In Chinese calligraphy art, what is a hard pen is introduced as follows:
Pen.
Hard-pen calligraphy is a kind of calligraphy art, which uses pens, gel pens, art pens, pencils and chalk as the main writing tools. Moreover, ink or powdery medium is considered as the main carrier. Hard-pen calligraphy can be divided into two kinds: hard-pen calligraphy art and practical hard-pen calligraphy. The former emphasizes the artistry of writing and pursues the beauty and individuality of writing fonts. The latter emphasizes practicality, and practical hard pen calligraphy is mainly running script.
According to years' research, there are more than 2, pages of Dunhuang hard-pen books identified, mostly in paper and silk, including Chinese and more than ten kinds of ancient people's flags. The main contents of the hard-copy book involve literary works, volumes of letters and Buddhist scriptures.
In p>1972, archaeologists in China discovered a bamboo pen tube in the Xixia site in Wuwei City, Gansu Province. It is very similar to a reed pen in shape and making materials, especially there is a gap in the center of the pen's tongue, which is in the shape of a double petal and a pointed tip, just like the current pen. In addition, a bamboo cone pen was found in a site in Dunhuang in 1991. On this basis, some scholars have asserted that there should be a pre-Qin hard pen era in the history of China calligraphy before the arrival of brush calligraphy in the Western Han Dynasty.