Calligraphy with slight gaps and white spaces in the strokes is called "Feibai calligraphy". The origin of Fei Baishu!
Cai Yong (133-192) was a famous calligrapher and writer in the Eastern Han Dynasty. One day, he sent the article he had written to the Hongdu School. While waiting for an interview outside the door, he saw several craftsmen using brooms dipped in lime water to wash the walls. The brooms were sparse and could not soak up too much lime. There is water, and the wall surface is not smooth enough. As soon as the craftsmen brushed it, there were many traces of brooms on the unevenly painted wall surface, which was quite interesting.
Cai Yong looked at it and seemed to see some "knowledge". He thought that when he wrote on weekdays, he always dipped his pen in enough ink, and the strokes he wrote were all full of ink. Black, if like craftsmen painting walls, let a few strands of white appear in the black strokes, wouldn't it be more vivid and natural?
Thinking of this, as soon as he handed in the article, he rushed home impatiently, prepared his pen and ink, and started "painting" with his pen while imagining the scene of craftsmen painting the wall. Unexpectedly, it looks easy but is difficult to do. Either the "whiteness" cannot be shown, or the "whiteness" shown is too stiff.
After repeated study and practice again and again, Cai Yong finally mastered the appropriateness in aspects such as the amount of ink dipped in, the amount of force used, and the speed of writing. He wrote with silky white strokes in black ink, writing The printed words also appear more elegant, lively and full of interest. The Hongdu School established during the period of Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty can be regarded as the earliest university of literature and art in the history of our country.
Liu Hong, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, once personally wrote the fifty chapters of "Huang Xi Pian" and invited a group of people who were able to write poems and essays among the students of Taixue to join the Hongdu School. People who wrote ruler slips and Gongshu Niao seal were also gathered under the door. Therefore, Hongdumen School became a place for literary and artistic exchange and education, and provided a place for those who were good at calligraphy. Summary:
The calligraphy style pioneered by Cai Yong is called "Fei Bai Shu", also called "Fei Silk", which is not a calligraphy style written in white. The so-called "feibai" means "when it is like silk hair, it is called white, and when its power is flying, it is called flying" (Huang Bosi's words in the Northern Song Dynasty). It can be said that "Fei Bai Shu" is unique in the jungle of traditional calligraphy art, and also demonstrates the artistic charm of calligraphy's coexistence of reality and reality.