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Wang Shihong escaped to culture and tradition and found a lifelong love for calligraphy in 1966 when Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) started to destroy the very culture.

He had just graduated as a machinery manufacturing major from Beijing University of Iron and Steel Technology when the unprecedented political tumult erupted. He was exiled from his engineering work to do manual labor. To distract himself away from manual exhaustion and while away the time he found in his hands in evenings, he decided to engage himself in something as sophisticated as calligraphy and seal engraving. The art as his secret avocation was a convenient and natural choice: he came from a family of scholars and he had had solid training in cultural classics. So he devoted himself to cultural studies. So reciting classic poems and essays and studying and copying ancient calligraphers masterpieces became his daily routine in privacy.

The 40-plus-year dedication has turned him into a prominent master. His calligraphy has been hailed for its originality and innovation by the best calligraphers in the country. However, the professor is best known for his unique seal engraving.

In the past, masters usually carved poetic and philosophical phrases, as pithy as possible, on small-sized seals. So in most cases, a seal displays three or four words. Wang has broken away from the stereotype. Unlike his predecessors and most contemporary peers, Wang creates large-size seals which can carry extremely lengthy poems. He has pioneered into a new field for seal engraving: his masterpieces boast graphic images, poetry and calligraphy. Some of his best expressions consist of a set of seal engravings.

Comparing carving graphic images with carving traditional scripts, Wang Shihong comments that large-size seals with lengthy poems demand more energy, concentration, devotion and time. It can take him a year to complete a large-size multiple-character seal engraving. It is a time-consuming job to choose a raw stone and then process it until it has a right surface and shape. Then it is time consuming too to decide upon a text, a style and a script and then prepare and finalize the design until it is perfect. He also needs to familiarize himself with all the details of the style and text before actual carving takes place. This task is also time-consuming as in some cases he needs to study ancient literature. It is not until he is thoroughly prepared spiritually and physically and professionally that he sits down and begins to carve.

He acquired a raw pyrophyllite in the 1980s. How he acquired the precious stone is a long story, but how he processed it into a seal is a longer story that explains how much pains he took to make it into a useful seal. The outer layer and impure parts were removed before the raw stone was cut into two pieces. The two pieces were put together to form a two-surface seal that measures 60.5 centimeters in diameter. The two sides were polished and then fastened together with a copper hoop. With the seal ready, Wang did not make haste to carve. He pondered the seal for more than ten years before he decided to carve “A Moonlit River on Night in Spring” by Zhang Ruoxu and “Song of the Pipa” by Bai Juyi, both great poets of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The former has 252 characters and the latter 616. To portray the tragedy of the “Song of the Pipa”, Wang chose a script called “tear-drop seal script” and carved a matching illustration.

So far Wang Shihong has published two albums of his calligraphy and seal engraving works, which have won him fame both at home and abroad. His masterpieces are in collections of the Great Hall of the People, History Museum and other museums as well as in private collections. In his 70s, Wang Shihong still strives to produce better works. □