Chapter 7 The second chapter is the rudiment of ancient calligraphy books——literacy textbooks in the Zhou, Qin and Han Dynasties

Ancient Chinese calligraphy was born out of primary school reading materials, and the production of ancient primary school reading materials can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty.The earliest primary school literacy textbook recorded in Chinese historical records is "Shi Zhen Pian", which was compiled by Taishi in the era of King Xuan of Zhou (827-782 BC) to teach children literacy. There are differences in the shapes of the characters found on the walls of Confucius' residence in the last years of Emperor Wu.Children's books that appeared after "Shi Zhen Pian" include: seven chapters of "Cangjie" written by Li Si during the reign of Emperor Qin Shihuang, six chapters of "Yuan Li" written by Chefu Ling Zhao Gao, and seven chapters of "Bo Xue" written by Taishi Ling Hu Wujing .These three books were combined into one by the "Lvli Calligrapher" in the early Han Dynasty, called "Cangjie Pian" (because it is a combination of three books, so it is also called "Sancang"), a total of 55 chapters, each chapter has 60 characters , a total of 3300 characters, written in Xiaozhuan.During the reign of Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty, Yang Xiong wrote "Cang Jie Xun Zhuan Pian", and during the reign of Emperor Han He, Jia Bing (fang Fang) wrote "Pang Xi Pian".The people of Jin made "Cangjie Pian" with 55 chapters as the first volume, "Cangjie Pian" as the middle volume, and "Pangxi Pian" as the second volume, collectively called "Sancang", with a total of 7380 characters.In addition, there are: "Cangjie Xunzui" and "Cangjie Story" by Han Dulin, "Fan Jiang Pian" by Sima Xiangru during Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, "Jijiu Pian" by Shi You of Emperor Yuan Yuan of the Han Dynasty, and "Jijiu Pian" by Li Chang during Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty. "Yuan Shang Pian".These books are written in rhyme for the convenience of children to read and memorize.Some are four-character sentences, two sentences rhyme; some are three-character, four-character or seven-character sentences.Three-character sentences and four-character sentences rhyme every other sentence, and seven-character sentences rhyme every sentence.In addition to "Jijiupian", which was handed down as calligraphy due to the addition of calligraphers of past dynasties, such as Zhang Zhi, Huang Xiang, Suo Jing, etc., "Cangjie Pian" also has residual slips (see "Quick Sand Falling Slips" edited by Wang Guowei. ), all others are lost.Sun Xingyan, a native of the Qing Dynasty, compiled some lost texts from ancient legends, leishu, and internal codes. Most of them are single characters, and there are also a few compound words. They are divided into three volumes and classified according to the radicals of "Shuowen Jiezi".

"Jijiu Pian", also known as "Jijiu Zhang", or "Jijiu" for short, was compiled by Huang Menling Shiyou during the reign of Emperor Yuan of the Western Han Dynasty (48-33 BC).Shi You is an "eunuch" who "diligently accepts loyalty and benefits" ("Book of the Later Han·Eunuch Biography").The title of the book comes from the first sentence of the book, "If you are in a hurry, you will have a strange gu [gu Gu] that is different from others".Yan Shigu of Tang Dynasty once wrote a note for this book and said: "Gues who learn books are slips, or record things, cut wood for it, and cover 'Jian'." "Gu" is a wooden board for learning characters. "Jijiu" means "crash", and the so-called "Jijiupian" translated into modern dialect is "crash literacy textbook".There are 2016 characters in the book, and the words that were commonly used at that time are collected.The first five sentences in the book describe the purpose of compiling the bibliography: "If you are in a hurry, you should make a list of the strange goblets that are different from others. List the names and surnames of all objects, separate subordinates and not miscellaneous toilets. If you use a few days, you will be sincere and happy. If you work hard, you will be happy." The next sentence is " Please tell me the chapter", which means the beginning of the text. For the following 132 surnames, add two characters below each surname (add one character for the compound surname) to form a three-character sentence, such as: "Song Yannian, Zheng Zifang; Wei Yishou, Shi Buchang;..." After narrating the surname, use two sentences to transition to the next level: "The name is over, please talk about things." The following describes cloth, food, clothing, subjects, utensils, insects and fish, music, body, weapons, chariots and horses, Nouns such as house, plant, animal, disease, medicine, funeral, etc. are all seven-character sentences, so that children know the names of many things.Then there is another transitional sentence: "All things are exhausted and the five senses come out." "Five senses" refers to the five official positions in ancient times: Situ, Sima, Sikong, Sishi, and Sikou. Here it refers to all officials.So the following describes some things related to the administration of officials.The end of the full text is a four-character sentence (the last sentence is seven characters), ending with praising the "prosperity" of the Han Dynasty.It can be seen from the content of "Ji Jiu Pian" that this is just an enlightenment reading without explanation.

In the Han Dynasty, the imperial court attached great importance to literacy education. At that time, to learn characters, it was required to understand the shape, sound, and meaning of characters, which were the so-called "test eight styles", "satire books", and "positive reading". The "Satire Book" has more than 9,000 characters. Only those who pass the examination are eligible to hold official positions. Those who are good at knowing the eight ancient characters can be the history of Shangshu.During the reign of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Chang, a scholar of ancient texts and classics, was asked to learn from those who could "correctly read" "Cangjie Pian", and then pass it on to others.During the reign of Emperor Ping of the Han Dynasty, 100 people from primary schools all over the country were recruited to write down the characters they knew in the court (all see "Han Shu·Yiwen Zhi").Therefore, "Jijiupian" and other Mongolian children's books were valued in the Han Dynasty. Even Yang Xiong also believed that "there is nothing greater than "Yi", so he wrote "Taixuan", and there is no greater transmission, pretending to be "Fayan" , Shi Mo was good at "Cangjie", so he pretended to be "Xun Zhuan"." ("Huayang Guozhi" Volume 10) However, literacy textbooks such as "Jijiupian" cannot be compared with real calligraphy books. Since "Shuowen Jiezi" "After the publication, their reference value is no longer great.However, as the germination of ancient calligraphy, they have played a role in history.This kind of reading material is easy for children to understand and memorize, and the content is easy for children to accept. They are not only literacy textbooks, but also calligraphy practice textbooks, which played a certain role in popularizing and improving the standardization of culture and characters at that time.

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