1. Wang Xizhi's "Lanting Preface", Yan Zhenqing's "Manuscript for Nephew Sacrifice" and Su Shi's "Han Shi Tie" are known as "the three major running scripts in the world" by later generations.
2. "Preface to Lanting"
Wang Xizhi (321-379), courtesy name Yishao, was born in Langya Linyi (today's Linyi, Shandong), and served as a general of the Youjun Army. He was an internal historian of Kuaiji. Known as "Wang Youjun" in the world. He was born in the Wang family, which had a prominent political position in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He had a high level of literary accomplishment. In his early years, he learned calligraphy from the female calligrapher Wei Shuo (known as Mrs. Wei in the world), and later learned calligraphy from Li Si, Cao Xi, Liang Hu and Cai. The calligraphy of Yong, Zhong Yao and others were practiced in all kinds of calligraphy, and they were good at Li, Kai, Xing and Cao calligraphy styles, creating a new calligraphy style. On the third day of the third lunar month of the ninth year of Yonghe in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (353), Wang Xizhi, Xie An, Sun Chuo and other 41 people gathered at the Lanting Pavilion in Shanyin (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang) to "cultivate evil spirits" by the water. It was an ancient custom that on this day every year , people go to the waterside to swim to express the use of water to eliminate bad luck, which is called repairing bad luck. That day, everyone sat by the water, drank freely, composed poems and sang. These poems were collected together and called "Orchid Pavilion Poems", and Xizhi wrote a preface. This is the famous calligraphy masterpiece "Lanting Preface", also known as "Wantie". The post was written in cursive writing, with traces of alteration in several places, and it was written in an extremely natural and unrestrained way. "Lanting Preface" has 28 lines in total and a total of 324 words. The layout is uneven and scattered, with dots and dashes corresponding, and the spirit is connected. For example, in the 14th line, the words "Quietse Wanshu quiet and restless are different", the situation is tilted, sometimes left and sometimes On the right, the charm is vivid. This characteristic is just like what Bao Shichen said in the Qing Dynasty: "The spiritual principle of "Lanting Preface" is that it seems strange anyway, if it is broken, it will still connect the eight characters." In terms of structure, there are extreme changes. He Yanzhi of the Tang Dynasty pointed out: "Anything with emphasis in "Lanting Preface" is in a different style. From the word "zhi" to the word "zhi", there is no difference." For example, "At the beginning of late spring" "Zhi", because the two characters "Luchun" are both long, so "Zhi" is written in a flat shape, with a long middle and a flat shape, which complement each other; another example is the word "bu" in the tenth line of the post, which has clear lifting and pressing, and is properly tucked away. It is meticulous and precise. In short, the whole chapter of "Lanting Preface" has natural composition, exquisite structure, elegant and elegant, and is completed in one go. It embodies the new look of calligraphy created by Wang Xizhi and represents his highest attainment in running script.
3. "Manuscripts for Nephew Sacrifice"
Yan Zhenqing (709-785), also known as Yan Lugong, also named Qingchen, was born in Jingzhao Wannian (now Xi'an, Shaanxi). He served as the prefect of Pingyuan (now part of Shandong), so he was also called "Yan Pingyuan". His official position was "Luke Jun", so he was also called "Luke Gong". Yan Zhenqing was one of the most innovative calligraphers in the Tang Dynasty. It is said that when he was young, his family was poor in paper, so he used loess to sweep the walls to learn calligraphy. Later, Chu Sui became good at regular calligraphy, and learned from Zhang Xu, who learned the "cone painting sand" calligraphy. Da Jin's regular script is as dotted as falling stones, plump and majestic, simple and natural, which is completely different from the elegant beauty that Wang Xizhi pursues. His running script is mostly manuscript, and it is written in an inadvertent way, so it looks very natural and free. In the 14th year of Emperor Xuanzong's Tianbao reign (755), An Lushan, the warlord of the vassal towns in the vast northern area, launched a rebellion and soon went south to capture Luoyang, the eastern capital. At that time, Yan Zhenqing, who was the governor of Pingyuan, and his elder brother, the governor Yan Gaoqing, respectively launched troops to attack the rebels in Shandong and Hebei. Yan Gaoqing's youngest son, Ji Ming, did liaison work between Pingyuan and Changshan. Soon Changshan was captured by the rebels, and Gaoqing and his son were captured and killed one after another. In the first year of the Qianyuan year of Emperor Suzong of the Tang Dynasty (758), Yan Zhenqing ordered people to go to Hebei to search for the homeless members of Gaoqing's family. As a result, Ji Ming's skull was brought back from Changshan, so Yan Zhenqing offered a memorial in this manuscript. In this manuscript, he suppressed The unstoppable emotions are poured out in the majestic and swift pen and ink, so he can fully display the exquisite calligraphy skills accumulated over a long period of time without restraint. The pen and ink are completed in one go, so there are many dry pens. Later, he becomes more and more indulgent It not only records this tragic historical tragedy, but also conveys the intense emotions of the author, which is unforgettable. If you compare "Lanting Preface" with "Manuscript of Memorial to My Nephew Jiming", we can find the different styles of these two running scripts. The pens in one book are more revealing, the side strokes are powerful, pretty, graceful, and elegant. I feel weak inside, but Yan Shu's writing style mostly uses the front edge to enter in reverse, and the front edge enters the pen. The strokes are thick, broad and stretched, and the strokes are extended outwards. Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty commented: "The cocoons and paper of the Orchid Pavilion have entered the Zhaoling Mausoleum, and the ruins in the world are like dragons. Yan Gong's reform has brought new ideas, and the thin tendons have penetrated into the bones like an autumn eagle." (Su Shi's "Sun Xin Lao Qiu Mo Miao Pavilion Poetry").
4. "Huangzhou Cold Food Post"
Su Shi (1037-1101), courtesy name Zizhan, alias Dongpo, was a native of Meishan, Sichuan. He was a great writer in the Northern Song Dynasty and a Calligraphers and painters.
Su Shi was an advocate of literati painting. He wrote a poem and said: "I can't create the original meaning of calligraphy, so I just try to make dots and paintings at will." Advocating that there is no need to adhere to ancient times and advocating free will is the beginning of the so-called "Song people, advocating Yi". If we compare the calligraphy of the Tang and Song dynasties as a whole, the Tang people advocated law and the regular script was rigorous; At the end of the journey, people from the Song Dynasty took the lead. Su Shi admired the calligraphy of Yan Zhenqing and Yang Ningshi very much. His calligraphy often used side strokes and had a charming appearance, but his style was still very profound. His strokes were thick and flat, and his strokes were often side-stroke. The characters are tightly knotted, and compared with the running script of Jin people, it is "particularly not in line with the ancient method." This caused some people to comment at the time, thinking that it was not in line with the ancient style. However, those who know Su Shi should recommend his good friend and famous calligrapher Huang Tingjian. When evaluating the calligraphers at that time, Huang pointed out: "For the best calligraphers in this dynasty, (Su Shi) should be ranked first," and he also said: "Mr. Dongpo often compared himself with Yan Lugong (Zhenqing), and compared it with others, he was the best." To make up for their shortcomings, both men are great men of the generation. "
"Huangzhou Cold Food Poems" was written in the fifth year of Yuanfeng. It is Su Shi's masterpiece after he failed in his political reform against Wang Anshi and was exiled to Huangzhou, Hubei. At this time, Su Shi "went to the stream with his father and father." In the second year (the fourth year of Yuanfeng), his friend Ma Zhengqing asked Su Shi to get dozens of acres of abandoned land in the east camp of the city. Su Shi reclaimed the wasteland and built a house. While farming and eating, he called himself "Dongpo Jushi". In his poem, he narrates that he lived in Huangzhou for three years and lived a poor life. Every time he had to eat cold food and suffered from the Qingming rain, he felt desolate and uncomfortable before his eyes. His thoughts may be whispered and eloquently stated. Come, let go, cry alone, or scream sadly. Calligraphy and poetry complement each other, and the paper is filled with the sorrow of life and the unrest of family and country. Every word is filled with tears, which makes people feel deeply. The writing style of this post is natural and calm, the strokes are thick and plump, and the fonts are the same, from one word to one line, from one line to the next. From one line to the whole article, the top, bottom, left, and right sides are loose and tight, well-proportioned, and integrated. The fonts are sometimes large and sometimes small, extremely random, and each has its own posture. The heavier one is like a squatting bear, and the lighter one is like a plundering swallow. The structure includes both "a toad pressed by a stone" and a "snake hanging on a treetop", such as "nian, middle, reed, paper" and other characters. The layout is dense and dense, and it sometimes exudes a sparse atmosphere.