The Tang Dynasty was indeed an era of mature and complete philosophy. If all periods before the Tang Dynasty made unremitting efforts to evolve calligraphy and standardize and finalize laws, then the Tang Dynasty finally turned this effort into reality and achieved comprehensive achievements. Therefore, in terms of chronological style of calligraphy and history, the calligraphy style of the Tang Dynasty has the reputation of "respecting the law". The calligraphy method was established. By the Song Dynasty, people felt that there was no need to dwell on the problems that had been solved by the Tang Dynasty, so they began to study from another angle. This is the so-called "Song Dynasty Shangyi", that is, the spiritual relationship between the art of calligraphy and people. exploration.
In fact, as far back as the Jin Dynasty when the style of calligraphy was "Shang Yun", calligraphers had already made attempts in this regard. However, the direction of "Shang Yun" required calligraphers to maintain a more "emotional" style in line with the law during the writing process. A moderate relationship with "goodwill and harmony" - keep the middle. The beauty and wonder are not introduced through strong visual impact, but require the viewer to savor it carefully. Yan Lugong, Zhang Xu, and Huai Su of the Tang Dynasty once expressed their resistance to the constraints of the law and began to vent their emotions in the writing process. However, this did not constitute the mainstream of the Tang Dynasty. It was not until the Song Dynasty that people relaxed their hands and conducted extensive research. Among the "Four Calligraphers of the Song Dynasty" as representative calligraphers, all of them, except Cai Xiang, showed this clear direction.
People in the Song Dynasty "advocated meaning" in calligraphy and emphasized cursive writing. In addition to the emphasis on calligraphy and the neglect of tablets, regular script is far inferior to cursive script. Moreover, cursive script can achieve a tacit understanding with emotional indulgence. The most significant difference between the calligraphers of the Song Dynasty and the calligraphers of the previous dynasties is that they combined poetry, prose and painting. This resulted in major changes in the character and temperament of calligraphers, who generally incorporated their explorations and opinions in the field of poetry and painting into their concepts of calligraphy art. This was true for several important standard-bearers of calligraphy in the Song Dynasty - Su Shi, Huang Shanshangu, Mi Fu, etc., and their ideas affected the entire era and formed the overall style of an era.
The Song Dynasty was also the period when the calligraphy of previous dynasties was comprehensively summarized and organized for the first time. Although Empress Li of the South of the Yangtze River had previously ordered Xu Xuan to obtain the "Shengyuan Tie" from the two ancient and modern Dharma stickers in his collection, the book was written by Han Zhang Zhi, Cui Yuan, Wei Zhongyao, Jin Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi, Yu Liang, Tang Taizong, Xuanzong, Ouyang The calligraphy of Xun, Liu Gongquan, Huaisu, Huairen and others were collected in Chunhua Pavilion, and the king also ordered the king to copy and engrave the "Jianye Tie" ("Shengyuan Tie") written by the Southern Tang Dynasty in the forbidden palace, and named it "Chunhua Mi Pavilion Fa Tie". It is precisely because of the systematic collection and arrangement that it helped a generation of calligraphers in the Song Dynasty find their own path of development.
Calligraphers in the early Song Dynasty included Xu Xuan, Guo Zhongshu (painter), Ju Zhongzheng, Li Jianzhong, Feng Ji, Yao Xuan and others. And Li Jianzhong is one of the best.
To talk about the typical representatives of the calligraphy style of the Song Dynasty, we should also consider the "Four Great Masters" Huang, Mi, Su, and Cai, especially the first three figures.
There were many calligraphers in the Song Dynasty, such as Zhao Ji, Cai Jing, Cai Bian, Wen Tong, Qin Guan, Lu You, Mi Youren, Zhang Jizhi, Shi Manqing, Su Shunqin, etc. Especially Su Shunqin (1008~1048), whose courtesy name was Zimei and whose nickname was Caiweng, was from Tongshan (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu). The grass method is excellent and not inferior to the predecessors. Tang Huaisu's "Zi Xu Tie" is an old biography of his family. The first section of the long volume has been broken. The first six lines of the existing "Zi Xu Tie" are Zimei's supplement.
