The "Sixteen Kingdoms" are named after the Spring and Autumn of the Sixteen Kingdoms, privately written by the Northern Wei historian Cui Hong: "Five Liang, Four Yan, Three Qin, Two Zhao, and Cheng, Xia for sixteen". He elected sixteen states with a long, influential, and representative number from all seventy-eight regimes in the North, large and small.
Cui Hong was born in Qinghe, Qizhou, in present-day Linqing City, Shandong Province. He was a scholar and an official.
Cui Hong was born in a family of scholars, and has been influenced by his family since childhood, so he has a fairly good literary literacy, and when he was young, he read the Four Books and Five Classics, etiquette spring and autumn, knew astronomical geography, and was familiar with ancient and modern times. Cui Hong's story can be described as a legend, when he was a child, the adults in the family talked about political affairs, he would listen, and sometimes express his own opinions, his unique insights made Cui Hong's teachers and father feel incredible, and even praised.
After Cui Hong was a little older, he took the Beijing Examination at that time and achieved good results. Cui Hong's story still begins with his ambitions at that time, and he is inspired to write a comprehensive and detailed introduction to the history of the Sixteen Kingdoms. At the same time he began to work on his ideals. In order to transcribe and collect historical materials, he gave up almost all his property and money, and sometimes even did not even have the money to buy paper, which shows that he compiled books under the rather difficult circumstances of life. After a few years, the first draft of "Spring and Autumn of the Sixteen Kingdoms" has been basically completed. But in order to finish the last five parts and complete his pursuit, he went around looking for the rest of the books. It took a full twenty years to find the last five parts of the material and finish the book. These sixteen kingdoms were: Cheng han (Ba Xi), Former Zhao (Xiongnu), Later Zhao (羯), Former Liang, Former Yan (Xianbei), Former Qin (氐), Hou Yan (Xianbei), Later Qin (Qiang), Western Qin (Xianbei), Houliang, Nanliang (Xianbei), Xiliang (氐), Beiliang (Lu Shuihu), Southern Yan (Xianbei), Northern Yan and Huxia (Xiongnu), referred to as "Five Liang, Four Yan, Three Qin, Two Zhao, Yicheng, Yixia", later known as "Five Hu Sixteen Kingdoms". Of course, in fact, the number of countries in this period was much more than 16, and the Qiuchi, Daiguo, Goguryeo, Ran Wei, Western Yan, Tuguhun, Western Shu and Zhai Wei, which had a greater influence at that time, had a greater influence. However, in recent years, some publishing departments have believed that in the spirit of national unity, the "Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms" can no longer be mentioned, and some textbooks have been changed to "ethnic minorities going south".
Cui Hong's story is also an inspirational story, he was the first person to dare to write history for minority regimes, which is very rare in history. So he was a very great writer. The Wei and Jin dynasties were an era of turmoil, but for historiography, it was an era of vigorous development. Undoubtedly, Cui Hong's role is very large.
Cui Hong lived during the Northern Wei Dynasty, was a very famous historian, he came from a family of scholars, from an early age is very intelligent and studious, especially fond of historical books, and after he entered the career, he once held the positions of Bingbu Langzhong, Situ Changshi and Huangmen Shilang, and finally died in 525, and after his death, he was also posthumously awarded the title of Zhendong General and Qingzhou Assassin History. The "Tomb of Cui Hong" is some of the deeds and expositions about his life recorded after his death, so what is the specific "Tomb of Cui Hong"?
Epitaph of Cui Hong, published in the second year of Xiaochang of the Northern Wei Dynasty (526 AD). It was completed in the second year of his death, mainly introducing Cui Hong's life deeds and his related writings, bluestone, square, side length of eighty-two centimeters. Zhiwen Weishu, twenty-eight lines, twenty-eight lines. There is a lid, a dome-shaped, plain surface, broken. There was originally a topped lid on the epitaph, but it had been cracked when it was found. It was excavated in the winter of 1973 in the joint tomb of Nan Cui Hong and his wife in Woto Village, Dawu Township, Linzi District, Zibo City, Shandong Province, and is now stored in the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. Cui Hong, "Book of Wei" and "History of the North" have been passed down.
The calligraphy of the epitaph of "Cui Hong's Epitaph" also has great historical value, which not only reflects the characteristics of calligraphy at that time, but also has a very important artistic and cultural relics value. It can be said that it played a very important role both then and today.
The calligraphy of "Cui Hong's Epitaph" has very unique characteristics, it seems to have the double appearance of Fang Yuan, and the handwriting is also very cold, and the carving knife work and the charm of the pen are fully reflected, with a special sense of elegance. The calligraphy of "Cui Hong's Epitaph" has a unique style, with both square and round strokes, neat and steep strokes, and sword and pen rhyme. The knot is in a vertical trend, the center of gravity is on the upper side, the air is wide and flexible, and it is staggered. After three hundred years of change and development since the end of the Han Dynasty, the Book of Wei has entered the stage of exquisite craftsmanship in the late Northern Wei Dynasty, most of the works contain beauty in the majestic and powerful, and there is yamei in the strange and steep, and the "Tomb of Cui Hong" fully shows the characteristics of this era.