Note: It took me about 6 years to get around to translating this wall scroll. This one has been sitting on the shelves (sealed up) for a long time. It may be a little wavy when you first unroll it. The price has been reduced from $60 to $20 to make up for any such issues.
If you want a custom wall scroll made to your specifications, click here: Confucius: Golden Rule
Close up view of the artwork mounted to this silk brocade wall scroll
Some may think of this as a "Christian trait" but actually it transcends many religions.
This Chinese teaching dates back to about 2,500 years ago in China. Confucius had always taught the belief in being benevolent (ren) but this idea was hard to grasp for some of his students, as benevolence could be kind-heartedness, or an essence of humanity itself.
When answering Zhong Gong's question as to what "ren" actually meant, Confucius said:
"When you go out, you should behave as if you were in the presence of a distinguished guest, when people do favors for you, act as if a great sacrifice was made for you. Whatever you wouldn't like done to you, do not do that thing to others. Don't complain at work or at home".
Hearing this, Zhong Gong said humbly, "Although I am not clever, I will do what you say".
From this encounter, the Chinese version of the Golden Rule came to be.
The characters you see above express, "Do not do to others whatever you do not want done to yourself".
Note: This phrase is also known in ancient Korean literature and philosophy.
About the artist:
This calligraphy was created by Li Dan-Qing of Beijing. He's an older gentleman who has been involved with the art community of China, all of his life. Now in retirement, he creates calligraphy for us for sort of "hobby income".
About the materials and construction of this wall scroll:
The calligraphy was done using black Chinese ink on xuan paper (known incorrectly in the west as "rice paper"). The raw artwork was then taken to our Wall Scroll Workshop where it was laminated to more sheets of xuan paper, and built into a beautiful silk brocade wall scroll. Except for the use of a lathe to turn the wooden knobs, this wall scroll is virutally 100% handmade from start to finish (even the paper is made by hand).
The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size" single-character wall scroll. We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days. Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also
attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over
6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers
in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt
such a feat.
