Top Ten Regular Script Inscriptions

The top ten regular script stele inscriptions include: Preface to the Holy Teachings of Yanta (regular script, rubbings, Chu Suiliang), Lanting Preface (ink, copy, Wang Xizhi), Ritual Stele (rubbings, -), Preface to the Holy Teachings of Ji Wang (Rubbings, Wang Xizhi, Huairen Collection), Jiucheng Palace Liquan Ming (regular script, rubbings, Ouyang Xun), Nephew Memorial Manuscript (ink, Yan Zhenqing), Qinli Stele (regular script, rubbings, Yan Zhenqing), calligraphy (, ink, Sun Guoting), autobiography (ink, Huaisu).

1. Stele, in Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi" of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it is interpreted as "a standing stone", which is a stone erected on the ground.

The stele at that time had three main functions. First, it was placed in the palace to observe the sun's shadow, identify the direction, and measure the time; second, it was placed in the ancestral temple and used to tie animals for sacrifice; It was erected next to the tomb, used for bringing the coffin into the tomb for funerals and giving the windlass. At first the stele had no words, but later words were engraved, which is what is called "stele" or "stele inscription" in the art of calligraphy.

The monument we are talking about today can be understood in a broad and narrow sense. In a broad sense, it refers to carved stones engraved with numerous virtues, inscriptions, chronicles and other words. For example, tablets, cliffs, statues, pagoda inscriptions, engravings, boundary stones, epitaphs, etc. In a narrow sense, a stele refers to a rectangular stone with characters engraved on it that was erected in front of a memorial site, building or tomb after the Eastern Han Dynasty.

When we learn calligraphy, most of the steles we understand are understood in the former broad sense, which refers to the general term for all stone carvings engraved with text (except for engraved calligraphy).

2. Tie, Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi" explains it as "Silk script".

The ancients called the characters written on bamboo and wood pieces as bamboo slips. After the late Qing Dynasty, photography technology was introduced into the country. All calligraphy texts that were engraved or handwritten were called calligraphy once they were photocopied and bound into a book.