The North Song Dynasty Calligraphy

The Song Dynasty is another important epoch after WeiJin and SuiTang Dynasty in the history of our ancient calligraphy . OuYang Xiu , as a leader of the circle of literature in the middle NorthSong Dynasty, acquired great achievements not only in the field of literature, but also in the domain of calligraphy and epigraphy, especially in the circle of calligraphy in the middle Dynasty. Nowadays, the study of OuYang Xiu's calligraphy focuses on his views on calligraphy and only deals with one point and chooses one of his views as "looking upon learning calligraphy as amusement",but it lacks systematic formulation of its style and evolution especially of OuYang Xiu's influence toward other calligraphers in the NorthSong Dynasty. The theirs argues that OuYang Xiu not only put forward some views about calligraphy which formed his relatively systematic ideas of calligraphy, but also acquired considerable achievements in the practice of calligraphy, especially made great contributions to the renewing of the art by communication with other calligraphers. He took no pains in recommending some calligraphers by virtue of his political and literary status. The thesis studies more systematically OuYang Xiu's ideas of calligraphy, his style of calligraphy,the achievement of epigraphy, and important effects on NorthSong s calligraphy,to throw light on Ou's status and significance in NorthSong's calligraphy circle.