Wei Changqing is a native of Changping County, Beijing, whose name is Songpo. His parents died in his early years, and he studied in a rural school with his uncle. At the age of 12, he was an apprentice in Liulichang. He writes beautifully, copying the tablet of "Magu Xiantan Ji", which can be confused. It is also good to write seal script and official script. He manages printing and can engrave Wu Changshuo style. But what I am best at is making "eight treasures inkpad". He once explained to the author his method of making inkpad, how to collect moxa, how to wash moxa, and how to adjust silver ink. He used fine vermilion, which was crushed and screened by an old reed, so it was of good quality. He also mixed agate and pearl powder, which made the inkpad bright red and shiny. "Eight treasures inkpad" refers to inkpad made of these precious raw materials, which is extremely valuable.
the key raw material for making inkpad is inkpad. Wei Changqing has a bottle of old stamp pad, which he got by chance. Once, when he was visiting the second-hand goods stall in Xuanwumen, he found a bottle of frozen old stamp oil on the stall, and the vendor didn't know what it was. Once upon a time, there were often such secondhand goods stalls outside Xuanwu Gate, Dong Xiao City and Deshengmen, selling old clothes, cultural relics books and exotic sundries. Wei Changqing is an expert, and he can see at a glance that this is the stamp oil that has been stored for hundreds of years in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Printing oil is to press castor oil into oil, store it in a sealed bottle, put it in the hot sun, and let it rain and wind. It will take several years before it can be used as printing oil. Once upon a time, a small bottle of yellow oil was often hung in the courtyard of a scholar's family to withstand the sun and rain, which was used as inkpad. Wei Changqing bought this bottle of oil for very little money. Every time he made inkpad, he only dug out a small piece of frozen oil, melted it with new castor oil, and then mixed it with other raw materials such as vermilion to make the famous "eight treasures inkpad" at that time. The ratio of oil to vermilion was figured out by his repeated experiments. If the mixture is appropriate, the seal on the painting and calligraphy can not spill oil and keep the color bright.
On one occasion, Wei Changqing asked the author to go to the Palace Museum to see paintings. Pointing to a painting by Tang Yin, he told the author that although the painting has passed more than 4 years and the paper has changed color, the seal on the painting is still bright and dazzling because the quality of the silver ink contained in it is good and the printing oil is good. All painters and painters pay attention to making good use of inkpad, so he pondered and studied the skill of making good inkpad all his life. He doesn't know how to make "Xiling Inpad", but his "Eight-treasure Inpad" monopolizes Beijing, and can also be comparable to "Xiling Inpad".
Wei Changqing is a good collector, because he runs a lettering shop, which contains all kinds of precious stone seals. He once opened the cupboard to show the author all kinds of precious stone seals such as chicken blood, Tian Huang and fish brain jelly, which are really dazzling and beautiful. For Wei Changqing, he loves steles as well as stone tablets. He is often seen walking in Liulichang street with steles under his arms or stone tablets in his hands. That is when he is inviting others to appreciate his steles or stone tablets.
Wei Changqing later contributed to the construction of the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square. At that time, Premier Zhou Enlai wrote an inscription for the monument. Under the design of Wei Changqing, Premier Zhou's inscription was enlarged and engraved on the huge granite by him. This is a very complicated process, but after it is done, he doesn't want any reward. Wei Changqing died in 1978 at the age of 75.
Wei Changqing has two disciples, the eldest disciple Xu Baitao, who is now 77 years old. He is also good at calligraphy and seal cutting, and often writes plaques for people. The second disciple, Li Wenxin, made several public performances in France, the United States and Japan after the "Cultural Revolution", which made him famous. Cuiwenge is the sales department of Beijing Seal Art Company in Liulichang. Its business is calligraphy and seal cutting. Besides Li Wenxin, its staff also includes several well-known calligraphers and seal carvers such as Yan Bo and Tie Bao.