"At the end of the Han Dynasty, Zhong Xuan was known as the ancestor of the Kaishu, can I ask you to learn calligraphy for the first time, can you start with his Calligraphy?" Thank you for your kind question.
First of all, we would like to say that what we call calligraphy refers to the calligraphy since the zhong shu wang xi or this school of calligraphy is called the real calligraphy.
This is a very typical calligraphy system in our traditional history, then this system is also a narrow sense of calligraphy, the Tang Dynasty carried forward the calligraphy of Zhong Xuan Wang Xizhi, and finally it was fixed, forming a calligraphy system that has been unified by the Tang Dynasty, which has a far-reaching impact to this day. Therefore, our so-called calligraphy began in the Tang Dynasty, and the system of this calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty originated from the calligraphy of Zhong Xuan and Wang Xizhi.
So is it right for us to learn calligraphy from Zhongyao calligraphy for the first time? Of course it is true, but strictly speaking. According to the calligraphy system of the Tang Dynasty, the calligraphy of Zhong Xuan and Wang Xizhi is not completely accurate, the real accurate calligraphy is Ou, Yan, liu, in the Qing Dynasty added the Yuan Dynasty calligrapher Zhao Mengfu, we merged these four into Ou, Yan, Liu, Zhao. This is the so-called calligraphy system, and the calligraphy system of this calligraphy is actually completely stipulated and uniformly identified from the Qing Dynasty.
However, since the Ming and Qing dynasties have come, the calligraphy has been monopolized by the library style calligraphy, and it has gradually come to the end of rigidity.
In order to learn calligraphy well and not to go to the pavilion style to become rigid in calligraphy, the ancients also proposed calligraphy from the Qing Dynasty at the latest to teach the Fa Wei Jin, "books do not enter the Jin, eventually return to the wild road" This is the late Ming and early Qing dynasty calligrapher Wang Duo proposed. Therefore, when calligraphers after the Qing Dynasty studied calligraphy, they all hoped that the highest realm of calligraphy was to be able to catch up with Wei and Jin.
Are we learning calligraphy now to chase Wei Jin xing? Can you catch up with Wei Jin? If you can chase, can you start chasing from Zhong Xuan? I think it's perfectly okay.
Zhong Xuankai's book "Recommended Season Straight Table"
Because we learn calligraphy today, it is a little different from the ancients learning calligraphy, ancient people, such as before the Qing Dynasty, or before the Republic of China to learn calligraphy, first of all, the writing instrument is based on the brush, in addition to the brush as the basis, second, mainly based on information dissemination.
These two basic positions determine that to learn calligraphy, you must learn standardized writing, and you must learn the pavilion style, which is compulsory and not optional.
Then, what we call the ancients, the wei and jin we are talking about, is actually an elective course in calligraphy, that is, if you want to learn calligraphy well, you must start with the calligraphy of Wei Jin.
So, what does it mean to start with Wei Jin? Of course, it refers to the calligraphy classics including the capital of Zhong Xuan and Wang Xi, not from Tang Kai, and can achieve the charm of Wei and Jin calligraphy. If we learn from Zhong Xuan's calligraphy, of course, we will go straight to the classics.
So, for those of us today, can we start learning from Zhong Xuan? I think it's perfectly okay.
Because after all, Zhong Xuan's calligraphy is already mature calligraphy, his calligraphy classics "Declaration Table", "Recommendation Season Straight Table", "Force Life Table" and so on several posters, are the originators of the letter, especially the "Declaration Table" has always been considered to be the originator of the letter, then we start from the "Declaration Table", or learn from the calligraphy of other Zhong Xuan, I think it is okay, this should not be a problem.
Zhong Xuankai's "Declaration Table"
So, why do we say that it is okay to start with Zhong Xuan's letters today? There are several reasons for this, first, the so-called calligraphy is the foundation of calligraphy, which only refers to such a calligraphy system since the Tang Dynasty, then the calligraphy system of the Tang Dynasty is the calligraphy system, that is, the calligraphy, the line and cursive. Both Zhong Xuan and Tang Kai belong to a system, second, Zhong Xuan's calligraphy is simple and free, not as strict as Tang Kai's, and third, it has the beauty of calligraphy.
Before the Tang Dynasty, we didn't necessarily learn calligraphy as such a system. For example, before the Tang Dynasty, the main calligraphy was Lishu, Calligraphy, Xingshu, Cursive, etc., and there was no unified system of teacher law.
However, after the Tang Dynasty, the main calligraphy was calligraphy and cursive writing, especially the calligraphy and cursive writing were compulsory, and they could not be learned indiscriminately, only the calligraphy, xingshu, and cursive calligraphy of Wang Xizhi of Zhong Xuan, which was the calligraphy system fixed in the Tang Dynasty.
However, after the Tang Dynasty, there was gradually less calligraphy from Wei and Jin, and more strict calligraphy as Tang Kai,so calligraphy gradually lost its rustic calligraphy atmosphere, and calligraphy took the communication function of words as a tool.
The fact that we study calligraphy today has little to do with the imperial examination system and our tools for disseminating information.
So we chose Zhong Xuan's calligraphy script to learn calligraphy, and there is no strict difference between us and me starting from Lishu, and starting from seal calligraphy or starting from Tang Kai. We can completely learn from Zhong Xuan's calligraphy, and there should be no problem.
So specifically speaking, Zhong Xuan's calligraphy has more simple characteristics, and there are still some strokes of the Lishu, compared with Tang Kai, he has a naïve and messy side, we learn this kind of Jin Dynasty calligraphy, or wei and Jin calligraphy, more original and simple calligraphy beauty, then learning this kind of calligraphy, can be for us to learn Tang Kai's kind of excessive law to easy to stereotype, there is a certain correction effect, on the contrary, after we lay the foundation of Wei Jin calligraphy, and then learn Tang Kai, We will feel that Tang Kai is not so difficult, and we will not write Tang Kai as a pavilion.
It can be said that if you start with Zhong Xuan's calligraphy, it is not to lower the standard of the teacher's method, but to improve the grade of learning the calligraphy.