Calligraphy in the Wei, Jin and Southern& Northern Dynasties: Flourishing in Turbulence and Tribulation
1 min readCalligraphy in the Wei, Jin and Southern& Northern Dynasties: Flourishing in Turbulence and Tribulation
The period of Wei, Jin and Southern& Northern dynasties was time of turbulence and changes in Chinese history, as well as a time of great change in ideology, cultural diversity, and great merging of all nationalities.
During this period, dramatic achievements were made in poetry and painting, which inherited from previous times and would be carried on to following dynasties. And the prominence was given to the development of calligraphy. Zhong Yao and Wang Xizhi promoted the art of calligraphy to a level as high as never before.
The brand-new era they initiated for calligraphy had profound influence on the later development of calligraphy. Therefore Wang Xizhi is honored as “Sage of Calligrapher”, while his counterpart “the Northern Stele” is praised as “the ultimate standard for calligraphers” by Kang Youwei (a Chinese scholar). Thus this period is defined by modern calligraphers as “the establishing period for Chinese calligraphy”.
