapid speed. However, the art of calligraphy was not just writing however you like. Instead, there were specific writing styles that were created out of different needs and time periods. Today, we recognize five primary writing styles known as the five scripts or wu ti. The ancestor of the Chinese written word is the seal script, This evolved from carvings on oracle bones and bronze tablets from the Shang Dynasty, originally designed for carving instead of the brush. This is a rigid and symmetrical writing style that uses lines of uniform thickness. This is the script that Qin Shi Huang used to standardize the writing of China during the Qin Dynasty. The second script is the clerical script, This script developed during the Warring States period and became standardized in the Qin Dynasty, born from the need for a writing style that was faster than a complicated seal script. This script introduced strokes that start thick and end with a flared upward flick, creating the first forms of brush-based art. Next, there is the regular script, kai shu. This script likely was created during the Han Dynasty, but was formalized during the Tang Dynasty. This is the writing style that is considered today to be the universal standard of Chinese writing and was used for government examinations and modern printing. And then, there is the running script, xing shu. This script emerged during the Wei Qing period and is kind of like a cursive script. Many of the strokes of a character will be linked together, but the character remains readable. This writing style became the common style used for personal letters and poetry. Last, there is the cursive script, cao shu. This was the shorthand writing style of Chinese characters. Clerks and messengers under time pressure did not have the time to write pretty, so they linked strokes together and simplified complex characters. Over time, the beauty of this script was discovered as a representation of freedom. While other scripts had more restraints, cursive script was defined by the scholar's emotion and energy. A scholar didn't just pick one writing style. They usually learned them in order, starting with the structure of regular script, moving to the efficiency of clerical script, and eventually earning the right to the freedom of cursive script. The true goal of the scholar was to find the perfect balance between order and flow. The greatest achievement of this was Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, who is remembered today as the sage of calligraphy. His most famous work, the Preface to the Poems composed at the Orchid Pavilion, Lanting Jixu, was a spontaneous masterpiece created during a gathering of friends. It was said that he tried to recreate it many times, but he could never repeat the perfection of his original work. Legends say that Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty had the original piece buried with him, which unfortunately became lost after his tomb was looted in Nanyou A.C.E. What we see today are only the Tang Dynasty replicas of this masterpiece. A master of calligraphy understood that every stroke was a commitment. Once the brush touched the paper, there could be no erasing, no hesitation, and no second chances. Having mastered the art of capturing the world's structural energy through the written word, the scholar was finally ready to look beyond the character and toward the art of painting. The master of painting reaches perfect harmony of virtue and beauty. In art of painting, the scholar applied the technical discipline of calligraphy directly to their painting, using the same four treasures of the study. It was believed that brush strokes revealed the character, moral integrity, and philosophical depth of the painter. Initially, painting was considered a craft and was inferior to the intellectual discipline of calligraphy. Early Chinese painting was primarily used for decoration and documentation. However, many of the foundations of the art of painting were established long before it was formally recognized as an art. From the classified record of ancient painters, which was written by Xie He during the Southern Qi Dynasty, we have the six principles of Chinese painting. These principles became the foundational criteria used to judge Chinese painting, which measured technical mastery, as well as spiritual content. The first principle is life, or qi yun shen dong. This is the most crucial principle and requires the artwork to feel alive, not just look accurate. The second principle is brush, or gu fa yong bi. This principle is directly linked to calligraphy and requires the use of proper brush skills when drawing the lines of objects. The third principle is form, or ying wu xiang xing. This is the technical requirement that mountains should look like mountains, and people should look like people. The fourth principle is color, or sui lei fu cai. Color should be used appropriately and also only as needed. This often means using little or no color at all. The fifth principle is composition, or jing ying wei zhi. The space must be well organized with a balance between positive and negative space. This principle relates directly to the strategic planning learned from the art of qi. The last principle is learning, or chuan yi mo xie. This principle says that to learn from a great master, one must first copy the work of the great master. It was believed that the best form of education when it comes to painting was imitation. With these six principles, by hearing your heart through the art of music, strengthening your mind through the art of qi, and training your hand through the art of calligraphy, a scholar could then reveal the path, or the dao, of the universe through the art of painting. The six principles provided the criteria for judgment, but they did not dictate the technique of execution. The first style of painting to be formally established was the meticulous style, or gong bi. This is a realistic technique that uses highly detailed brush strokes, fine lines, and appropriate colors. This painting style can be traced all the way back to the Han dynasty, and was primarily used for documentation and murals. It was around this time that the five cardinal colors, wu se, became standardized, which was based on the ancient concept of the five elements. It was believed that these five cardinal colors were fundamental properties of the universe. The first color is cyan, qing, which represents the element of wood. The season of spring, the direction of east, and is associated with health and prosperity. Interestingly, this color system did not distinguish between blue and green, instead treating them all as shades of the same color. The second color is red, chi, which represents the element of fire. The season of summer, the direction of south, and is associated with joy and good fortune. The third color is yellow, huang, which represents the element of earth, the changing of the seasons, the direction of center, and is associated with heroism and prestige. The fourth color is white, bai, which represents the element of metal. The season of autumn, the direction of west, and is associated with purity and morning. The fifth color is black, hei, which represents the element of water. The season of winter, the direction of north, and is associated with wisdom and knowledge. Starting in the Tang Dynasty, meticulous style became the official painting style of the imperial court, used for official portraits and historical narratives. The most famous painter of this time was Wu Daozi, who is remembered today as the sage of painting, and for creating the ideal where one brush stroke contains 10,000 forms. While a master of the rigid, meticulous style, he used more fluid and dynamic brushwork that greatly influenced and set the foundation for the evolution of painting in later centuries. During the Song Dynasty, the art of painting was formally recognized as a celebrated art for the scholar and noble classes. But from a scholar's perspective, painting was not meant to be a realistic representation. They began to reject the previously established meticulous style, instead favoring another painting style from the Tang Dynasty, which was the ink wash style or Shui Mo. This technique used black ink with shades of wash to focus on the spirit and the essence of the subject. It created the concept of the five colors of ink, with the belief that only black ink was necessary to create the full spectrum of a painting. The five colors of ink are charred or jiao as a velvety black for outlines and texture, concentrated or nong as a deep black for focal points and calligraphy, heavy or zhong as a deep gray for shadow and defining features, light or dan as a pale gray for creating fog and distance, giving the illusion of depth, and clear or qing as a transparent wash used for water or the sky. Mastery of the five colors of ink became a test of the scholar's skill, requiring a deep connection to the art of calligraphy and the proper use of blank space or liu bai. Blank space represented atmosphere, energy, created distance, and worked with opposing black ink to fulfill the principle of composition. With the ink wash style, the heart of painting became the concept of xie yi, which literally translates to writing the meaning. A scholar did not simply paint a bamboo tree, they used their calligraphic training to write the bamboo. The goal was to express the spirit of the subject. As long as the painting had the right spirit, it didn't matter if the proportions were correct. And the art of painting in the Song dynasty became focused on three primary subjects. First was landscape or shanshui. This literally translates to mountain and water. Mountains represented the unmoving yang, while water represented the changing yin. The core idea is that mountains and rivers reveal the path or dao. The texture of the mountain, the flow of the river, and the entire landscape are all just manifestations of the natural order. Next was the four gentlemen or si junzi. These were four plants that represented the moral virtues of a scholar. The plum blossom, mei, represented perseverance. The orchid, lan, represented elegance and humility. The bamboo, zhu, represented integrity and flexibility. And the chrysanthemum, ju, represented resonation and beauty. Third was birds and flowers or huaniao. This was believed to capture the fleeting and delicate moments of the natural world. Despite a shift in focus and scholarly criticism, the meticulous style remained the preferred style for painting figures, flowers, and narrative scenes. Together, the meticulous style and the ink wash style become the primary styles of the art of painting. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, scholars viewed calligraphy and painting not as two different arts, but as two branches of the same tree. This was the principle of shu hua tong yuan, which means that calligraphy and painting share a single origin. The same training that taught the scholar to control the tip of the brush for a character was also the key to capture the spirit of a landscape. The art of painting is the final expression, integrating all of the four arts together in order to create the world. While these arts originally started out as disciplines for men, the gender boundaries softened over time. By the Tang Dynasty, many women became celebrated for their skills in music, calligraphy, and painting. But expectations were still uneven. Men must learn the four arts, while women may learn the four arts. Eventually, mastery of the four arts became less about gender and more about a shared language of personal cultivation and refinement. The skills themselves were a means, not the end. To master the four arts was to master the self and bring peace to one's own soul. However, just like with the great cuisines of Chinese food, four was nowhere enough to capture all of the disciplines that the noble families and scholars spent their time on. It was no longer enough just to perfect one's character. One also had to live beautifully and elegantly. And so, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, we see the addition of four more arts. Poetry to express the inner world, wine as the bridge to truth, tea to refine temperament, and flowers to show the serenity of character. All together to create the eight elegant pursuits. But we will have to cover those four additional arts in another video. If you enjoyed today's topic, don't forget to like and subscribe. Thanks again for watching and I'll see you in the next one.