As an old calligrapher, Zheng Xiaoxu had a major influence in the literature circle of the Republic of China, and was on a par with the reputation of Shen Zengzhi and Kang Youwei. If we only look at calligraphy, Zheng Xiaoxu should undoubtedly occupy a prominent position in the history of modern calligraphy. However, after the "9.18" incident, he rebelled and became the prime minister of the puppet state of Manchukuo, which was a big loss, which eventually affected the reputation and status of Zheng Xiaoxu's calligraphy.
Zheng Xiaoxu
Although books and character cannot be equated, art, as a defender of beauty, always prompts the artist the requirement of perfect personality, so starting from the concept of beauty, perfect art should come from perfect personality. If not, there are always regrets. Zheng Xiaoxu's calligraphy can also be viewed as such.
Zheng Xiaoxu calligraphy
Zheng Xiaoxu took the Fa Yan and Su in his early years, and devoted himself to the Six Dynasties in his later years, taking the road of combining inscriptions and posts. However, perhaps in his early years, he was deeply immersed in the study of theology, and his concept of steleology was not as radical as Shen Zengzhi and Kang Youwei. Kang Youwei and Shen Zengzhi abandoned all what they had learned in their early years, such as Shi Zi Wu Dao, showing a new style, while Zheng Xiaoxu's calligraphy was old and new, with a great atmosphere of old age, which was not unrelated to his political conservatism.
Zheng Xiaoxu's calligraphy is based on Su characters, integrated with the law, coupled with the quicksand drop sticky meaning, the gesture is sensational, the extreme intention is wavy, the dew is out of the paper, the multi-cast shoulder rotation, the horizontal escape is out, and the spear is euphorbia. On the whole, the lifa constituted the dominant stylistic factor of Zheng Xiaoxu's calligraphy, which had a lot to do with his attention and uniqueness to the lifa, which became his distinguishing place from other philologists.
At least among the late Qing dynasty epigraphers, he was the first practitioner to pay attention to the introduction of quicksand falling. He said:
Since before the Sui Dynasty, the stele and stone traces have all been connected. Tang Yi descended to a change, because of the loss of subordination. Tang Li, Tang Cao, and Tang Kai were all disciplined. However, many people in the vicinity are from the other, especially the letters. Scholars and doctors are not accustomed to Tang monuments, so they go farther and farther away from the ancients. ...... However, those who cannot be written, their calligraphy and cursive writing cannot be worked, and the quicksand of the test is dropped and can be seen.
In the old writers of the Republic of China, Zheng Xiaoxu has a high status. Even from the perspective of epigraphy, he is one of the few calligraphers who has a high creative achievement in the integration of inscriptions and a distinct personality. In "Nearly Three Hundred Years of Calligraphy", Mr. Sha Menghai has a wonderful comment on Zheng Xiaoxu, which is breathtaking and can be called the eye of historical furniture:
The only one who can correct the shortcomings of Zhao Zhiqian's floating, Tao Maoxuan's board stagnation and Li Ruiqing's vibrating pen is Zheng Xiaoxu. In his early years, he wrote Yan characters and Su characters, and only in his later years did he write the Six Dynasties characters. His pen strength is very strong, there is a kind of purity, for the monuments, slightly close to the "Li Chao Epitaph", and it seems to be several kinds of "Cold Tang Monuments", but it may not be where his dedication lies. The most peculiar thing is that his works have both a fierce color and a songxiu interest, just like his poetry, in the midst of Chong Yi, with an atmosphere of excitement.
Although Zheng Xiaoxu's calligraphy is becoming more and more recognized, everyone still seems to have criticized his people in their hearts, so that the calligraphy community does not accurately position him in calligraphy. This situation has existed since ancient times, such as Cai Jing, Zhao Ziang, Wang Duo, Zhang Ruitu, etc., nothing like this. This is also a common phenomenon in cultural history. In terms of national righteousness, morality and ethics, the basic values of the Chinese nation have always been very correct.
Today, zheng Xiaoxu's inscription "Bank of Communications" is still in use, but except for those who know calligraphy, few people know who these words came from.