Empress Dowager Cixi is a famous figure in Chinese history and can be said to be a household name. So, what is his cultural background?
Looking at the unofficial records of recent generations or the writings of modern people, the Empress Dowager Cixi is often described as a knowledgeable and versatile talented woman, and the media even praised her for "stunning everyone with her beautiful paintings." However, a closer look at the secret edicts written by her and the Buddhist scriptures she copied will reveal that not only does she have no calligraphy and painting skills, but her cultural level is limited, and her edicts are full of typos. Various historical materials have fully proved that many calligraphy and painting works that are now circulated in the world and bear the seal of "Empress Dowager Cixi's Imperial Brush" were actually written by others.
Empress Dowager Cixi is a famous figure in Chinese history and can be said to be a household name. So, what is his cultural background? There are historical records: Cixi was very knowledgeable
Looking at recent unofficial history or contemporary writings and papers, the Empress Dowager Cixi is often described as a knowledgeable and versatile talented woman. She not only admires her superb political methods, but also knows how to I was impressed by his profound knowledge and exquisite attainments in poetry, calligraphy and painting.
Very knowledgeable. De Ling, who once served Empress Dowager Cixi, said that Cixi did have some research on ancient Chinese history and the more famous barnyard history or legends, which was beyond the reach of ordinary people. Carl, an American female painter who once painted a portrait of the Empress Dowager Cixi, said that she was not only able to write poems, but also her writing was fresh, extraordinary, and quite "general style"; she could also write articles in classical Chinese, "writing quickly and writing with endless words," She is such a rare talent... She can recite poems and prose by famous ancient writers, as well as many family treasures. " Yehenala Genzheng, the great-nephew of the Empress Dowager Cixi, said that she was very fond of literature, history and painting. It is said that she was 6 years old. She can fluently recite the "Three Character Classic" and other texts, "including Tang poetry and Song lyrics, both in Manchu and Chinese." "In addition to political talent, Cixi also has extraordinary literary and painting talents."
Works in ancient poetry. Xu Ke clearly described Empress Dowager Cixi's "work examination poems" in "Qing Bai Lei Chao". Judging from the two examination poems contained in it, not only the text contrast is neat, but also the artistic conception is very artistic.
Good at calligraphy and painting. The British people Puland and Bai Kehaosi praised the Empress Dowager Cixi for not only "being able to understand the general trends of ancient and modern times to control chaos", "but also being good at poetry, calligraphy and painting". It is also recorded in "Qing Bai Lei Chao" that she was "good at calligraphy and painting" and "liked to write big Chinese calligraphy, and also copied Dharma calligraphy and wrote small regular script. She especially liked to paint ancient pines, and her pen was quite old." Fei Xingjian, a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, also said that her calligraphy was "slender". The American painter Carl highly praised her for her "ability to write big calligraphy. Those who received the gift all cherished the same jade, and regarded it as a rare treasure in the world... The Queen Mother's calligraphy, even though she was a member of the Han Garden, was nothing more than" "the paintings she painted" The colorful flowers and plants are as vivid as life, no less famous than those of famous artists." Xin Xiuming, an eunuch in the late Qing Dynasty, recalled: "The Queen Mother liked to write the characters 'dragon', 'tiger', 'luck' and 'shou', six feet or eight feet, which were very bold."
From 2002 to 2011, many domestic The calligraphy and painting exhibitions were held every time, and Empress Dowager Cixi's calligraphy and painting works were on display. Some media praised her "paintings that astonished everyone". The contrast between Cixi's original handwriting and the above-mentioned calligraphy and paintings is huge.
However, some of the original handwritings of Empress Dowager Cixi that we have seen are in great contrast with the above-mentioned calligraphy and paintings.
In the 11th year of Xianfeng's reign, before Empress Dowager Cixi and Prince Gong Yi D jointly launched the Xinyou coup, she personally drafted a secret edict to dismiss Sushun and others.
From this secret edict, we can easily see that the cultural quality of Empress Dowager Cixi was actually not high. First, the handwriting is crooked and there is no sign of any calligraphy skills. It is far different from the large calligraphy of Empress Dowager Cixi's royal pen that is said to be in the world. Second, her literary and cultural foundation is not good. There are 237 words in the secret edict, including 12 typos, as many as 16 places, and many of the sentences are not fluent. For example, “After entering Chengcheng, I will send another message to Prince Gong and Prime Minister to praise Xiang Xiang for his political affairs. I ask my brothers to discuss whether I should do it or not.” There are 4 obvious typos in the 23 words. Third, she herself knew that her cultural level was limited, so she included the words "ask the seven brothers (referring to Yi X) to rewrite it" in the secret edict.
Four years later, at the end of March in the fourth year of Tongzhi, the Empress Dowager Cixi's education and calligraphy had not improved much.
After comparing it with the secret edict of 1861, we found that the handwriting of this edict was also crooked and the writing quality had not improved. There are only 226 words in the edict, and there are 13 typos. In the previous secret edict, she repeatedly mistakenly wrote "quanli chaozheng" as "quanli chaozheng" and "zaixingguizheng" as "zaixingguizheng". She also knew that her writing was poor, so she "prepared the edict first and waited for it", and then sent it to Wo Ren, a bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion, Zhou Zupei, a bachelor of Ti Ren Pavilion, and others, and said: "There are many different words and phrases in the edict." If you don't understand it, you can polish it!"
Cixi's Handwriting
The "Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra" copied by the Empress Dowager Cixi in the 30th year of Guangxu's reign has improved the level of the previous edict. , but the font structure is still sluggish and loose, and the writing power is immature. Comparing the above authentic works with the vertical scrolls with big characters such as "Fu", "Shou", "Dragon" and "Tiger" that are said to be written by the Empress Dowager Cixi, anyone can tell at a glance that the two were definitely not written by the same person.