Collect Shi Chen Stele Ancient Poems

Author: Xu Qinghua (Editor)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-06-01
Features: Beginners in calligraphy must start by copying ancient steles and tablets, striving for strokes, structures, and styles to be as similar as possible. Once copying is mastered, the desire to create one's own works often leads to failure. The transition from copying to creation is not an easy step—some may never cross it, or may fail to do so properly, leading them astray. Selecting characters from the copied steles to compile into works is an excellent method. However, the text in such works may not all be found in the copied steles. Even if found, piecing them together may not achieve coherence in terms of size, weight, inclination, or overall harmony. For this reason, we decided to invite experienced calligraphers to edit and publish a series of couplets and poetic works composed of characters selected from famous steles and tablets across history, using computer image processing technology to strive for the most perfect results for our readers.
The Shichen Stele (also known as the Shichen Front and Rear Steles) is formally titled The Stele of the Worship of Confucius by the Lu Prefect Shi Chen. It consists of two stones, hence the alternate name. It was erected in the second year of the Jianning era (A.D. 169) during the Eastern Han Dynasty and is now located in the Confucius Temple in Qufu, Shandong. The stele is meticulously crafted, with a strict and imposing structure. Its strokes are deep, ancient, and powerful, with both structure and artistic intent fully realized, making it a model for temple halls. Yang Shoujing once remarked on this stele: "If one were to say that not all Han Dynasty clerical script is excellent, then there is a kind of ancient, profound, and unattainable spirit—this stele embodies it."
The editor spent months carefully selecting and comparing characters from each poem, ensuring both faithfulness to the original works and adherence to the source steles, with no strokes substituted. At the same time, computer technology was appropriately used to achieve harmony. This effort has resulted in this collection. As a preliminary attempt, there are undoubtedly many shortcomings, and we welcome the readers' corrections.