Cao Longyan Stele

Author: Compiled by the Press
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: "Cao Longyan Stele," also known as "The Stele of Cao Shijun, General of the Dragon-Riding Army, Protector of the, Military Governor of Ningzhou, and Marquis of Qiongdu County of the Late Song Dynasty." It was carved in the second year of the Daming era of the Southern Dynasties of Liu Song (458). The stele measures 338 cm in height and 146 cm in width, written in regular script with over 900 characters. Together with the Jin Dynasty "Cao Baozi Stele," it is known as the "Two Cao Steles." Due to its greater height and width than the "Cao Baozi Stele," it is also referred to as the "Great Cao Stele." In the second year of the Daoguang era of the Qing Dynasty (1826), it was discovered by Ruan Yuan, then Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, in Luliang County, Yunnan. He had a stele pavilion built to preserve it and inscribed an inscription: "The style and calligraphy of this stele are all authentic Han and Jin regular script, and it is rare even in the northern regions. It is a ancient stone of Yunnan." With Ruan Yuan's political status and academic reputation at the time, once he advocated for it, the stele quickly gained widespread attention from scholars and literati, who eagerly copied, studied, and interpreted it. As a result, the "Cao Longyan Stele" became highly renowned. The characters on the stele are in regular script with the bones of clerical script. They are strong, lush, beautiful, and full of classical and varied charm."