Huai Su was a famous calligrapher in ancient China.
Huaisu (737-799), whose common surname was Qian and whose courtesy name was Zangzhen, was from Lingling, Yongzhou (now Lingling, Hunan). A calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty, he was famous for his "crazy grass" and was known as the "Sage of Grass" in history. He became a monk since he was a child. In his spare time, he practiced Zen and loved calligraphy. He was as famous as Zhang Xu and was collectively known as "Dian Zhang Kuang Su". This formed a situation where the two peaks of calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty coexisted and were also two peaks in the history of Chinese cursive calligraphy.
Huaisu's cursive calligraphy is thin and vigorous, with natural flying movements, like a sudden rain and whirlwind, changing at any time. Calligraphy is straightforward, ever-changing, and full of rules. Li Zhimin, a professor at Peking University and the founder of introducing monuments to cursive scripts, commented: "Huaisu's cursive script has a graceful spirit in its rush and ease, and an air of simplicity in its wildness."
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Artistic features
Huaisu's cursive calligraphy is called "Kangcao". The pen is round and powerful, making the turns like a circle, unrestrained and smooth, Completed in one go, as famous as Zhang Xu. Later generations were known as "Zhang Dian Su Kuang" or "Dian Zhang Zui Su", which had a profound influence on future generations. He could also write poetry and had contacts with poets such as Li Bai, Du Fu, and Su Huan. He likes to drink. Whenever he drinks, he writes on walls, clothes, and utensils.
People at that time called him the "drunken monk". His cursive script comes from Zhang Zhi and Zhang Xu. "The Story of the Golden Pot" said that he was "drunk nine times a day". Probably the drunkard's intention is not to drink, "a mad monk is not for wine, his mad pen reaches to the sky", he only aims at "crazy grass". Huaisu's cursive script is written in seal script, with the hidden edge turned inwards, thin, hard and round, with fast writing and grand momentum. Although it is wild, he does not ignore the law in pursuit of novelty.
On the contrary, his cursive script is rigorous and concise, reflecting his unique cursive script artistic style. Huai Su is good at using the center stroke to create large strokes with pure force, such as "sudden rain and whirlwind, filling the hall with momentum", to the state of "suddenly three or five screams, filling the wall with thousands of words".
Baidu Encyclopedia-Huai Su