ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the process of canonisation cultivated a human person as the 'writing subject' with respect to graphocentrism. Graphocentrism tends to value things and objects that are physical, visible, tactile, verifiable, credible, and inalterable. Three aspects of graphocentric education are discussed: the discipline of writing calligraphy, the institutionalisation of writing through the imperial civil examination system, and, most importantly, the cultivation of the moral writing subject. Graphocentric ethics included three parts. The first part focused on the intertwining of aesthetics and morality. Calligraphy thus embodied a connection between morality and aesthetics that implied a profound and uniquely graphocentric holism – the second part of graphocentric ethics. The third and final part of graphocentric ethics related to the core virtues of Confucian humanistic education, which, with respect to graphocentrism, aimed to elevate the writing subject as a Confucian ideal human being.
