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Xiong Peijun/Wen
(College of Literature, Zhaoqing University, Zhaoqing, Guangdong 526061)
Abstract: Zhaoqing, known as Duanzhou in ancient times, was once an important political, economic and cultural town in Lingnan, and has preserved a large number of inscriptions from various historical periods, of which the Qing Dynasty has the most. Most of these inscriptions are made of endstone stone. In terms of the artistic value of calligraphy, its size and size are different, the styles are diverse, and the style of the book is rich. In terms of documentary value, it presents the history and culture of zhaoqing in all aspects of the Qing Dynasty, and is an important local literature resource.
Keywords: Zhaoqing; Qing Dynasty inscription; calligraphy art; documentary value
Zhaoqing ancient called Duanzhou, located in the central and western part of Guangdong Province, was once a large county in Lingnan, according to the three rivers of the rush, strangle the five continents, pingfan Xijiang up and down, known as the Lingnan military town, the political, economic and cultural center of the Xijiang River basin and the water transport hub of the Xijiang River. After the Song Dynasty, with the southward shift of the political and economic center, the Central Plains Imperial Court began to strengthen the development and control of the Lingnan region, so the Confucian etiquette culture of the Central Plains was able to flourish in the Lingnan region. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, in order to quell the ongoing Liangguang Yao rebellion, the Central Plains Imperial Court set up the Liangguang Governor's Palace in Gaoyao County, Zhaoqing Province, so Gaoyao County became an important political, military, and cultural town in western Guangdong. Among them, only one inscription document is a considerable amount, especially the qing dynasty inscription has a large number and high value. The artistic value of these inscriptions and calligraphy is prominent, and the forms are diverse and the content is rich. This article only provides a glimpse of the existing Qing Dynasty inscriptions in Zhaoqing City, so as to teach the Fang family.
Figure 1 "Xiu Pei Jing Fu Wai Guilin Dijia Masonry Monument"
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > first, the status quo of inscriptions</h1>
As a product of historical activities, inscriptions record the content of local history and are important documents reflecting local historical activities. Most of the inscriptions are first-hand historical materials, which are known as the history carved on the stone. Because it was the people who remembered the events at that time, the inscription rarely appeared like the case of misremembering and misremembering the historical facts due to various influences in the history books, so it is a more reliable documentary historical material. According to the "Complete Record of Stone Carvings of Zhaoqing Xinghu Lake" (1) published in 1986, the "Zhaoqing Cultural Relics Chronicle" published in 1988[1], and fieldwork, there are about 160 Qing Dynasty inscriptions in Zhaoqing City. These inscriptions are distributed in Mei'an, Yuejiang Lou, Zhaoqing FuxueGong Ruins, former Zhaoqing Prefectural Office Ruins, Wujun Ancestral Hall Ruins, Star Lake, Ding Lake, and scattered in the suburban wilderness.
Inscriptions are generally used for praise or taboos, so people choose inscriptions that are particularly exquisite, generally choosing stones that are not easy to erode and can be taken nearby. The existing Zhaoqing Qing Dynasty inscriptions are mainly made of end stone, followed by marble stone, and a small number of granite and bluestone.
Duanyan stone is abundant in ancient Duanzhou, which has naturally become the first choice of stone for people in Zhaoqing to erect monuments and carve stones. The stone quality of the end stone is delicate and moist, the stone pattern is colorful, easy to carve, the insects and ants are not mothed, and it is an ideal inscription stone, which can stand in the wind and rain for hundreds of years. For example, the "Monument to the Fragrant Lantern Field of Mei'an" inscribed in the 30th year of Kangxi (1691), the "Monument to the Reconstruction of the Pangu Temple" originally located at the site of the Pangu Temple, which was originally located in the ruins of the Pangu Temple, the "Monument to the Reconstruction of the Inscription of the Pangu Temple", which was originally located in the old site of the Flying Goose Temple, was engraved in the 22nd year of Daoguang (1842), and most of the inscriptions of the Zhaoqing Qing Dynasty are Duanyan stones. Duanyan stone color is diverse, there are purple ends, green ends, white ends, etc., especially the purple end is commonly valuable, so most of the Zhaoqing Qing Dynasty inscriptions use purple end stone, but there are also green end stone, green gray end stone, etc., such as the original placed in the suburbs of Xiaoxiang Dalong Primary School, carved in the fifty-ninth year of the Qianlong Dynasty (1794) of the "Reconstruction of the Sacred Lake Temple Monument Order" is the use of green end stone. The inscription on the site of the former Zhaoqing Prefecture Bureau is the "Notice Monument of the Forbidden Officials of Zhaoqing Province to Extort Grocery Stores" in the forty-second year of Qianlong (1777), which is a blue-gray stone.
Yunfu County under the jurisdiction of the former Zhaoqing is rich in marble, which is smooth and delicate, light in color and solid, not easy to weather, and the ancients also used to make inscriptions, such as the "Guo ShilongShu Royal Book History Stele" engraved in the forty-fifth year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1706), which uses cloud stone. The more common granite, the ancients will also be used to carve monuments, such as the "Chen Jianhou Poetry Stele" carved in the ninth year of the Qing Dynasty (1883) is granite stone, and the three monuments stand side by side. However, compared with the end stone and marble stone, the granite inscription in Zhaoqing area is relatively rare.
The surviving Qing Dynasty inscriptions have been at least more than 100 years, and their inscriptions are clear, depending on the weathering of the stone stele material. Among the Qing Dynasty inscriptions in Zhaoqing, most of the inscription materials chose the more weather-resistant end stone and marble stone. From its distribution, most of the inscriptions stand in the pavilions and pavilions, or under the trees of mountain villages, protected from the sun and rain, and their degree of weathering is not very serious, so most of the inscriptions are still intact and clear, and can be accurately read. For example, engraved in the 22nd year of Daoguang (1842), the "Xiu Pei Jing Fu Wai Guilin Dijia Masonry Monument" (see Figure 1), the material is Duan Yan stone, this stele was originally established Wang Yun Jinsheng Ancestral Hall, after the temple was destroyed, the public placed it in the city DiWei Management Office warehouse (that is, the old site of the Flying Goose Temple), and now the Cultural Relics Bureau has moved it to Mei'an, so the stele is well preserved, the handwriting is clear, and it can be read in its entirety. There are also many inscriptions scattered in the countryside and mountains, but there are trees to shade the sun and rain, coupled with the high quality of the stone, the carving is deep, its erosion is not serious, and the inscription can basically read all.
Although some inscriptions use the stone of duan stone or marble stone, because the stele body has been exposed for a long time, it has been eroded by wind and rain, and the stele surface has been seriously damaged, resulting in a very few or large-scale characters on the stele face being difficult to recognize, and some stele stone handwriting even ceases to exist, such as the "Reconstruction of the Fort to Build the City Wall Phi Yun Lou Stele" carved in the third year of Qing Daoguang (1823), which was originally placed in Xirenli, which was long subjected to sun and rain, and the erosion was very serious, and many words have been incomplete. Some of the inscriptions are heavily weathered in many places, the inscription is difficult to identify, although it can be known according to some of the inscriptions the general meaning of the stele, but some specific content is missing, resulting in incomplete inscription content, such as a fragment of the stele located in the Seven Star Rock Langfeng Rock Containing Pearl Cave, carved in the seventh year of Kangxi (1668), the stele has been destroyed, the handwriting is difficult to distinguish, about can only be recognized "Gaoyao County", "Xiahuanggang leaf", "Guilin DuChawan before ..." and so on. Some inscriptions may have been artificially damaged, but have also been broken incompletely, such as the "Qingyun Temple Floating Map Stele", which was carved in the 26th year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1687), and the existing Qingyun Temple in Dinghu Mountain has been broken into several sections. Due to the lack of completeness of such incomplete inscriptions, their historical value has also been greatly affected, which is actually a major regret in the study of local history and culture. Some inscriptions have even ceased to exist due to man-made or war reasons, and can only be found in local documents, such as the five Kangxi Imperial Tablets currently located in YuejiangLou, which were originally six pieces and five existing pieces on the Kangxi Handi stone obtained by him and his father Guo Hongchen. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Yuejiang Tower was repeatedly attacked by Japanese aircraft, and the imperial monument placed by Chongwen Pavilion was affected, one of which was destroyed in the ruins of broken tiles, and the other five were also damaged.
In general, almost all of the existing Qing Dynasty inscriptions in Zhaoqing have been damaged to varying degrees, but they can basically be read in their entirety, the weathering is extremely serious, the content is very small, and many valuable inscriptions have been supervised and protected by the cultural and museum departments.
Figure 2 "Kangxi Imperial Stele"
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, the artistic value of the inscription</h1>
The artistic characteristics of the shape of the Zhaoqing Qing Dynasty inscription are different because of the different contents of the inscription or the inscription. The following is a discussion of the artistic value of the inscription from three aspects: the size of the inscription, the shape of the inscription and the calligraphy art style of the inscription.
1. Inscription size. In terms of size, the important temple halls, embankments and pavilions and taboo notices that are officially repaired are generally tall and majestic, with a height of about 150 centimeters and a width of about 60 centimeters, showing that the authority of the officials is beneficial to the local government and the authority of the officials. For example, the "Monument to the Inscription of the Rebuilding of the Pangu Temple", which was originally placed at the site of the Pangu Temple and carved in the 22nd year of Kangxi (1683), is 180 cm high and 100 cm wide; the "Monument to the Reconstruction of Mei'an", which was engraved in the 46th year of Qianlong (1781), which is stored in Mei'an, is 180 cm high and 80 cm wide; the "Monument to the Funds of the Officials Chang Donation Jiwei", which was originally in the former First People's Hospital of Zhaoqing City and carved in the 27th year of Qing Daoguang (1847), is 180 cm high and 86 cm wide.
The "Qiyuan Zen Master Ta Ming", which is located in front of the tomb of the monk in the back of Qingyun Temple in Dinghu Mountain and carved in the seventeenth year of Shunzhi (1660), is a monument erected for the first generation of abbots of Qingyun Temple. Qingyun Temple, formerly known as Lotus Temple, was founded in the sixth year of Chongzhen (1633), Houqiyuan was invited to open the mountain in Lotus Temple, the Lotus Temple was expanded into Qingyun Temple, Qingyun Temple has since gained fame and fame, ranking among the four famous brakes in Guangdong, so the promotion of Buddhism and the expansion of Qingyun Temple by the monks of Qingyun Temple can be said to be immeasurable merit, and the "Qiyuan Zen Master Pagoda" stele erected by him by posterity is even as high as 240 centimeters and as wide as 120 centimeters, which is the most majestic one in the existing Zhaoqing Qing Dynasty Buddhist inscriptions. In addition, the five surviving "Kangxi Imperial Book Steles" (see figure 2) of the aforementioned Yuejiang Tower are Guo Shilong, the governor of Liangguang, who, because of the grace of the emperor, have a stone stele in the ancient Songtai Yile tree, the five stele are 222 cm high and 110 cm wide, all of which are double dragon tops, cloud patterned trims, and carved dragon bases under them. Its grandeur and artistry are beyond the reach of ordinary inscriptions.
Some inscriptions that are not related to official, major events or figures, but are only related to donations, temples and other local offices, and their size specifications are generally small, such as the "Small Introduction of Zhigantang" engraved in the 20th year of Qing Jiaqing (1815), which records that zhaozhong relatives donated money to rebuild the Chengxi Mosque, and the height of the stele is only 52 centimeters and the width is only 71 centimeters. Jishan Hall was carved in the eighteenth year of Qing Guangxu (1892) "Erect Forever Sending House into the Temple Monument", which records that Jishan Hall voluntarily gave a house he bought to the "□ West Temple", and its stele is only 32 centimeters high and only 48 centimeters wide.
2. Inscription shape. The shape of the stele can generally be composed of several parts: the head of the stele, the stele body and the stele seat. The uppermost part of the stele is called "stele head" or "stele head", and the middle part of the stele head is the stele, which is used to engrave the stele inscription, which is generally called the "forehead inscription". The inscription on the forehead of the stele has the function of outlining and leading, and when you see the inscription, you can basically know what type it is, or what kind of inscription expresses subjective wishes. There are not many existing Zhaoqing Qing Dynasty inscriptions with inscriptions, all of which are carved horizontally from right to left, yin text, and their font size is greater than the font size of the main text, and the fonts are seal books, Lishu, and Kaishu, such as the "Re-repair of mei'an stele" carved in the twenty-first year of Qing Daoguang (1841), the stele seal book; the "Stele of the Rebuilding of the Buddha Hall" is engraved in the thirty-fifth year of Kangxi (1696), the stele is lishu; the "Mei'an XianglanTian Stele", engraved in the thirtieth year of Qing Kangxi (1691), the stele is inscribed. There are three kinds of head shapes: flat head shape, pointed head shape and round head shape, of which the pointed head stele is also called "Guishou Stele".
Under the forehead of the stele is the stele body, the stele body is the main part of the stele, the front of the stele body will generally be artificially smoothed, engraved with the text, called "stele face" or "stele yang", the reverse side of the "stele face" is called "stele yin", and the two sides of the stele are called "stele side" [2]. The text of "stele face" or "stele yang" is the content of the inscription, and the font of its text will also be in various forms, and the font of the main text inscribed in the Zhaoqing Qing Dynasty is generally lishu, calligraphy, xingshu, cursive, especially the most calligraphy and xingshu. For example, the "Monument to the Inscription of the Rebuilding of the Pangu Temple" preserved in Mei'an, this inscription was inscribed in the twenty-second year of kangxi (1683), the inscription "Reconstruction of the Inscription of the PanguDian" is a seal book, the main text is in italics; the "Reconstruction of the Sacred Lake Temple Inscription Sequence", this stele was inscribed in the fifty-ninth year of the Qianlong Dynasty (1794), there is no stele, the main text is written, and there is a cloud pattern lace on the side of the stele. Originally in the former Zhaoqing People's Hospital, now preserved in Mei'an, the "Monument to the Funds of officials chang donating to Jiwei", this stele was engraved in the twenty-seventh year of Qing Daoguang (1847), there is no stele, the main text is written in letters, and the reverse stele on the stele has "Yang Pi Poetry Stele", daoguang twenty years ago to Zhaoqing prefect Yang Pi wrote and wrote a book, the font is xingshu.
The first inscription is the inscription text of the first line of the inscription that plays the role of the title and the general leader, which is engraved on the far right side of the stele surface and written vertically down. Generally, there is no first inscription for inscriptions with stele amounts, and there is no stele amount with a first inscription, such as the inscription engraved in the second year of Qingdao Guang (1822) "New Changgeng Shushu Stele", there is no stele, but there is a first inscription "New Changgeng Shushu Stele", similar to this kind of stele without stele is more common, may be because the production process of the stele is complex, the cost is relatively high, so in addition to the official major chronicles there will be steles, the general stele will directly use the first inscription form. However, there are also some inscriptions that have both a stele and a first inscription, such as the "Dinghu Mountain Qizhi Zen Master Pagoda Inscription and Sequence" carved in the seventeenth year of Shunzhi on the right side of the houshan mountain of Qingyun Temple, the inscription is written "Pure Zen General Holding", and the first line is titled "Dinghu Mountain Qizhi Zen Master Pagoda Inscription and Sequence". Some inscriptions have neither a stele nor a first inscription, such as the "Monument to the Pagoda of Zhikuan Yangong" carved in the seventh year of Tongzhi ( 1868 ) on the right side of the hill road on the right side of the Baiyun Temple, and such inscriptions are relatively rare.
The stone foundation that plays a bearing role under the stele is called "stele", commonly known as "stele seat". For example, there is a carved dragon base under the "Kangxi Imperial Monument". And "Rebuilding the Poetry Monument of Reading Jianglou" and "Duanjiang Miscellaneous Poetry Stele" also have stele seats. However, there are not many surviving Qing Dynasty inscriptions with steles.
3. The style of the inscription. Most of the inscriptions of the Zhaoqing Qing Dynasty are in italics and calligraphy, and their styles are rich and diverse, and they are compatible and collected.
The inscription method of Zhaoqing Qing Dynasty is rigorous, mostly Tang Kai penmanship. Its inscriptions are mostly Tibetan front pens, center strokes, lifting, pressing, duning, setbacks are obvious, turning and rounding are taken into account; the pen is rounded without losing strength, the structure of the frame is calm, the knot is compact, the square is rigorous, the beauty is warm, and it is pleasing to the eye. Such inscriptions are like the Mei'an Shetian Ji (see Figure 3), which was inscribed in Mei'an in the twelfth year of the Ming Wanli Calendar (1584), with its rich glyphs and easy strokes, and its writing is clear and beautiful, quite in the style of Chu Suiliang's calligraphy. The "Yingxian Pingkou Monument" located in Fairy Lake is clear and elegant in handwriting, and has the characteristics of Ouyang Inquiry Letters.
There are two main styles of Xingshu inscriptions: one inherits the smooth and flowing brushwork of the Wei and Jin dynasties, such as "Rebuilding the Mei'an Stele of Zhaoqing Province" (see Figure 4), "Shizhi Temple", etc., such inscriptions have the style of Wei and Jin dynasties; a thick and powerful and multi-rounded posture, such as "Pingling Xijiluo" and "Monument to the Forbidden Logging of Trees in the Monks", etc., rich in tang dynasty rich and majestic atmosphere. Although the artistic characteristics of the two styles of inscriptions are different, their penmanship is the same. Xingshu inscription calligraphy is more dew sharp, the pen is sharp, the middle flank is used at the same time, the square is in the circle or the circle is in the square; the structure is compact, although the shape takes the oblique trend, but the center of gravity is stable; the pen is smooth and flexible, the pen is broken and the meaning is continuous; the chapter and the rhythm are through, the dense and elegant, and the weather is majestic.
It is worth mentioning that the calligraphy art of the aforementioned "Kangxi Imperial Stele" is thick and majestic, with an imperial atmosphere. The stele inscribes the poems of Kangxi and his handwritings of Linmifu and Dong Qichang. Kangxi has loved calligraphy since childhood, and he is especially fond of calligraphy in Mi Fu and Dong Qichang, and is good at calligraphy and calligraphy, and his calligraphy style is thick and free. According to research, kangxi's "Jingming Zhai" and "Lumen Zhouzhong Drama" are not found in the historical documents, and are the works of Mi Fu. Therefore, the handwritings of the two major calligraphers embodied in the "Kangxi Imperial Stele" have high artistic value and historical value as relics, and can make up for the lack of documents, which is actually a treasure of inscription.
In addition, the "Fu Zi Stele", which was originally located at the site of the Zhaoqing Prefectural Office, also has unique calligraphy features. This stele was carved in the seventh year of Qing Xianfeng (1857), the height of the stele is 161 cm, the width is 90 cm, the purple end is stone, and it is a remnant stele. The "Fu" character is embossed, the inscription is intaglio, and the large "Fu" character of this stele is composed of four kinds of images: finches, deer, turtles and fields. According to the inscription on the stele, it is written by Chen Zhuo. Chen Zhuo (陈抟), courtesy name Tu Nan (Chinese: 劉抟; pinyin: Zhīng Zhāng), courtesy name Fu Yanzi , was a Daoist priest of the fifth dynasty of the Song Dynasty , a native of Zhenyuan , Bozhou ( present-day Luyi County , Henan Province ) ; he was born in the late Tang Dynasty . Chen Zhuo never visited Zhaoqing, and the character "Fu" was copied by the Qing Dynasty. This stele has high artistic value in calligraphy and carving.
Generally speaking, the scale of Zhaoqing Qing Dynasty inscriptions varies in size and shape, among them, the specifications of the emperor's imperial stele and Buddhist figure stele are higher, which reflects the prosperity of Buddhism in the Zhaoqing area of the Qing Dynasty. Such inscriptions with stele and stele are rare, and most of the inscriptions are only simple stele bodies. The inscription of the inscription has seal writing, lishu, calligraphy, cursive, etc., while the main text writing fonts are mostly letters and writing, and their styles are rich and diverse.
Figure 3 "Memoirs of Ume-an Shetian"
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, the documentary value of the inscription</h1>
Zhaoqing Qing Dynasty inscriptions are not only of high value in the art of calligraphy, but also extremely rich in their documentary value. Its rich content covers almost all aspects of the history and culture of Zhaoqing area, such as official government notices, school education, temples and temples, ancestral hall clans, local public welfare undertakings, carved poem inscriptions, pagoda inscriptions, etc.
1. Official government ban notice. The ban notice was erected by the local government to correct the problem of local abuses, and through the notice to convey the state's policies to the rural society and express the basic attitude of the official. Therefore, the inscription of stones to affirm the ban is an important manifestation of the local ban in the Ming and Qing dynasties[3], mainly including the prohibition, praise, announcement, judgment, etc. of the local government, and 13 such inscriptions have been collected. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Zhaoqing was the main base of the Southern Ming Dynasty, and it was also one of the main war zones between the Qing court and the Southern Ming forces, and its military disasters lasted for nearly thirty years, until the eleventh year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty began to recover the Zhaoqing area. After the war in Zhaoqing at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the society withered and the people's livelihood was miserable, so in the early Qing Dynasty, the Central Dynasty set up Tuntian soldiers in the Zhaoqing area on the one hand, combining soldiers and civilians, to prevent "bandits" and promote military reclamation; on the other hand, it adopted policies to benefit the people, such as encouraging reclamation, protecting industry and commerce, lightly dispensing with thin endowments, strengthening disaster relief, and building water conservancy projects, so as to promote the prosperity of Zhaoqing's economy. In order to strengthen the protection of local civil merchants, the government issued a series of notices and banned them forever. For example, the "Record of the Eternal Prohibition of The Magnet Iron Pot Cylinder Tile Shop", which was engraved in the forty-second year of Qianlong (1777), issued a notice that "it is forbidden to borrow leases from the shopkeepers without authorization to cause nuisance and tiredness by means of official signs"; the "Records of the Monument of the Fengdu Xian strictly prohibiting the signing of various lines of shishi" engraved in the forty-second year of Qianlong (1777) records that because the merchants and people of various industries such as brick kilns, tile kilns, lanterns, and pewters in Gaoyao County reacted to the reaction that "the things used by each yamen are re-signed, and the family of Xu Gong is not exempt from using the end of the nuisance", so the government issued "the items used by each yamen, and the family of Xu Gong will not be able to use the end to disturb", so the official government issued "the various things used by each yamen. If you buy silver at the current price, you must not borrow from the shopkeepers without authorization by means of official business visas," nor can you use the official visas to "borrow leases from the shopkeepers without authorization and buy at short prices at a short price." The "Monument to Prohibition of River Extortion in Zhaoqing Province," inscribed in the fifty-seventh year of Qianlong (1792), is a notice that the official government strictly prohibits officials from extorting merchants and merchant ships in the name of borrowing credit and sealing the river. These notices reflect the government's policy of "caring for businessmen" in the early Qing Dynasty. In the first year of Qianlong (1736), gu Yi, then known as Gaoyao County, carved the "Notice monument of yubu gui min zisheng", which recorded the situation of the government's governance of the people of Gaoyao County, which was an indispensable document for the study of the local people.
Among these prohibition inscriptions, "Le Shi Forever Forbidden", "Le Stele Forbidden" and "Ban Forever Hanging" are common iconic words in inscriptions, and they appear more frequently. Its content is consistent with national policies, often has the effect of law, and is also an important measure for Zhaoqing officials to govern the local area.
2. School Education Monument. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Liangguang Governor's Office was stationed in Zhaoqing, and successive governors and prefects and county commanders all advocated the construction of the palace and academy, so there are many inscriptions on the development of Confucianism and the construction of academies. The original Zhaoqing Fu Xuegong stele includes the Kangxi Forty-eighth Year (1709) "Reconstruction of Zhaoqing Fu Confucian Stele", the Qianlong Decade (1745) "Zhitian Xiuxue Palace Stele", and the Daoguang Twelfth Year (1832) "Rebuilding the Zhaoqing Fu Xuegong Monument", these stele records the repair of the Gaoyao Xuegong palace in different periods of the Qing Dynasty.
There are also some inscriptions about the villagers of Zhaoqing who raised funds to run schools, such as the Lubu Wenshe in the east of Lubu Town, which was built in the year of Ding Ding of Qingjiaqing (1807) and completed in Xin Wei (1811), also known as "Luxi Shexue", and the site of the Wenshe has The "Lubu Wenshe Monument" inscribed by Shi Liji in the twentieth year of Daoguang (1840), which contains: The Wenshe was built for the construction of Zhong Yongkui, the enzhi Chen Jiashao, the superintendent Lu Fengyuan, and others, enthusiastically cultivating talents for the locality, and mobilizing the villagers and Yin households throughout Lubu to donate money. On the hill east of Longgang Village, there is Wuyun Academy, which was built in the Qianlong Jiachen year of the Qing Dynasty (1784), and on the corner of the wall behind the gate of the academy, there is a piece of "Wuyun Academy Stele" written by the local scholar Peng Tailai, which records the construction of Wuyun Academy. In Gaoyao City, nan'an Town, on the north side of the village of Shankou, there is the Eighteen Fang Academy, which was founded in the sixth year of Qing Guangxu (1880), and the inscription of the "Eighteen Fang Academy" written by He Fengfei of Guangtang is embedded in the right lining temple of the academy, and when the two lining shrines were demolished in 1992, the stele was re-embedded in the left outer wall of the left corridor of the main courtyard, which is still well preserved. The inscription records the process of raising funds for the establishment of schools by the fathers and elders of the townships. In order to encourage the children to be eager to learn, the college also formulated the "Eighteen Fangs College Rules", and carved a stone monument in the college to encourage teachers to teach diligently, students to study diligently, and cultivate the heroes and sages in the workshop. Such inscriptions also include the "New Changgeng Shushu Stele", which was engraved in the second year of Qing Daoguang (1822). These inscriptions provide the most direct historical material for us to study the state of education in the local area.
3. Temples and temples. This type of inscription is the most common one found in the Qing Dynasty. Including temples and palaces and folk beliefs. Since the ancient Lingnan region has been popular in witchcraft, the worship of ghosts and gods has been continuous, and after the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism has prevailed in the Zhaoqing area, not only the six ancestors of Zen Buddhism, Huineng, but also the Qingyun Temple in the beautiful Dinghu Mountain is also one of the four famous temples in Lingnan, so temples that worship gods and offer incense abound. At present, the temples involved in the Zhaoqing Qing Dynasty inscriptions have been found to include Mei'an, Pangu Temple, Holy Lake Temple, Chaolong ancestral temple, Baiyun Temple, Qingyun Temple, Shizhi Temple, Xingyan Dajue Temple, Xianggang Temple, mosque, etc. The inscriptions associated with these temples record the construction process, property purchases, temple management, and the names of donors. In addition, the monks of Qingyun Temple in Dinghu Mountain in the Qing Dynasty were full of contradictions with the surrounding villages, in order to protect the forests of Dinghu Mountain, the surrounding villagers were forbidden to go up the mountain to cut wood, respectively, in the twenty-second year of Kangxi (1683) carved "In the 22nd year of Kangxi (1683) carved "In the Monk Forbidden to Cut Down Trees Monument", in the eighth year of Qianlong (1743) carved "Monks Guarding the Mountain Stele", Guangxu nineteenth year (1893) carved "Forbidden Logging Dinghu Forest Stele" and so on. These stele are still preserved in Qingyun Temple, providing a window for us to explore the lives of monks and local social conditions in Zhaoqing area, and have high documentary value.
4. Ancestral hall clan class. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, with the expansion of orthodox liturgical culture in the Lingnan region, local gentry built family temples and ancestral halls to show their orthodox status, strengthen their power in the countryside, and play an important role in the management of grass-roots society.[4] Therefore, in the urban and rural settlements of Zhaoqing, there are also many clan ancestral halls of different periods, such as the "Monument to the Rebuilding of the Small Ancestral Ancestral Hall" engraved in the fifty-eighth year of kangxi (1719), and now in the Qin Clan Ancestral Hall of Hebian Village in Huanggang Town, the stele records the process of rebuilding the Qin Clan Ancestral Hall by the Fifth Patriarch Wen Yougong. The "Records of liu clan ancestral halls" of Gaoyao Jindu Liu Clan Ancestral Hall records the historical process of his ancestor Liu Guixiang, who moved into Yanqian Village in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province, as the ancestor of the Kai clan; future generations of descendants, branched villages to settle, multiplied and lived, and later moved into Gaoyao Jindu Dakeng Village to settle down. The "Monument to the Rules of the Liang Clan in Dongyu Village" in the ninth year of Yongzheng (1731), the "Monument to the Ancestral Training of Xi'an" in the third year of Qianlong (1738), and the "Monument to the Red and Silver Monuments of Tianli" in the third year of Jiaqing (1798) are the stones of these clans that set up family rules and regulations, distribution of family property, punishment and punishment, etc., in order to educate future generations and provide us with historical materials for studying grass-roots social activities and social organizations.
5. Inscribed poem inscription monument. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Zhaoqing, as the seat of the Liangguang Governor's Palace, plus Dinghu Mountain and Seven Star Rock Scenic Spots, came and went in an endless stream of literati, leaving many literary poems in Zhaoqing, leaving us a precious legacy. In the autumn of 1784, the famous poet Yuan Ming (1716-1797) of Qiantang, Zhejiang Province, because of his brother as the prefect of Zhaoqing, came to visit Dinghu Lake, during which he created a large number of poems, and asked someone to carve them on the stele, named "Yuan Ming Youding Lake Poetry Stele", which is now in the Qingyun Temple of Dinghu Mountain, embedded in the wall of the guest hall. The monument has a high artistic value. Chen Jianhou, a native of Fuzhou, Fujian Province, successively served as the prefect of Anlu, Hanyang, De'an, and Wuchang, and resigned from the government in the sixth year of Guangxu (1880), and then traveled south to various places, and in the ninth year of Guangxu (1883), he traveled to Zhaoqing, leaving the "Poetry Monument of Chen Jianhou". There is also the Duanjiang Miscellaneous Poetry Stele, which was inscribed in the fifty-sixth year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1717). The poet Song Guangye (宋廣業), a native of Changzhou (present-day Wu County), Jiangsu, resigned from his post at Duanzhou in old age, when his son Song Zhiyi (Ziduan zhai) was serving as a taishou in Zhaoqing. Song Guangye wrote the poem "Plum Blossom Hundred Songs" in the fifty-fourth year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1715), and ordered the craftsman to engrave the stone in the wall of the plum blossom book house of the Duanzhou Government Office, and the poem stele is now preserved in Qingyun Temple. In addition, the "Lan Gao Poetry Copy" and the "Luofu Mountain Chronicle" have been handed down. Zheng Jitai, the author of the post-poem inscription, pioneered the Ten Scenic Poems of Dinghu Lake and wrote a preface to the "Dinghu Mountain Chronicle". The abbot mentioned in the poem, that is, the seventh abbot of Qingyun Temple, Cheng Vulture, was the chief editor of the Dinghu Mountain Chronicle.
6. Miscellaneous. Including local public welfare notes, epitaphs and inscriptions. The monument to public welfare activities is a monument erected by the local government to commemorate the contributions made by individuals or people to the local public welfare undertakings, such as the construction of water conservancy and the construction of roads and bridges, such as the "Monument to the Reconstruction of zhoutang Bridge Road" engraved in the thirty-seventh year of the Qianlong Dynasty (1772), and the deeds of Zhaoqing County officials donating money to build the Zhoutang Road in the west of the city. Daoguang twenty-second year (1842) erected the "Xiu Pei Jing Fu Wei Guilin Di jia masonry monument", a total of four stele, describing the reasons and process of the Jing Fu Wai Guilin dike repair, and vigorously praise the merits of The King Yunjin of Zhaoluo Dao. Daoguang's Twenty-seventh Year (1847) "Monument to the Funds of officials often donating to the base of the base" records that Yang Pi, the prefect of Zhaoqing, because of the low foundation of the Jingfu WaiJi, wanted to rush to the ground whenever the Xijiang River was rising, so he discussed raising funds to donate money to build the foundation pillar of the waiji, and attached the charter of donating the foundation pillar. Guangxu's fourteenth year (1888) "Monument to rebuild Yumenfang Matou Street" records that there was an old horse head base site in Yumenfang in the east of the city, and every time it rained and muddy, the mud invaded the teeth and the pedestrians were overwhelmed, so the people donated money to build the street. The inscriptions of the characters including the epitaphs and pagodas truly and exhaustively record the activities of various classes and strata in the Zhaoqing area of the Qing Dynasty, and are extremely important first-hand information for the study of the characters in the Zhaoqing area. The epitaphs include both feudal court officials, as well as local gentry and festival women, such as the Tombstone of the Huang Clan ancestor of Liangmen, which is located on the hill road on the right side of the Baiyun Temple in Dinghu, and the Tombstone of the Danfan Monk, which is engraved in the eighth year of Qianlong (1743), and the Tombstone of the Tanfan Monk in the tenth year of Qing Tongzhi (1871). The pagoda inscription is the epitaph of Buddhist monks and nuns, or embedded in the pagoda or placed in the pagoda, and its style, content, and purpose of burial are similar to the epitaphs. The existing pagoda inscriptions include the "Pagoda Inscription of zen master Qicheng", which was engraved in the seventeenth year of Qing Shunzhi (1660), and the "Stone Arrow Zen Master Pagoda" engraved in the nineteenth year of Qing Kangxi (1680).
In summary, the calligraphy art forms of Zhaoqing inscriptions in the Qing Dynasty are diverse, and the literature value is rich, showing us the rise and fall of Zhaoqing's history, government decrees, prohibitions, historical events, celebrity deeds, school system, water conservancy, transportation, folk customs, natural disasters, calligraphy, carving art, etc., which not only has high calligraphy artistic value, but also is a non-book instinct to permanently preserve the literature and historical materials, with high documentary value.
Figure 4 "Reconstruction of the Mei'an Monument in Zhaoqing Province"
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Mao Yuanming. General Theory of Epigraphic Philology[M].Beijing:Zhonghua Bookstore,2009:256.]
Li Xuemei. The Tradition of "Skeletonized Golden Stone" in the Legal System and the Prohibition System of Ming and Qing Dynasty Monuments[M].Beijing:Zhonghua Bookstore,2015:59.
[4] David Ko. Etiquette and Local Society[M].Beijing:Beijing Normal University Press,2016:123-128.]
(Originally published in Journal of Zhaoqing University, No. 4, 2019)