Reese: Reese (? -208 BC), calligrapher of the Qin Dynasty. Shangcai (now southwest of Shangcai County, Henan Province) was born. He was studying, and then he went to the state of Qin to become prime minister. Li Si is knowledgeable and good at calligraphy. His works include Taishan Stone Carving, Yishan Stone Carving and Langxietai Stone Carving. On Zhang Huaiguan's calligraphy at the end of the Tang Dynasty: "Painting is like a stone, words are like flying". Tang Li Sizhen's Book Back said: "The essence of Li Sizhen's seal script lies in ancient and modern times. The mountain of the king of Qin and the imperial seal, the crossbow of Fu You, and the Hong Zhong of Shiwan. "
Biography of Li Zuosi
In 22 1 BC, Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, ending the long-term war situation since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and establishing the first centralized feudal country in the history of China. Li Si was highly valued by Qin Shihuang and was named Prime Minister. He is not only a famous politician and writer in the Qin Dynasty, but also the first calligrapher handed down from generation to generation in the history of calligraphy in China.
Lisi statue
Qin Shihuang implemented a series of policies to strengthen the country and enrich the people in the early days of his rule. Coupled with making good use of knowledge and promoting useful talents, domestic political stability, economic prosperity and increasingly strengthened feudal rule have shown a good development trend. However, because the Qin Dynasty inherited the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and during the 500 years that ran through the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, warlords were separated and wars were frequent, this turbulent political situation also affected the exchange of languages and the use of characters, so the situation of "different languages and different characters" appeared. For example, the word "Qin" has 100. How is this situation conducive to the cultural exchange and development of the whole country? In order to change this situation, Li Si, as the prime minister, wrote to Qin Shihuang, demanding the unification of the six languages and "stopping the discord", thus serving the economic and political development of the Qin Dynasty. Qin Shihuang agreed with Reese's suggestion and strongly supported his reform of writing. Li Si, the convenor, made a special study. On the basis of Da Zhuan, he extensively absorbed the essence of folk calligraphy at that time and created Xiao Zhuan, also known as Qin Zhuan, which opened a new page in the development history of China characters.
As a new comprehensive style, Xiao Zhuan has the characteristics of rounded lines, symmetrical structure and long glyph. In order to make Xiao Zhuan widely used in real life and serve the development of social economy and politics, in addition to administrative power, Li Si and other senior officials also set an example. Li Si wrote Cang Xie himself, CZ ordered Zhao Gao to write the Calendar, and Tai Shi ordered Hu Wujing to write the Book of Learning, and these three books were stipulated as literacy textbooks for children's enlightenment as the standards for popularizing and applying Xiao Zhuan. Since then, Xiao Zhuan, as an important calligraphy style, has swept the world.
Li Si's calligraphy was very famous at that time, with high popularity, which was widely praised and affirmed. He wrote many words on the famous inscriptions in Qin Dynasty. Li Si's calligraphy works are represented by stone carvings, which are mainly related to Qin Shihuang. Qin Shihuang, who unified the six countries, had a good reputation. He liked climbing mountains and swimming, and carved stones to record his merits. Wherever he went, Prime Minister Li Si wrote a eulogy, and the book was engraved with stone. From Sima Qian's Historical Records, we can know that there were seven stone carvings in six places in the Qin Dynasty: Mount Tai, Langxietai, Zhifu, Jieshi, kuài and Yishan, and five words were recorded, all written by Li Si. Among the seven carved stones, Jie and Jie have no trace to be found. The carved stone in Yishan was also destroyed, and later it was copied. Since the Tang Dynasty, there have been many imitations, especially Zheng Wenbao in the Song Dynasty, and the existing forest of steles in Xi 'an. The Langxie stone carving is now in the Museum of Chinese History, but it has been seriously flaked and its handwriting is blurred, so it is very difficult to identify it. The stone carvings in Huijili no longer exist, but they have been handed down by later generations.
Langxietai carved stone (local) Qinli Temple
As the first famous calligrapher handed down from generation to generation in the history of calligraphy in China, Li Si has been widely recognized by later generations. Although his original calligraphy works no longer exist, his many historical achievements, such as reforming Chinese characters, creating Xiao Zhuan, ending the abnormal situation of Chinese characters since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and laying an important foundation for the formation and development of China square characters, will be immortal and admired by future generations.