The four great calligraphers, Su, Huang, Mi and Cai, who appeared in the late Northern Song Dynasty, broke the strict pattern of the calligraphy of the "two kings" in the Jin Dynasty and Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan in the Tang Dynasty, and established a style of expressing individuality and spreading freely, which led the calligraphy circle in the Southern Song Dynasty and influenced the past dynasties.
The middle-aged elders of the four great families are Cai Xiang (word, 10 12~ 1067), a native of Xianyou (now Fujian), and a bachelor of science from Guanzhi Duanming Temple. His artistic activities can be traced back to the mid-Northern Song Dynasty. Cai Xiang is proficient in poetry and calligraphy, especially in cursive script. He studied under the two kings of Jin Dynasty and Yu Shinan of Tang Dynasty. Mi Fei, on the other hand, is a calligrapher with more personal characteristics, and his cursive script has the charm of two kings. He is the author of Tiaoxi Poetry Collection, Shu Su Tie and Hong Xian Poetry Collection. His Classic Loutie (collected by the Palace Museum in Beijing) is bold and unconstrained, which shows his artistic personality of expressing his mind directly and being frank and unrestrained.
Su Shi "studied hard since childhood, and worked tirelessly in his later years". His books are easy to read and write, starting from Preface to Lanting, and then to God of Yan Zhenqing, so his writing is implicit. He is used to lying on his pen, leaning forward, with rich and smooth pen shapes, and his pen posture is bold and vigorous in rolling. It was praised by Huang Tingjian as "a good book for today's people, which should be the first to be promoted." Su Shi has "Ode to Dongting Spring" and "Huangzhou Cold Food Poetry". Monuments include Zuiweng Pavilion and Fengle Pavilion. Huang Tingjian's calligraphy is good at calligraphy and cursive script, winning by taking risks, extraordinary and uneven, unrestrained and free and easy. The knot is tight inside and loose outside, and the brushwork is stretched, which is similar to the style of "Jiangxi Poetry School" initiated by him. Handed down from ancient times, there are Poems of Song Fengge, Hua Yan Shu, All Seats and so on.