The Cao E Monument is a stone monument erected during the Eastern Han Dynasty to praise Cao E's virtues and commemorate her filial piety. In the first year of Jia of the Han Dynasty (AD 151), Shangyu of Kuaiji ordered Du Shang to erect a stele for Cao E. He first asked his subordinate Wei Lang to write the inscription for it. After a long time, he ordered his disciple Handan Chun to write the inscription. Handan Chunshi was just a young man, and everyone was amazed when they saw him calmly grasping the pen, with a few ideas, and finished it in one swipe. The stele is used to express filial piety, and filial piety is promoted through literature. After hearing the news, Cai Yong came to see it, touched the inscription with his hand and read it. After reading the inscription, "Young woman with yellow silk, grandson Junjiu" was written in the shadow of the stele, and the four characters "exquisite and good words" were hidden in the shadow of the stele. This monument was lost in the early years. In the second year of Dongshengping (358 AD), Wang Xizhi went to the temple to write on Cao'e's stele. The text was engraved by Wu Maoxian of Xin'an. The handwriting on the silk tablet of this stele is now in the Liaoning Museum. It is inscribed by Xu Sengquan, Manqian, Huaichong and others of the Liang Dynasty, as well as by Han Yu, Song Gaozong and others.
The existing stele of Cao E was written by Cai Bian, the son-in-law of Wang Anshi, in the eighth year of Yuanyou in the Song Dynasty (AD 1093). This stele is 2.3 meters high and 1 meter wide. It is written in regular regular script and has a powerful and smooth writing style. It has a high status in the history of Chinese calligraphy. It has been around for nearly a thousand years and is extremely precious.
There is a very interesting legend surrounding this stone tablet. When talking about the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao and Yang Xiu came to Cao'e Temple to worship together. I felt very strange when I saw the eight words "Yellow Silk Young Woman, Grandson Junjiu" on the back of the stele and couldn't understand its meaning. Finally, Yang Xiu deciphered the riddle and said that the answer was "a wonderful word". He explained to Cao Cao: Yellow silk is colored silk, which is the word "Jue"; "young woman" is a girl, which is the word "miao"; grandson is the son of a woman, which is the word "good"; "齑" It is mashed ginger and garlic, and the "鑑mortar" is the container for pounding ginger and garlic. In the words of the time, it is a "suffering device". "Shou" plus "Xin" next to it is a variant of "ci". Therefore, the answer to "Yellow Silk Young Woman, Grandson Jiu Jiu" is "excellent words".
Because of this story, the "Cao'e Monument" is known as "China's earliest crossword puzzle". It is precisely because the Cao'e stele contains China's first acrostic puzzle that it is regarded as a totem of Chinese lingo and the originator of crossword puzzles. It is also because of the origin of this allusion that a special riddle grid "Cao E grid" is set up in the lantern riddles.
Liters and poets of all ages also like to come here to read and study this stone tablet. Luo Guanzhong and Cao Xueqin even wrote the story of Cao'e's monument into their works.
Modern calligrapher Fei Shengqian commented on "Cao E's Stele": "The original stele has been lost for a long time. It was passed down to the East in the second year of Jin Ping Dynasty and Wang Xizhi's book Cao E's Stele was written in small regular script. It includes "Qunyu Hall Tie" and "Yuezhou" "Shi's Tie" is one of the famous small regular scripts of the Jin and Tang dynasties. It can be said that it has both form and spirit. Ma's copy is published in "Calligraphy Dacheng". There is a photocopy in the Shanghai Ancient Books Bookstore, which can be used for reference when studying. refer to.
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