The Pingcheng period in the Northern Wei Dynasty refers to the period from the late 199s to the early 199s. In 398 AD, Tuoba GUI, Emperor Daowu, made Pingcheng his capital, and the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty in Pingcheng began. The emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty reused the intellectuals of the Han nationality and consciously promoted the integration with the Han culture.
The rulers in the early years of the Northern Wei Dynasty adopted a series of cultural and educational policies, showing great enthusiasm for Han culture. In the first year of Tianxing (398), at the beginning of moving the capital to Pingcheng, "the Five Classics books were all set up with doctors, and the number of students in Guozitai was increased by 3,; In 426 AD, "Imperial College was set up in the east of the city, and Confucius was worshipped, with Yan Yuan as the partner"; In 444 AD, Emperor Taizu wrote "Geng Shuzhao": "From princes to nobles, all his sons are interested in Imperial College." In 466 AD, "there were two doctors, two teaching assistants and six thousand students at the beginning of rural studies and counties"; In 486 AD, Emperor Xiaowen issued a letter to build Mingtang and Biyong. In 489 AD, Confucius Temple was established in Pingcheng. These measures taken by the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty greatly promoted the integration of Xianbei and Han nationalities, consolidated their rule, and created good conditions for the development and innovation of calligraphy art.
There are many first-class calligraphers among the Han officials who were reused by the Northern Wei emperors. In the early years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, most of the imperial court writings were written by calligrapher Cui Xuanbo. "Biography of Wei Shu Cui Xuanbo" records: Xuanbo was not written by the imperial court, but was written in all directions, and he was not honest at first, so he died without writing. He is especially good at the book of cursive script and pledge, and is a model for the world. Ho Choi is the son of Cui Xuanbo, because he is good at calligraphy and often works around Tuoba GUI, the Emperor of Daowu. "Wei Shu Cui Haochuan" "Taizu is often left and right with his work book." Fan Yang Lu Yuan was also a famous calligrapher at that time, and Lu Xuan Biography of Northern History with Lu Yuan briefly said: "At the beginning, (Lu) Zhan Fu Zhi, Fa Zhong You's book, passed down from generation to generation, and the world was famous. To (Lu) Miao above, and good grass trace. Yuan Xi's family law, the generation of Beijing Palace, the topic of Duo Yuan. " Cui and Lu were the leading calligraphers at that time, and their calligraphy was nothing more than seal script, official script, cursive script, calligraphy on lines and inscriptions. As far as their style is concerned, they should be simple, heavy, square and vigorous. This laid a strong wind for calligraphy in the Northern Wei Dynasty. In the early years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Buddhism was introduced into the Central Plains and was highly respected by the Northern Wei emperors. "Wei Shu" records that in the first year of Tianxing (398), Emperor Wudi issued a letter: "I have a company to build a decoration model in the capital and repair the palace, so that the believers can stay." Emperor Taizu, under the persuasion of Ho Choi, ousted Buddhism and welcomed Kou Qianzhi, a Taoist priest in Songshan, and Taoism flourished. "It is to make the worshippers sacrifice jade and silk, sacrifice Song Yue, and welcome the rest of the disciples in the mountains, so they worship Tianshi, show the new law, and announce the world and the road industry." After the death of Emperor Taizu, Wen Chengdi restored the Buddhism and wrote "Restoration of the Buddhism": "If a husband is an emperor, he will only serve the Ming spirit and show his benevolence ... I will inherit Hong Xu's reign, and I will think about it first and learn from it. Today, all the counties and counties are located in places where many people live, and each listens to the construction of a Buddhist map area, allowing it to be used for financial purposes, without any restrictions. " In the first year of peace (46), Wen Chengdi ordered Yao Tan, the Samoan Sect, to "plug in the capital city of Saiwu State, chisel mountain stone walls, open five caves, engrave and build one Buddha statue each, with a height of 7 feet and a second time of 6 feet, and carve it in a strange way, which will be crowned in the whole life". Since then, Buddhism has flourished. After this struggle between Buddhism and Taoism, the Northern Wei Dynasty's short history of 96 years in Pingcheng has left a precious historical legacy. The famous inscriptions in Pingcheng period include both the statues of Yungang Grottoes. There are also Taoist inscriptions, which make the inscriptions in Pingcheng show the characteristics of multiple and mixed. In addition, the Northern Wei Dynasty did not prohibit the erection of steles like the Southern Dynasties, which is one of the important reasons for the numerous steles in the Northern Wei Dynasty.
It is precisely because of the above factors that Pingcheng calligraphy has developed rapidly. It is a link between official script and Luoyang regular script, which not only combines the rough and wild style of northern minorities, but also permeates the gentle and upright Confucian culture. At the same time, it is influenced by Buddhism and Taoism culture, showing a simple, natural, vigorous and magnificent style. There are many kinds of books in the Heisei period, including inscriptions, epitaphs, statues, inscriptions, Ming Tang Wawen and so on. I choose the following items in chronological order:
Title of Wang Yintang's Portrait (46) Regular script
General Zhechong's salary promotes the creation of a temple monument (436) Regular script, unearthed in Turpan, Xinjiang,
Monument to the Emperor's East Tour with inscription (437) official script, yangwen seal "Monument to the Emperor's East Tour". The monument was originally in Huashan, Huayin County, Shaanxi Province
Statue of Wang Shenhu (44) in regular script
Statue of Zhu Xiong (44) in regular script
Statue of Heyi and Daoji (44) in regular script
Statue of Bao Zuan (442) in sloppy official script. From 1979 to 198, it was found in Gaxian Cave, Elunchun Banner, Daxing 'anling.
The Tomb of Sun Ke (451) was unearthed near Datong.
Ode to the Emperor's Southern Tour was inscribed with official script (461). It was found in 1936 and now moved to Jueshan Temple, Lingqiu County, Shanxi Province. < p In 1963, the statue of Cao Tiandu (466) was unearthed in Chaoyang, Liaoning Province, and the epitaph of Yu Xuanming (468) was written in regular script (469). In Tongzhi period, the epitaph of Shen Hongzhi (472) was unearthed in Gaomi, Shandong Province. During the Xianfeng period,
Statue of Taihe (478) was unearthed in Huangxian County, Shandong Province, and the official script
Feng Xi wrote miscellaneous Abhidharma Heart Sutra (479)
Stone Letters of Taihe Five Years (481) was written in regular script, and in 1964, Dingxian County, Hebei Province, was unearthed
Statue of Yi Shi Fa Zong (483).
Tomb Inscription of Sima Jinlong with inscription (484) unearthed in Licheng, Shandong Province,
Tomb Shouzhuan of Sima Jinlong (484) unearthed in Datong, Shanxi Province in 1965, and Huifu Temple Monument with inscription (488) unearthed in Datong, Shanxi Province in 1965, in regular script, in Chengcheng County, Shaanxi Province < p In the south wall of Cave 17 in Yungang Grottoes, Datong, Shanxi Province,
The Statue of Wang Bo 'an (49) was written in regular script
Long live the riches and honour (481-49), and in , the empress dowager of Datong civilization visited
Mingtang Wawen (486-491), there were seal script, official script and regular script. From 1995 to 1996, the tomb bricks of
Statue of Monk Halo (492),
Su Guangming Tomb and Wang Qiangren Tomb were unearthed in the south of Datong, Shanxi, with unknown dates. In 1995 and 1997, they visited
Diaobigan Wenbei (494) in Datong, Shanxi respectively.
Among these books, The Monument to the Emperor's East Tour and Ode to the Emperor's South Tour belong to the temple works, which were written by the first-class calligraphers at that time. As a cliff official script, The Carving of Carved Stones in the Cave of Gaxian is simple and abundant. Monument to the True Wife of Hou Hannu in Pingguo, Epitaph of Liu Xian, Epitaph of Sima Jinlong's Wife Jichen, Epitaph of Sima Jinlong's Tomb and Inscription of lacquer painting screen in Sima Jinlong's Tomb are the epitaphs of aristocratic bureaucrats. Although they are a little sloppy than the temple system, they show their own unique styles and exquisite carvings. However, Su Guangming's Tomb and Wang Qiang's Renzhong's Mingtang Wawen written by craftsmen are sloppy and natural, which can directly reflect the writing habits of ordinary people at that time.
The book traces in Pingcheng period are all-encompassing, from the inscription of the emperor's luck to the Wawen of ordinary people, from which we can see all aspects of calligraphy in Pingcheng period of Northern Wei Dynasty, which is of great significance for us to understand the development and evolution of calligraphy in Pingcheng period of Northern Wei Dynasty.
In these ruins of Pingcheng in the Northern Wei Dynasty, there are both official scripts and regular scripts, and each of them has a considerable number and scale. Judging from the font, seal script is mostly tablet, epitaph is mostly official script, and statue record is mostly regular script, but of course not all. Judging from their time sequence, the sequence of official script and regular script is back and forth, which is obviously characterized by the unique style when the official script is transferred to regular script. We can see from this book trace with different styles that with the unification of Northern Wei Dynasty to northern China, the society at that time was eagerly looking forward to the emergence of a book style with unified statutes. In fact, the emperors in the early Northern Wei Dynasty were also obviously aware of the importance of stipulating the laws of writing. In 425 AD, the Northern Wei Dynasty "created more than a thousand new words at the beginning", and for this reason, Emperor Taizu also issued an imperial edict with neat words.
Create a creation in Xidixuan. Cang Xie's writing is based on the traces of birds and beasts. Since then, it has been changed at any time, so seal, official script, model script and grass coexist in the world. However, after a long period of experience, many people lose their truth, so the words are wrong and the meaning is not satisfactory, which means that the rules are in the afterlife. Confucius said: If a name is irregular, you can't succeed. This is also called. Today, when writing words, those who use them will be awarded far and near, and it will always be a model.
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However, judging from the book traces of Pingcheng period in the Northern Wei Dynasty after 425 AD, a relatively unified style has not been formed, which shows that the formation of style cannot be achieved by the government. This is a kind of social fashion, which requires the choice of history and society to form a universally recognized writing standard, thus forming a universal aesthetic knowledge in society. Calligraphy in Pingcheng period of Northern Wei Dynasty showed the general characteristics of "both style and official script". There are official scripts in the official script, and official scripts in the official script. In order to find out the development and evolution of calligraphy in the Northern Wei Dynasty, I will start with several inscriptions with strong official script flavor.
Looking at the official script of Pingcheng from the ode of the emperor's southern tour
This tablet was engraved in the Wen Chengdi era, and Wei Shu Gao Zongji recorded that "there are mountains in the south of Lingqiu, which are more than 4 feet high. It was a summons to the ministers to shoot up the mountain peak. If they were unable to surpass it, the emperor bent his arc and lost it. He went out of the mountain for more than 3 feet and crossed the south of the mountain for 22 steps, and published a stone inscription. "
The inscription on this tablet has obvious characteristics of official script. Both ends of the horizontal painting are tilted upward to make a flying shape, the vertical hook is horizontally picked, the pen-receiving part of the left painting is slightly turned upward, the pen-receiving part of the left painting is flat, and the characters are horizontally flat. These are typical official calligraphy strokes.
At the same time, this kind of official script has obvious regular script characteristics, such as square strokes, thin strokes, low left, high right and upward inclination, and the horizontal folds of many words are no longer flat and straight down, but inclined to the left, such as the first fold of the word "Guo". Some horizontal folds show obvious setbacks, such as the fold at the first stroke of "Jun" in the word "Jun". From the structural point of view, the structure is dignified and inclined.
The characteristics of the ode of the emperor's southern tour make it of great value in studying the transition from official script to regular script. In particular, the characteristics of regular script mixed in it will make us feel deja vu. These regular script features can be clearly found in the later "Longmen four products" and Mangshan epitaph. From the Jun Fang frustration of strokes to the oblique and dignified structure, there is an obvious relationship with the regular script of "Weibei Style".
This style of inscription was also found in the Monument of the Emperor's East Tour during the Pingcheng period of the Northern Wei Dynasty. However, in the later Tomb Inscription of Sima Jinlong, many features of Ode to the Emperor's South Tour were continued, but some features were obviously abandoned. For example, the upward turning of the pen on the left side of horizontal painting is not obvious, and the inclination of the font is greatly weakened, but it still shows the characteristics of official script. It can be said that regular script had a considerable influence on people at that time, so that it unconsciously penetrated into calligraphy, making it "both formal and official." In fact, due to the conservative style of calligraphy in the north, the temple system is traditionally carved in official script, and many waves, overturning and structural leveling are often deliberate, which is quite inadequate. Therefore, Qi Gong said: "Both the structure and the gesture of strokes want to write official script, but the writing skills are not pure, and the strokes, regardless of the thickness of Fiona Fang, are not as authentic as the Han tablet."
"Ode to the Emperor's Southern Tour" is a temple system, an inscription that records the emperor's good fortune, and should be written by a first-class calligrapher. The Tomb Inscription of Sima Jinlong is a noble epitaph, which is well carved. Therefore, these two inscriptions may represent the latest state of calligraphy at that time, and also typically reflect the ambivalence and customary writing habits of the engravers at that time. In particular, the use of the opposite pen can be said to have become a relatively recognized brushwork at that time, which had a significant impact on the formation of the "Wei stele style" in Luoyang later.
However, the official script in Pingcheng period did not form a unified style, and the above is only a representative one. Others, such as Carving Stones in Gaxian Cave, the square thickness of Song Gaoling Temple Monument, and the sloppy brick writing in Su Guangming Tomb and Wang Qiangren Tomb, all have their own characteristics.
Seeing Pingcheng Regular Script from Huifu Temple Monument
Huifu Temple Monument is the most famous regular script inscription in Pingcheng period of Northern Wei Dynasty. As far as its characteristics are concerned, it is still dominated by Fang Bi, with sharp edges and sharp knots, slightly inclined "with the posture of pitching back and varicose veins, and the dense knots reflect the posture of the side". ⑧ So Kang Youwei called it a "rich and dense Sect", which was very mature in the avoidance of font structure, and the shadow of Li Shu in Wei and Jin Dynasties at the end of Han Dynasty was hard to find.
Compared with the most representative official script inscription Ode to the Emperor's Southern Tour in the early period of Pingcheng, although there is one official script, it has the same origin in style. Ode to the Emperor's Southern Tour is rigorous in structure and sharp in strokes, which are all reflected in Huifu Temple Monument. Especially the horizontal painting, although the calligrapher of Huifu Temple Monument uses regular script, it has great similarities with the horizontal painting in Ode to the Emperor's Southern Tour. For example, the horizontal paintings in the words "Qing", "Zhen", "Su" and "Er" are exactly the same as the Ode to the Emperor's Southern Tour. This shows that in the 27 years from Ode to the Emperor's Southern Tour to Huifu Temple Monument, this brushwork has been continued and developed, and it has been applied in regular script. Because whether it is? Ode to the emperor's southern tour? Or? Huifu temple monument? At that time, it should be the latest brushwork, which undoubtedly played a guiding role in the evolution of the calligraphy style in the Northern Wei Dynasty.
If we compare it with the "Wei stele" in Luoyang in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the writing of "Wei stele" in Luoyang is basically available in Huifu Temple Monument. However, it can't be denied that the strokes are far less vigorous and powerful, the structure is wide open and closed, the side of the structure and the momentum is far less powerful than Luoyang's "Weibei Style". The above characteristics of Huifu Temple Monument make it play the role of explorer and pioneer. Regular script in Pingcheng had a profound influence on the "Weibei Style" in Luoyang, so Yin Xian said: "Wei Bei in Luoyang period and Wei Bei in Pingcheng period also had a direct inheritance relationship. That is to say, many forms of Wei Bei, inscriptions and book marks in Datong are related to many statues and epitaphs in Luoyang in time, and to the generation and development of book style and style, it is a relationship between source and flow. "
Of course, the regular script in Pingcheng period still has obvious official meaning, which is clearly reflected in the Statues of Fazong in Yishi and the regular script discovered by Wawen in Mingtang. In 477 AD, Emperor Xiaowen took charge of the government and carried out drastic reforms, including "the system of changing clothes", forbidding to wear Hu clothes and changing to wear Han costumes; Change the native place of Xianbei people "those who move south on behalf of others are known as Luoyang people"; Take Chinese as the "pronunciation"; Change Xianbei compound surname to Han single surname; Promote the communication between Xianbei people and Han gentry. A series of reform measures adopted by Emperor Xiaowen greatly promoted the integration of Hu Hanmin ethnic groups, showed great respect for Han culture, and also made the Northern Wei Dynasty form the system of dressing in Mu Shang Southern Dynasties.