The Cause and Influence of Calligraphy Style in Northern Wei Dynasty

The epitaph regular script of the Northern Wei Dynasty has a wide source and rich content, and has gone through a long development process. Its source mainly comes from four aspects: first, official script and regular script in Cao Wei period; Second, the inscription calligraphy since the Eastern Han Dynasty; Third, the influence of northern minority culture, especially the cool wind in the north; Fourth, the noble calligraphy of Han people in the Northern Wei Dynasty.

The main difference between calligraphy in Cao Wei period and calligraphy in other periods is that the structure is obviously square and the pen tends to be flat. Mainly official script, inherited Han Li's brushwork, but made great changes in writing, especially the sharp corners when starting and closing the pen. The obvious difference between Lishu and Han Li can be seen from the Zen table and the tablet of the monk's honour in Cao Wei period. Han Li, whose main features are stretching and curling, is now reserved and restrained. Writing Lisi in this way is somewhat similar to Zhong You's regular script in the later period.

At the same time, regular script at this time has begun to take shape, with Zhong You as its representative. Although Zhong You's regular script still has an official meaning, it can basically be called a relatively mature regular script, but because there is no exact ink handed down from ancient times in Zhong You, we are not sure. Some signs can be obtained from the unearthed Wei-Jin residual paper and Confucian classics, such as Loulan Wei-Jin residual paper literature, indicating that regular script and running script had begun to take shape at that time.