Song of Fenglong Mountain

Author: Shanghai Shuhua Publishing House
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-10-01
Features: Established in the tenth month of the seventh year of the Yanxi period of the Han Dynasty (164), in clerical script with fifteen lines, each containing twenty-six characters, without the name of the calligrapher. It belongs to the category of square, vigorous, and extraordinary script. The brushwork is clear, sharp, and brisk, with rounded and well-structured strokes, and strict adherence to rules, yet without being rigid. The composition is compact and square, with the entire piece arranged neatly and evenly, exuding a serene and dignified atmosphere. Within each stroke, there is a combination of up-and-down movements, with clear distinctions between light and heavy pressure, creating excellent dynamism. The strokes within each character are executed perfectly, whether light or heavy. The Shanghai Shuhua Publishing House has now published a facsimile of this stele, dedicating it to the and researchers for reference, practice, and study. This stele was relatively late in its transmission and was obscure before the Daoguang era. It neither enjoyed the fame of grand imperial works like the "Ying Ying Stele," "Liqi Stele," or "Shichen Stele," nor was it as well-known as the "Shimen Stele," "Zhangqian Stele," "Hengfang Stele," or "Caoquan Stele." It began to receive some attention since the late Qing Dynasty. It belongs to the category of square, vigorous, and extraordinary script. The brushwork is clear, sharp, and brisk, with rounded and well-structured strokes, and strict adherence to rules, yet without being rigid. The composition is compact and square, with the entire piece arranged neatly and evenly, exuding a serene and dignified atmosphere. Within each stroke, there is a combination of up-and-down movements, with clear distinctions between light and heavy pressure, creating excellent dynamism. The strokes within each character are executed perfectly, whether light or heavy. The Shanghai Shuhua Publishing House has now published a facsimile of this stele, dedicating it to the and researchers for reference, practice, and study. It is worth noting that when studying this stele, in addition to mastering the common characteristics of Han Dynasty steles, one must also explore its unique features. General practitioners often reveal weaknesses in their brushwork, which is called "zhongque" in calligraphy. This requires attention to the force of the brush and the starting point. To achieve mastery in calligraphy, one must put in hard work.
"The Ode to Fenglong Mountain" was established in the tenth month of the seventh year of the Yanxi period of the Han Dynasty (164), in clerical script with fifteen lines, each containing twenty-six characters, without the name of the calligrapher. It was recorded in Hong Shi's "Lishu" and Zheng Qiao's "Tongzhi Lüe" during the Song Dynasty, but later became lost. In the eleventh month of the twenty-seventh year of the Daoguang era (1847), Liu Bao'an, the magistrate of Yuan County, discovered it at Wangcun Mountain in the northwest of Yuan County, about forty-five li away, and ordered it to be moved into the city. Due to the heavy weight, the movers broke it into two pieces, and although it was later reassembled, the crack remained clearly visible. The oldest existing rubbings of this stele are from the later period of the Daoguang era, after the stele cracked. For example, in rubbings published during this period, the character "zhang" in "sai yong ming zhang" is intact; the upper part of the character "pin" in "pin liu xiang xing" does not connect to the stone flower above; the first horizontal stroke of the character "qi" in "qi ci ri" is not worn away. The rubbings are of excellent quality, with clear strokes and no signs of smudging or swelling, indicating that they are indeed the first rubbings after Liu Bao'an moved the stele.
Due to its relatively late transmission, before the Daoguang era, the stele was obscure and unknown. It neither enjoyed the fame of grand imperial works like the "Ying Ying Stele," "Liqi Stele," or "Shichen Stele," nor was it as well-known as the "Shimen Stele," "Zhangqian Stele," "Hengfang Stele," or "Caoquan Stele." It began to receive some attention since the late Qing Dynasty. For example, Fang Shuo wrote in his commentary on the stele: "The script is square and ancient, with the spirit of the 'Ying Ying Stele' in the Confucius Temple. The text is particularly elegant and refined, truly the work of people from the Eastern Han Dynasty." Yang Shoujing praised it as "majestic and vigorous," stating that "the grandeur of Han clerical script cannot be surpassed by this stele." Kang Youwei called its clerical script "brisk and spirited," and indeed, this stele fully deserves the praise. The brushwork is round and powerful. When practicing, the elbow should be slightly higher than the wrist, using the elbow to generate force and transmit it through the wrist to the middle finger and the tip of the brush. This is because, with the standard grip, the elbow and wrist are level, making the thumb and index finger more effective, while the middle finger is easily neglected. In reality, the force of the middle finger is crucial for central-axis brushwork. When writing, the five fingers should work together, using the method of "following the flow and." The "flow" refers to the brush slightly leaning toward the direction of the tip. Of course, this inclination should not be excessive—just "slightly." If it goes too far, it becomes a "dragging" stroke, and the force cannot reach the tip. The "" means that the brush should have strong friction with the paper. When writing, one should feel a counterforce from the paper, like "sailing against the current." The greater the friction, the stronger the "force" reflected in the line; conversely, the weaker the friction, the weaker the brush force, which is often caused by dragging.