唐朝

Tang Dynasty

In the Tang dynasty, imperial confidence and cultural breadth brought regular script to a high point of formal discipline. Masters such as Ouyang Xun, Yan Zhenqing, and Liu Gongquan established models that later generations repeatedly studied.

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Tang Dynasty

Huaisu: Autobiography

Autobiography is an ink-on-paper handscroll written by Huaisu in 777 CE, the twelfth year of the Dali reign of the Tang dynasty. It is a monumental work of wild cursive script. The scroll contains 126 lines and 698 characters. The first six lines were damaged early and were later supplemented by Su Shunqin of the Song dynasty. The text is Huaisu?s own account of the main events of his life. Huaisu created a new form of cursive script known as ?wild cursive.? He boldly broke away from the earlier methods of spacing and regular balance associated with Wang Xianzhi and his predecessors. In character structure and page composition, the characters and lines rise and fall, shift left and right, and vary in size, moving beyond the restrictions of ?broken-style script? into a more liberated form. Huaisu?s wild cursive expresses a wide range of human emotion and natural vitality, raising the expressive power of cursive script to a new artistic stage.

Tang Dynasty

Sun Guoting: Treatise on Calligraphy

Sun Guoting?s Treatise on Calligraphy is divided into two volumes. It is generally understood that the first volume serves as the preface, while the second forms the treatise itself. The beginning is inscribed ?Treatise on Calligraphy, Volume One. Written by Sun Guoting of Wu Commandery,? and the end records that it was written in the third year of the Chuigong reign. The work is now held in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Its content focuses on calligraphic experience, the principles behind the writing of the treatise, and basic approaches to learning calligraphy. It is both an elegantly written theory of calligraphy and an ideal model of cursive script. Sun Guoting studied Wang Xizhi?s cursive script deeply; his brushwork is refined and fluent, capturing its spirit and essence.

Tang Dynasty

Zhang Xu: Four Ancient Poems

Four Ancient Poems is an ink manuscript traditionally attributed to Zhang Xu of the Tang dynasty. The text records four poetic works: the first two are selections from Yu Xin’s Daoist Walking in the Void Lyrics from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, while the latter two are Xie Lingyun’s Praise of Wang Zijin and Praise of an Old Man and Four or Five Youths Beneath the Cliff. The work features full, powerful brushstrokes, a rhythm that rises and falls dramatically, and a composition that moves between openness and control. Its brushwork is rounded and free, restrained yet unrestrained, with strict structure and majestic movement. The whole piece appears like clouds and mist flowing across the paper, making it one of the finest masterpieces of cursive script.

Tang Dynasty

Liu Gongquan's Xuanmi Pagoda Stele

The Xuanmi Pagoda Stele was composed by Pei Xiu of the Tang dynasty, written and seal-script titled by Liu Gongquan, and erected in December of the first year of Emperor Wuzong’s Huichang era, 841 CE. It is now preserved in the Xi’an Forest of Steles. Written in regular script, it has twenty-eight lines with fifty-four characters per line. This stele commemorates the renowned Tang Buddhist monk Master Dada, recording his deeds for later generations and passing on his spirit. Liu Gongquan wrote it at the age of sixty-four. The brushwork is strong and vigorous; the script studies Yan Zhenqing while emerging from the tradition of Ouyang Xun, forming a fresh structure. Its character construction is mainly inwardly restrained and outwardly expansive, with firm, extended, clean, and decisive strokes. The writing is complete and well-considered on all sides, showing Liu Gongquan’s distinctive style. It is considered one of the peak works of his calligraphy.

Tang Dynasty

Yan Zhenqing's Duobao Pagoda Stele

The opening title of this stele is Inscription on the Miraculous Response of the Duobao Buddha Pagoda at Qianfu Temple in the Western Capital of the Great Tang. It is written in regular script, with thirty-four lines and sixty-six characters per line. Originally located at Qianfu Temple in Anding Ward, Chang’an during the Tang dynasty, it was moved into the Xi’an Forest of Steles in the Song dynasty. The text was composed by Cen Xun, written by Yan Zhenqing, and carved by Shi Hua. It was created when Yan Zhenqing was forty-four years old. The writing is respectful and sincere, directly inheriting the legacy of the Two Wangs, Ouyang Xun, Yu Shinan, and Chu Suiliang. Construction at Qianfu Temple was selected and begun in the first year of the Tianbao era, and completed in the fourth year. Every stroke conceals and returns the brush tip; the structure is evenly balanced in density, and the overall style is rigorous and solemn.

Tang Dynasty

Yan Zhenqing's Yan Qinli Stele

The Yan Qinli Stele, formally titled Spirit Path Stele of the Late Lord Yan, Senior Guardian, Chief Clerk of the Kuizhou Area Command, and Editorial Official of the Secretariat Library of the Tang, contains thirty-eight characters per line and forty-four lines in total. It was unearthed in Xi’an in 1922 and is now housed in the Xi’an Forest of Steles. Yan Zhenqing wrote and erected this stele for his grandfather Yan Qinli when he was seventy-one years old. The brushwork is vigorous and crisp, making it one of Yan’s representative works from his later years. The inner strokes of each character avoid one another and leave open space, giving the writing a clear and spacious feeling, while the outer strokes are more regular and stable. The character structures are often compact above and expansive below, creating a distinctive balance of inner looseness with outer tightness, and lower looseness with upper tightness. The brush strength is deep and reserved, with concealed tips; starting strokes are often rounded, and turns tend to be square within and round without. Yan transformed earlier methods and formed his own school, known as the Yan style, which had a profound influence on later generations.

Tang Dynasty

Yan Zhenqing's Draft of a Requiem to My Nephew

The Draft of a Requiem to My Nephew was written in the first year of the Qianyuan era of the Tang dynasty, 758 CE, when Yan Zhenqing was about fifty years old. It was a draft written in mourning for his nephew Yan Jiming. The text recounts how Yan Gaoqing, Governor of Changshan, and his family stood up during the An Lushan Rebellion and resisted with determination, resulting in the tragedy of “the father captured and the son killed, the nest overturned and the eggs broken,” sacrificing themselves for righteousness. The brushwork surges with emotion and flows in one breath, often reaching dry-brush passages that appear even more vigorous and fluid. It is a masterpiece nourished by sincere feeling, a resonance of the heart, a voice of extreme grief and indignation, and an immortal work condensed from blood and tears. It is known as “the second-best running script under heaven.”

Tang Dynasty

Yu Shinan's Confucius Temple Stele

The Confucius Temple Stele was written by Yu Shinan. It records Emperor Gaozu of Tang’s conferment of the title Marquis Baosheng on Kong Delun, a descendant of Confucius, in the ninth year of the Wude era, 626 CE, as well as the restoration of the Confucius Temple. The calligraphy is warm, rounded, and refined, with strength held within the brushwork. Its structure is dignified, balanced, and upright, and its style is calm, elegant, and graceful. It is one of Yu Shinan’s representative regular-script works. Yu Shinan inherited the tradition of the Two Wangs while developing his own character; his strokes are subtle yet firm, and his discipline is strict without losing ease. This stele has long been regarded as a masterpiece of Tang dynasty regular script and an important model for studying Yu Shinan’s calligraphy.

Tang Dynasty

Ouyang Xun's Huangfu Dan Stele

The Huangfu Dan Stele, formally titled Stele of Lord Huangfu, Duke Hongyi Ming, Left Guanglu Grand Master and Pillar of State of the Sui, is also known as the Huangfu Jun Stele. Written by Ouyang Xun, it records the life and deeds of the Sui dynasty official Huangfu Dan. Huangfu Dan, courtesy name Xuanxian, was from Chaona in Anding. He served as Vice Minister of War and Left Assistant Director of the Department of State Affairs in the Sui dynasty, and was later killed after remonstrating against Prince Yang Liang’s rebellion. This stele is one of Ouyang Xun’s representative regular-script works. Its structure is strict and powerful, its strokes are slender, firm, and upright, and its rules are highly disciplined. It fully shows the qualities of the “Ou style”: balanced yet dramatic, clear, vigorous, and sharply elegant. It is an important model for studying Ouyang Xun’s regular script.

Tang Dynasty

Wu Zetian's Stele of Crown Prince Shengxian

This stele was erected in June of the second year of the Shengli era of the Wu Zhou period, 699 CE. It was written by Wu Zetian, with thirty-four lines and sixty-six characters per line. The stele title, “Stele of Crown Prince Shengxian,” is written in six characters of flying-white script shaped like birds, reflecting a style fashionable in the Tang dynasty. The original stone is preserved at Xianjun Temple on Mount Gou in Yanshi, Henan. Wu Zetian was the empress of Emperor Gaozong of Tang. In the first year of the Hongdao era she became empress dowager and ruled from behind the court; after the first year of the Tianshou era she declared herself emperor and changed the state name to Zhou. Her calligraphy holds an important place among women calligraphers of ancient China, making her another renowned female calligrapher after Lady Wei of the Eastern Jin. Her cursive style came from the Two Wangs and was also influenced by Sun Guoting. Historical records say that she obtained authentic works by twenty-eight members of the Wang family from Wang Fangqing, a tenth-generation descendant of Wang Dao, and studied them closely, steadily improving her cursive script. This stele brings running-cursive writing into stone inscription: the strokes turn smoothly, vary well in thickness, follow disciplined cursive methods, and form strict structures with an open composition. Each character stands independently, somewhat like the method of clerical cursive. From time to time unusual characters appear, namely the dozen or so so-called “new characters of Wu Zhou” created by Wu Zetian herself. Apart from these, the stele is written in orthodox cursive script. It is an important Tang dynasty cursive work and calligraphic source.

Tang Dynasty

Li Longji's Classic of Filial Piety on Stone Terrace

The inscription on this stele is the Classic of Filial Piety, a record of Confucius’ teachings on filial duty and fraternal respect as transmitted by his disciple Zeng Shen. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, personally wrote the preface and annotations, and transcribed the text in clerical script. It was carved in the fourth year of the Tianbao era of Emperor Xuanzong, 745 CE. The text reflects the Tang dynasty ideal of “governing the realm through filial piety.” Few examples of Emperor Xuanzong’s handwriting survive. Besides its large scale and distinctive form, this stele is also influential in the history of Chinese calligraphy and is now one of the famous steles in the Xi’an Forest of Steles.

Tang Dynasty

Emperor Taizong Li Shimin's Inscription at Jinci Temple (excerpt)

The Inscription at Jinci Temple stands in the Zhenguan Baohan Pavilion at Jinci Temple in Taiyuan, Shanxi. It was composed and written by Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang dynasty. Each line contains between forty-four and fifty characters, with twenty-eight lines in total. The text recounts how Li Yuan and his son Li Shimin raised an army in Taiyuan, and after founding the Tang dynasty, came here to express gratitude for the divine grace of Shu Yu. The inscription praises the political harmony of the Zhou tradition and Tang Shuyu's strategy for founding a state, promotes the civil and military achievements of the Tang dynasty, and presents the political ideals of the Zhenguan reign, including governing through virtue as the foundation for building and strengthening the state. The calligraphy is vigorous, elegant, upright, free, and unrestrained. It is a masterpiece among the calligraphic works of Chinese emperors and is also the first running-script stele in the history of Chinese calligraphy.

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