"Han Shu" records widely () that Han Xin said that "giving books is close at hand." Yan Shigu pointed out: "The eight-inch Sun Zhi, close at hand, is a simple and long ruler." There was no paper in the early Han Dynasty, so every seal was used as a letter. Regular script is about one foot long, so the letters and letters are the last words of the "hand-written book" in Han Dynasty.
Biography of Chen Han Zun: "The Lord is proud of Tibet because it involves biographies, reading characters, being good at books and being arrogant with others." Some people who are good at calligraphy often show off their calligraphy, so they are often treasured by people who like calligraphy. As far as the calligrapher himself is concerned, he extremely hopes to get the attention and protection of the recipient. For example, Xie An of the Jin Dynasty was always good at calligraphy. Although Wang Xianzhi is a famous calligrapher, he despises Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy. Wang Xianzhi once wrote a letter to Xie An with beautiful calligraphy, thinking that it would be preserved by Xie An. Unexpectedly, after receiving the letter, Xie An wrote an answer casually on the back of the letter, which made Wang Xianzhi very annoyed. Although there was paper and silk in the Jin Dynasty, at that time, Wang Xianzhi and Xie An still had communication. I'm afraid it's still a wooden slip. Xie An can write a reply on the back of the wooden slip.
Wang Xizhi, a calligrapher in the Jin Dynasty, has a thing that "the book is a blessing-shaped version, engraved with work and incisive with a pen", and the "visual version" is a woodcut of the book and a message at the time of sacrifice. It can be proved that the Jin Dynasty still has the legacy of the Han Dynasty.
Fu Xian's "Paper Fu" said: "Today it is not only a contract to replace rope, but also a paper-making strategy, and it is a beautiful and precious thing. ..... the olive is very comfortable, but if you give it up, it will roll, bend and stretch, and you can show it. " It's much more convenient since writing letters on paper.
Letter substitution
In ancient times, letters were generally called "books", while others were called "Jane", "letterhead", "letter" and "element". Jane is a piece of bamboo, Jane is a small piece of bamboo, Xie is a board, za is a small board, and Su is a piece of white silk. In ancient times, because there was no paper, these things were the materials for writing letters. The length of the wooden board and white silk used to write letters is usually about one foot, so it is also called "ruler" and "ruler". Letters are also called "letter", "seal" and "open". "Letter" originally refers to envelopes, "seal" originally refers to seals, and letters are their extended meanings. "Kai", as an alias of letters, expresses the meaning of sentences, which is different from the opened "Kai".