Package Shichen Book Studies

Bao Shichen, a scholar, calligrapher and calligraphic theorist in Qing dynasty, lived through the era of Qian Long, Jia Qing, Dao Guang and Xian Feng. During the period of Qian Long and Jia Qing, the study of inscriptions on ancient bronzes and stone tablets, Chinese characters and textual research was prosperous. Not only the Characters on ancient bronzes and stone tablets were regarded as literature information, but also their art merit was further recognized by some calligraphers, which activated the tendency of learning from inscriptions. As one of the traditional literators, Bao Shichen spoke highly of Beibei and analyzed its system, art style and techniques. For this reason, he was regarded as an expert in inscriptional science by subsequent researchers. Needless to say, Bao Shichen benefited greatly from Zhuan, Li and Beibei, while his discourse on inscriptional science was only one aspect of his science of calligraphy. He dwelt too much upon Chinese calligraphy and his science of calligraphy was various and abundant. This thesis expatiated on Bao Shichen's life background and his works, calligraphic history, calligraphic theory, and method of learning calligraphy, which is supposed to achieve a comprehensive, objective and perspicuous research on Bao Shichen's science of calligraphy.