Chinese Stele Classics -- Cang Longyan Stele: Cang Longyan Stele

Author: Fang Chuanxin:
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-12-01
Features: The Northern and Southern Dynasties period was the most brilliant era in Chinese calligraphy. In the late Han Dynasty and early Wei Dynasty, people discovered that the serifs in clerical script only served a decorative purpose and had no practical significance. For the sake of convenience, they abandoned the serifs and adopted the method of returning the brush tip with a slight smile, which gave rise to regular script. Although early regular script still retained strong clerical script influences, it immediately showed vigorous vitality upon its emergence. The Northern and Southern Dynasties period can be considered the transitional period during which regular script gradually matured from its early form. Over more than two hundred years, clerical script and regular script intermingled, and every style was present, especially in the Northern Dynasties. People loved to embellish stone inscriptions and the practice of carving steles flourished. During the process of writing and carving, people were unrestrained, creating works with ancient and unique charm, as well as new and distinctive forms, much like entering the Shanyao Road, where one’s eyes cannot take it all in. However, the Southern Dynasties banned steles, leaving few in circulation, making them particularly precious. Among them, the Cao Longyan Stele is the most famous stone carving from the Southern Dynasties. The full text of the stele is also known as The Stele of General Longxiang, Military Commissioner for Pacifying the Barbarians, and Governor of Ningzhou, Cao Longyan, written in regular script. The stele’s front face has twenty-four lines, with forty-five characters per line. The back face has three columns: the top column has fifteen lines, the middle column has seventeen lines, and the bottom column has sixteen lines. According to Wang Zhuanghong’s Supplementary Notes on Stele Examination, the earliest known rubbing is from the late Ming Dynasty to early Qing Dynasty. In the thirteenth line, the character "Ming" in "Ming Tian Bu Diao" (Heaven is not gracious) has a horizontal stroke that does not connect to the right stone, leaving traces of erosion. This version is no longer available. Today, we have selected an earlier rubbing for publication in print to delight the. This book is one of the classics in Chinese stele and rubbing collections. It includes the full text of the representative stele from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Cao Longyan Stele. The book is printed with exquisite craftsmanship, effectively reproducing the spirit of the original work, making it an excellent model for calligraphy enthusiasts learning clerical script.