Li Si
The ancestor of Xiaozhuan——Li Si
Li Si (280 BC - 208 BC), Chu Shangcai (now southwest of Shangcai, Henan) people. A famous politician, writer and calligrapher in the Qin Dynasty. Among all the scholars, Li Si was a student of Xunzi and later became a representative figure of Legalism. When he was young, he first worked as a minor official in the countryside managing documents. Later, he studied with Xunqing and served as a court official. He assisted Yingzheng to unify the world and establish the Qin Dynasty. During the reign of Qin Shihuang, Li Si was appointed prime minister.
Before the unification of the Qin Dynasty, due to the long-term separation and division of the various vassal states, a situation of different languages ??and different characters was formed. Qin Shihuang had been longing for a standard font to replace the previously popular variant characters, so he found out that Li Si was good at calligraphy and gave him the task. Li Si cut out the complexity of the large seal script and simplified it, and compiled a set of characters with simple strokes and neat shapes, called Qin seal script. After Qin Shihuang saw these new calligraphy styles, he was very satisfied, so he made it a standard font and ordered it to be used throughout the country.
The small seal script, also known as the Qin seal script, is the symmetry of the large seal script. It gives people a feeling of hardness and softness, roundness and strength, and plays a great role in the standardization of Chinese characters. The emergence of Xiaozhuan is a great progress in the history of Chinese character development.
At that time, people were not very familiar with the structure of Xiaozhuan, and it was difficult to write satisfactorily. Li Si, Zhao Gao, Hu Wu and others wrote models such as "Cangjie Pian", "Yuanli Pian" and "Erudition Pian" for everyone to copy. After Li Si and Zhao Gao conspired to support Qin II's ascension to the throne, he was framed by Zhao Gao for his dissent and was executed by the dissolute and extravagant Qin II - "Ju Si's five punishments" and "cutting Xianyang City in half".
The year before the death of Qin Shihuang, in October of the thirty-seventh year (210 BC), he traveled south to Yunmeng (today's Hubei Province), along the river, accompanied by the left prime minister Li Si and his youngest son Hu Hai. Climb Kuaiji Mountain to worship Dayu Temple and look out at the South China Sea. Li Si was ordered to write an article praising the virtues of Qin, offending the six countries, clarifying laws and regulations, and correcting customs. He personally wrote in small seal script, carved stones and erected stele. This article is an inscription in terms of style, with four characters per sentence and three sentences per rhyme. Solemn and concise, it is a representative work of inscription style. The next day after Li Si was ordered to finish writing overnight, he quarried the stone carvings from the mountains, and then erected them on the top of Elbi Mountain in Kuaiji (later called Stone Carving Mountain). This is the famous stone carving in Kuaiji in history. The stone carvings that are said to have been written by Li Si include "Taishan Fengshan Carving Stone", "Langya Carving Stone", "Yishan Carving Stone", "Kuiji Carving Stone", etc.
The emperor Xiu Lie is a man of peace and virtue. In the thirty-seventh year, I personally patrolled the world and looked into the distance. Then he went to Kuaiji to announce the customs of the province and Zhai Village in Qianshou. The ministers recited their merits and deeds, and pursued the wise path. When Qin Sheng came to the country, he began to determine the names of punishments, which showed the old rules. At the beginning, the law was established, and the duties were reviewed to establish permanence. The six kings are dedicated to doubling the number, they are greedy, ruthless and fierce, leading the people to strengthen themselves. He acts violently and recklessly, and is arrogant despite his strength. The yin communicates with the world, and the things are coordinated, and the behavior is unique. There are deceptions inside, and external invasions on the border, causing disaster. The righteousness and power will be punished, the violent rebellion will be extinguished, and the rebels will be destroyed. Holy virtue is vast and dense, and it is boundless in the world. The emperor is in harmony with the universe and listens to everything. He knows everything from far to near. Manage things, test facts, and record their names. The noble and the humble are both connected, good and bad are revealed, and there is a hidden secret in everything. Decorating the province to declare righteousness, marrying with a son is double the risk of unfaithfulness. Separate the inside and outside, prohibit adultery, and make men and women sincere. The husband is a slave, and he is not guilty of killing him. The man is loyal to Cheng. The wife ran away from marriage, and the son lost his mother, so he became incorruptible. The great governance of the customs of zhuozu, the world inherited the wind, and Meng was menopausal. Everyone obeys the rules, is harmonious, and does not disobey orders. The head of Guizhou is repairing the palace, people are enjoying themselves, and peace is guaranteed. Later, he respected the Dharma, always governed without limit, and never tipped his boat. I would like to engrave this stone as a tribute to my sincerity. —The inscription of "Kuaiji Stone Carvings"
After the Song Dynasty, the original stone carvings were lost. In the fifty-seventh year of Qianlong's reign (1792), Li Hunter, the prefect of Shaoxing, used the old rubbings of Shentu's "Kuaiji Stone Carvings" in his old collection to re-carve it on the original stone. It is now in the Shaoxing Cultural Management Office. The stele is eight feet seven inches high and four feet wide. The ruler is four inches long, with twelve lines of seal script engraved on it, each line containing twenty-four characters, and an inscription written in official script of three lines, totaling six characters.
Yishan Stone Carvings
219 BC Li Sishu Height 218 cm, width 84 cm
Due to its age, the original stone was burned by wildfire. This stone was carved by Zheng Wenbao based on the rubbing of the original stone in the fourth year of Chunhua, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty (AD 993). There is an inscription by Zheng Wenbao on the underside of the stele. There are many copies of "Yishan Carved Stones", among which Xu Xuan's copy of the Five Dynasties Southern Tang Dynasty, carved by a man from the Song Dynasty, is the best and is now in the Forest of Steles in Xi'an.
In the 28th year of the First Emperor of Qin (219 BC), when he visited Mount Yi in Dengtao County, his hometown of Qilu (now southeast of Zouxian County, Shandong Province), he climbed up and looked far away, full of passion, and Li Si immediately wrote the seal script, Someone was sent to carve a monument on Mount Yi. This is the famous "Yishan Stone Carving" of Qin Dynasty. The original stone had been destroyed by Cao Cao while climbing the mountain.
Li Si said: When writing, the pen should be turned quickly, and the folding should be fast, like a goshawk swooping and circling. Holding the pen back is like a fish swimming in water, and moving the pen is like moving clouds over a landscape. The weight and ease of the strokes should be natural and integrated, generous and beautiful. It can be seen from "Yishan Stone Carvings" that Li Si's calligraphy is strong and smooth, with round lines, well-proportioned structure, and even thickness of stipples. It has the beauty of patterns and the potential of flying. The superb calligraphy skills overshadowed the predecessors and scattered the talents of the later generations, making it difficult for all those who wrote Xiaozhuan to enter the situation, and became the best copying and learning calligraphy for future generations.