Liu Gongquan was born in Huayuan (now Yaoxian County, Shaanxi Province) in the Tang Dynasty. When he was young, his handwriting was terrible, and he was often scolded by his husband and father for his crooked handwriting. Xiao Gongquan is very strong and determined to practice his handwriting well. After more than a year of hard work day and night, his calligraphy has made great progress. Compared with his friends of the same age in Liu Jiayuan, the word public rights has become the best in the village.
Since then, his big characters have been praised by classmates and teachers, and even the stern father has a smile on his face, which makes Xiao Gongquan feel very proud.
One day, Liu Gongquan and several friends laid a square table under the old mulberry tree near the village and held a "book meeting", agreeing that everyone would write a big word and watch each other's games. Gong Quan soon wrote an article. At this time, an old man selling tofu brain put down his burden and came to the mulberry tree to enjoy the cool. He watched the children practice calligraphy with great interest. Liu Gongquan handed over his own handwriting and said, "Grandpa, do you think my handwriting is good?" The old man took it and read it. It said, "I will write about Feng Fei's family background and dare to boast in front of others." The old man thought the child was too proud, frowned and hesitated for a while before saying, "I think this word is not well written and deserves to be praised in front of others." This word is like a tofu brain in my burden. It is soft and brittle, with no bones and no body. Is it worth bragging about in front of people? Several friends stopped to listen carefully to the old man's comments. Seeing that the old man had written his own handwriting in a mess, Xiao Gongquan said unconvinced, "People say my handwriting is good, but you say it's not good. Write a few words if you can. Let me see! "
The old man smiled brightly and said, "No, no! My old man is a clown and can't write well. However, some people write with their feet much better than you! Do not believe that you go to Huajing! "
Xiao Gongquan was angry at first, thinking that the old man was scolding him. Later, thinking of the old man's kind face and hearty laughter, and not liking to scold him, I decided to go to Huajing. Huajingcheng is more than 40 miles from Liu Jiayuan. The next day, he got up at five o'clock, quietly left a thousand dollars at home, carrying a bag and went to the capital of China alone.
As soon as Liu Gongquan entered Shoumen, the capital of China, he saw a white cloth cover hanging under a big locust tree in North Street, which read "calligraphy and painting soup" in three Chinese characters. The font is vigorous and powerful, and the brushwork is vigorous and natural. There were many people under the tree, and he squeezed into the crowd to see. He was dumbfounded. I saw a black and thin deformed old man, without arms, sitting barefoot on the ground, his left foot pressing the paper lying on the ground, and his right foot pressing a large sum of money, writing couplets with ease. His pen is like a god, and his words are like a galloping horse, which won the cheers of onlookers.
Xiao Gongquan realized that the old man selling tofu was not lying. He was so ashamed that he thought: Compared with Grandpa Calligraphy and Painting Soup, I am really far behind. He knelt down in front of the calligraphy and painting soup and said, "I want to worship you as a teacher." My name is Liu Gongquan. Please accept me. I hope the master can tell me the secret of writing ... "Calligraphy and painting soup quickly put down the pen in his foot, pulled up Hsiao Kung chuan with his foot and said," I am a lonely freak. I was born without hands. I can't survive. I want to lean on my feet? Kun is alive. Although you can write a few crooked words, how can you be a teacher? "
Small public rights repeatedly begged, calligraphy and painting soup spread a piece of paper on the ground, with the right foot pen, wrote:
"Write eight cylinders of water, inkstone dyed black;
If you win hundreds of parents, you will get a phoenix in Yi Long. "
The old man said to Gong Quan, "This is the secret of my writing. I have been writing with my feet since I was a child, and I have been practicing for more than fifty years. My family has a big vat that can hold eight barrels of water. Eight cylinders of water were used when grinding ink and practicing calligraphy. There is a waterlogging pool half an acre outside my wall. I wash the inkstone in the pool every day after writing. The water in the pool is black. However, my calligraphy practice is far from perfect! "
Liu Gongquan firmly engraved the old man's words in his heart. He deeply thanked the calligraphy and painting soup and reluctantly went back.
Since then, Liu Gongquan has worked hard to practice calligraphy, grinding thick cocoons on his hands and mending his elbows layer by layer. He learned the beauty and richness of Yan style, the openness and elegance of European style, the boldness and boldness of calligraphy and painting soup, and the elegance and charm of palace style. He often watches others pick sheep from cattle and study the skeleton structure, from which he gets inspiration. He also observed wild geese in the sky, fish swimming in the water, running elk and runaway wild horses, and integrated all kinds of beautiful forms of nature into calligraphy art.
Liu Gongquan finally became a famous calligrapher in Tang Dynasty. His word structure is rigorous, rigid and flexible, generous and open, which is cherished by the calligraphy world and is known as "Yan Liu Jin Gu". But Liu Gongquan was still very dissatisfied with his calligraphy until he was old. In his later years, he lived in seclusion in the stork valley (now called Liugou) in the south of Huajing City, specializing in calligraphy and diligently practicing calligraphy until his death at the age of 88.