Zhao Zhiqian sent a letter to Zhao Yao with eighteen letters and fourteen envelopes!

In the Qing Dynasty, due to the prosperity of jinshi examination, calligraphy in the middle and late Qing Dynasty also underwent a great change of "the decline of the thesis style and the prosperity of steleology". Under the influence of the calligraphy theory of Bao Shichen and others who "revered monuments and suppressed the post", a great genius appeared in the Qing Dynasty, Zhao Zhiqian, who was involved in various calligraphy styles and left a large number of excellent works.

Zhao Zhiqian, a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang. The initial characters Yifu, Leng Jun, later changed to Shu Shu, No. Sorrowful Nunnery, Mei'an, Wu Stuffy and so on. In his youth, he was known for his talent. He was an outstanding calligrapher and painter of his time. His seal carvings take the Qin and Han jinshi characters, take the essence of the macro, and form their own unique style, known as the "Zhao Pai".

Zhao Zhiqian's letter to Zhao Yu was eighteen and fourteen envelopes, which were written by Zhao Zhiqian from the end of the first year of Tongzhi to Beijing to participate in the examination and make a living, and to the eleventh year of Tongzhi to Jiangxi as the chief editor of the Tongzhi Bureau, and left Beijing for a long time in ten years.

During this period, Zhao Cao was running an errand at the Tianjin Zhejiang Shipping Bureau, so the two exchanged many letters. Because of the convenience of shipping, Zhao Zhiqian often entrusted him to transfer miscellaneous goods, such as painting fans, rice paper, letterheads and even local specialties of his hometown. Because he is a clan, he is informal in his writing and speaking, and always reveals his mood and personality.

His seal has its own unique brilliance. His talent is unique and able to carry it forward, so he produces works with a very modern atmosphere. Although his seal works sometimes have some ink infiltration, the wonderful feeling expressed by his sharp pen edge cannot help but be amazing.

Taking his cursive works as an example, Zhao Zhiqian can integrate the solemnity of seals, li, kai and other calligraphy into this flowing and free cursive writing, and we can see a kind of fortitude and indomitability and majestic wonder that is different from traditional cursive writing, and at the same time, we can glimpse the inner feelings and spirit of Zhao Himself from the works.