A Study Of The Epigraphy Of The Xu Hao Family In The Tang Dynasty

As an ancient family name,the Xu clan has been a major part of Xu’s history and has left a strong legacy.The Donghai Xu clan,as a part of the development of the Xu family,started in the Southern Dynasty during the Liu Song period,and has been prominent in politics,culture and the arts,with some of its members becoming famous throughout the dynasties.The family’s education was the main factor in maintaining the clan’s prosperity over many dynasties.The children were taught to learn from the family and to recite poems and books as a model when they were young.In the Tang dynasty,Xu Hao,a member of the Donghai Xu clan,was a high-ranking official and his calligraphy became so famous that he was known as "Xu Yan" together with Yan Zhenqing,a calligrapher of the same generation.The Yan Zhenqing family,as a family of scholars,had a long lineage of family studies,and so did the Xu Hao family.History records that the family’s calligraphy stretched over five generations which throughout the whole Tang dynasty.People can has a glimpse of the style change by reading the history books and the family’s calligraphy.Combined with the successive excavations of Donghai Xu family monuments in Tang dynasty,Xu Hao family clan lineage is gradually clear.These monuments can used to examined its family genealogy,the origin of family learning,calligraphy heritage and a series of the value and significance of the cultural characteristics of the scholarly family.This paper analyses and studies the Xu Hao lineage of Xu family in the Tang dynasty.It uses historical materials and excavated tombstones as clues to sort out the genealogy of the Xu Hao family members.Being on the calligraphic history of the family’s good calligraphers and the calligraphic inscriptions,it categorises and collates the Xu Hao family’s calligraphic inscriptions.This paper attempts to in order to analyse the calligraphic heritage within the family and restore the overall appearance of the calligraphic art of the Xu Hao family in the Tang dynasty.