The couplet "The house is small and full of knees, but the building is idle and decadent" must be a portrayal of Yang Du in his later years. At that time, Yang Du was hanging out under the door of green gang tycoon Du. In addition to meditation, he also devoted himself to calligraphy and was addicted to fiddling with ancient inscriptions. When I read this couplet ink again a few years ago, my understanding of his calligraphy seems to have improved, because I have a general understanding of this Hunan genius who was once praised by Fei Shikai as a "genius".
Yang Du studied in Hunan and studied under the famous live-in worker Renqiu, namely Wang Kaiyun, who was called "Xiangqi Old Man". Mr Xiang Qi was a master of Confucianism at that time, and his students were all over the world. Of course, the most famous are Xia Shoutian and Yang Du, and probably Qi Baishi later. Mr. Xiang Qi's calligraphy is mainly based on face and rice, which is rough and heavy. Yang Du's ci is obviously influenced by her husband and influenced by Yan's ci, but it is more open and generous, heavy and not dignified. In addition to Yan Shu and Beibei Monument, Yang Du also made great efforts in Zhang Qianbei and Fang Heng Monuments in Han Li, so his regular script, with lines like seal script, is round and moist, with generous structure, but it is not sluggish at all. Yang Du's calligraphy style, which is between Li Kai and Li Li, can be said to be unique, and his writing style is like expressing his mind without ups and downs. But between simplicity and stupidity, there is a clear and decadent atmosphere, which is very resistant to reading. For example, The House is as small as the knee, and the building writes books at will, which is basically the masterpiece of Yang Du's book style. Perhaps it was influenced by Yi Tingzhou and Jin Dongxin. Yang Du's pen is also suspected of "brushing words". When he was writing in Shanghai in his later years, it was said that every morning at home, he always had to grind a big bowl of ink for later use. It can be seen that "brushing words" cost a lot of money! But even so, Yang Du's words still make people feel old-fashioned and naive, and "brush" is not vulgar at all, which is probably what people often say about the bookishness in literati calligraphy. Source: Calligraphy Home, Calligraphy Home China Calligraphy Learning Network.
Yang Du has made great achievements in the fields of Confucian classics, history, poetry and literature. Many of his well-known poems have been told by later generations, such as: "If China dies, people in Hunan will die", "It's still necessary to brush a pen, and scholars will hold boundless books". Unfortunately, he studied Wang Yanyun's imperial studies, and it was his duty to assist and support extraordinary people to become emperors. As a result, Yang Du's life was full of ups and downs, wandering among warlords, bureaucrats, politicians and progressives. Especially as the head of the "Six Gentlemen of Tian 'an", he was accused for half his life. Fortunately, in his later years, he changed his mind, enlightened Buddhism and helped the world, and worked hard for the democratic revolution in Zhongshan. Later, through the intermediary of Zhou Enlai, he secretly joined the China * * * production party in the autumn of 1929, and finally made a pearl no longer dusty, revealing the last bright color!