Bamboo Slips Yin-Yang Five Elements A Chapter

Author: Chen Songchang (Editor-in-Chief)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-08-01
Features: Since the 1970s, the discovery of numerous bamboo and silk artifacts has allowed us to see the ink marks on bamboo and silk slips from scholars two thousand years ago. When it comes to silk documents, those with true documentary value primarily come from Changsha, Hunan, with the Han Dynasty silk documents unearthed from the No. 3 Ma Wang Dui Tomb being particularly representative. The calligraphy of the Ma Wang Dui silk documents can be roughly divided into three types: Seal Script and Clerical Script (generally referred to as Seal Script), Ancient Clerical Script (or Qin Clerical Script), and Modern Clerical Script. Among these, Seal Script and Clerical Script is represented by the "Yin and Yang Five Elements" (Part A), reflecting the actual conditions during the early phase of the transition from Seal Script to Clerical Script. This book selects a portion of "Yin and Yang Five Elements" (Part A), which, from a calligraphic perspective, is a very valuable and (to be appreciated) style of script. This silk document was copied in an early era, with its characters still primarily maintaining the structure of Seal Script, relatively square in form, with fewer variations in stroke thickness, and limited usage of dots and hooks. However, it is no longer purely standard Seal Script, as its characters have shifted from long to square, its lines no longer extend arbitrarily, and strokes like waves, hooks, and bends characteristic of Clerical Script are visible everywhere. Additionally, it occasionally incorporates semi-regularized radicals in its composition. Therefore, referring to it as [Seal and Clerical Script] is more accurate and fitting.