History Preserved in Stone

一字千金
One word is worth a thousand pieces of gold

Recently I saw how ancient Chinese art was copied precisely and preserved by carving in stone. It's a tremendous way to preserve and distribute family heirlooms and historical documents.

My wife and I enjoyed visiting her great-uncle and aunt at their little piece of heaven-on-earth in Suzhou China. Suzhou is famous for beautiful gardens, water canals that go throughout the city, and for the beautiful TaiHu Lake. My wife's great-uncle retired here and built a big house with a fantastic garden in the back. The house is stuffed with traditional Chinese art and calligraphy.

The first picture is an exact copy and stone engraving of a calligraphy work from my wife's great-grandfather, written in about 1932. The original calligraphy work was copied and then carved into slate stone. Many people believe you can understand someone's spirit and inner characteristics by examining their writing and art work. This is a great way for a person's descendents to gain a small understanding of their ancestor.

The second picture is a copy of a famous Chinese poem. The calligraphy is written in "picture" Chinese characters. It is quite difficult to read, but fascinating. All Chinese written characters originated as images or pictures of related things. This fascinating poem shows graphically where the Chinese characters originated, with mountains, fish, and other items drawn in Chinese form. Both these pictures are preserved by carving into stone.