Appreciation of Cheng Miao, a calligrapher in Qin and Han Dynasties
Qin and Han calligraphers Cheng Miao 1 Pictures
Figure 2 Qin and Han calligrapher Cheng Miao
Figure 3 Qin and Han calligrapher Cheng Miao
Figure 4 Qin and Han calligrapher Cheng Miao
Cheng Miao's profile
Cheng Miao, the word Cen, was born in Xiazhai (now north of Weinan, Shaanxi) in the Qin Dynasty. He was a small official in the Qin Dynasty. He once worked as a county magistrate and was responsible for paperwork and other errands. Because of his honest temperament, he offended Qin Shihuang and was put into Yunyang prison. It is a pity that he spent several years in prison, doing nothing and wasting his time. He thought, why not do something to forgive his sins?
Reform background
However, what can you do in prison? This problem has been bothering Cheng Miao. At that time, Qin Shihuang was implementing the policy of "the same language is not named".
The Song Dynasty carved a grand view and posted Cheng Miao's official script (now called regular script) in the Qin Dynasty.
The Song Dynasty carved a grand view and posted Cheng Miao's official script (now called regular script) in the Qin Dynasty.
Take Xiao Zhuan as the national unified text. At that time, there were many government affairs and complicated documents. Of course, it is much more convenient to write official documents with seal script, but sketching is inconvenient and time-consuming and laborious, which affects the work speed and efficiency. Cheng Miao used to be a prison guard, and he knew that it was difficult for Xiao Zhuan to adapt to official duties. Wouldn't it be better if he could create a new book style that is easy to identify and fast to write? With this idea, Cheng Miao racked his brains to ponder. So, he devoted himself to the study of font structure in prison and began to learn to write.
Study hard
Cheng Miao collected all kinds of calligraphy styles circulated by the people, studied them with great concentration and improved them one by one. At the same time, after ten years of processing and sorting, he finally created 3,000 official script characters that are easy to write and identify. He dedicated this achievement to Qin Shihuang. Qin Shihuang worked very hard when he was young, and he was a man who paid great attention to work efficiency. After the unification of the world, there are so many political, cultural and economic reforms to be promoted. He works day and night and forgets to eat and sleep. Historical records? The chronicle of Qin Shihuang said: "Everything in the world, big or small, depends on the world. Up to now, books have been measured by weighing stones. They are presented day and night, and there is no rest without presentation. " In other words, every time Qin Shihuang gave an order, it was based on stone (120 kg), and he would not rest until he had finished batch of a stone. At that time, paper had not been invented, and official documents were all engraved on bamboo slips. 120 Jin bamboo slips, about the height of a person, ask yourself. Even if they didn't finish it, they couldn't rest until late at night. It can be seen that Qin Shihuang was really working day and night.
The emergence of Qin Li.
Qin Shihuang was very happy when he read the words compiled by Cheng Miao. He not only pardoned Cheng Miao's sin, but also made him an official and promoted the empire. Because Cheng Miao's official position is very small and belongs to "Li", people call his words "Li". At the same time, "official" also refers to "petty official", that is, a small official in charge of documents, so in ancient times, Li Shu was also called "literary assistant". This kind of official script is characterized by flat width, simple structure, straight strokes and waves. Compared with Xiao Zhuan, it is convenient to write and easy to identify. Later, in order to distinguish it from the official script of Han dynasty, it was called Qin official script.
The appearance of Qin Li is a major change in the history of Chinese characters and even calligraphy, and it has gradually become the dominant official calligraphy style. Since then, Chinese characters have bid farewell to ancient Chinese characters that lasted for more than 3,000 years and started modern Chinese characters. Formally, they gradually changed from graphics to strokes, from pictographs to symbols, and from complexity to simplicity. In principle, Chinese characters are ideographic, ideographic and pictographic, and the font structure no longer has the pictographic meaning of ancient Chinese characters, but is completely symbolic. The official script created in the early Qin dynasty has the meaning of seal script in structure and pen use, with different lengths and inconspicuous waves. It can be said that it is just a scribble writing of seal script. Until the Eastern Han Dynasty, great changes have taken place in the official script, with flat structure, vigorous strokes, more neat and exquisite, forming a unique font of official script in the Han Dynasty. Han Li's writing style is rich and varied, which has influenced and promoted the formation of regular script and other styles. Until now, official script is still a commonly used font and exists as a calligraphy art.