The three masterpieces of the Tang Dynasty are: "Li Bai's poetry", "Pei Min's sword dance" and "Zhang Xu's cursive script".
Zhang Xu cursive script refers to the cursive script works written by Zhang Xu, a famous calligrapher in ancient times. Li Zhimin, a professor at Peking University and the founder of introducing stele into grass, commented: "Zhang Xu's cursive writing is like a dragon pole soaring into the sky, powerful yet elegant."
Zhang Xu learned the cursive writing technique and later taught it to Cui Miao, Yan Zhenqing. Zhang Xu said: "In the beginning, I saw the princess and the porters fighting to cross the road and realized the artistic conception of cursive writing. Later, I watched Mrs. Gongsun dancing with the sword and realized the charm of cursive writing." Zhang Xu wrote in cursive and waved every time he was drunk. Pen yelled. He dipped his head in ink and wrote with his head. People in the world called him "Zhang Dian". After waking up from the drunkenness, he saw the words he had written with his own head and thought it was magical and could not be retrieved again.
Posterity may have different opinions when it comes to the famous calligraphers Ouyang Xun, Yu Shinan, Chu Suiliang and Xue Ji, but when it comes to Zhang Xu, there is no objection.
Characteristics
Zhang Xu’s calligraphy originated from Zhang Zhi and Er Wang, with cursive writing being the most successful. He himself is proud to inherit the tradition of "Two Kings", and every word is lawful. His regular script is correct and rigorous. The rules are so extreme that Huang Shanshangu praised him as "the one who has no equal in the official writings of the Tang Dynasty". If his regular script is more inheritance than creation, then his cursive script is a great innovation and development in calligraphy. In this way, a free and upright and unpredictable wild grass is created, and its appearance can be described as shocking.