Oracle bone inscriptions are the earliest mature writings in China that can be tested so far. They were produced in the Yin and Shang Dynasties. Because the scientific and cultural level of slave society was much more ignorant and inferior than that of modern civilized society, the court nobles at that time were superstitious about ghosts and gods, believing that they could predict the future. Therefore, when encountering major events such as birth, old age, illness, death, and war diseases, you must consult the gods. They drilled and burned holes in tortoise shells or animal bones, and performed divination based on the criss-crossing crack lines to judge good or bad luck. The words about the purpose and results of divination carved on tortoise shells or animal bones are called oracle bone inscriptions. Because they are divination words, oracle bone inscriptions are also called "divination inscriptions".
Dynasties change, so many heroes and beauties have turned to dust, and oracle bone inscriptions have been buried in the distant past. If epigraphy Wang Yirong hadn’t contracted malaria, perhaps oracle bone inscriptions would have stayed alive forever. The prosperity continues to be lonely.
In the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Yirong, an official in Beijing, contracted malaria and consulted famous doctors. According to the doctor's advice, he needed to take "Dragon Bone". He sent people to search all the pharmacies in the capital, and finally bought this traditional Chinese medicine at Heniantang at the entrance of the vegetable market outside Xuanwumen. When he opened the paper package and took a look, he found various strange symbols engraved on the "keel". With a solid foundation in epigraphy, Wang Yirong determined that these symbols were definitely not natural lines, and looked very regular, as if they were made by man. Sensitive, he sent someone to buy all the "dragon bones" in the shop despite being plagued by malaria. Then he and his friend Liu E, the author of "Lao Can's Travels", conducted research and appraisal and concluded that they were from the Shang Dynasty. The relics have since revealed the mystery of China's oldest writing. After that, epigraphers Luo Zhenyu, Wang Guowei and some historians conducted research on the Xiaotun Village area in Wuli, northwest of Anyang, Henan, and believed that this was the location of Yin, the capital of the Shang Dynasty. Since 1928, the state has organized scientific excavations more than ten times and unearthed more than 100,000 pieces of oracle bone inscriptions, discovering a history of more than 270 years from the move of the capital by King Pangeng of Yin to the demise of King Zhou, providing extremely precious information for the study of history, ancient characters and calligraphy art. It also advanced China's written history by more than a thousand years, changing the then-academia theory that "there was no history before the Eastern Zhou Dynasty."
The oracle bone inscriptions unearthed from the Yin Ruins allow us to understand the cultural features of that long-ago era and have a clear understanding of the origin of Chinese characters. The oracle bone inscriptions are mature, exquisitely carved, and have a well-proportioned and stable structure. It was born out of painting graphics, with a relatively large proportion of pictograms. From the glyph point of view, it already has the basic shape of the square Chinese characters of later generations, and initially laid the foundation for the line art of Chinese characters. It not only embodies the "six methods" of character creation such as pictograms, referring to things, understanding, phonetic sounds, pretense, and transfer, but also embodies the "three elements" of calligraphy such as brush use, structure, and composition. Its vivid pictograms and clumsy brushstrokes opened up a clear spring for China's unique calligraphy art, which inspired later generations of Chinese calligraphy to take this as its source and evolve into a system over several generations. Therefore, oracle bone inscriptions are also known as "the ancestor of Chinese calligraphy".
If oracle bone inscriptions laid the line foundation of Chinese calligraphy, then Zhongding inscriptions consolidated the frame structure of square characters. Different from oracle bone inscriptions, Zhongding inscriptions are not inscriptions carved on oracle bones during the Yin and Shang Dynasties, but inscriptions carved or cast on bronze vessels since the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Because the ancients called "copper" "gold", this kind of writing is also called "bronze inscriptions". Different from the contents of oracle bone inscriptions, most of the records recorded in bronze inscriptions are the merits of the emperor, the laws and regulations of the country, the words and deeds of the princes, and the major expeditions, battles, and sacrificial activities at that time.
Bronze inscriptions evolved from oracle bone inscriptions, and are not much different from oracle bone inscriptions in structure, so they are collectively called "Jiajin inscriptions"; from a philological point of view, they all belong to the system of large seal script, or It is called "Chenwen", which is the font that was later standardized by Zhou Xuanwang's Taishi Zhou.
However, compared with oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions consciously omit the pictorial elements in oracle bone inscriptions, and the descriptive characteristics of characters are also significantly weakened. Some characters that directly describe the image of things themselves in oracle bone inscriptions have evolved into lines intersecting in bronze inscriptions. For example, in oracle bone inscriptions, most of the characters representing animals such as "dog", "hog", "rabbit", "tiger" and "elephant" are also drawn with They have a head, a tail and a belly, but in bronze inscriptions they all omit the belly part, and the expression of the head and tail is not very obvious. In terms of writing method, the writing of bronze inscriptions has been pursuing a neat and standardized external style. The vertical lines are automatically arranged, the horizontal directions are consciously arranged, and the sizes of the fonts are also closer. In terms of character creation, the proportion of pictophonetic characters in bronze inscriptions has rapidly increased and is obviously dominant. This means that bronze inscriptions have basically broken away from the shackles of pictographic pictures and are moving closer and closer to pure linear symbols. Because the bronze inscriptions are carved or cast on the bell and tripod, the skill of the knife carving has been fully exerted. It is dignified, simple, steady and vigorous, which not only has a profound impact on the art of calligraphy in later generations, but also directly affects the art of seal cutting in the future. . Today, there are not only calligraphers who specialize in bronze inscriptions, but also seal carvers who specialize in bronze inscriptions.
Oracle bone inscriptions were popular in the Yin and Shang Dynasties, bell and tripod inscriptions were popular in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and stone drum inscriptions were popular in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. These three kinds of characters were inherited one after another, and finally established the artistic characteristics of Chinese calligraphy that pursues both beautiful lines and beautiful lines.
The Stone Drum Inscriptions are the earliest stone inscriptions in my country discovered in Fengxiang, Shaanxi during the Tang Dynasty. Because it was engraved on 10 drum-shaped stones, it was also called "Shiguwen" and was known as the "ancestor of stone carvings". During the Daguan period of the Northern Song Dynasty, all the stone drums were moved to Kaifeng, the capital. By the time of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, he ordered The inscriptions were filled with gold to show their preciousness. After the Yuan Dynasty, these stone drums were moved to Beijing and are now in the Palace Museum. There is a four-character poem, ***10, whose rhetoric, rhyme, and poetic style are similar to those of the Book of Songs. Later generations concluded that these 10 poems originally had more than 700 words. There are only more than 200 characters left, and the content mainly describes the hunting expeditions of the Qin Dynasty. Therefore, the stone drum inscriptions are also called "Hunting Jie".
The stone drum inscriptions are of the large seal script, with the upper part inheriting from the Western Zhou Dynasty bronze inscriptions, and the lower part being inspired by the Qin Dynasty small seal script. Both the beginning and end of the writing are sharp, round and vigorous, the structure is lengthened and shortened, well-proportioned, ancient and majestic, tending to be square and rich, "If the stars are bright in the sky, they are all wonderful." The stone drum inscriptions are more regular and concise than the bronze inscriptions. , the frame structure is also more symmetrical and sparse. It is a transitional font that evolves from large seal to small seal but has not yet been finalized. Since it is carved on a round stone drum, its strokes are mostly curved and the font size is consistent, which makes it look simple, natural and dignified. Fluency.
From the perspective of artistic development, from oracle bone inscriptions to bronze inscriptions and then to stone inscriptions, the meaning of calligraphy is gradually highlighted. Oracle bone inscriptions are mainly used for records and have practical value; Cast on ritual vessels and weapons, although they are decorative, they are inconvenient to view: unlike those bells and tripods that are sometimes cast on the bottom, carved in the belly, or hidden at the bottom of the lid, the stone drum inscriptions are clearly visible and easy to appreciate, and they have Therefore, Shiguwen is regarded as an important model for practicing seal script by calligraphers of all dynasties, so it is known as "the first rule of calligraphers". The calligraphers of the Tang Dynasty, such as Yu Shinan, Ouyang Xun and Chu Suiliang, all highly regarded Shiguwen. Later calligraphers of all dynasties regarded it as the rule of early seal script. The influence of Shigu Wen on the calligraphy world was greatest in the Qing Dynasty. The famous seal calligraphers Yang Yisun and Wu Changshuo mainly relied on Shigu Wencai to form their own styles in the Ming Dynasty. Jia Anguo has collected 10 kinds of Shigu text rubbings, and calls himself "Shiguzhai". Among them, the best are three rubbings from the Northern Song Dynasty: "Pioneer", "Zhongquan" and "Hunting Jin", which have the largest number of words in the world. The rubbings have all been lost to Japan.