The second running script: Yan Zhenqing Tang's "Sacrifice to My Nephew".
The third running script: "Huangzhou Cold Food Post" by Su
The best running script in the world:
On March 3rd, the 9th year of Yonghe in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 353), Wang Xizhi and some scholars living in Yin Shan came to Lanting to hold a "tomb-repairing" ceremony, and everyone improvised many poems. Preface to Lanting is a preface written by Wang Xizhi for this poem. The Preface was deeply influenced by the thoughts of Laozi and Zhuangzi believed by the southern gentry at that time and occupied a certain position in the history of literature. The full text has 28 lines and 324 words, and its composition, structure and brushwork are all perfect. Wang Xizhi's running script was unique at that time, and later generations commented that "the font of the right army has changed." Its heroic spirit is natural, so it is considered as a model from ancient times to the present. Calligraphers of all ages called the Preface to Lanting the best running script in the world.
There are all kinds of anecdotes about Preface to Lanting. It is said that after Wang Xizhi finished writing, he was very satisfied with his work. He has rewritten several articles, but he failed to reach this level, so he left it as a family heirloom for future generations. Later, it fell into the hands of Emperor Taizong. Among them is the legend of "Xiao Yi made Lanting" sent by Emperor Taizong ... Emperor Taizong appreciated Wang Xizhi's calligraphy and ordered courtiers Zhao Mo, Feng Chengsu and others to carefully copy several paintings. He likes to give copies or rubbings of these stone carvings to some royal families and minions, so at that time, this "inferior original" copy was also "expensive in Luoyang". In addition, there are Ou Yangxun, Chu Suiliang, Yu Shinan and other famous hands handed down from ancient times, and the original works are said to have been handed down to the world as sacrificial objects.
Today's so-called "Preface to the Lanting Pavilion", in addition to several copies of the Tang Dynasty, stone rubbings are also extremely precious. The most legendary is Song Tuoding's Preface to Wu Lanting. Both manuscripts and rubbings are quite convincing for the study of Wang Xizhi, and they are also extremely valuable materials for the study of calligraphy in past dynasties. In China's calligraphy classics, there are countless materials about Preface to Lanting. Whether the Preface to the Lanting Pavilion was written by Wang Xizhi has always been controversial, and there was a fierce public opinion in the late Qing Dynasty and 1960s. Here are the replicas of Feng Chengsu in the Tang Dynasty.
The second running script in the world: Yan Zhenqing
The manuscript for offering sacrifices to nephews was written by Yan Zhenqing in cursive ink. Length 28.2 cm, width 72.3 cm, 25 lines, ***230 words. This article was originally a draft eulogy written by Yan Zhenqing for his nephew Ji Ming who was killed by An Lushan. This work was not originally written as a calligraphy work. Due to extreme grief and indignation, it is difficult to calm down, and there are many mistakes and mistakes, which are sometimes smeared. But it is precisely because of this that the word is dignified and unsmiling, full of charm, round and magnificent brushwork and magnificent posture. In the Yuan Dynasty, Zhang Jingyan wrote an inscription saying, "I thought it was better to write than to draw up. Coverage is an official work, although there is no deadline, it is always a request; Letters are quite indulgent when they are on a whim; Moreover, the drafting was unintentional, and it was his palm that was forgotten. It's great to see it here. " In Yuan Dynasty, Xian Yushu commented that this post was "the second running script in the world". In this original post, all the places where you are thirsty and holding a pen are vivid, which can make people see the process of writing a pen and the wonderful change of the nib, which is of great benefit to learning cursive. The original is now in the Palace Museum in Taiwan.
The third largest running script in the world
Huangzhou cold food poem post, 25 lines *** 129 words, is the representative work of Su Shi's running script. This is a poem to send a revival, and it is a sigh of life caused by Su Shi's relegation to Huangzhou for three years. The poem is desolate and affectionate, expressing Su Shi's melancholy and lonely mood at this time. The calligraphy of this poem is produced in this mood and situation. The whole calligraphy is full of ups and downs, radiant and unrestrained, and there is no shortage of pens. Huangzhou Cold Food Poetry Post has a great influence in the history of calligraphy, which is called "the third running script in the world" and is also a leader in Su Shi's calligraphy works. As Huang Tingjian wrote after this poem: "This book was also written by Yan, Yang and Li Xitai, which is not necessarily the same as those who tried to restore Dongpo.
Interpretation: I have eaten cold food three times since I came to Huangzhou. Cherish spring, want to keep spring, and manage spring from self-management to no one regrets. This year also suffered from continuous rain, for two months, the climate was bleak as autumn. Sniff begonia flowers and swallow branches of snow. Sneaking around in the middle of the night is really something. He Shu's sick teenager had a white start.
The riverside is surging, as if to rush into the portal, and the fierce attack of heavy rain seems not bad. The hut is like a fishing boat, in a misty water cloud. The empty kitchen is cooking some cold dishes, and damp reeds are burning at the bottom of the stove. I didn't know it was a cold food, but I saw crows burning the remaining paper money. The emperor's palace gate has nine floors, which is far-reaching and difficult to return. The tombs of ancestors in the distance cannot be mourned. I just want to imitate Ruan Ji and cry out in despair, but I am disheartened and unwilling to rekindle.
The gloomy images such as hut, empty bag, black paper and grave in the poem render a gloomy and sad artistic conception. It expresses the gloomy and boring mood of the author living in Huangzhou. From the article "Cooking cold dishes in the air and burning reeds in the kitchen", we can imagine his embarrassing life. These two poems are one of Su Shi's more than 3,000 poems, but they are not his masterpieces. However, when the author uses another art form-calligraphy to express it, the sad artistic conception brewed by colorful and meaningful calligraphy images makes Huangzhou cold food poems become masterpieces through the ages.
Huangzhou Cold Food Poetry Post presents a dynamic trend with ups and downs. Poetry is desolate and melancholy, and calligraphy is produced in this mood and situation. Throughout the ups and downs, rapid and steady, incisively and vividly, in one go. Su Shi put the changes of artistic conception and emotion in his poems in the changes of stippling lines, either before or after, changing and changing, breaking with the trend, and being natural. Its words are also strange, big or small, sparse or dense, light or heavy, wide or narrow, uneven, arbitrary and strange, and varied. No wonder Huang Tingjian bowed his head and sighed, "Dongpo's poems are like Li Taibai, but I'm afraid they are too white and everywhere. This book was also written by Yan, Yang and Li Xitai. Trying to get Dongpo to return to it may not be the case. " (Postscript of Huangzhou Cold Food Poetry) Dong Qichang also has a postscript praising the cloud: "I have seen Mr. Dongpo's original volume of more than 30 volumes in my life, and I must regard this as a good view." Huangzhou Cold Food Poetry Post is a masterpiece of Su Shi's calligraphy works, which has a great influence in the history of calligraphy. Xian Yushu in Yuan Dynasty called it "the third running script in the world" after Wang Xizhi's Preface to Lanting and Yan Zhenqing's Sacrifice to His Nephew.