The development of engraving printing in the Tang Dynasty provided convenience for the dissemination of books, and the most widely used at that time was the publication and engraving of Buddhist classics, which was subsequently applied to all kinds of books. The Song Dynasty inherited the engraving printing of the Tang Dynasty and developed it, especially the emergence of movable type printing, which had a great impact on engraving and printing. In the Song Dynasty, "the ruling class 'promoted culture and education, and suppressed military affairs', and the literati were respected like never before." The implementation of the imperial examination system provided a step for self-cultivated peasants, industrial and commercial miscellaneous people in the lower strata of society...... "History of the Song Dynasty" volume 155 "Election Zhi I" contained that "schools are all over the world, and the quality of literature in the sea is polite." Reading has become a social fashion, 'everything is inferior, only reading is high', and the number of readers and authors has generally increased. Public and private book collections also flourished. The demand for books in society has increased, and the rapid publication of books is imperative" (Liu Yuantang, "Research on Song Dynasty Engraving and Calligraphy").
In addition to the progress of printing methods, the Song Dynasty also participated in more aesthetic awareness in the choice of engraving fonts. As the most commonly used font for engraving printing, regular script has the characteristics of easy recognition and beauty, especially after the development of the Tang Dynasty, which has been very mature, which has been reflected in the Tang Dynasty's scripture writing style or inscription works. "New Tang Dynasty Book: The Biography of Liu Gongxuan" records that his son Liu Zhongying "tasted the handbanknote "Six Classics", Sima Qian, Ban Gu, and Fan Ye Shi are all one banknote, and the history of the Wei and Jin dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties is again, and it is similar to the banknotes of its thirty books, called "Liu's own preparation"; There are many immortal Buddha books on the side, all of which are small and true, and there are no lines", which shows that regular script plays an important role as a practical book. The regular script of the Tang Dynasty is a peak in the history of Chinese calligraphy, and a large number of regular script masters and a series of classic works have emerged, especially the calligraphers represented by Ouyang Xun, Yan Zhenqing, and Liu Gongquan, which have a great influence on later generations, and have also become the main object of the Song Dynasty version of the inscription.
1. The method of taking the inscription of the Song Dynasty version
In engravings, font style is one of the key factors that affect the look and feel of the book. Most of the Song Dynasty engravings seen so far are based on the style of the representative calligraphers of the Tang Dynasty. Scholars have always discussed the combing and generalization of the style of engraving in the Song Dynasty, and basically revolve around the issue of the selection of fonts. Since the most important calligraphy centers in the Song Dynasty were in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Sichuan, the discussion on the style of calligraphy was also roughly carried out by region. In the Liangzhejiang region, scholars such as Du Zexun, Huang Yongnian, and Wei Yinru believe that the style of engraving is taken from the European style; Liu Yuantang believes that the region can be divided into early, middle and late periods according to time, with the early European, Yan and Liu parallel, the middle European style prevailing, and the late period represented by the book shed style. Ni Zhiqiang believes that the overall style is mainly based on the French and European styles, while the Southern Song Dynasty mixes the styles of Chu and Liu. In Fujian, Du Zexun and Huang Yongnian believe that the font is taken from the French style; Liu Yuantang believes that his calligraphy characteristics "have both Yan Liu"; Wei Yinru believes that the font is taken from the willow style; Ho Yichun believes that the Fujian area is dominated by Yan style, and there are also fonts with mixed calligraphy styles such as Yan Ou and Yan Liu. In Sichuan, scholars such as Liu Yuantang, Du Zexun, and Wei Yinru believe that calligraphy comes from Yan style; Huang Yongnian believes that in addition to the body, there are also ingredients that take the willow body; Ho Yik Chuen believes that the method is mainly based on willow body.
According to the views of the above scholars, it can be seen that in the division of the Song Dynasty engraving style, there is generally more than one method object in each region, such as the method of taking the European body and the willow body in the two Zhejiang regions, the method of taking the Yan body and the willow body in the Sichuan region, and the method of taking the Yan body, the European body and the willow body in the Fujian region. It is worth noting that although the characters in the above three carved areas have their own methods, they are closer to the late Tang Dynasty calligraphy style in terms of the starting and closing of the font, the structure and form. The author believes that the early Song Dynasty was not far from the late Tang Dynasty, when the regular script was complete, and the regular script of this period, whether it was in daily writing or in the production of inscriptions and engraving works, was obviously influenced by the style of calligraphy in the late Tang Dynasty. Even if there is a clear target for the method, it is difficult to define the method of taking the method because of the overall writing habits of the period and the understanding of the characters by the writers and engravers, which weakens the characteristics of a particular calligrapher.
2. The influence of the late Tang Liuti style on the Song Dynasty engraving characters
In the Song Dynasty engraving production process, the writing state of the calligrapher and the production method of the engraving finally determine the appearance of the engraving text, although the calligrapher takes the Tang Kai, but as mentioned above, this method often has the elements taken from the family, which causes the engraving font to be difficult to only belong to a certain style of calligraphy. In addition, due to the differences in aesthetic preferences, writing, and engraving habits in different regions, engraving characters also have their own unique styles in the three major engraving centers of the Song Dynasty. In addition to this style, there are many common characteristics of the Song Dynasty engraving text, and the engraving text for the willow style, more in the way of "willow elements" presentation, that is, in the style of the text to retain some of the writing characteristics of the Liu Gongquan regular script, coupled with the transformation of the writer or engraver, to form a style of significant engraving font. There are roughly three influences of the willow style calligraphy on the Song Dynasty engraving characters, namely: strengthening the starting and closing pen; Replace "muscle strength" with "bone strength"; Lines and knots tend to be stylized.
1 Strengthen the starting and closing pen
For example, in the following table (Table 1), the first "point" of "poem", "emperor" and "zhi" adopts the method of sharp and sharp end, and the shape of this "point" is roughly triangular, "the calligrapher forms a right-angled triangle that is more in line with the operation of the carving knife in order to seek the speed of publication and engraving", which can not only facilitate the carver's fast and efficient engraving, but also strengthen the writing rules of the beginning and end of the Chinese character writing. In addition, it is common to see a sense of abruptness at the beginning and end of the horizontal and vertical paintings, and the last horizontal pen of the character "Huang" and the second horizontal pen of the character "Yuan" in the "Imperial Dynasty Chronicle Preparation Thirty Volumes" in Fujian Province in the table simulate the pause action at the end of the pen when writing. The vertical painting of the character "also" in the "Notes on Rites" in Fujian forms a regular shape from the top left to the bottom right at the beginning of the pen, which also simulates the action of starting the pen when writing, and these frustrations are consistent with the lifting and pressing action of the willow script.
Table 1 Comparison between the Song Dynasty engraving printing font and the single character of Liu Gongquan's regular script
Liu Xi Zaiyun: "All books should be pressed with a pen and a pen to mention; Distinguish the press especially at the beginning of the pen, and distinguish the mention especially at the end of the pen. "The development of regular script to the Tang Dynasty, in the penmanship has enriched the way of writing since the Wei and Jin dynasties, and it is more obvious that the action of lifting and pressing has been strengthened. By the late Tang Dynasty in which Liu Gongquan lived, there were relatively clear rules for the use of mention and press. "With Tang Kai as a new orthodox, it has become the enlightenment of later generations to learn characters, and the pen has gradually become the 'only way' for later generations to learn books." As for the emphasis on the beginning and end of the strokes in the engraving text, it is taken from the willow style. The influence of regular script in the printing style represented by this willow style continued from the late Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty and even later generations.
Taking Liangzhejiang and the surrounding areas as an example, before the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a relatively developed engraving industry in the region, so that in the early Song Dynasty, when proofreading the literature, the engraving books in this place were used as a model. And the Jinling collection of more than 100,000 volumes, distributed in the three museums and the bachelor's house, its books are carefully reviewed, the compilation is complete, and the countries are not the same". During the period of the Five Dynasties, Qian Li, the king of Wuyue, admired Buddhism, and during his reign, he ordered a large number of craftsmen to engrave Buddhist scriptures, and then after the Song Dynasty destroyed the Southern Tang Dynasty, Qian Yu returned to the Song Dynasty, so that the engraving industry in the place was well preserved. The frontispiece of the frontispiece of the "Treasure Zheng Indrani Sutra" in the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei has the words "Qian Yu, the King of Wuyue", looking at the content of the text, the style of the text is similar to the structure of the European style, but the action of lifting the press is added to the dot painting, so emphasizing the action of lifting the press, which is rare in the European style; In addition, in the structure of the single characters, such as the vertical hook action under the character "陁", the twist next to the "Luo (Luo)" and the "隹" on the right, the shelves are more open than those of the European style, which is more similar to the calligraphy style of the late Tang Dynasty Liuti. Judging from the handwriting style of the Song Dynasty regular script that we have seen so far, there is no obvious difference between the writing style of the Northern Song Dynasty and the Tang Kai, due to the changes of the times, the regular script of the Song Dynasty inherited more of the regular script form of the late Tang Dynasty "complete law", such as the mention of the pen at the end of the pen, which is not common in the regular script of the early Tang Dynasty. Even if the Song Dynasty version of the style of regular script is targeted, in the process of handwriting, influenced by the writing habits of the current style, the "elements" of the willow style can also be found in the mention of the press.
2 "Bone strength" instead of "muscle strength"
In the Song Dynasty engraving and printing text, there is another phenomenon worth noting, that is, the "bone force" of the text is prominent in the visual perception. Fu Zengxiang once said when commenting on the Song book "Twelve Volumes of Zhou Rite Notes": "This font is ancient and strong, and it is close to Liu Chenghang. He pointed out that the word "Gujin" indicates that the text can also express the beauty of calligraphy with wooden boards as the carrier, but in addition to the factor of the writer, the knife technique used by the engraver in the process of engraving is also particularly important for the shaping of the line. In this process, for the sake of convenience, writers and engravers prefer relatively straight lines, because the state of contact between the knife and the wooden board in the engraving process is different from the state of the brush writing on the paper. Cai Yongyan said that "only the pen is soft, it is strange", and the hardness of knives and wooden boards is high, and there is a great difference between the material and the use of a brush to write on paper.
Indrani Sutra (Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei)
Although the engraving technology of the Song Dynasty was mature, the production of tendon-rich lines required relatively complex knife techniques, such as the extension of the face line through the knife on the wooden board is relatively difficult, and the straight and strong line is relatively easy to express, so such as the Sichuan area of the engraving text although more take the face of the face, but in the actual engraving process, it is inevitable to appear "to bend and straighten" the situation. For example, the three characters "self", "writing" and "in" shown in Table 2, the lines of the brush are presented on the paper with thick and thin, and the engraving calligraphy is also imitating this in the production process. Although the "elasticity" of the lines is not as good as that of the face, the refreshing "bone" is prominent, and the starting and closing strokes are sharp and angular, which is closer to Liu Gongquan's brushwork.
When Sun Guoting talked about bone strength, he said: "If you order everyone to return, you must save your backbone, and the bones will be preserved, and you will add it." It is also like a branch to support the sparse, frost and snow and strength; The flowers and leaves are fresh and lush, and the clouds and the sun shine together. If its bone strength is too much, and the Lili cover is less, then if the dry frame is dangerous, the boulder is the road, although it is charming and charming, and the physique is preserved. For the aesthetic experience of "force" in the engraving text, the Song people seem to have reached a clever balance point, at both ends of which are the two attributes of beauty and practicality, and it is the same as the Tang Dynasty scripture writing style, which should take care of the aesthetics while writing as many words as possible. In addition, the carving of the knife makes the "bone force" through the blade and show the appearance of steep and stiff, because the process of engraving itself is different from the writing, so even if some calligraphers have no intention of taking the method from the willow body in the writing process, but in the actual engraving process, due to the difference between the "knife sense" and the "pen sense", the elements that fit the willow style of calligraphy have been formed.
Table 2 Comparison of Song Dynasty engraving printing fonts with Liu Gongquan and Yan Zhenqing's regular scripts
Talent mobilization (Southern Song Dynasty Lin'an Mansion Chen Zhai Book Shop Carved Edition)
One hundred and thirty volumes of the Book of Jin (Akiura-gun Zhai carved book)
3 Lines and knots tend to be stylized
For engraving printing products, first of all, the artistry of the text should serve the practicality. In the process of engraving words, carvers need a set of practical knife system to improve production efficiency, so they will refine the rules in the processing of text lines and knots. Compared with Tang Kai, the lines of the Song Dynasty version of the carved text are relatively simple, and the action of the strokes is also simplified and integrated, which has a great relationship with the engraving process of the carver. In the Song Dynasty, the status of the carver was relatively low, the book "Song Dynasty Engraving Industry and Literature" recorded the information about the price of the carver, the income of the carver was priced according to the word, in the "Song Dynasty Edition Engraving Calligraphy Research", the author through the Southern Song Dynasty Shaoxing period of the carver Niu Shi, Dong Ming carved the number of pages and words of the "Zizhi Tongjian" statistics, roughly calculated that "in the early Southern Song Dynasty, skilled carvers can carve at least one hundred and a few words a day", the efficiency affects the final income of the carver. In order to improve the efficiency of engraving, simple engraving methods and skillful engraving skills are embodied in the text, and gradually form a style of dot painting rules and unified lines. The emphasis on the beginning and end of the strokes and the highlighting of "bone strength" mentioned above are also produced in this context.
After a long period of development in the Tang Dynasty, regular script reached the power of Liu Gongquan