Selection of Fine Dunhuang Calligraphy (2)

Author: Huang Zhengjiang Yin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: Oracle bone script, Western Han bamboo slips, Dunhuang manuscripts, and the imperial archives of the Qing Dynasty are collectively known as the "Four Great Discoveries" in the history of textual studies. However, in the context of calligraphy history, oracle bone script, Han bamboo slips, and Western region manuscripts serve as a key to reinterpreting the history of calligraphy. With the discovery of oracle bone script, we have come to understand the beauty but unreliable myth of Cangjie's invention of characters, as well as the "historical inevitability" of tracing back to the Western Zhou bronze inscriptions before the Song Dynasty. Similarly, thanks to the Western Han bamboo slips and the subsequent finds of bamboo slips in Central China and the Xiang-Chu regions, we have come to realize that alongside the magnificent monumental works of the Qin and Han dynasties, there also existed such vivid and lifelike "hand-written" traces, which can be cross-referenced with stone inscriptions, thereby forcing a reevaluation of some classic interpretations in calligraphy history.
Then there are the Dunhuang manuscripts. With their "coming to light," we have learned that during the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties, apart from the universally revered calligraphy sage Wang Xizhi, there were in fact numerous handwritten styles scattered among the people—styles that were less concerned with "brushwork techniques" and were diverse rather than rigidly fixed as linear classics. These styles effectively complement our overly simplistic interpretations of "tradition" and "classicism" and even constitute an aesthetic style of calligraphy that stands in opposition to the "classics"—a "folk" and "folkloric" calligraphy.
Furthermore, when this style was particularly associated with Buddhist scriptures and copying during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, we almost unhesitatingly recognized it as a form of religious calligraphy. In fact, a significant lineage can be traced in the history of Chinese calligraphy: the history of religious calligraphy—from the copying of religious works such as Buddhist and Taoist texts (though its calligraphic style and techniques were relatively secular) to calligraphic styles that fully embody religious spirit.