I was exhilarated when I finished the final touches of this editing and translating project, which seemed simple but was indeed not easy, despite that I realize it is far from satisfactory.

I have always admired the explorative spirit of my friends involved in modern calligraphy in China. But, at the same time, I have always regretted that modern calligraphy, as a cutting-edge school of art, has drawn so little attention that does not match with its actual achievements in the past 10-plus years since it was initiated. Although we may attribute such a phenomenon to reasons from outside, the problems inside the modern calligraphy circle, I am afraid, are the main causes. The modern calligraphy circle seems to be quite laid-back in China in producing and collecting documents of individual artists and the whole group, which certainly does not meet current international standards. As a result, it has been very inconvenient to promote this art. My original purpose for editing this Chinese-English documentary catalog was to thoroughly sort out the individual and group documents of modern calligraphy, which will serve as a record of the Bashu Parade activities and benefit future work. However, what ended up is still far away from my goal. First, the absence of works by important artists like Qiu Zhenzhong, Wang Nanming, Zhu Qingsheng, Wen Bei, and Bai Di was a great demerit of this exhibition. Second the lack of information of some artists and critics has made editing work difficult and inadequate. What more regrettable is that the photos, titles, sizes, completion time of some exhibited works are unavailable because of inefficient exhibition organization and the urgency of editing time, which to certain extent spoiled my original plan. Luckily, this is only a try.

During the editing, I received enthusiastic instructions from Mr. Bu Lieping, Mr. Wei Ligang and others. Mr. Bu Lieping, Mr. Chu Sang, Mr. Zhang Qiang, Mr. Zhang Nan and Mr. Liu Zijian contributed their criticism essays. Most of my artists friends were highly cooperative by giving me their materials instantly, which has made it possible for me to finish the work in such a short period of time. When editing this book, I also referred to and quoted certain publications by Mr. Gao Minglu, Mr. Wen Bei, Mr. Zhang Qiang, Mr. Zhang Yiguo, Mr. Pi Daojian and Mr. Eckhard R. Shneider. My American colleague and friend Ms. Sharline Chiang read and polished the English translation of the whole book, which made my translation look much better. Braving the scorching summer heatwave in Beijing, my father Mr. Yang Weixin took care of my daily life and provided me with a fairly good writing environment. I should express my sincerest thanks to all of them.

YANG YINGSHI
August, 1999
Asian Games Village, Beijing

For further information, contact
Mr. Yang Yingshi, China Daily, 15 Huixin Dongjie, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, China
OR Mr. Bu Lieping, 50 Xinnan Lu, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China