Bringing back Meanings to Words: Exploring the Effects of Transcriptions on the Perceived Value of Chinese Calligraphy

What would words be without meanings? This is the central question we are concerned with in this paper. Previous study has shown that physical attributes of Chinese calligraphy artworks, such as the size, material and writing style, all have an effect on the economic value of the artwork. But these all are the things on the outside, how about the meanings to the characters on a more implicit level? Focusing on the cultural heritage Chinese calligraphy, we examined the effect of the literal content of calligraphy artworks on the perceived value using a factorial survey experiment. The online survey generated over 400 responses, including both Chinese and international participants. We found that the literal content of Chinese calligraphy among other things, after all, has a significant effect on the perceived value of Chinese calligraphy, and therefore, should not be neglected despite the fact that transcriptions for the Chinese calligraphy artworks are rarely given by the auction houses.