A brief answer to "Insect II" is one of the few puzzles in Taishan stone carvings. It is the prefix of the traditional Chinese character "wind" and "moon", which is a metaphor for the boundless scenery of Mount Tai.
Mount Taishan Cliff Stone Carving has the word "Insect II", which was inscribed by a famous person in Jinan, Shandong Province in the 25th year of Guangxu (AD 1899). As the outstanding stone carving in Mount Tai, the "Insect II" stone carving is a striking work. It looks strange, looks awkward and chaotic.
"Insect II" is one of the few puzzles in Taishan stone carvings, and it is the core of traditional Chinese characters "Wind" and "Moon". That is, the word "wind" in traditional Chinese characters, after removing a curl inside and an outer edge, the word "worm" remains; The word "month" is removed from the surrounding edges, leaving a word "two". The moral is "boundless wind and moon", and the real connotation is the quiet, beautiful and profound scenery of Mount Tai. This calligraphy idea can be described as profound and original. "Wind and Moon" means the breeze and bright moon, which means the scenery is elegant and beautiful.
There is a saying in Chu Yan Hui Biography that "the early autumn is cool and the dusk is beautiful", and "boundless" means that everything in front of us is surrounded by clouds and stretches for a long time. From the perspective of contemporary people, this pair of carved stones should be a combination of realism and romanticism, which has very rich aesthetic value.
"Insect II" is a metaphor for the infinite scenery of Mount Tai. Its form of expression is concise and accurate, and its emotional expression is nuanced, which vividly and aptly expresses the author's attachment to the scenery of Mount Tai. Liu Tinggui, the author of this work, left dozens of calligraphy and stone carvings on Mount Tai, and Insect II is one of his representative works. This pair of carved stones is a running script, with calm brushwork and high spirits. Between the two words, the movement is appropriate and the response is endless.
There are some folk legends about the origin of "Insect II". A well-known legend is that when Liu Tinggui and his friends visited Mount Tai, they talked about the "romantic pavilion" of West Lake in Hangzhou. Liu Tinggui didn't agree, thinking that the real "romantic pavilion" is the steep scenery of Mount Tai and the deep pine valley. Therefore, in order to distinguish it from the Fengyue Pavilion in Hangzhou, Liu Tinggui deliberately abandoned the radicals of the two words and only wrote the prefix, which led to the mystery of today's "Insect II". Another story says that Liu Tinggui asked a nun for water in Mount Tai, but the nun didn't give him water. Liu Tinggui carved these two words in anger, implying that the nun was a romantic figure.