Yan Zhenqing is the only great calligrapher in the history of calligraphy in China who can keep pace with Wang Xizhi. His "Yan Ti" is called "the saint of calligraphy" in regular script. Yan Zhenqing's regular script, like the sage standing on the temple, is dignified and graceful. Yan Zhenqing's cursive script matured earlier than his regular script, and it was more vivid and graceful, with heroic spirit of galloping, drawing swords and dancing, profound attainments, self-contained, harmonious without flowing, threatening without committing crimes. It is not only different from the running script of the Six Dynasties, but also different from Zhang Xu, Huai Su and Long Ben. Yan Zhenqing often melts regular script into cursive script, and uses centering, hidden front and turning front in line, so as to take the vigorous and extraordinary rise of strokes, get the fantastic flying of the font, turn the ink into dark and dry, and wield heroic spirit.
The art of calligraphy in Tang Dynasty emphasized the creation of personality and the expression of spirit while attaching importance to statutes. The perfection of "law" and the catharsis of "emotion" are two major tendencies of the calligraphy style in Tang Dynasty. Ou Yangxun, Yu Shinan, Chu Suiliang, Li Beihai and Liu Gongquan's "respecting the law" and Zhang Xu and Huai Su's "respecting the feelings" are the models of the calligraphy style in the Tang Dynasty, while Yan Zhenqing is the two poles.
There are not many cursive scripts handed down from generation to generation in Yan Zhenqing. According to Records of Yan Zhenqing, there are 38 candidates. The Complete Works of China's Calligraphy, Yan Zhenqing, edited by Zhu Guantian, earned 30 pieces (including ink and engraved posts). These works are available in all periods. Judging from the font, regular script and cursive script are mixed.