Shi Guwen, also known as "Hunting" or "Engraving Stone in Yongyi", is the earliest existing stone carving in China. Shi Guwen discovered it in the early Tang Dynasty, and there are *** 10 pieces, which are engraved with a four-character poem of Da Zhuan, *** 10 pieces and * * * 7 18 words respectively.
Shi Guwen has no specific date, and its content was originally considered as a narrative of the hunting scene of Zhou Xuanwang, the 11th monarch of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Some people think it was written after King Huiwen of Qin and before Qin Shihuang. Some people think it is a work of the Han Dynasty or the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Among them, "pre-Qin theory" is recognized by most people.
Shi Guwen unearthed in Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province in the early Tang Dynasty is considered to be the stone drum of Qin in the Warring States Period. These stone drums are irregular in shape, with a large and flat bottom, a slightly small and round top and characters engraved around them. There are *** 10 stone drums, and each drum records words ranging from 9 lines to 15 lines, and each line is engraved with 5 to 7 words.
Poetry is engraved on the stone drum, including a four-character poem praising the beautiful hunting palace: My car is working, so is my horse; My car is very good and my horse is very precious. The font of the poem is seal script, and later generations call this writing on the stone drum "Shi Guwen".
Shi Guwen's fonts are of great value. They inherited the inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty and inspired the Qin seal script. Every pen that is folded horizontally and vertically is contained in the circle, and the pen is drawn vertically at the turning point and gradually extended downward. Its momentum is rough and clear, and it does have the powerful hegemonic momentum of the Qin Dynasty. However, it tends to be square and wide, with hidden front at the beginning and end of the pen, round and muddy, long and short knot, and moderate knife method. The ancient Mao Xiongxiu is the crown of ancient and modern times.
Shi Guwen, the master of the big seal script, created the small seal script, which plays a connecting role in the history of calligraphy. Shi Guwen was regarded as an important model of learning seal script by calligraphers in past dynasties, and was praised as "the first rule of calligraphers".
The stone drum is black and hard in color, rough in surface and carved into a drum shape, which is called "Qi". After the Han dynasty, the shape of the carved stone was transformed from a cylinder to a rectangle, and the surface was polished and smooth, which was suitable for lettering, so it was called a "monument". In ancient times, the length of the monument was generally between one meter and five or six meters, and it was usually divided into upper and lower parts. The name of the tablet is engraved on the top, decorated with dragons, tigers, birds and beasts, the surname and date of birth of the deceased are engraved on the bottom, and the names of future generations are engraved on the back. In order to prevent huge stone tablets from sinking into the soil, rectangular or square plane stone tablets are often made, and concave grooves are carved according to the width and thickness of the stone tablets, and the stone tablets are embedded in the grooves to increase the area at the bottom of the stone tablets and make them difficult to sink. The stone tablet placed at the bottom is called "the pedestal".
In the Tang dynasty, monuments or imperial monuments and pedestals were carved into a huge one. Dig a groove on the spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny spiny He is also known as Ba Xia, one of the nine sons of the Dragon King. Because he is strong, he likes to pick heavy things. According to this myth, later generations regard it as a monument.
Stone tablets are used to record historical events, or to commemorate people who have passed away, so as to pass them on to future generations. It usually stands in front of memorial places, in the courtyard of buildings, or in front of graves. The stone tablet stands on the ground as a "monument" and is placed in the tomb as an "epitaph".
In addition to stone carvings, there are inscriptions on the cliff wall, which are called "cliffs". In most places of interest, there are often poems by ancient celebrities and works written by tourists at will, which are engraved on cliffs.
Since the 5th century, there has been a trend of digging Buddha grottoes in many Buddhist holy places, including Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi, Longmen Grottoes in Henan and Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu, all of which are engraved with many Buddha statues. Among them, Longmen Grottoes is the largest statue and the longest inscription. About half of the more than 2,000 donor statues in the cave were carved before the 7th century.
There are more than 10 cliffs on Longmen Mountain, the most famous of which is "A Que Buddhist Shrine Monument" written by Chu Suiliang, a calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty, which is a famous stone carving in the Tang Dynasty. In addition, there are Heart Sutra and Nirvana Sutra, both of which are beautifully written in fine print in the early Tang Dynasty.
There are also ancient cliff-making characters on Mount Tai, the most famous of which are two places: one is the Stone Valley Buddhist Sutra, which was carved in the Northern Qi Dynasty; One is the Inscription on Mount Ji inscribed by Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. Both of them are profound and magnificent. Scriptures have been handed down from generation to generation, and they are all handwritten. In addition, the annotations of various manuscripts are different, which inevitably leads to confusion.
Confucian stone carvings are mainly used to carry forward their academic thoughts and have a great influence on the spread of other academics. Later, Buddhist stone carvings and Taoist stone carvings appeared. Although they are a little later than Confucian stone carvings, they are more magnificent in quantity and scale.
Taoist classic stone carvings are later than Confucianism, with the Tao Te Ching as the most important. Since the Tang Dynasty, there have been at least eight stone carvings of Tao Te Ching, the earliest of which was carved in 708 and stood in Yizhou, Hebei Province. The following Taoist stone carvings are: The Tao Te Ching Building in Xingtai, Hebei Province in 739 and the Tao Te Ching Building in Jiao Shan, Jiangsu Province in 880.
Ancient jade carving is also one of the forms of ancient books. In ancient times, jade was also a writing material. The rectangular jade slips written are called "Gui" and the A-shaped jade slips written are called "Water". The first-class jade is for the emperor's use, and the second-class jade is for the minister's use. Jade was very precious at that time and was favored by dignitaries. The earliest ancient jade with inscriptions came from Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan Province. Among them, there is a jade symbol engraved with three words, which may be a pass for Shang officials; Another jade ornament, engraved with the words 1 1 and written with two lines, was given to the courtiers by the Shang king. There is also a song written by jade fish and Zhu Wen to ward off evil spirits. Jade bamboo slips were used in ancient times as materials for meditation throne, writing sacrificial rites and signing letters. It is said that 170 official documents are engraved on the jade slips used by Emperor Gaozu to worship Zen.
The book of alliance was written on a stone when the ancient emperors and governors, governors and scholars bound each other for political interests and swore an oath to God. The Book of Alliance is also called Carrying Books. In ancient times, whenever there was a major event, there was an assembly, a convention and an oath to heaven. When taking the oath, first write a statement and kill the livestock. After the alliance is established, the alliance statement is made in duplicate, and one copy is left in the organization government that specializes in managing the oath. The other is buried underground. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, slavery was shaken, wars continued, the emperor's words were not fulfilled, the vassal activities were frequent, and the wind of swearing was strong.
1965, hundreds of jade slips were unearthed in the ruins of the capital of Jin State in Houma, Shanxi. The most articles are about 220 words. According to textual research, this is the "pledge book" of pledge activities in the Spring and Autumn Period, which is called the "pledge book for waiting for horses".
This is a special kind of written record, which provides important materials for studying the class struggle in the transition period from slave society to feudal society at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, and for understanding the ancient oath system and calligraphy art.
Because of the rise of stone carving, rubbings appeared. The words carved on the stone surface are concave on the front. First, soak a piece of tissue paper in alum and bletilla striata water and stick it on the surface of the stone. Brush the paper with a soft brush, then tap it gently to embed the paper in the strokes of the inscription. When the paper is dry, wrap the extension bag made of cotton cloth with fine cloth, dip it in ink, pat it evenly on the paper and peel it off, and you will get the same manuscript. This operation process is called extension. Those who use ink are called "Medog" and those who use red pigment are called "Zhu Tuo". Leaflets are called "rubbings", and when combined, they are called "rubbings". According to the records of Sui Shu Jingji Zhi, the rubbings in the royal library of Sui Dynasty include a volume of stone carvings collected by Qin Shihuang during his east tour, 34 volumes of Xiping Shijing, and 1 17 volumes of Wei San Shijing, and it is mentioned that Liang Shi's stone carvings have been lost in Sui Dynasty. It shows that rubbings appeared before Sui Dynasty.
It is generally believed that rubbings were widely used in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. According to the records of Official Records of the Old Tang Dynasty and Official Records of the New Tang Dynasty, there were also "eight calligraphers" in the court of the Tang Dynasty who specialized in inscriptions. For example, in 7 18, there were six calligraphers in Jixian Academy in the Tang Dynasty. The earliest extant rubbings are generally considered to be the hand-carved stone carving "The Name of Hot Springs" discovered by Emperor Taizong in Dunhuang, which was developed in 654. Dunhuang Grottoes also include the rubbings of the Diamond Sutra in the 9th century and the Huadu Temple Monument in Ou Yangxun. The rubbings have become a kind of books, and its main function in the later period is no longer to spread knowledge, but a special type of books by which calligraphy art spreads. Calligraphy lovers can master the techniques and art of famous ancient calligraphers from rubbings.
In short, since the pre-Qin period, these different forms of stone books have been continuously developed and perfected by later generations, occupying an important position in the history of the development of ancient books and having far-reaching influence.