Zheng Banqiao's Calligraphy Appreciation

Zheng Banqiao (1693- 1765), whose real name is Zheng Xie, is Kerou, Lian and Hao. Banqiao, also known as Mr Banqiao, is a native of Xinghua, Jiangsu, and his ancestral home is Suzhou. Kangxi scholar, a juren in the tenth year of Yongzheng, a scholar in the first year of Qianlong (1736). Officials in Fanxian and Weixian counties in Shandong Province have made great achievements. Later, they lived in Yangzhou and made a living by selling paintings. They are important representatives of "Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics". They are good at calligraphy and painting, and they are good at painting bamboo and stone. They are also famous honest officials. There are many legends about him in the history of China, which are well known to women and children.

Zheng Banqiao's calligraphy mixed with official script is called "six methods and half a script", that is, "Hanbafen" (a kind of official script) is mixed with running script and cursive script to form a unique "Banqiao style". "Six and a half minutes" is a ridiculous title given by Zheng Banqiao for his original calligraphy. There is a kind of "eight-part calligraphy method" with more strokes in official script, that is, the so-called "six-part and a half", which generally refers to official script, but it is mixed with fonts such as kai, xing, Li and seal, so some new elements have been added to his calligraphy, which is innovative in brushwork and structure. In a word, his calligraphy is euphemistic of both official and other books.

Then Zheng Banqiao's knot words also have their own characteristics. Throughout his whole calligraphy works, there are both structural features of official script and running script. Therefore, in the whole calligraphy, there are both the structure of official script and the structure of running script, and the two are mixed together, and sometimes the brushwork of official script with silkworm head and goose tail appears. Although seemingly messy, due to Zheng Banqiao's ingenuity, the two can be integrated, increasing the richness of brushwork.

Zheng Banqiao's calligraphy style has its own characteristics. Later generations called it "rocky pile", which means it is different from the previous generation's calligraphy style. This is an ingenious method. The contrast between the size of characters is obvious, and the contrast between the thickness of strokes is also very strong. He can be interspersed with size, length, Fiona Fang, fat and thin, and dense, such as "littering stones", which contains the law of vertical placement. It seems to follow the flow of the pen, but the holistic view produces a sense of rhythm of jumping and agility. Sometimes a vigorous official script font, and sometimes an elegant and natural cursive script font, the composition and layout are completely arbitrary, and it can also be said that it is intentional to write first. Through the matching of fonts and the echo of strokes, Zheng Banqiao's calligraphy composition is unique and gives people a refreshing feeling.

Of course, due to Zheng Banqiao's strong personality, later generations have different views, and later generations have not learned much. Because Zheng Banqiao's handwriting has personal habits after all, it is difficult to get rid of his calligraphy style once he learns it, so Zheng Banqiao's calligraphy has certain limitations because of its strong personality. However, Zheng Banqiao's innovative spirit and eclectic spirit in the history of calligraphy are still worth learning.