Research On The Calligraphy Works Of Su Shi And Chen Jichan

Su Shi is optimistic by nature and likes to make friends.Chen Jichang is one of Su Shi’s best friends.The two knew each other very early,and they often discusse the military strategy and the success or failure of ancient and modern times on horseback.Later,when Su Shi is exiled to Huangzhou,Chen Zao offered him generous help,company and kindness.After that,Su Shi is exiled to Huizhou,an unfamiliar city,where Chen Zao always goes with him and cares for him.The two have been friends for nearly40 years.They travel together and become lifelong confidants.The study of the letters between Su Shi and Chen Jichang is very important to clarify their friendship.In the meantime,these letters also provide a unique perspective and abundant information for us to understand the formation and evolution of Su Shi’s style of writing.This paper mainly discusses from three aspects.The first part focuses on the details and historical facts of the communication between Su Shi and Chen Jichang.From the three stages of youth,middle age and old age,the author presents the process of Su Shi and Chen Zao from acquaintance to bosom friend and mutual relationship,especially the Huangzhou period when they have the most intensive communication.Su Shi stays in Huangzhou for four years.He visits Chen Jichang three times,and Chen Jichang comes to visit Su Shi seven times.This paper attempts to reconstruct the space-time dimension by analyzing the correspondence and other documents between the two and restore the history of the two people’s communication during the Huangzhou period.The letters between Su Shi and Chen Zao are not only important materials for understanding Su Shi’s life and state of mind in Huangzhou,but also a masterpiece in the history of calligraphy,which has always been valued by scholars of Su studies.Scholars such as Wang Wengao,Li Zhiliang,and Ding Yonghuai have all discussed the interpretation of the content of the letter,but each of them has different interpretations,and there are still many questions worthy of further discussion and analysis.Therefore,this paper will reorganize and examine Su Shi’s and Chen Jichang’s contacts in Huangzhou,in order to correct the errors and omissions of the predecessors,and advance the related research on Su Shi’s calligraphy and literature.The second part is the analysis and discussion of the contents of the letters between Su Shi and Chen Jichang.There are two kinds of letters discussed in this paper: one is the letters written directly by Su Shi to Chen Jichang;the other is Su Shi’s letters related to Chen Jichang in content.Through the interpretation of the contents of these letters,the relevant life and social details of Su Shi in Huangzhou period will be restored to the greatest extent.Through the analysis of the letter "the New Year Exhibition Celebration Post",we can conform the beginning construction time of the Snow Hall,and put forward a new definition of the word "new house".In the middle of Yuan Feng,Chen Zao’s eldest brother Bo Cheng died suddenly,and Su Shi sent "Ren Lai Shu Post" to express his comfort.Based on the whereabouts of Chen Zao,this paper speculates that Chen Chen died in March of the fifth year of Yuanfeng during the period of Yuanfeng,and further determines that "Renlai Shu" is written in the spring month of the fifth year of Yuanfeng,reconfirming the chronology of the letter.The characters involved in“One night post” have always been disputed by academic circles.In this paper,the author believes that “Wang Jun” is not Wang Qiyu as many scholars thought,but should be Wang Yi of Qiting.“Fu Pen Zi Tie”based on Liu Zhengcheng’s judgment,this article has a definite answer to the identity of the recipient.This letter is a note from Su Shi to the prefect Xu Junyou,not to his friend Du Daoyuan.Furthermore,This paper also makes a detailed discussion of the events before and after “Fu Pen Zi Tie”.The third part is the analysis of the calligraphy art of Su Shi’s letter works.The author first summarizes the calligraphic styles of Su Shi’s letters in different periods,analyzes the characteristics of his calligraphy in terms of pen,composition,style,etc.,and examines the origin of his calligraphy.In particular,by analyzing the letters of Su Shi and Chen Jichang,this paper classifies the constitution of Dongpo’s letters.It is roughly divided into three categories: intensive,sparse and variable.Then,this paper will summarize the characteristics of each category,sorts out the evolution process of Su Shi’s style of calligraphy,observes the aesthetic spirit and thoughts and emotions revealed in his works,and provides corresponding academic reference for us to deeply understand Su Shi’s calligraphy and mood in Huangzhou period.