Chi and Shi

he concept of "Chi" is central to oriental art, in particular Chinese art-- it is also central to Chinese philosophy. Ancient Chinese considered the universe made up of primal chi, instead of matter--- this seems to be closer to modern view of universe as energy field. Now to the relation of force, energy, chi and art. This is an immense topic, I can only touch briefly The founding father of Chinese art criticism was the six cannons layed out in Xie He's "Gu Hua Pin Lu" ( Catlaog and Evaluation of Ancient Paintings", the first cannon for requirement of a good painting was "Chi Yun Sheng dong"-- "Energy, rhymth, life, and movment" The first word of "The Six Cannon" is Chi. Chi runs in human. that is why to this day, people practice Chi-gong. Xie He did not invented the concept of Chi

-- martin tai (cg081@torfree.net), August 01, 2001