How did Dong Qichang's life experience affect his calligraphy?

Dong Qichang (1555 ~ 1636), a native of Huating (now Songjiang, Shanghai), was named Sion and Sibai. In the seventeenth year of Wanli (1589), he was elected as Jishi Shu, studied in imperial academy, and served as a lecturer of the Prince. Three years later, he was edited by the Hanlin Academy. He used to be the deputy envoy of the inspection department of Huguang and Fujian. In the second year of the Apocalypse (1622), he was a bachelor, studying the record of gods, and the following year was the history of the Ministry of Rites. At that time, eunuchs were in power, and in order to avoid unexpected disasters, they demanded to return. In the fourth year of Chongzhen (163 1), he became an official again, and was appointed as the minister of rites, in charge of Zhan's affairs. In seven years, the court added him as the prince of Taibao and gave him an official position. He returned to his hometown and died two years later. In seventeen years, I gave it to Prince Taifu and Shi.

Dong Qichang is brilliant, personable and not well-known. Works, poems, Zen, fine collection, calligraphy and painting are all masters.

Like Wen Zhiming, Dong Qichang was born in calligraphy after suffering from it. He once described his experience of studying books before middle age, saying, "Being a county magistrate in Jiangxi, putting Hongxi first and putting the rest of the books second, is naturally very angry." . At the beginning, I studied Yan Pingyuan's "Many Pagodas" and changed to Yongxing. Considering that the books in the Tang Dynasty were inferior to those in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, they imitated Huang Tingjing's and Zhong Yuanchang's manifesto, power and life table, returning postscript, and posting of soldiers. Every three years, he claimed to force the ancients to stop literary criticism, and Zhu Xizhe swept it out of the corner of his eye. Because of the calligrapher's divinity, no one did it. Compared with visiting Jiaxing, I saw the original collection of Xiangzi's family in Beijing and the official slave station of the right army in Jinling. I realized that I used to judge myself ... but since then, it has gradually become smaller ... for more than 20 years, I have studied the Song Dynasty, and I still get the answer. "("Essays on Painting Zen Rooms ") From this self-report of Dong Qichang, we can know that since he painstakingly studied the calligraphy books of the Tang Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty, he was young and frivolous, instead of paying attention to everyone like Wen Zhiming and Zhu Yunming, he moved him and made him truly realize his arrogance. It was in Jiaxing that he saw the original work of Xiang, who is known as the first collector in the next season; In Jinling, he saw the original work of Wang Xizhi. Until then, Dong Qichang "began to know the painstaking years" ("Rong Tai Bieji"), and he realized that it was difficult to learn the ancient law without seeing the original.

Dong Qichang was lucky when he was young. Not only did he get to know the giants of Xiang and other collectors, but he was also appreciated by famous collectors such as Han and Wu, and was able to lend their ancient French book titles, such as the original silk books such as Lu Ji's Ping Fu Tie and Cao E's obituary collected by Han. Coupled with Dong Qichang's meticulous appraisal, which collectors are proud of, and his increasing wealth, these rare opportunities and rare masterpieces have broadened his horizons and improved his calligraphy.