Four arts

The four arts ( Chinese  四 藝  /  四 艺 , Pinyin sìyì , Jyutping sei ³ ngai ⁶ ), more precisely also the four arts of the scholar ( 文人 四 藝  /  文人 四 艺 , wénrén sìyì , Jyutping man ⁴ jan ⁴ sei ³ ngai ⁶ ) called, were in traditional China the zither game ( Qin ), the mastery of Weiqi ( Qi ), which is known in Western culture under the Japanese name Go , calligraphy ( Shu ) and painting ( Hua ), in Chinese therefore also under known by the simple term " Qinqi-Shuhua / Qín Qí Shū Huà " ( 琴棋 書畫  /  琴棋 bekannt ).

Representation from the Ming period

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  Zither ( Qin )

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  Weiqi ( Qi )

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  Calligraphy ( Shu )

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  Painting ( hua )

The four arts are often represented by famous people who excelled in the respective art:

• Chinese music ( 琴 , qin ):
  Yu Boya ( 俞 伯牙 ), a guqin player during the spring and autumn annals
• Weiqi / Go (棋, qí):
  Zhao Yan
• Chinese calligraphy ( 書  /  书 , shū ):
  Wang Xizhi ( 王羲之 ), the most famous calligrapher in Chinese history
• Chinese painting ( 畫  /  画 , huà ):
  Wang Wei ( 王維  /  王维 ), a poet of the Tang period

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Term "qin qi shu hua (琴棋 書畫 / 琴棋 书画)", Chinese: [1] on zdic.net, accessed on April 13, 2018 - online

Web links

Commons : Four Arts  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Entry on chinapage.com