What is the history of China's calligraphy development?

China's characters, represented by Oracle Bone Inscriptions, developed to the Shang Dynasty, which was quite mature and fully possessed the elements of form, sound and meaning of Chinese characters. Those small and vigorous words on the tortoise shell bones were calligraphy works at that time. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, China's slave economy and culture developed unprecedentedly, and China's characters and calligraphy also entered a new stage, with the characters carved on bronzes as the main ones, which is the so-called "bronze inscription". The calligraphy style is Da Zhuan, and Gu Zhuo is vigorous and powerful. This kind of calligraphy is still loved by calligraphy lovers.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, Xiao Zhuan and Li Shu were the representatives. Legend has it that Xiao Zhuan was created by Li Si, the prime minister of Qin Dynasty. In fact, in order to unify the characters and realize "the same name", the Qin Dynasty reformed the different styles of Da Zhuan, which has been popular in various countries since Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Compared with Da Zhuan, Xiao Zhuan has simpler strokes, freer brushwork and vigorous beauty in calligraphy. According to legend, the calligraphers who wrote Xiao Zhuan were Li Si and Zhao Gao. Official script was also produced in Qin dynasty, with regular fonts, clear strokes and steady work. Since ancient times, many calligraphers have made great contributions to official script, which is an important kind of calligraphy art. ..

Later, writing was not only used as a tool for writing notes, but was studied as an art by scholars. After years of unremitting efforts, it has risen to philosophical discussion. The words written by a group of people have great spirit of the times and personal character, and have artistic quality of both form and spirit. This font is what we call calligraphy. For thousands of years, great calligraphers who have been regarded as models by scholars include Zhong You and Huang Xiang in the Three Kingdoms period, Wei Fu in the Jin Dynasty, Lu Ji in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi and his son in the Southern Dynasty, Wang Dao, Yang Xin, Wang Sengqian and so on. Among them, Wang Xizhi's achievements and fame are particularly prominent, and he is known as the saint of China's calligraphy art, that is, the "book saint". In his calligraphy works, the early Tang Dynasty is precious. Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, made great efforts to find it before his death, but after his death he buried the Preface to the Lanting Pavilion. Almost all the great calligraphers in the Tang Dynasty copied Wang Xizhi's Preface to Lanting. There are as many as 243 copies of Xuanhe Neifu in the late Northern Song Dynasty, which shows that the world cherishes it deeply.