Chapter 8 Section 7 The Art of Calligraphy in the Northern and Southern Dynasties

The Southern Dynasties experienced Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties, and the Northern Dynasties also experienced the Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, and Northern Zhou dynasties.It has spanned 160 years since Liu Song destroyed Jin in 420 A.D., until 581 A.D. when the Sui Dynasty unified and established the country, and the confrontation between the Northern and Southern Dynasties ended. The Southern Dynasties mostly inherited the Jin system, and it was forbidden to erect steles, so there were fewer stone inscriptions.The most famous one is the "Cuan Longyan Stele" in "Er Cuan [cuan Channel]" (the other "Cuan Baozi Stele" is from the Eastern Jin Dynasty), which stands in Yunnan and is located in the border. meaning.In the Liang Dynasty, there was another inscription on the cliff, "瘗〔Yi〕Crane Ming〕, which has a flying character and a strange and graceful shape.In addition, the new form of stone inscriptions, which were not erected on the ground but placed in the tomb for a permanent memory, appeared in the Jin Dynasty. It was also copied and sometimes seen in the Southern Dynasties, and there are many excellent ones.

However, the famous monuments of the Southern Dynasties are mainly composed of ink pieces, mostly lines and cursive. They are mainly inherited from the remains of the two kings. As the representative, it can be called Hanza boutique.In the Southern Dynasties, there were also many works of "writing scriptures".Judging from these works, Kai, Xing, and Cao have already become the main body of calligraphy in the Southern Dynasties, and they are further popularized. The Northern Dynasties were ruled by ethnic minorities. Not only did they no longer enforce the prohibition of steles, but because of the development of Buddhism, there was a climax of erecting steles and publishing stones, which reached an unprecedented prosperity: there were inscriptions, cliffs, statue inscriptions, and scriptures on the ground, and underground There are many tombstones buried.This undoubtedly provides a broad scope for calligraphy.

The stone inscriptions in the early Northern Dynasties still retain a lot of official script, with ancient and clumsy brushstrokes and unique characters, such as "Zhongyue Songgaoling Temple Stele".However, with the prosperity of publishing stones, the application of regular script became more and more frequent. Although the official meaning is still seen from time to time, it is increasingly showing a trend of eliminating the official meaning and fully finalizing it. Tuoba Hong, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, moved his capital to Luoyang, and soon dug the Longmen Grottoes, carved Buddha statues, and carved inscriptions, creating the Longmen Grottoes as a cultural resort.The number of "products" in this "Longmen" is a collection of how many kinds of portraits.Although the appearance is similar, the styles are different."Wei Ling Zang" can be taken as a typical example.

The cliff inscriptions in this period can be described as unprecedented, with a large number and high standards. The famous ones include: "Shimen Ming", "Zheng Xixia Stele", "On the Book of Poetry", etc.; especially "Taishan Jing Shiyu Diamond Sutra", Zijing Two feet, covered with stone flats on the river bed, lavish and magnificent, it really has an artistic effect of enhancing the beauty of mountains and rivers. There are also many inscriptions standing on the ground, among which "Zhang Menglong Stele" is the most prominent, and some people call it "the king of Wei stele".

The epitaphs of the Northern Dynasties are the most preserved inscriptions in this period, which are far more abundant than the steles standing on the ground.Among them, the Yuan family (Wei royal family, whose original surname was Tuoba, changed after Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital) was buried in Mount Mang as the most important.They have different rhymes, and the fragrance is the same.In addition, there are famous ones such as "Cui Jingyong Epitaph", which are interesting and elegant. At this time, there are also some stone inscriptions in official script, all of which inherit the style of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and there is no legacy of the Han stele, so it is not enough for instruction.In the Northern Dynasties, there are also some scriptures written in ink, such as "Huayan Sutra Volume 41", etc., from which we can see that the brush used at that time was mostly exposed, which is consistent with the brush used in the stone inscriptions of the Wei Dynasty. It can be seen that the inscriptions are all out of character Saying may not be all.

As far as its mainstream is concerned, the stone inscriptions of the Northern Dynasties show the various efforts and explorations made by people during the transition from Li to Kai and the maturity of regular script.The rich and colorful stone calligraphy of the Northern Dynasties, novel in style and simple in shape, fully demonstrated the superb creative talent of the people at that time, and radiated brilliant brilliance in the history of calligraphy. The study of calligraphy in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, especially the Southern Dynasties, has also advanced a big step forward. Not only has the number of works increased, but it has also involved all aspects of calligraphy in depth and breadth, which undoubtedly played a great role in guiding the art of calligraphy. .