Xu, who loves oracles, joins the army
Zhu Guangzhi
In Qi County, Henan Province, there is a public security policeman Xu joined the army, and while writing the loyalty and dedication of the people's police, his oracle bone calligraphy is also unique. Over the years, from liking to learning to intensive study, coupled with his own understanding, this ancient script with a history of more than 3,600 years has become more "vivid" under his pen, showing different styles.
Xu Shenjun is 59 years old this year, and why he loves oracle bone calligraphy? He said that this is inseparable from the credit of his eldest daughter, who has been majoring in Chinese during college, and after graduation, she has taught at Confucius Institutes in Thailand and Egypt. Since then, Xu has developed a strong interest in oracles.
In order to learn the oracle bone script well, Xu Shenjun devoted himself to studying Guo Moruo's "Oracle Bone Script Research", "Divination Words", "Oracle Bone Script Collection Interpretation", etc., as well as "Oracle Bone Inscription Brief Treatise", "Shang Oracle Bone Inscription Anthology", "Oracle Bone Inscription Collection", "Oracle Bone Script Interpretation", "Oracle Bone Dictionary" and other masterpieces, and also went to Anyang, the birthplace of the oracle bone inscription, many times to investigate and study, and saw the 3,000-year-old remains of the Yinxu Museum, which further stimulated his confidence and determination to study oracle bone calligraphy.
In Xu Shenjun's eyes, the oracle bone inscription is the root of Chinese writing, although the readable person is only about 2,000 words, but the oracle bone inscription already has the "six books", which is a fairly mature script. From the perspective of calligraphy, the oracle bone inscription is simple, elegant, and natural, and has its own characteristics. The knot of the oracle bone inscription is relatively free and lively, with greater arbitrariness, not as strict as some fonts in later generations, but also pay attention to the evenness, balance, and density of the distribution of the pen, and pay attention to the beauty of the body of the word. The oracle bone writing method layout is scattered, the size is uneven, and the mutual expectation is particularly natural and flexible, eclectic and full of natural interest, coupled with the particularity of the carving tools and materials, giving people a strong and simple, innocent and romantic artistic feeling.
As we all know, the oracle bone script has few characters, the glyph is not fixed, and there are many changes, and it is difficult to identify. In addition, the oracle bone inscription was unearthed relatively late, only more than 100 years ago, and the art of oracle bone calligraphy is still a new thing in the history of mainland calligraphy, and there is no very mature practice and creation method for reference. To this end, Xu Shenjun actively explored and studied oracle bone calligraphy, which was quite hard in the process. Outside of work, he dedicates himself to it. Because if you can't study a single word, you have to find a lot of information. At the same time, I insisted on writing the oracle bone inscription, and it took several hours to write it.
"Writing oracle bone inscriptions is not only about simply copying every word, but more importantly, about understanding the meaning and wisdom of ancient man-made characters, as well as the history and culture of the time."
In the creation, Xu Shenjun said that in order to write the oracle bone script well, there must be written content, so where does the content come from? Therefore, it is necessary to collect oracle bone characters to create, and must not borrow words from the Western Zhou Dynasty Jinwen and Great Seal that are close to the oracle bone inscription to deform and write, and not to mess together ancient characters, because then the meaning of oracle bone calligraphy will be lost.
Xu Shenjun's oracle bone calligraphy pursues the beauty-based style of oracle bone inscriptions, so that more people can appreciate the beauty of oracle bone inscriptions. Its calligraphy pen is strong, the lines are smooth, the density is appropriate, the body is heavy, the style is fresh, the chapter is clear, the clumsy is clever, the simple and elegant, the spirit is exquisite, the style is full of novelty, giving people a kind of smart space beauty and graceful and elegant simple beauty.
Xu Shenjun not only has good attainments in the art of oracle bone calligraphy, but also organizes many oracle bone calligraphy art exchange activities to promote oracle bone calligraphy to the world. In March 2023, in the National Oracle Bone Reading Contest held in Anyang, Xu Shenjun stood out from the 100,000 participating netizens across the country, and then entered the final among the 600 contestants selected by the sea, and finally entered the top 20; On November 5, he held a personal calligraphy exhibition at Cairo University in Egypt, exhibiting nearly 50 works; On November 18, he was invited to participate in the first global Oracle Conference held in Zhengzhou. In April 2024, he was invited to attend the "International Chinese Day" Chinese calligraphy lecture at Cairo University and Badr University in Egypt, and held a personal calligraphy exhibition; At the beginning of June, he was invited to give lectures at Cairo University and Badr University in Egypt, which won the applause of teachers and students, and the president of Badr University, Ashraf Mohammed Al-Shehi, presented him with a certificate of honor on the spot.
"Although it is in the form of words, there is the god of pictures, coupled with the skills of regular script, the whole work is neat and bright, staggered, very rare." An industry insider commented after seeing Xu Shenjun's oracle bone calligraphy works.
No pain, no gain. Xu Shenjun has been absorbed as a member of the Henan Calligraphers Association and the Calligraphers Association of the National Federation of Public Security Literary and Art Circles. In 2000, Xiaokai calligraphy works won the first prize of the calligraphy art exhibition of five counties in Kaifeng City; In November 2006, the regular script "Self-composed Short Essays" was exhibited in the National Public Security Police Calligraphy Competition jointly organized by the China Calligraphy Association and the Ministry of Public Security; In August 2008, his calligraphy works won the Excellence Award of Henan Provincial Civil Servant Calligraphy Competition; In 2011, the calligraphy work "Orchid Pavilion Preface" was selected for the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China National Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition.