They are the Yanshi family, Yan Hui, a disciple of Confucius and the head of the seventy-two sages, and Yan Zhenqing, a great calligrapher, all members of this family!
Yan Zhenqing: Calligraphy is just a hobby. Education and war are my main businesses.
20 19 is the 70th birthday of New China. In such a sweet year, the deeds of countless revolutionary martyrs and historical figures once again attracted many eyes. For the book circle, 20 19 can be called "the year of Yan Zhenqing". At the end of 20 18, Amy McNair, an American sinologist, wrote a famous book on the history of overseas calligraphy in China. The discussion caused by this is in the ascendant in the calligraphy circle, and the name Yan Zhenqing becomes active again.
The winter of 20 18 has just passed, and the Spring Festival has not had time to give good news to people. 20 19 10, "Yan Zhenqing: Beyond Wang Xizhi's Famous Pen" hosted by the National Tokyo Museum attracted the attention of many calligraphy lovers at home and abroad, but I paid more attention to Yan Zhenqing himself than the calligraphy exhibition. As soon as this background investigation was done, I accidentally found Yan Zhenqing's.
Two of Yan Zhenqing's most famous original calligraphy works, one is a self-written confession of Taipei Museum, and the other is a commemorative manuscript with the same name as Wang Xizhi's Preface to Lanting, which is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing. Even if we only look at the names of these two articles, we can see that they have strong educational significance. One is to alert yourself, and the other is to mourn and educate the younger generation. Every word of them shows Yan Zhenqing's strict family education and Yan's arrogant character.
Yan Zhenqing's "Draft for Sacrificing a Nephew" is messy, which also reflects Yan Zhenqing's grief and indignation when he wrote this eulogy. After the "An Shi Rebellion" broke out, Yan Zhenqing contacted his brother Yan Gaoqing, the governor of Changshan, to crusade against the rebels. The following year, Shi Siming rebels captured Changshan, and Yan Gaoqing would rather die than surrender, cursing An Lushan and Shi Siming, and all the family of more than 30 people were martyred. After hearing the news, Yan Zhenqing wrote this famous poem "Sacrificing a Nephew" in grief. Yan Zhenqing himself was nearly 80 years old later.