Ho Ke Chieh Piao 贺克捷表 by Chung Yu (钟繇, A.D. 151 - 230
Chronologically, Regular Script (楷书), or Kai-Shu, does not, strictly speaking, follow the Official Script (隶书), the Li-Shu. A style known as the Cursive Script, or Chao Shu - a rapid, abbreviated style - came between. The Regular Style is a combination of the modified Li Style, of which it preserved the essential characteristics of squareness and precision, and the Chang-Ts'ao mentioned above, the features of which are simplicity and speed. At one time the Li Style was sometimes called Kai-Shu, a name descriptive of its contrasting elements - Kai meaning 'model' or 'care-free'. In practice, both Li-Shu and Chuan-Shu always tended towards Chao Shu, but earned for it the additional name of Cheng-Shu or Regular.
It is impossible to say exactly who originated this style. We have seen that by the end of the Han period many individual variations of Li-Shu had been developed - the elements of the feature Regular Style are to be found among these variations. But in the four hundred years from Han to Tang so many scores of scholars of the utmost importance in the history of Chinese calligraphy lived and worked that it is very difficult to particularize at all. Some of their stone inscriptions, particularly those of the Northern Wei period (A.D. 220 - 64), have roused the enthusiasm of Qing dynasty and present-day scholars to lyricism.
Popularly, Chung Yu (钟繇) is considered to be the patriarch of Kai-Shu, on account of his stone inscription Ho Ke Chieh Piao (贺克捷表). The most famous of all Chinese calligraphers, Wang XiZhi (王羲之) of the Chin dynasty, was chiefly distinguished for his Kai Shu. He was fortunate in being highly favored by the second Emperor of Tang, the great Tang Tai Tsung (唐太宗 李世民), who was himself no mean calligrapher. This Emperor was devoted to Wang's writing and took the utmost pains to collect examples of it, for which he paid very high prices. The court officials were commanded to imitate them, and a fashion was thus started which has prevailed to the present day. Young writers still like to model their style on that of Wang XiZhi.
Other well-known calligraphers who have developed individual types of Kai-Shu include Ouyang Xun (歐陽詢), Yu Shinan (虞世南) and Chu Suiliang (褚遂良).
In mid-Tang, during the period which we regard as the Golden Age of Chinese culture, the writer Yen Chen made a drastic change from the elegant slender stroke created by Wang, to a broad, muscular, rigid one. Another master, Liu Gongquan (柳公權), made the framework of his characters even more 'bony'. By the beginning of Song times (A.D. 960 - 1279), the possibilities of Kai Shu seemed to have been exhausted., for the style had come to a standstill, but once again the impact of new personalities refreshed it, amd we have the writings of Su Shi (蘇軾), Huang Tingjian (黄庭堅), Cai Xiang 蔡襄 and Mi Fu (米黻). In the Yuan dynsaty (A.D. 1279 - 1368) Chao Meng-Fu Zhao Mengfu (趙孟頫) evolved a style of his own, and his work is probably the best Kai Shu written at that period.
Of the Ming dynasty writers (A.D 1368 - 1644) Dong Qichang (董其昌) is the most notable exponent. From the Qing dynasty to the present time, writers have tried to inject new blood into their imitations of the old masters by incorporating elements from ancient stone inscriptions.
it can safely be said that Kai Shu is the most typical style of Chinese Calligraphy. Though strongly differentiated from both Li Shu and Chuan Shu, it holds an uncontested place both as a practical medium for daily use and as a graphic art. Each individual variant has, as we shall see later, its corresponding version in Hsing Shu or Tsao Shu.
Reference
Works by Chiang Yee, Chinese Calligraphy, An Introduction to its Aesthetic and Technique
COMMENTS