How did calligraphy develop in the late Qing Dynasty?

From Daoguang, the Qing Dynasty entered a period of decline, with a sharp decline in national strength and internal and external troubles. The aggression of western powers has been continuous and intensified. The civil war also broke out and lasted for a long time. During the 90 years of the late Qing Dynasty, there was almost nothing remarkable about cultural construction. Calligraphy art is indeed a rare case. More specifically, the calligraphy of steles replaced the calligraphy of iron and blood, which prevailed for nearly a thousand years, and thus dominated the whole country, reaching the peak of "one son, three feet, ten rooms in one club, writing Wei Ti" (A Talk on Guang Yi Zhou Shuang by Kang Youwei). Analysis of the reasons, three aspects make it so.

First of all, after sorting out the epigraphy of Ganjia, Qian Daxin, Wang Chang, Weng Fanggang and others completed the main works of epigraphy. It has become the written material of Daoguang calligrapher system.

Secondly, Bao created Yi Zhou Shuang Tan with his own practice on the basis of Ruan Yuan's theory of northern steles, which further developed and perfected Ruan's theory of steles and made it deeply rooted in people's hearts. Then Kang Youwei's treatise "Talk about Guang Yi and Zhou Shuang" brought the idea of the Northern Monument to the extreme.

Thirdly, with the large-scale excavation of Weibei in the north, rich and colorful works of art such as epitaphs, statues, stone buildings and inscriptions have reappeared. In addition, at the end of 19, the discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Anyang Yin Ruins and the discovery of Han and Jin documents in the Western Regions immediately aroused the interest of calligraphers and scholars and was included in the research category of epigraphy. At this time, the scope of calligraphers involved in inscriptions has been greatly expanded compared with the past, from the research and study of seal script and official script to the exploration and imitation in the field of regular script, and they are committed to simulating the effect of seal cutting with soft pens, which brings new methods and interests to calligraphy art, and then promotes the creation of cursive script, so that cursive script can get rid of the traditional pattern of calligraphy and carry forward innovation.