A Study On Jinshi Culture Of The Late Qing Dynasty Period

Jinshi culture refers to the cultural activities of tablet inscriptions and seal cutting (TISC), including collections of inscriptive stones and metals, inheritance of rubbings from tablet inscriptions, study of its literature and history as well as practice of calligraphy and seal cutting, etc. Due to the popularity of the Jinshi culture in the late Qing Dynasty period, a great variety of TISC as well as its rubbings were widely collected and disseminated as well as carefully researched. In particular, the improvement of rubbing technique provides rich quality models of TISC. As most of the epigraphists were calligraphers, TISC naturally became the important research literature and hence, promoting the development of calligraphy aesthetic style.The period of the Late Qing Dynasty witnesses the prosperity of Jinshi culture as a result of its critical ways of discrimination and verification on TISC. In the reign of emperors Tong Zhi&Guang Xu, a new breakthrough took place in terms of its amount, quality as well as variety of collections of TISC. This can be seen from the great influence on calligraphy and seal cuttings embodied in its concentration of collections, wide range of studies as well as the highlights of social group characteristics. Many epigraphists, centering on Beijing, joined into various social groups based on their geographical areas. Pan Zuyin, famous in his various vessels collections of inscriptive metals, is one of the most prominent figures among them. And the members of this social group include Chen Jieqi, Wang Yirong, Bao Kang, Wu Yun, Wu Dacheng, Zhao Zhiqian, Wang Shijing, etc. This paper, based on the rich literature of this social group, their outing activities as well as the author’s sorting out of their academic views, presents an image and characteristics of the Jinshi culture in the Late Qing Dynasty period, exploring the social basis and academic support of calligraphy development. Thus, the general framework of this paper is made up of the following four sections, i.e., collections of TISC, inheritance of TISC, ways of critical discrimination and verification as well as the influence of TISC on the arts of calligraphy and seal cuttings.The first section focuses on Pan Zunyin by analyzing his sense of responsibility of TISC collections as well as his idea of pursuing intellectual curiosity of TISC. The rich collections of TISC of other social groups embody the scholars’open-mindedness. And the findings and collections of antiques of pottery ware show the extension of collections and the uniqueness of TISC research. Moreover, the characteristics of the collections in the reign of emperors Tong Zhi&Guang Xu differ from other periods in a number of aspects such as the kinds, areas, amounts as well as ways of collections of TISC.The second section of this paper, centering around rubbings of TISC, inheritance of rubbings of TISC as well as books and papers published, makes a detailed analysis not only on the experience of the rubbings of TISC, but also on the exchange of research approaches as well as the influence of rubbing arts, the roles of rubbing materials and the use of photography. At the same time, the wisdom of epigraphists is fully reflected in the two rubbing models used by showing the attentions paid as well as the prefaces and postscripts written in the process of inheriting rubbings of TISC. In addition, this section also elaborates on the efforts made by making a comparative analysis on the ideas of published papers and books concerned, reflecting the characteristics of Jinshi culture communication.The third section, ways of critical discrimination and verification, further pinpoints the approaches and characteristics of TISC research by studying the role of critical discrimination and verification on collections of TISC. Examples of the tablet inscription of Hou Huo in Shanan, Bronze Chime Bell of Lvzhong as well as Jiang Xia Monument are made by studying the TISC from aspects of its critical discrimination and verification of characters, social group research approaches as well as past achievements re-investigation, etc.The last section, the influence Jinshi culture on the arts of calligraphy and seal cuttings, makes a detailed analysis on the ideas and practice of calligraphy in the process of its development as well as the characteristics of seal cutting in terms of its variety and representations. The findings of this study show that the artistic research on characters of TISC originates from its rich collections as well as critical discrimination and verification. Calligraphy in the Late Qing Dynasty period, due to generations of research on the collections, rubbings, written documents as well as verification and interpretations of TISC, mainly falls into three kinds——seal characters, clerical script, regular script, which were much influenced by TISC.To summarize, the Late Qing Dynasty Jinshi culture, represented by the reign of emperors of Tong Zhi&Guang Xu, enriches the culture of Qing Dynasty in a number of aspects, pioneering the research approaches and promoting the art development of calligraphy and seal cutting. Moreover, the Late Qing Dynasty Jinshi culture also has its historical and research value in shaping and developing other subjects.