Study On Songxiang’s Calligraphy Of "Four Masters In Lingnan"

Song Xiang had long been distinguished poets and noble personalities.People admired him very much.At the same time,he was also a representative figure in Lingnan calligraphy circle during the Qian and Jia Dynasties of the Qing Dynasty.He was also known as the "four great writers of Lingnan in the middle of the Qing Dynasty" along with Feng Minchang,Li Jian and Wu Rongguang.This paper studies Songxiang’s calligraphy from the following four parts.The first part outlines the background of calligraphy in the mid-Qing Dynasty and the parallel travels and exchanges between Song and Xie Lansheng,which lays a foundation for the following narrative in many aspects.Songxiang’s life has a wide range of footprints and contacts with officials,poets and scholars of the dynasty,such as Ruan Yuan,Yi Bingshou,Xie Lansheng and Chen Shouqi.All of these have an impact on his style of writing.The second part elaborates the characteristics of his calligraphy style,dividing it into three periods to analyze the source of his calligraphy style in detail.The early period is copying the ancients period.The main period is "learning from the ancients,paying attention to body",the middle period is transitional period,starting from "turning to benefit from more teachers,integrating with each other",and the later period is mature period,which is already "self-contained,thick and hot".The third part summarizes the ideological origins of the Song and Hunan style of writing: cultivating Confucianism and benevolence,penetrating pen and ink;seeking the good old and the new,revising poetry and prose;advocating nature and not sticking to one pattern.The fourth part compares Songxiang calligraphy with Feng Minchang’s,Li Jian’s and Wu Rongguang’s,emphasizing the similarities and differences of their calligraphic characteristics from aspects of life experience,teacher-inheritance system and calligraphic style,and highlighting the particularity of Songxiang’s calligraphy.Finally,in the concluding part,the author discusses the influence of Song and Hunan people in Lingnan and even the whole Qing Dynasty,and evaluates Song and Hunan’s achievements in calligraphy.Although the position of Song and Hunan’s influence on calligraphy can not be overemphasized,his unique personality and cultural connotations also enable him to achieve good results in the field of calligraphy.