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.