Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Characters "Written" by Knife——The Origin and Evolution of Stone Carving Characters

Human beings have used various things to write books since their birth and development.The books they wrote with bamboo and wood chips are called "Jian Ce Shu"; the books written with silk, silk, etc. are called "Silk Books"; "; books written with stone flakes are rare in modern times, but they were quite popular in ancient my country. In fact, these characters were carved with knives rather than "written". The history of ancient Chinese ancestors using knives to carve characters and write articles on stones almost coincided with the emergence and development of Chinese characters.When Chinese characters first appeared, they began to be carved on stones. From 1973 to 1974, the cultural relics and archaeologists of the Jiangxi Provincial Museum unearthed 38 artifacts with characters (or symbols) in the "Wucheng Culture" discovered in Wucheng, Qingjiang, the province, including 66 characters. Among them, there are six characters or symbols carved on the three stone models, namely

In the Shang-Yin period of our country, oracle bone inscriptions were widely used in Chinese characters. At that time, there were more than 4,000 symbols in oracle bone inscriptions, and some of these characters were also engraved on stones. In the spring of 1935, archaeologists carried out archaeological excavations in the cemeteries of Yin people such as Houjiazhuang, Yinxu, Anyang City. In the tomb passage of No. 1003, a large tomb, a stone (皀殳) [gui ghost] was found with two lines of characters engraved on it. 12 characters, the content is "Xin Chou, Xiaochen (the word is changed to 爫), Ren (upper fierce ten lower) [CHI eat], (many in the mouth) [YI appropriate], talent (upper and lower mouth) , □(to)(皀殳)".The tomb belongs to the period of Emperor Yi and Emperor Xin of the late Shang Dynasty.The meaning of the inscription is: On the day of Xin Chou, there was a small minister and historian named (the word goes to 艹 for 爫), and at a place called (上叀下口), he paid tribute to very good animals. Record in (皀殳) to commemorate.In the Shang and Yin Dynasties, there were also inscriptions on three musical instruments (stone chimes), one was "Yong (Hukui) (Tongqi)", the other was "Yongyu", and the other was "Yaoyu".These three stone chimes were once collected by Professor Yu Shengwu, a famous ancient philologist in my country, and were recorded in the "Shuangjianbao [yiyi] Ancient Artifacts Catalog" compiled by him. Later, these stone chimes were collected by the Palace Museum in Beijing. .In addition, there are also many inscriptions on the jade wares of the Shang Dynasty.

During the Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou dynasties, stone inscriptions improved compared to the previous period, and there are several kinds of cultural relics and archaeological materials that we already know. From 1974 to 1978, the Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Management Office discovered a city site and a tomb belonging to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods on the north bank of the Hutuo River in the northwest of Pingshan County in the province.Previously, in the 1930s, in the southwest of Nanqiji (ji) and villages within the scope of this ancient city site, a Daheguang stone was found with words engraved on it. After research by relevant experts, it was named "Gong Cheng De Shou Qiu" Carved Stone", this carved stone is 90 centimeters long, 30 centimeters wide and 40 centimeters thick.There are two lines of text engraved on it, a total of 19 characters.The content of the inscription is: "Jianyu [Gu Gu] You (Yu) Chen Gong Chengde, Shouqiu (Liu Qu) [Qi Qi] Blood (Old) (爿光) [Jiang Jiang] Man, dare to visit the queen尗〔chu〕sage".The inscription roughly records that an official named Gongchengde, who was supervised and managed by the king, and a general named Man who guarded the mausoleum, jointly told the story of the later sages.Based on the analysis of the font of the inscription and the unearthed situation, the age of this stone inscription should belong to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.During this period, another more famous stone inscription was called "Stone Drum Inscription".The carved stone was unearthed in Yongxian County (now Fengxiang County), Shaanxi Province in the early 7th century, that is, the early Tang Dynasty in my country. There are 10 drums in total.At the beginning, it was placed in the field on the spot, and then it was moved to Fengxiang Mansion and placed in the Confucius Temple.It was lost during the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. After searching and collecting, Sima Chi in the Northern Song Dynasty transported it to Fengxiang Mansion to study and preserve it, but a drum has been lost.In the fourth year of Emperor Renzong Zhaozhen Huangyou in the Northern Song Dynasty (1052 A.D.), he was able to make up for it after he visited his master and asked for it.During the Daguan period of Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty (1107-1110 A.D.), Prime Minister Cai Jing transported the stone drum to Bianliang, Tokyo (now Kaifeng City, Henan Province) and placed it in the Jigu Pavilion of the Hall of Preserving Harmony.According to legend, at this time, gold powder was used to fill in its characters to show its preciousness, and people will never be allowed to expand and copy it.The Jin Dynasty destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty, broke through Bianjing, and transported it to Zhongdu (today's southwest area of ​​Beijing).After the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, it was moved to the gate of Guozijian in Dadu (north of the inner city of Beijing today).It has been placed here for a long time. From the Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, Qing Dynasty, to the Republic of China, it has not been moved for more than 600 years. In 1937, when the Anti-Japanese War broke out, Mr. Ma Heng, who was the director of the Palace Museum at that time, moved it south to Mount Emei in the rear for preservation.It is now hidden in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

After the stone drum writing was unearthed, it immediately attracted the attention of the world. Great calligraphers at that time, Ouyang Xun, Yu Shinan, Chu Suiliang, etc., wrote articles admiring its calligraphy; poets, writers Du Fu, Wei Yingwu, Han Yu, etc. "Drum Song", contained in "Three Hundred Tang Poems") to praise its value.In the Song Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu and others compiled "Ji Gu Lu" and other works, emphasizing the cultural relic value of stone drum inscriptions, and listed it as the most important relic among stone inscriptions.Since then, great scholars of successive dynasties such as Su Dongpo and Zheng Qiao in the Song Dynasty, Pan Di in the Yuan Dynasty, Zhou Jin in the Ming Dynasty, Ruan Yuan and Zhen Jun in the Qing Dynasty have discussed it.Famous scholars in modern times have also continuously published research results, such as Ma Heng's "Stone Drum Carved for the Qin Dynasty", Guo Moruo's "Study on Stone Drum Literature", Tang Lan's "Stone Drum Age Test" and so on.

This stone carving is named for its shape like a drum, but judging from its written content, it is more appropriate to call it "Qin carving stone". Regarding the content of the Stone Drum Inscriptions, according to the research of scholars such as Tang Lan, an expert in modern ancient writing, it is recorded that the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty sent envoys to the state of Qin, and Qin Xiangong traveled with them, shooting deer, fishing, etc.Its style is in the form of rhyme, and 10 poems form a group, and its style is similar to that of ancient times.Therefore, to a certain extent, it can be said that Shiguwen is one of the sequels.

After the Qin Dynasty unified the country, the widespread use of iron production tools played a great role in promoting the development of stone carvings.New forms of stone inscriptions continue to emerge.First of all, the inscriptions that were not limited to shapes and formats in the same strain as in the past began to be engraved in large quantities, and even developed to the carving of cliff characters; The popularity of epitaphs; the third is that Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism have engraved a large number of scriptures, so there have been a large number of stone books; The profusion of words.In short, the stone inscriptions are in full bloom.Therefore, some people estimate that if all kinds of stone inscriptions in our country are collected, the number can be equivalent to the famous Twenty-Four Histories and the vast number of manuscripts and woodcut books. Sorting and research is a promising job.