5han's: World

fu
5han's
• World
Th-e
T ranstormation
of Chinese
Calligraph~
in the
Seventeenth
Centur~
HARVARD EAST ASIAN MONOGRAPHS 220
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Fu
Shan)s
Qianshen 5al • World
The
T ranstormation
of Chinese
Calligraph~
in the
Seventeenth
Centur~
PUBLISHED BY THE
HARVARD UNIVERSITY ASIA CENTER
DISTRIBUTED BY HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE (MASSACHUSETTS) AND LONDON
2003
© 2003 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
Printed in the United States of America
The Harvard University Asia Center publishes a monograph series and, in coordination with the Fair-
bank Center for East Asian Research, the Korea Institute, the Reischauer Institttte ofJapanese Studies,
and other faculties and institutes, administers research projects designed to further scholarly
understanding of China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, and other Asian countries. The Center also sponsors
projects addressing multidisciplinary and regional issues in Asia.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

·. Bai, Qianshen.
Fu Shan's world: the transformation of Chinese calligraphy in the seventeenth century /
Qianshen Bai.
p. em. -- (Harvard East Asian monographs ; 220)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN o-674-01092-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Fu, Shan, 1606-1684--Criticism and interpretation. 2. Calligraphy,
Chinese--Ming-Qing dynasties, 1368-1912. I. Title. II. Series.
NK3634.F8 B35 2003
745·6'19951'092--dc21 2002038849
Index by Mary Mortensen
@ Printed on acid-free paper
Last figure below indicates year of this printing

13 12 11 10 09 o8 07 o6 05 04 03
Frontispiece: Fu Shan, rufeng -j{111D.i., two characters from Weepingfor My Son,1684 (see Chapter 4)
TO ALL MY TEACHERS,
BOTH FORMAL AND INFORMAL,
FOR HELPING ME TO APPRECIATE THE ART
OF CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY
• Acknowledgments
The origins of this work lie in a dissertation that I completed at Yale Univer-
sity in I996. It was read by Professors Jonathan Spence, Peter Sturman, and
Jonathan Hay, and I thank them for their expert assistance. Their critical
comments and constructive suggestions from that time have been incorpo-
rated into this work. Professor Richard Barnhart, my chief academic adviser,
suggested that it would be profitable for me to devote special attention to the
impacts oflate Ming culture on early Qing culture. A significant difference
between this book and my dissertation is that the present work investigates
how late Ming cultural trends were either continued or transformed in the
early Qing. In this respect, the present work reflects the guidance of Professor
Barnhart, and I am grateful to him.
In pursuing this project, I received grants from the Ho Ch'uang-shih Cal-
ligraphy Foundation, Taipei; the Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art
Studies, Kyoto; the Getty Foundation; the Humanities Foundation of Boston
University; and Rock Publishing International, Taipei. I am deeply thankful
to them. I was also awarded a publication grant from Professor Dennis Berkey,
then Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and now Provost of Boston
University.
I also express my gratitude to the libraries, museums, publishers, auction
houses, and private collectors who have provided me with the research materi-
als, photographs, and transparencies needed to reproduce the illustrations in
this book.
The preparation of this study has been assisted by many scholars and
friends. Among them I especially acknowledge Wang Shiqing, Chang Ch'ung-
ho, Wan-go Weng, Hua Rende, Lin Feng, Yao Guojin, Lucy L. Lo, Shen Jin,
Vll
]. Soren Edgren, Maxwell K. Hearn, Stephen Addiss, Ho Kuo~ch'ing, Ch'en
Ch'i~te, Shao~wai Lam, Shang Wei, Joseph Chang, Ho Ch'uan~hsin, Yang
Xiaoneng, H. Christopher Luce, Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, John Finlay,
Michael Lewis, Wu Hung, Judith Zeitlin, Randy and Judith Smith, John and
Julia Curtis, Qi Xiaochun, Robert Harrist, Jr., Katharine Burnett, Liu Tao,
Rujun Wang, Marilyn W. Gleysteen, Heping Liu, Victor Xiong, Cheng~hua
Wang, Chen Ruiling, and GongJisui. I also thank my colleagues at Boston
University for providing many years of warm support for my teaching andre~
search and the two anonymous reviewers for the Harvard University Asia
Center for their many helpful comments and suggestions.
Several individuals deserve special thanks. My friend Matthew Flannery in
New Brunswick, New Jersey, is not only an enthusiastic collector of Chinese
art, particularly calligraphy and seal stones, but also an independent scholar of
the art of Chinese calligraphy. The breadth and depth of his knowledge of this
art have made him a true intellectual companion. Since I was a graduate stu~
dent in comparative politics at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, where we
met in 1987, Matthew has always been a critical reader of my writings. He was
the first reader of this book when it was still a rough draft and offered many
constructive suggestions. Some of the ideas in this book were the result of in~
spirations that arose from our discussions of Chinese calligraphy. To him I
owe great appreciation.
Dr. Celia "Cecie" Carrington Riely, the outstanding world authority on
Dong Qichang and a senior scholar of Chinese painting, whose vast knowledge
oflate Ming and early Qing art and its social and political context I so much
admire, proved critical to the completion of this project. From 2000 to 2001,
Cede spent many months editing my manuscript. She read the manuscript me~
ticulously word by word, correcting errors, making its arguments more logical,
its reasoning more sound, its writing more lucid, and its translations of Chinese
texts more accurate and beautiful. Without her persistent efforts to improve
the clarity and smoothness of my manuscript, it would not have passed so gen~
tly through the review process. To Cecie I am truly grateful. I only wish that I
had been able to complete the translation of her writings into Chinese more
quickly so as to have allowed Chinese scholars more opportunity to appreciate
and benefit from her accurate, detailed, and elegant scholarship.
I would also like to express my thanks to two persons at Harvard University.
Professor Eugene Yuejin Wang first encouraged me to submit my manuscript
to Harvard University. This submission has proved to be a critical moment in
my professional life. Also, I am greatly in debt to John Ziemer of the Asia Cen~
ter Publications Office. His diligent, attentive, and wide~ranging editing were
responsible for much of the presentation and intelligibility of this work.
I also express my deep appreciation to Mary Mortensen for producing such
an excellent index for this book.
vm • Acknowledgments
I would like to express my deep thanks to my wife, Ying Wang, and son,
Ray Bai, for their patience with this prolonged project. Without their untiring
love and consistent support, the completion of this work would have proven
impossible.
I began the systematic study of Chinese calligraphy in the early 1970s dur~
ing the Cultural Revolution under the guidance of several masters in Shanghai:
Xiao Tie, Wang Hongzhi, Deng Xianwei, Jin Yuanzhang, and Zhang Rushi.
Regretfully, some have passed away in the past two decades. Although thirty
years have gone by, when I pick up a calligraphy brush or write about calligra~
phy, their teachings are always in my mind and arm. In addition, my parents
and many friends have given me immeasurable amounts of help and support
over many years. Without them, my life's accomplishments would have been
much less. Although I have not been in contact with some of them for years, I
hold all their teachings, trust, support, and expectations deep in my heart. To
them, I dedicate this book.
Q.~S.B.
Acknowledgments • IX
• Contents
Illustrations Xl
Calligraphy Terms and Chinese Names XlX
Introduction
Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan' s Early Life 5

A Period of Heterogeneity sl Qi and Aesthetics rol
Dong Qichang and Individualist Calligraphers 2ol
Ancient Canons in Question 341 Seal Carving and
Calligraphy sol A Sense of Crisis 7rl Fu Shan's
Life in the Ming 73
2 Fu Shan' s Life and Calligraphy in the Early Years of the

Manchu Conquest
Years ofWandering 83l Shared Sorrow 87l
Historiography and Dynastic Memory 97 I The Appeal of
Yan Zhenqing rorl Fragmentation and Awkwardness n81
The Lingering Influence of Late Ming Cultural Life 129
Xl
3 New Intellectual Tendencies and Fu Shan's Advocacy of
Epigraphical Calligraphy 153
The Intellectual Community in Shanxi, 166os-167os 153/
New Trends in Intellectual Life 158/ Scholarship and
Calligraphy 167I Steles 172/ Epigraphical
Calligraphy 185/ Breaking the Tang Schema 192/
Response from the South 201
4 Calligraphy and the Changing Intellectual Landscape 209

Later Years 209/ The Boxue hongci Examination 212/
Fu Shan's Running-Cursive and Cursive-Script Calligraphy 220/
Fu Shan's Last Works in Cursive Script 245
Epilogue 257
REFERENCE MATTER
Notes
Works Cited 295
Character List 313
Index 323
xu • Contents
• Illustrations
MAP
1.1 Map of Shanxi 74
FIGURES
1.1 Illustration in Best Selections from the Illustrated Catalogues

of Strange Things from the Far West 16
1.2 Wu Bin, The Sixteen Luohans, 1591 17
1.3 Illustrations in Wanli quanbu wenlin renzi kan miaojin wanbao

quanshu, late Ming ed. 18
1.4 Zhao Mengfu, Record of the Miaoyan Monastery in Huzhou,

ca. 1309-10 21
1.5 Dong Qichang, Copy of an Imperial Patent, 1636 22
1.6 Dong Qichang, characters hi ~ and zhen fa in Copy of an

Imperial Patent 23
1.7 Dong Qichang, Calligraphy in Running and Cursive Scripts, 1603 24

1.8 Dong Qichang, Poems Written in Running-Cursive Script, 1631 26
1.9 Zhang Ruitu, Transcription of Meng Haoran's Poems in

Cursive Script, 1625 27
1.10 Huang Daozhou, Reply to Sun Boguan's Poem, undated 29
1.II Character luo ~in Huang Daozhou, Reply to Sun Boguan's Poem 29
1.12 Wang Duo, Memory ofTraveling on Mount Zhongtiao, 1639 31
1.13 Huang Tingjian, Biographies ofLian Po and Lin Xiangru, ca. 1095 32
Xlll
I.I4 Wang Duo, Poems Dedicated to Guo Yizhang, r65o 33
r.r5 Wang Duo, Cursive Calligraphy for Zhang Baoyi, r642 34
r.r6 Dong Qichang, Copy ofYan Zhenqing's "Letter on the Controversy
over Seating Protocol," r632 36
I.I7 Yan Zhenqing, Letter on the Controversy over Seating Protocol, 764 37
r.r8 Dong Qichang, Freehand Copy of Zhang Xu's "Record of the
Langguan Stone Pillar," ca. r622 39
I.I9 Zhang Xu, Record of the Langguan Stone Pillar, 74I 39
I.20 Wang Duo, copy of Wang Xizhi's and Wang Xianzhi's
letters, r643 40
I.2I Wang Xianzhi, Baonu tie, undated 4I
I.22 Wang Xizhi, W u wei hianhian tie, undated 4I
I.23 Wang Xizhi, ]iayue tie, undated 4I
I.24 Wang Duo, Copy of Mi Fu's "Colophon to Ouyang Xun's
Calligraphy," r64r 42
I.25 Mi Fu, Colophon to Ouyang Xun's "Dushang tie" and "Yu Liang
tie," ro90 43
I.26 Illustration in the late Ming vernacular novel Qilin zhui 45
I.27 Zhao Yiguang, Colophon in Cursive Seal Script to Zhang]izhi's
Copy of the "Diamond Sutra," r62o 50
I.28 Official seal with knob in the shape of a tortoise, Six Dynasties 52
I.29 Impression and side inscription of a seal carved by He Zhen 53
I.30 He Tong, Yinshi, r623 54
I.3I Two seal impressions from Zhang Hao, ed., Xueshantang
yinpu: "I store a sheng of tears lamenting the affairs of this
world"; "One should view his country as his family,
exterminating evils and wiping out humiliations; one should
not set up cliques to recruit people of one's own kind," r633 55
I.32 Impression of a Warring States period seal 58
I.33 Du Congdu, ]izhuan guwen yunhai 59
I.34 YangJun, Zengguang zhongding zhuanyun 59
I.35 Hu Zhengyan, two seal impressions: jixu :ff_ Jt;
. . lll{i
SIZat ,-:::.;: :±.., ca. I646 6r
I.36 Three seals of Chen Hongshou reading "Lianzi" it-T,
Chen Hongshou's sobriquet 6r
I.37 Guo Zhongshu, a page from Hanjian, I703 6r
I.38 Zhao Yiguang, Preface to Shuowen changjian, r633 62
I.39 Bao Shiying, Preface to Zhouwen gui, ca. r628-44 62
XIV • Illustrations
I40 Ni Yuanlu, Impromptu Poem While Drinking Wine, undated 63
1.41 Unusual form of the character di Jt by Ni Yuanlu;
unusual form of di J:t in the dictionary Y upian 63
!.42 Cai Yuqing, Casually Intoning [Poems] at a Mountain
Dwelling, undated 64
143 Unusual form of the character ling 1ft by Cai Yuqing;
unusual form ofling 1ft in Yupian 64
!.44 Wang Duo, unusual form of the character gu -i; in Boxiang tie 64
!.45 Wang Duo, attrib. Copy ofYan Zhenqing's "Baguanzhai huiji," 1646 65
1.46 Mei Yingzuo, Zihui, late Ming ed. 67
!.47 Xue Shanggong, Lidai zhongding kuanzhi fatie,late Ming ed. 67
!.48 Impression of a Han seal 68
149 A seal impression reading "Chen Sheng zhi yin" from
He Tong's Yinshi, 1623 69
r.so Wang Duo, Calligraphy for Shan Danian, 1647 70
1.51 Detail of Fig. r.so 70
1.52 Fu Shan, Record of the Garden of Shanglanwulong Shrine, 1641 76
!.53 Impression of"Fu Dingchen yin" (The seal ofFu Dingchen) 76
2.! Fu Shan, Poems in Small Regular and Running Scripts, 1645 !05
2.2 Fu Shan, first letter to Wei Yi'ao, ca. 1647, in Fu Shan,
Danya mahan, ca. 1647-57 I06
2.3 Xia Yunyi, Letter in Running Script, undated !07
2.4 Fu Shan, fourth letter to Wei Yi' ao in Danya mahan, ca. 1648 !07
2.5 Fu Shan, sixth letter to Wei Yi'ao in Danya mahan, ca. 1648 I08
2.6 F u Shan, seventh letter to Wei Yi' ao in Danya mahan, ca. 1648 I08
2.7 Fu Shan, ninth letter to Wei Yi' ao in Danya mahan, ca. 1652 !09
2.8 Fu Shan, tenth letter to Wei Yi' ao in Danya mahan, ca. 1652 !09
2.9 Fu Shan, third letter to Wei Yi' ao in Danya mahan, ca. 1652 II2
2.!0 Fu Shan, last letter to Wei Yi'ao in Danya mahan, ca. 1657 II2
2.II Wang Xizhi, Poem Praising Dongfang Shuo's Portrait, 356 II3
2.!2 Yan Zhenqing, Record of the Altar of the Immortal of Mount Magu,
small regular~script version, 771 II3
2.!3 Fu Shan, Copy of Wang Xizhi's "Poem Praising Dongfang Shuo's
Portrait," ca. r6sos II3
2.!4 Fu Shan, Copy ofYan Zhenqing's "Record of the Altar of the
Immortal of Mount Magu," ca. r6sos II3
2.!5 Fu Shan, Copy oj"Book of Rites," 1653/54 II4
2.!6 Fu Shan, "Zhuangzi" in Small Regular Script, 1653/54 II4
Illustrations • XV
2.17 Fu Shan, Selections from the "Zuozhuan," ca. 166os II5
2.18 Yan Zhenqing, Eulogy for My Nephew, 758 Il5
2.19 Manjusri Prajna Sutra Stele at Mount Water Buffalo, carved
in the Northern Qi (550-77) n6
2.20 Yan Zhenqing, Memorial Stele of the Yan Family Temple, 780 n6
2.21 Fu Shan, Copy of"A'nan yin," undated II7
2.22 Characters from Fu Shan's Copy of"A'nan yin," and
characters from Manjusri Prajna Sutra Stele at
Mount Water Buffalo II7
2.23 Y an Zhenqing, Memorial Ode on the Resurgence of the
Great Tang, ca. 771 Il9
2.24 Y an Zhenqing, Prabhutaratna Pagoda Stele Inscription, 752 Il9
2.25 Fu Shan, section of regular script in Selu miaohan, ca. 1652 120
2.26 Fu Shan, section of cursive script in Selu miaohan 121
2.27 Fu Shan, characters erbu dezui yuren ifQ /(: 1.'ff # 7]~ A.. in
Selu miaohan 121
2.28 Fu Shan, character zhuo !ll!IT 122
2.29 Fu Shan, character tui.fft 122
2.30 Fu Shan, character yan g}! 122
2.31 Fu Shan, landscape painting, undated 123
2.32 Shitao, Plum Blossoms, ca. 1705-7 124
2.33 Kuncan, landscape painting, undated 125
2.34 Zhao Mengfu, attrib., The Thousand Character Classic in Six
Different Scripts, 1316 131
2.35 Stone Classics in Three Scripts, A.D. 240-48 132
2.36 Colophons by late nineteenth-century-early twentieth-century
calligraphers on Wang Hong's Eight Views of the Xiao and
Xiang Rivers, ca. n50 133
2.37 Song Ke, Transcription of Zhao Mengfu's "Thirteen Colophons
to Preface of the Orchid Pavilion Gathering," 1370 133
2.38 Li Rihua, Calligraphy in Running-Regular Script, 1626 135
2·39 Wang Duo, Poems for Yugu in Assorted Scripts, dated 1647 135
2.40 Fu Shan, Selu miaohan, dated ca. 1652 136
2.41 Fu Shan, section of Selu miaohan with many characters
showing breakdown of script types 138
2.42 Fu Shan, character wei ffv 139
2.43 Fu Shan, section of Selu miaohan with extensive use of
unusual character forms 140
xv1 • Illustrations
2.44 Fu Shan, character yu i{'- in three different forms 140
2.45 Comparison ofFu Shan's unusual character forms and
their sources: an excerpt from Selu miaohan; transcriptions
of the excerpt in regular script; sources of Fu Shan's unusual
character forms 141
2.46 Fu Shan, section of Selu miaohan with an invented character
form for pin ijt 141
2-47 Fu Shan, section of clerical script in Selu miaohan 142
2.48 Fu Shan, characters zhu ~'dong J;i, and shou -4- 142
2.49 Fu Shan, section of greater seal script in Selu miaohan 144
2.50 Fu Shan, pictographs in Selu miaohan 145
2.51 Fu Shan, "Lotus Sutra" in Seal Script, 1655 146
2.52 Wang Qiu, Xiaotangjigulu 146
2.53 Fu Shan, a note in Selu miaohan 147
2.54 Fu Shan, a note in Selu miaohan 147
2.55 A page in Y aotian yue, W anli ed. 150
2.56 A page in a household encyclopedia, late Ming ed. I 50
3·1 Chen Pengnian et al., Guangyun, ron; reprinted by

Gu Yanwu in 1667, with Fu Shan's notes after 1667 161
3·2 Memorial Stele of Kong Zhou, 164 163
3·3 Fu Shan, note on Li shi by Hong Kuo, detail 164
3·4 Fu Shan, Roving Immortal Poetry, ca. 1670s, eleventh and
twelfth of a set of twelve hanging scrolls 169
3·5 Qaoist secret graphs 170
3·6 Li Cheng, attrib., Reading a Memorial Stele 180
3·7 Zhang Feng, Reading a Memorial Stele, 1659 182
3·8 Wufeng Stone Inscription, 56 B.c. 184
3·9 Memorial Stele of Cao Quan, A.D. 185 187
3·10 Wang Duo, Calligraphy in Clerical Script, 1644 187
3·II Wang Daokun's preface to Fang Yulu's Ink-Manual of the
Fang Family in clerical script, 1583 188
3.12 Memorial Stele of Zhang Qian, A.D. 185 188
3·13 Fu Shan, Copy of the "Memorial Stele of Cao Quan," undated 189
3·14 Guo Xiangcha, Memorial Stele of Mount Hua, A.D. 165 191
3·15 Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang, Stele of the Classic of Filial
Piety, 745 194
3.16 Zhong You, Memorial on an Announcement to Sun Quan
(Xuanshi biao ), 221 194
Illustrations • XVll
3.17 Character comparisons: detail of Emperor Xuanzong's clerical
calligraphy; detail ofYan Zhenqing' s regular calligraphy 195
3.18 Wen Zhengming, Essay on Streams and Rocks in clerical script,
following a painting by Lu Zhi, undated 197
3.19 Stroke comparisons: vertical and hengzhe strokes in Wen
Zhengming' s Essay on Streams and Rocks and in Yan Zhenqing's
regular script 197
3.20 Fu Shan, clerical-script calligraphy, undated 199
3.21 Zheng Fu, Poem by Yang]uyuan, 1682 203
3.22 Detail ofhengzhe strokes in Han clerical script 204
3.23 Shitao, Lake Chao, 1695 205
3.24 Shitao, inscription on a landscape painting, dated 168o 207
4.1 Fu Shan, poem in running-cursive script, undated 226
4.2 Fu Shan, Poems Copied in Cursive Script for Chen Mi, 1647 229
4·3 Fu Shan, Frank Words as Farewell Gift for Wei Yi'ao, ca. 1657 230
44 Character comparisons: characters in Frank Words as
Farewell Gift for Wei Yi'ao; Mi Fu's characters 234
4·5 Character comparisons: character jia ~ and meng ~ in
Frank Words as Farewell Gift for Wei Yi'ao; character jia ~
in the album of poems in cursive script written by Fu Shan
for Chen Mi in 1647 235
4.6 Xu Wei, Watching the Tide, undated 236
4·7 Fu Shan, Stele of Cursive Calligraphy on Mount Wufeng, undated .240
4.8 Wang Xizhi, Fuxiang qinghe tie, undated 241
4·9 Fu Shan, Copy of Wang Xizhi's "Fuxiang qinghe tie," 1661 241
4.10 Fu Shan, Copy ofWang Xizhi's "Fuxiang qinghe tie," undated 242
4.II Fu Shan, Copy of Wang Xizhi's "Anxi tie," undated 243
4.12 Wang Xizhi, Anxi tie, undated 243
4.13 Character comparisons: chang f in Wang Xizhi's Anxi tie;
chang fin Fu Shan's copy 243
4.14 Wang Xizhi, Ershu tie, undated 244
4.15 Fu Shan, Night Discussion in Cursive-Seal Script, undated 244
4.16 Wang Xizhi, Dongzhong tie, undated 246
4.17 Zhang Zhi, Bayue tie, undated 246
4.18 Fu Shan, draft cursive-script calligraphy, undated 247
4.19 Fu Shan, Poems of Congratulation on Xuweng's Birthday, undated 247
4.20 Fu Shan,Jingong qiangu yikuai, 1684 249
4.21 Fu Shan, Weepingfor My Son, 1684 250
xviii • Illustrations
4.22 Fu Shan, characters shu ;t~ and ye l¥f from Weepingfor My Son 253
4·23 Fu Shan, characters from Weepingfor My Son 253
4·24 Han clerical script on three wood slips excavated in Juyan,
Gansu, A.D. 27 254
4·25 Character comparison: Fu Shan's characters in Weeping
4- on a Han wood slip excavated
for My Son; character
in Juyan, Gansu 254
4.26 Hymn to Stone Gate, A.D. 148 255
4·27 Two characters rujeng -:!t111ffit from Weeping for My Son 255
5.1 Deng Shiru, calligraphy in seal script, 1792 260
5·2 Yi Bingshou, calligraphy in clerical script, undated 261
Illustrations • xix
Calligraph~
Terms
• and
Chinese
Names
This book assumes on the part of the reader a modicum of knowledge about
Chinese calligraphy: a passing familiarity with its script types and with the
names of some of the great figures in the history of the art. For those who
wish a brief introduction to the different scripts, I recommend the short but
lucid descriptions in The Embodied Image, by Robert Harrist and Wen Fong
and their colleagues.* A longer and equally valuable treatment of the different
scripts, with examples by some of the most famous of China's calligraphers,
may be found in Traces of the Brush: Studies in Chinese Calligraphy by Sherr C. Y.
Fu and others.
For explanations and illustrations of the various brush strokes used by cal~
ligraphers, I recommend Chiang Yee' s Chinese Calligraphy. In the following
pages, I describe only those strokes that are essential for the reader to recog~
nize in order to understand my discussion of the stylistic changes taking place
in seventeenth~century calligraphy. Since my translation of the terms for some
strokes may be different from those of other scholars, I provide, in addition to
a translation, a pinyin transliteration of each term mentioned and an illustra~
tion of the stroke if necessary.
One problem that arises in translating Chinese texts is that frequently the
name used to refer to an individual is not the formal name (ming) he was given
shortly after birth but one given later in life (or even after death) or a name he
himself adopted. Thus a text may refer to a man by his zi (courtesy name), a
hao (sobriquet), or a zhaishiming (studio name); by an office he held; or even by
his native place. In translating a text, I have usually kept the name that appears
* See Harrist eta!., The Embodied Image, pp. xvi-xvii. I translate the term kaishu as "regular script," bur it
is translated as "standard script" in The Embodied Image.
xxi
in the text; but, in line with general practice, I have in most cases supplied the
man's formal name in brackets, to assist those unfamiliar with the alternative
names of the individual in question. Other scholars, for convenience, however,
have at times replaced alternative names with formal names in their transla,
tions, and in such cases I have simply left the names as they stand. I have also
silently changed all W ade,Giles romanizations in quotations to the pinyin
equivalents.
xxu • Calligraphy Terms and Chinese Names
fu
5han)s
• World
The
T ranstormation
ot Chinese
Calligraph .Sf
in the
Seventeenth
Centur.Sf
• Introduction
For thirteen hundred years the classical tradition of Chinese calligraphy (tie-
xue, or the model-book school), founded on the elegant, graceful art ofWang
Xizhi (ca. 303-ca. 361) and codified in the Tang dynasty, flourished unchal-
lenged.1 But in the seventeenth century, with the emergence of a new style
modeled on the rough, plain, broken epigraphs of ancient bronze and stone
artifacts wrought by anonymous artisans, there was a revolution in calligraphic
taste. By the eighteenth century, the new taste had led to the formation of the
stele (or epigraphical) school of calligraphy (beixue), which has profoundly
influenced Chinese calligraphy for the past two hundred years and continues
2
to shape calligraphy today. In significance, the emergence of the stele school
in the history of Chinese calligraphy is comparable to the rise oflmpressionist
painting in theW est.
Although most historians of Chinese calligraphy recognize the stele
school's importance, there are few serious studies of it. In Western languages,
Die Siegelschrift (chuan-shu) in der Ch'ing-Zeit: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der chinesi-
schen Schriftkunst (1970 ), by Lothar Ledderose, is the only study to treat the
school at length. 3 Ledderose's work focuses on seal-script calligraphy (zhuan-
shu)-seal script being one of the principal interests of the stele school-
primarily of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Chinese scholarship on
the subject is limited to a few articles and chapters in books; these treat the
stele school chiefly as a movement that took root as a result of the literary
persecutions in the eighteenth century, which led many Chinese scholars to
devote themselves to the study of ancient inscriptions to escape the dangers
of contemporary studies.4 Both Ledderose and Chinese scholars contribute
much of value to our understanding of the stele school, but the long and
complicated processes in the seventeenth century that led to the development
of the school have yet to be carefully studied.
This book aims to provide a comprehensive historical analysis of the factors
leading to the seventeenth-century transformation in calligraphic taste
through a study of the eminent Shanxi calligrapher and art theorist Fu Shan
(r6o7-84 or r685). A practicing physician, he was known in his own day (as he
5
is now) for his diverse philosophical views. Not only did Fu Shan's lifetime
coincide with the school's evolution, but-what is more important-he was
closely associated with critical issues in contemporary culture that profoundly
affected the new trends in calligraphy. Because his works span the late Ming-
early Qing divide and show characteristics of both periods, Fu Shan is an ideal
prism through which to view the transformation of calligraphy in the seven-
teenth century.
Rather than seek a single explanation for this transformation in calligraphic
taste, I attempt here to demonstrate and to analyze the multiplicity and het-
erogeneity of the processes underlying it. My inquiry into these processes cov-
ers a broad range of phenomena and issues in seventeenth-century culture and
politics: how, for example, differing attitudes toward the calligraphic canons
developed as a result of the interaction between high and low culture in the
late Ming, when for the first time publishing enterprises produced books on a
scale that made reading a pastime in which ordinary people could indulge;
how Chinese loyalists-mourning the fall of their dynasty to Manchu invad-
ers who founded the Qing dynasty in r644-turned to calligraphy as a form of
political response; how the political environment shaped artistic taste;
and how changes in intellectual discourse affected the orientation of aesthet-
ics in the early Qing. To address these issues, I have adopted, in addition to
the stylistic approach that is the usual province of art historians, the theoreti-
cal perspectives of such fields as material culture, print culture, and social and
intellectual history.
Although this study is principally a work for students of art history, it is in-
tended as well for those who study Chinese history and literature. I hope that
scholars from these different disciplines find points where our interests con-
verge in the pages that follow. Cultural historians, for instance, will find here
an exploration of the impact oflate Ming popular entertainments and reading
materials on the formation of the canons of calligraphic art. Because calligra-
phy, in the main, was practiced, appreciated, and collected by the literati, it
6
had been viewed up to this time as an art of the cultural elite. Now as the
boundaries between high and low, elegant and vulgar, became blurred, even
calligraphy, that most sophisticated of artistic endeavors, was affected to a sig-
nificant degree.
Intellectual historians will, I hope, find of interest the tracing of connec-
tions between the ideas germinating in academic circles in the early Qing and
2 • Introduction
new stylistic trends in the art of calligraphy. Most studies of Qing intellectual
history concentrate on the eighteenth century and the views and activities of
southern scholars living in the lower Yangtze region. By focusing here in detail
. on scholarly activities in the seventeenth century and the north-in particular
on Fu Shan and other leading Shanxi intellectuals, who had close ties with
scholars in Shaanxi, Hebei, and Henan-this study aims to produce a more
balanced picture of intellectual life in the Qing.
For historians oflate imperial China in general, I hope that this study will
not only illuminate aspects of visual culture in late Ming-early Qing society
but also provide new insight into the Ming~Qing sociopolitical transition and
shed light on one of the turning points in the cultural and political history of
the period, the Boxue hongci examination of 1679. For decades, studies of the
Ming~Qing transition have devoted attention to the loyalists who remained
faithful to the fallen Ming, but the interactions between loyalists and Han
Chinese collaborators serving the new alien government have been neglected.
The analysis here of the complex interactions between loyalist artists and
these collaborators places each group in a new light. In particular, I attempt to
demonstrate that many Han Chinese officials serving the government in the
second half of the seventeenth century were eager to befriend Ming loyalists,
and that the loyalists, in turn, were dependent for their livelihood, and at times
even for their survival, on officials collaborating with the new regime. Han
Chinese officials in the Qing government were in fact an important compo~
nent of the institutional framework supporting the artistic and scholarly ac~
tivities ofloyalists such as Fu Shan.
My investigation begins with the last few decades of the Ming dynasty, the
period in which Fu Shan was born and in which nearly half his life was passed.
It was an era that witnessed a great expansion in the commercial economy, in~
tense and intensifying political strife, openness in intellectual and religious life,
a tremendous growth "in urban culture, and the blurring of social boundaries.
Changes such as these created a cultural environment that was vibrant,
heterogeneous, and perplexing. Driven by the subjective individualism ofNeo~
Confucian thinkers advocating a search for the inner self and spurred by an
exhibitionistic urban culture, calligraphers sought to imbue their works with qi
(the marvelous and strange), producing calligraphy that was expressive and
dramatic yet often playful, ingenious, puzzling, and entertaining. Calligraphers
took to using bizarre forms of characters, a development closely associated
with the rise in popularity of seal carving, which-with the introduction
of soft stones easily manipulated by seal carvers-became a "new" literati
art form. Playful parodies of ancient calligraphic canonical texts shook the
authority of the model~ book tradition, and the diminishing aura of the
ancient canons, coupled with the diversity oflate Ming artistic trends, opened
Introduction • 3
the door for alternatives, although at this early stage it was by no means clear
which, if any, might eventually develop to rival the model~ book school.
The fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644 by no means brought to a sudden halt
the artistic styles and practices of the late Ming, and for a time its cultural and
artistic patterns persisted, despite a drastically changed political environment.
Nevertheless these were soon to be dramatically transformed. The tragedy of
the dynasty's collapse led many leading figures in the loyalist movement to
ponder the causes of the Ming's fall. Increasingly they turned their attention
to empirical research to gain a more accurate understanding of the ancient
classics and histories. The new intellectual climate had a significant impact on
the art of calligraphy. The late Ming interest in seal carving prepared the
ground for change by engendering an appreciation of the ravaged appearance
of the writing on ancient seals. Now, as scholars studied ancient inscriptions
for their value as original sources, calligraphers seized on the rough and primi~
tive quality of their epigraphy as a quality to incorporate in their own writing.
Visiting ancient steles and collecting rubbings of the inscriptions on these and
other early artifacts became important parts of cultural and intellectual life.
Fired by theoretical discussions of the merits of epigraphical calligraphy, callig~
raphers produced works in the two epigraphical scripts-clerical and seal-in
unprecedented quantities. With the triumph of the stele school of calligraphy
as the new calligraphic canon, the expressive wild cursive calligraphy, which
had evolved in the late Ming in concert with the individualist thought and be~
havior that that period encouraged, disappeared in the changed cultural world
of the mid~Qing.
Fu Shan's calligraphy belongs both to the late Ming and to the early Qing.
On the one hand, he was the last great master of wild cursive calligraphy, the
most advanced of the individualist artists. On the other, he was an eloquent
advocate of epigraphical calligraphy as a source of innovation and change. Be~
cause his life of nearly eighty years corresponds with crucial transitions in
three different but nonetheless interrelated spheres-the political, intellectual,
and artistic-I have chosen in this book to divide Fu Shan's life into four pe~
riods and to analyze aspects of his art in the context of the political and intel~
lectual issues dominating each period. Although this approach leads at times
to an achronological treatment ofFu Shan's works, it elucidates best the issues
critical to an understanding of seventeenth~century calligraphy.
4 • Introduction
Late
Ming
Chapter 1 • Culture and

fu 5han's
Earl~
A PERIOD OF HETEROGENEITY
In the mid~ seventeenth century, around the time of the transition from the
Ming to the Qing dynasty, the literatus Xu Shipu (1608-58) wrote a letter to a
friend. In a reminiscent mood, musing on the glories of the recent past, he
listed the great men of the long Wanli reign (1573-1620 ), which, in retrospect,
marked the beginning of the late Ming period. Xu grouped these men accord-
ing to their various strengths and accomplishments. Even today his list serves
as a quick summary of the period's cultural achievements:
In the reign of Emperor Shenzong [r. 1573-1620], cultural activities in the nation
flourished. The moral integrity of Zhao Nanxing [1550-1627 ], Gu Xiancheng [1550-
1612], Zou Yuanbiao [1551-1624], and Hai Rui [1514-87]; the investigation of moral
principles by Yuan Huang [1533-1606]; the erudition ofJiao Hong [1541-162o]; the
calligraphy and painting ofDong Qichang [1555-1636); the astronomical calendars of
Xu Guangqi [1562-1633] and Matteo Ricci [1552-1610]; the drama ofTang Xianzu
[1550-1616]; the herbal medicine ofLi Shizhen [1518-93); the paleography of Zhao
Yiguang [1559-1625]; as well as the pottery ofShi Dabin, the metallurgy of Master
Gu, the ink-sticks of Fang Yulu [ca. 1541-1608] and Cheng Junfang [1541-after 1610 ],
the jades ofLu Zigang, and the seal carvings of He Zhen [1535-1604]-all these were
equal to those of the ancients. But for the nearly fifty years of the W anli reign, there
was no excellent poetry. Beginning with Wang Shizhen [1526-go] and Li Panlong
[1514-70 ], poetry became trite; with Yuan Hongdao [1568-1610] and Xu Wei [1521-
93], it turned frivolous; and when Zhong Xing [1574-1624] and Tan Yuanchun
1
[1586-1637] took the lead, it became feeble.
Brief and hardly complete, Xu's listing represents a typical retrospective view,
such as might have been held by any of the literati who lived through the end
of the Ming and into the early years of the Qing dynasty. 2 From morality to
philosophy, from the visual arts to literature and drama, from astronomical
calendars to traditional medicine, from paleographical scholarship to ink mak-
ing and jade carving, Xu lists a wide range of accomplishments in which he
believed that contemporary achievements equaled those of the ancients.
But it is more than a long list: it is a skeletal outline of an unusual era of
dramatic social, economic, political, philosophical, and artistic transformation,
and each of the individuals mentioned (and there were many whom Xu omit-
ted) was a key figure in an exciting and vibrant period characterized not only
by great achievements and noble causes but also by widespread corruption and
decadence, a period that ended with the Ming dynasty foundering beneath a
wave of domestic upheaval and the tide of the Manchu invasion.
The decline of morality played a critical role in the increasing political in-
stability of the late Ming, and political instability was a key to the dynasty's
collapse. Xu Shipu lists four figures regarded as models of moral integrity:
Zhao Nanxing, Gu Xiancheng, Zou Yuanbiao, and Hai Rui. Including the
upright and outspoken official Hai Rui in this list was chronologically awk-
ward because, unlike the other three, whose political careers began (and in
Gu's case, also ended) in the Wanli reign, Hai Rui served as an official mainly
during the Jiajing (1522-66) and Longqing (1567-72) reigns, returning to office
in the Wanli period only after a long period of forced retirement from 1570 to
1585 and for only two years (1585-87). Although not particularly popular
among his fellow officials, Hai achieved national repute for his courageous
stance against corruption. Thus, despite limited and interrupted service, Hai
Rui was esteemed in the late Ming as a moral hero and symbol of social con-
. 3
science.
The other three moral heroes were deeply involved in the politics of the
4
Wanli and Tianqi (1621-27) reigns. The Wanli reign began well, in relative
peace. The capable Zhang Juzheng (1525-82) exercised strong control over the
state apparatus as grand secretary for the first ten years of the W anli period,
where the emperor was still young. After Zhang's death in 1582, the political
situation at court rapidly deteriorated. From then until the dynasty's downfall,
late Ming politics were disrupted by intensifying factional disputes that gradu-
ally destabilized the dynasty. The most striking disruption was the political
battle between the Donglin movement and its opponents beginning in the last
5
decade of the sixteenth century. In the face of prevalent political corruption,
Donglin partisans led by Gu Xiancheng launched a moral crusade in the 1590s.
Zhao N anxing was a stalwart supporter of the movement, and Zou Yuanbiao
was deeply sympathetic to it. At times, the Donglin faction triumphed, remov-
ing, for example, corrupt officials from posts in Beijing during the early 162os.
But the movement was brutally repressed by the eunuch Wei Zhongxian
(1568-r627) and his followers. In 1627 Wei Zhongxian was forced to commit
6 • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life
suicide, but the corrosive conflict between Donglin adherents and their rivals
was far from over, and factional strife prevented the government from running
the country efficiently. At various points in their careers, both Zhao Nanxing
· and Zou Yuanbiao, who had courageously placed themselves at the forefront
of the anti-corruption cause, suffered demotion and exile. In treating these
men as moral heroes of the Wanli reign, Xu Shipu not only revealed his own
political sympathies but also pointed to the Donglin movement's profound
impact on late Ming politics.
Despite political unrest, the late Ming presents an astonishing picture of
cultural fertility and artistic creativity, set in an increasingly urban context.
Several of the achievements mentioned by Xu deserve special mention (one of
these, Dong Qichang's calligraphy, is the subject of a subsequent section of this
chapter).
Yuan Huang, cited by Xu Shipu for his studies in ethics, became a jinshi in
6
1586. Although a friend of Zhao Nanxing, Yuan was less deeply involved in
political controversy. The scion of a family with a long tradition of interest in
medicine and such popular pursuits as geomancy, physiognomy, and Daoism,
Yuan became a major figure in the late Ming revival of religious Daoism.
Yuan's moral teaching, however, stretched beyond Daoism. In a book of
instructions to his son, which circulated widely, Yuan narrated in detail his
spiritual encounters with Daoism and Buddhism and the lessons he had
received from both? This work and other writings by Yuan demonstrate that
he, like many intellectuals of his time, treated Daoism and Buddhism as equal
in truth and value to Confucianism, the official ideology. Under the motto
"Three Teachings as One," the three doctrines became fused during a period
notable for open-mindedness.
But it was Jiao Hong, an expert in the Classics and histories, who was con-
sidered to represent intellectual achievement in the Wanli reign. Jiao Hong
was a student ofLuo Rufang (rsrs-88), an influential thinker in the left-wing
T aizhou school under the auspices of the N eo-Confucian scholar Wang
Shouren (1472-1529), better known by his zi Yangming, whose philosophy
8
dominated the intellectual scene in the sixteenth century. Wang Y angming
believed that discovering the knowledge innate to the individual mind was the
fundamental route to truth and sagehood. Wang's emphasis on innate knowl-
edge, individual effort, and the personal intuition of truth opened up almost
unlimited possibilities for the development of pantheism, romanticism, and
individualism, since those who considered inner knowledge as the highest
form of truth were able to exclude knowledge that was external.
The heterogeneous nature oflate Ming cultural life was, to a great extent,
indebted to Wang Y angming' s subjective individualism. One could also con-
tend that Wang's theory was a philosophical manifestation of the diversity of
9
late Ming culture. Following Wang's teaching, Luo Rufang advocated "the
Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • 7
recovery of the heart of the infant, which requires neither learning nor exercise
10
of thought." Although in large measure it was Jiao Hong's erudition that led
Xu Shipu to list him as a symbol of cultural achievement, his close association
with the intellectually dominant T aizhou school must also have played a part.
Xu's inclusion in his list of Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit and the only for,
eigner, is noteworthy for what it omits. Although Ricci's expertise in
astronomical calendars is cited, his proselytizing activities, which brought him
to China, are not mentioned. His inclusion, nevertheless, is a significant
indicator of the intellectual openness of the late Ming. In addition to the
Three Teachings, Catholicism played an interesting role in religious and
intellectual life. A significant number of senior officials from the W anli to
Chongzhen (r628-44) reigns were either followers or friends of the Jesuits.
Both Zou Yuanbiao and Jiao Hong were Ricci's friends. Indeed, Zou once
wrote Ricci that he had investigated Christianity and found much in common
11
between it and the Chinese tradition.
The arrival of the Jesuits introduced to China the Western calendar,
mathematics, cartography, and phonetics and provoked a great enthusiasm
among the literati for studying these fields. Foreign trade, meanwhile, was ex,
panding, and greater contact with foreigners increased Chinese awareness of
the world beyond the Central Kingdom. The extent to which Christianity and
the material culture introduced to China by the Jesuits and by foreign trade
shaped the intellectual and cultural landscape of the late Ming needs further
12
study. But unquestionably, as the present study demonstrates, the introduc,
tion of Western culture contributed considerably to the formation of the aes,
thetic of qi (the strange, the rare, the marvelous) in the late Ming.
Xu Shipu's list of accomplishments is not organized in strict hierarchal or,
der: Dong Qichang's calligraphy and painting, for instance, are mentioned be,
fore the calendars of Xu Guangqi and Matteo Ricci. Many authors would
have reversed this order, because the creation and revision of calendars were
traditionally regarded as serious matters, executed by edict of the emperor act,
ing as the Son of Heaven. By listing members of the literati elite before profes,
sional artists and artisans, Xu ranked his figures along established social lines.
Yet the fact that he listed and praised the achievements of those of relatively
low social status such as Lu Zigang and Shi Dabin illustrates the contempo,
rary blurring of the distinction between literati artists and professional crafts,
men. Although many literati remained uneasy about close association between
gentry and distinguished and prosperous craftsmen and manufacturers,
increasing numbers of the elite were friendly with such men or, like Xu Shipu,
13
praised their achievements. The late Ming was a period in which interactions
between social classes had become more dynamic. In this regard, Xu's list mir,
rors the shifting boundary between high and low cultures in the late Ming.
But the idea that significant socioeconomic changes, and not merely the inde,
pendent actions of talented individuals, were the cause of this spifting bound-
ary was beyond the comprehension of Xu Shipu, even though he lived in the
presence of these changes.
In recent decades, many scholars have pointed out that the late Ming wit-
14
nessed profound social and cultural change. By the Wanli period, China had
enjoyed two centuries of peace and prosperity. As the government retreated
from economic intervention, the market economy steadily expanded, not only
into cities and towns but also into many rural areas. Along with economic
growth came the expansion of education, which enabled more citizens to read
and write. Closely associated with the educational expansion was a flourishing
print culture. As the demand for books escalated, commercial and private pub-
lishing poured out printed matter of all kinds for a diverse reading public. A
15
transition from quality to quantity occurred in printing, and information
flowed at an unprecedented speed, intensifying the interplay between the high
and low and making the boundaries between social strata increasingly fluid.
These changes were significant for the art of calligraphy. The increase in
literacy meant that there were many more people who wrote and appreciated
16
calligraphy, a visual art traditionally the preserve of the cultural elite. With
the growth in literacy and social interaction, the demand for calligraphy grew,
and calligraphy itself was influenced by the new writing and reading habits of
the public, for instance, in the selection of texts and formats that appealed to
the eclectic tastes of a new audience.
Commerce stimulated urbanization, and a distinct urban culture emerged,
vibrant, interactive, and expansionary. Cultural, social, commercial, fiscal, and
political activity in the late Ming expanded exponentially. Travel time short-
ened, literacy and communication improved, published materials multiplied,
information spread, and personal mobility increased, including commercial
traveling. According to Dorothy Ko, this new culture was "characterized by a
·blurring of traditional dualities and fluidity of boundaries-between gentry
and merchant, male and female, morality and entertainment, public and pri-
17
vate, philosophy and action, as well as fiction and reality." The art associated
with this urban culture tended to be sensual, entertaining, theatrical, and
comical. With more leisure time in urban areas came a demand for popular
entertainment: plays, vernacular fiction, verbal games, jokes. Late Ming literati
continued to write poems, but, as Xu Shipu remarks, "for the nearly fifty years
of the W anli reign, there was no excellent poetry."
Although commercialization brought regions into closer contact, it did not
diminish regional character. In some respects, it gave a new value to its preser-
vation. Refining and improving distinctive regional products, for example, be-
came a winning strategy for competing vigorously in the market, and there was
increased interest in defining regional cultural identities. Conflicting interests
and values, multilevel clashes among competing subcultures, and the confron-
tation of native and foreign lent the late Ming a dazzling complexity and con~
fusing diversity. This sociocultural landscape has been aptly described by Nel~
son Wu:
Late Ming China presents a picture of a society so heterogeneous as to make the term
relatively meaningless outside the chronological frame. The diversity of political and
intellectual movements and the wide range of individual attitudes toward life and the
court, set in a landscape rich in regional differences, produce a complex composition
18
whose divergent elements all may be called typically late Ming.
It was against this kaleidoscopic backdrop that a distinct late Ming aesthetic
emerged.
QI AND AESTHETICS
An important name is missing from Xu Shipu's list of the cultural accom~

plishments of the Wanli reign: that ofLi Zhi (r527-r6o2), an iconoclastic phi~
losopher, another student ofLuo Rufang, and a friend ofJiao Hong. Xu's
omission is understandable, because Li Zhi committed suicide in jail after be~
ing accused of various crimes and misdeeds, including deception, subversive
interpretations of history and the Classics, bathing with prostitutes during the
day, and seducing local gentlewomen during theological seminars. 19 Although
after Li's death, the circulation of his books, or those attributed to him, in~
creased among the general populace, his name was anathema to many late
Ming and early Qing Confucian scholars.
Regardless of the posthumous praise and criticism he received, there is no
question that Li Zhi had a revolutionary impact on late Ming society, an
impact larger than that of anyone else in that period's intellectual circles. I twas
Li Zhi, not his dose friend Jiao Hong, who developed the teachings ofWang
Yangming and Luo Rufang in a radically individualist direction. Li Zhi held
that man's innate nature is pure, with a childlike mind (tongxin) that perceives
the way to moral behavior with natural clarity. But this childlike mind can be
lost when moral doctrines derived by rote from instruction or books are im~
posed on it. A primary concern ofLi Zhi was sincerity: one should not deceive
oneself-one should be true to the intuitive responses of the inner self and thus
20
attain selfrealization in the Way. Li Zhi's advocacy of truth to the inner self
had a profound influence on late Ming art. It is more than a coincidence that the
names on Xu's list representing accomplishment in drama and fine art, Tang
Xianzu and Dong Qichang, were acquaintances ofLi Zhi and shared Li's intel~
21
lectual orientation.
But how does one attain true self~realizationr Is merely claiming its attain~
ment sufficient? How do others know if such a claim is authentic? Or need
they know? How can an individual be sure that he is not deceiving himself in
IO • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life
making such claims? Self~realization is no mere philosophical abstraction.
Theoretical discussions of being true to one's inner self are one thing; putting
the idea into practice, another. If true selfhood is realized automatically, why
did Li Zhi hold seminars and write books about it?
Li Zhi taught and wrote because selfhood can be obscured, as well as pur~
sued, clarified, and made manifest. Even if sudden enlightenment is achieved,
the authentic "self' of an enlightened person still needs to be manifested in
words, behavior, images, or other tangible expressions and presentations. The
pursuit of self~ realization then becomes an issue of realizing expression and
presentation. Since the childlike mind can be lost and moral doctrines may ob~
struct self~ realization, Li Zhi' s theory encouraged individuals, including artists,
to follow spontaneously wherever their intuition led so as to realize and express
their "true self."
The theory of spontaneous expression was voiced by Li Zhi' s friends and
followers in the cultural fields in which they were working. In a preface to a
collection of essays compiled by Qiu Zhaolin (zi Maobo; 1572-1629), the
dramatist Tang Xianzu commented: "I have said that excellence in writing
does not lie in following [ancient models J closely and achieving formal similar~
ity to models. [In excellent writing,] natural inspiration appears to one in a
trance; it arrives unexpectedly. It is odd and strange (guaiguai qiqi +!Hf:~~),
122
and its physical appearance cannot be described.' When Tang claimed that
good writing should not follow ancient models, he had a target in mind: the
literary revivalism initiated by Li Panlong and Wang Shizhen, who claimed
that writers must take the prose of the Qin and Han dynasties and the poetry
of the high Tang as models. Tang Xianzu rejected revivalism and advocated
spontaneous expression directed by one's own intuition. He made three points
in this short·passage. First, for the sake of one's "true self," a good work cannot
be similar to others, even to ancient masterworks. Second, such works come
forth spontaneously. Third, the result of spontaneous expression is unpredict~
able and "odd and strange.''
In another preface to Qiu Zhaolin's collection of essays, Tang went one step
further, making a concrete connection between good writing and the writer:
"The reason the best writings under heaven have vital dynamic force is entirely
because their writers are marvelous scholars (qishi ~±).When a scholar is
marvelous (qi ~),his mind becomes lively; when his mind is lively, it can fly. It
moves up and down between heaven and earth, back and forth from antiquity
to t h e present."23 T ang 1s
· conuc·dent t h at as 1ong as a wnter
. 1s. a marve1ous
scholar, his writing will naturally be good. In this, he does not go beyond tradi~
tional Confucian wisdom, which holds that art is a manifestation of its creator.
But can we reverse this argument by saying that if a piece of writing is good and
thus has the qualities odd and strange, then the writer must be a marvelous
scholar? Tang Xianzu would have been forced to accept this conclusion because
Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • n
if good writing can be produced by someone who is not a marvelous scholar, his
theory would be severely damaged, if not entirely undermined. The theory
leaves no room for rhetorical practice that may be eloquent and plausible but
not reveal the "truth." We may ask further: Is it possible for the spontaneous
expressions of someone following his intuition faithfully to be indistinguishable
from those of others? For Tang, this cannot happen. Yet even if it could, it
would not seriously damage his theory, because he could argue simply that the
person's work is unremarkable because he is not a marvelous scholar-because
the childlike mind of this person had become obscured. We can also ask
whether those who have obscured their childlike mind can express themselves
spontaneously. If they cannot, then this violates the initial premise of making a
spontaneous expression. What is more damaging to Tang's argument is that
the reasoning is circular. With such an argument, there is the potential danger
that, in the end, it is the result that proves who is a marvelous scholar. A distin~
guished literary or artistic work attests to the innate value of its creator. The
original focus on the internal state of mind shifts to an external standard, and
one can abandon the investigation of subjective internal phenomena such as the
presence of spontaneity and the childlike mind as irrelevant: the external evi~
dence of superior writing becomes proof of the existence of internal excellence.
One need probe no deeper.
Note Tang Xianzu' s repeated use of the character qi in the two prefaces
quoted above. In the first preface, he defines natural inspiration as "odd and
strange," something whose "physical appearance cannot be described." In the
second, he traces the root of excellent writing to qualities in the creator. In both
cases, the adjective Tang uses to define excellence, either in writing or the writer,
is qi. In China, prefaces were an important means of promoting a new work,
especially in the late Ming, when there was fierce competition among writers
and artists and in the marketplace for publication and sales. Tang's use of qi in
praise of Qiu's work in such an economically powerful document as a preface
demonstrates the prestige of this term in late Ming criticism. As Katharine
Burnett points out, "Seventeenth~century critics used the term qi positively to
indicate originality, and works that may be described as qi ... were acknowl~
edged by seventeenth~century critics to be the art that expressed the ideals of
24
the period, and consequently, the best art that period could produce."
An important critical concept, qi has much to do with the realization of
one's true sel£ As pointed out above, when realization of selfbecomes an issue
of expression, it faces a challenging problem: even when one is spontaneously
guided by intuition, there is no guarantee that one's works, and hence one's
sel£ will be distinguishable from those of others. Once artistic self~ realization
becomes a matter of tangible expression, judging the presence of qi in the
maker is no longer subjective; its measure becomes objective and externaL The
dilemma is that, in everyday practice, others judge whether an individual has
found his authentic self not on that individual's assertions but on an objective
expression of the sel£ such as a work of art or simply the individual's behavior,
that is, on something that relates the individual to others. Theoretically, the
judgment is subjective; artistically, it is usually based on an object that can be
evaluated on a nonsubjective, interpersonal basis. If one's artistic productions
are indistinguishable from those of others, how can one be identified as a per~
son who has attained true selfhood? One is nothing more than a follower.
The irony is that, in the end, true selfhood is realized or manifested
through a person's relation to others. It needs to be manifested in a tangible
form; otherwise, how can others know that one's selfhood is unique? Of course,
an individual can retreat to the impregnable fortress of complete s~bjectivity:
he need not care how others react so long as he feels that he is freely expressing
himsel£ But when the search for true selfhood becomes a dominant feature of
literary and artistic discourse, it leads easily to a strong interest in the visible
expression of sel£
Ideally, this expression should occur naturally. Both the actor and the audi~
ence should feel that the expression is spontaneous. An easy way to express
one's self is to act, in some way, differently from others. But this difference
must be sufficiently pronounced to be considered distinctive. Because qi must
have a distinguishable appearance (otherwise it would not be called qi), pro~
ducing something distinctive becomes a prerequisite for demonstrating that qi
is part of one's inner self. But this leads naturally to two possibilities-
authentic and inauthentic expressions of qi-and to a problem: how to distin~
guish between the two. Thus both genuine adherents ofLi Zhi's theory and
those only professing to be followers were required to manifest qi, even if the
former were genuine in treating it as a way to realize their true self and the
latter created unusual works or products only to give the appearance of pos~
sessing qi. We must leave this philosophical problem unresolved, however,
since the central concern of this study is not to label expressions of qi genuine
or mere posturing. Our concerns are instead the development of the discourse
on qi in the late Ming and its impact on the art of calligraphy.
Although widely and frequently used, the word qi was seldom, if ever,
clearly defined by its users in the late Ming. While late Ming dictionaries did
5
give brief definitions of the word/ as "a complex term with a wide semantic
26
range," the connotations of qi vary with context. Sometimes, qi stands as a
single word, either as a noun or an adjective. As a noun, it refers to strange or
unusual things and phenomena. As an adjective, it can mean rare, shocking,
dramatic, eccentric, strange, bizarre, and marvelous. It is often used in the
construction of compounds, such as qishi ~±(marvelous scholar), qiren ~A.
(eccentric person), qiqi ~~(strange thing), and qixing ~1-T (strange behav~
ior). It can also be used in compounds denoting intellectual activity: haoqi
-.kf~ (literally "love the strange"), for instance, means "curiosity.'m
Tang Xianzu used qi in the context of aesthetics, only one of the many
different contexts in which it appeared in the late Ming. Only when a variety
oflate Ming uses have been discussed can we come to a better understanding
of the word and how popular and powerful it was in literary and artistic
production and in everyday life. In the following discussion, I sometimes leave
qi untranslated, because a simple English translation diminishes its richness in
the late Ming cultural context.
Let us begin with the literati use of this term. In the preface to his Lofty and
Strange Matters from the Past (Gaoqi wangshi ~ ~1.i:J), compiled and pub~
lished in the Wanli reign, He Tang (jinshi 1547; d. after 1580 ), a scholar whose
life spanned the middle to the late Ming, explained his reasons for compiling
this work:
Living in my mountain residence with plenty ofleisure, sometimes I unfolded books
to meet the ancients [in their pages]. When I saw interesting stories, I jotted them
down on pieces of paper. After a while, they filled my bamboo box. Then I divided
these notes into the categories "Garden of the Lofty" (Gaoyuan ~?!£)and "Forest of
the Eccentric" (Qilin ~;;!:*-)·Within each category are five chapters.... The collection
28
is entitled Lofty and Strange Matters from the Past.
The five chapters in "Garden of the Lofty" are "Lofty Behavior," "Lofty Moral~
ity/' "Lofty Opinions," "Lofty Interests," and "Lofty Friendship." The five
chapters in "Forest of the Eccentric" are "Eccentric Behavior" ("Qixing" ~1t),
"Eccentric Language" ("Qiyan" ~ ~),"Eccentric Insights" ("Qishi" ~~'\),
"Eccentric Plans" ("Qiji" ~it), and "Eccentric Talents" ("Qicai" ~;;f-). Col~
leering stories about ancient eccentrics may simply have been something He
Tang did for his own amusement, as he claimed. But in the larger view, it was
part of the late Ming search for qi. The publication of these stories brought
He Tang some fame as a lofty and marvelous scholar and attests to the con~
siderable audience for entertaining tales of the eccentric.
The temporal distance between ancient times and late Ming readers en~
hanced the quality of qi in ancient stories and anecdotes. The people, customs,
and objects of antiquity, because they were no longer part of everyday experi~
ence, could acquire an aura of the strange and eccentric (qi) more easily. The
great distances separating China from foreign countries performed the same
function. Alien races, cultures, and products aroused late Ming curiosity. Even
the term "foreign" connoted the strange, unfamiliar, exotic, and novel: all these
were qualities of qi. The late Ming, as noted above, saw an upsurge in Catholic
missionary activity and foreign trade. The maps of the world introduced by
Ricci and other missionaries attracted great interest among the literati, broad~
ening the worldview of those encountering foreigners. Ricci's journal in~
29
eludes many vivid accounts of how people-from theWanli emperor to ordi~

nary villagers-were curious about the things brought by Western
missionaries. The emperor was obsessed with Western clocks, and enthusias-
tic officials asked Ricci to make world maps and even sent them as gifts to
°
their friends. 3 Curiosity remained fresh throughout the late Ming.
31
The Italian missionary Giulio Aleni's (Ai Ruliie, I582-I649) Notes on

[World] Geography (Zhifang waiji; I623) was the first book in Chinese on world
geography based on information from abroad. This six-chapter book devotes
one chapter to each continent, its geography, people, and material culture.
32
The Chinese tide, Zhifang waiji, is significant. "Zhifang" was the name of the
Zhou dynasty (ca. uth century-256 B.c.) Bureau of Operations, which was
responsible for maintaining maps of the feudatory regions and receiving trib-
ute payments from them. A literal translation of the Chinese tide Zhifang waiji
is Notes on Countries Beyond the Feudatory Regions, or Notes on Countries Not Shown
on the Maps Maintained in the Bureau of Operations. The tide thus acknowledges
the existence of countries and peoples beyond the tribute-paying regions re-
corded on ancient Chinese maps, in geographical books, and in the Classic of
Mountains and Seas (Shanhai jing).
The publication of Notes on [World] Geography stimulated tremendous in-
terest in foreign artifacts among the elite. Wang Cheng (I 57 I-I644), a Chinese
Catholic and senior official, wrote, in his preface to Best Selections from the Illus-
trated Catalogues of Strange Things from the Far West (Yuanxi qiqi tushuo luzui
Jt i£J ~ ~ ~ Wi.~Jtd'i), that in winter of the year bingyin (late I626 or early
I627), he met Niccolo Longobardi (Long Huamin, I566-I655), Johann Ter-
renz (Deng Yuhan, I576-I63o), and Johann Adam Schall von Bell (Tang
Ruowang, I592-I666) in Beijing, where the three Jesuits were helping to revise
the calendar by order of the emperor. Deeply impressed by the unheard-of
"strange people and strange things" (qiren qishi ~A...~*) recorded in Aleni's
book, Wang questioned the three Jesuits as to the truth of Aleni's book. The
Jesuits told Wang that there were many machines in the West similar to those
recorded by Aleni and showed Wang catalogues with illustrations of these
machines. At Wang's request and with his assistance, Johann T errenz com-
piled Best Selections from the Illustrated Catalogues of Strange Things from the Far
West (Fig. I.I). 33 Although science and engineering were its principal focus,
this illustrated book probably attracted a wider readership than would other-
wise have been the case, because it fed contemporary curiosity about the world
beyond the China's borders.
The tide ofTerrenz's catalogue includes the term "strange things" (qiqi ~
~).Late Ming scholars and literati used a similar term, "various strange
things" (zhuqi ~~),to describe Western artifacts imported into China. Un-
doubtedly, these uses of qi increased the word's popularity in the late Ming.
Although not present in great quantities in China, the "various strange things
7r
from overseas" (haiwai zhuqi i}g: ~ ~) became part of late Ming material
Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • IS
Fig. 1.1 Illusrrarion in
Best Selections from the
Illu strated Catalogues of
Strange Thingsfrom the
Far West. Reprinred in
Shoushange congshu se-
ries. Afrer Deng Yu-
han, Yuanxi qiqi ttHhuo
luzui, pp. 302- 3.
culture, especially for the elite, who occasionally came into contact with them
or learned of them from books.
The role played by strange things from overseas in the formation of the late
Ming aesthetic of qi cannot be ignored in discussing the art of the period. De-
scribing the fascination with qi in the city ofJinling, Shih Shou-ch'ien argues
that late Ming artists who lived and worked in coastal cities had more expo-
sure to foreign cultures, and that the pursuit of qi in their art was inspired by
this experience. For instance, the eccentric depictions of Buddhist arhats by
Wu Bin (ca. 1543-ca. 1626) in a handscroll dated 1591 now in the collection of
the Metropolitan Museum are very likely the result of his exposure to Dutch
and Portuguese merchants and other foreigners in his hometown of Quan-
zhou, a major seaport for foreign trade (Fig. 1.2). 34 Exotic elements lend Wu
Bin's works a dramatic and intriguing visual complexity. Another artist who
drew on the foreign and exotic was ChengJunfang, whose ink-sticks were re-
garded by Xu Shipu as one of the cultural achievements of the Wanli reign.
To increase reader curiosity when preparing his catalogue, which he entitled
Ink Garden of the Cheng Family (Chengshi moyuan ), he included Bible illustrations
that he had obtained from Matteo Ricci. He also threw in missionary-
invented romanizations of Chinese characters in apparent disregard of his
readers' ability to understand them.
The literati's love of strange stories and things was mirrored by a similar
fascination with the strange in popular culture. Works of vernacular fiction
published in the late Ming often incorporated the character qi in their tides-
for example, Slapping the Table in Amazement (Pai'an jingqi ~6 #- ~ ~ ), Marvel-
ous Views, Present and Past (Jingu qiguan ~-8" -ij- {it), and A Selection of Marvelous Fig. 1.2 Wu Bin
Essays of the Ming (Mingwen xuanqi a}J X.!! -ij-). Even instructional books such (ca. 1543-ca. 1626),
as the household encyclopedia entitled The Newly Published Complete Collection The Sixteen Luohans.
Dared 1591. Portion.
of qi in Ten Thousand Chapters, Compiled by Mr. Chen Jiru (Xinke Meigong Chen
Handscroll. ink and
xiansheng bianji zhushu beicai wanjuan souqi quanshu ffJT ~~J Ai -A f$. 7t 1.. ~~it
color on paper, 32 x
t" 1:ffi .fR /i, ,t.;Jt -ij-~ t" ), relied on the word qi in their tides to attract buyers. 414.3 em. Metro-
As for the contents of such books, Ling Mengchu (1580-1644) wrote in his politan Museum of
preface to Slapping the Table in Amazement that all kinds of things odd and Art, The Edward
strange (guaiguai qiqi ·tf: ·tf: -ij- -ij-) are presented in his book. The term he used Elliott Family Col-
is exactly the same as the phrase used by Tang Xianzu in his preface, quoted lection, Gift of
Douglas Dillon,
earlier, to Qiu Zhaolin's collected essays.
1986 (1986.266-4).
Besides strange stories, many late Ming household encyclopedias contained
illustrations of bizarre images in two chapters commonly entitled "Foreign Peo-
ple" ("Zhuyi men"), and "Strange Things from Mountains and Seas" ("Shanhai
yiwu lei"), with short captions attached. The material in such chapters came
from a variety of sources (Fig. 1.3). Generally, the "Foreign People" chapter pre-
sented geographical information on real countries, but it was brief and often
misleading. Japan, for instance, was described as a country that lived on piracy,
whereas Korea, a state that had closer relations with the Ming court, was de-
picted as more civilized. It also contains legendary countries recorded in The
Classic of Mountains and Seas, such as the Country Where People Never Die
(Busi guo) the Country ofThree-Headed People (Sanshou guo). Many of the
illustrations ofbizarre things were derived from The Classic of Mountains and
Seas. 35 As Richard Smith points out, "A distinctive feature of such popular and
influential Ming-Qing encyclopedias and almanacs is the way they tend to in-
6
termingle images of the 'factual' and the 'fanciful."-3 This intermingling rein-
forced both features: the factual made the fanciful look real, whereas the fanciful
made the factual more entertaining and appealing. To what degree these books
shaped late Ming perceptions of foreign countries and people is unclear. But no
matter how bizarre and inaccurate their information, these widely circulated
Fig. 1.3 lllusrrarions in Wanli quanbu wenlin renzi kan miaojin wanbao quanshu,
!are Ming ed., 4.1gb-2oa. Harvard-Yenching Library.
books piqued and satisfied people's curiosity, helping to create a cultural milieu
in which pursuing the unusual was not regarded as odd.
In sum, qi was a term that reflected diverse interests, had multiple layers of
meaning, and served various functions. It could refer to an ideal quality in a
person, to an unusual life-style, or to the eccentric behavior of a member of the
elite used as a strategy to redefine his social standing during a period in which
social relationships were fluid; it could refer to the exotic for the intellectually
curious and in popular entertainment; it was an element of a literary and
artistic discourse that bespoke a new aesthetics; and it was used as an
advertising ploy by commercial publishers.
Urban culture provided fertile soil for nurturing the aesthetic of qi. It wel-
comed and encouraged the search for qi, to the point where the pursuit of qi
was itself an integral component of urban culture in the late Ming. In cities
and market towns where commercial activities were concentrated, ever-
intensifying competition impelled merchants and artisans to produce new
products, novel fashions, and goods of a unique regional character-in short,
things that intrigued and attracted customers. Swamped with any number of
commodities, city residents tended to develop a taste for the dramatic, the sen-
sual, and the sensational. As strange things became familiar to the public, nov-
elties had to be developed to sustain their interest, and the constant search for
what was new steadily amplified the degree of the strange and exotic present in
commercial products. Works of vernacular fiction with stories of the strange
found their way into everyday life. In Jinling, the most prosperous city of the
late Ming, those who could make strange and startling images gained error;
mous . popu1anty.
. 37
Once the pursuit of qi began, it could hardly stop or be stopped. As pointed
out above, whether qi flows from one's inner self or arises from copying others,
once qi becomes a form of expression or presentation, it also becomes some;
thing social and definable by relations with others. The paradox of qi was that
qi could be imitated by others. Once duplication made the rare common, and
the unfamiliar familiar, qi was no longer qi. Qi as a standard was relative, sub;
ject to constant change. This meant that whenever a thing was no longer
viewed as possessing qi, new things or ways would be found that could create
qi. Thus fashion-the possession of qi-was unpredictable. The intense
search for qi, powered by social ambition, intellectual curiosity, commercial
greed, the desire for literary reputation, the search for artistic originality, and a
quest for novel diversion by literati and commoners alike inevitably caused
enormous competition in a variety of occupational and social arenas that led to
rapidly evolving changes in the meaning of qi.
Ernst Gombrich, in a discussion of the "logic of Vanity Fair" in art and
fashion, has commented on the nature of the "rarity game," driven by "compe;
tition and inflation": "What characterizes ... Vanity Fair is ... the fluidity of
the game of'watch me' that [is) characteristic of Open Societies, ... [where]
games of'one;upmanship' are played within a small section of people who
38
have nothing better to do than outdo each other." Gombrich could easily
find supporting evidence in late Ming China for this proposition-a society of
great openness, although we might be reluctant to call it an "Open Society."
Gu Qiyuan (rs6s-·r628), a distinguished writer in Jinling who witnessed the
rampant competition in the quest for qi beginning in the Wanli reign, wrote:
"In the last ten years or so, government laws have loosened, and since then,
people have been free to present their qi (xianqi it~). Everyone tries some;
thing new, and the styles in writing are dramatically changing. Novelty! Nov;
39
elty! It never ends; there is always more and more qi!"
The ever;changing nature of qi thwarts a stable definition of the term.
Holding that the strange "is a cultural construct created and constantly re;
newed through writing and reading'' and "a psychological effect produced
though literary or artistic means," Judith Zeitlin, in her excellent discussion of
the concept of yi (strange), a synonym of qi, poses the thoughtful question: "Is
40
the strange definable?" In the current study, the question might rather be
phrased: Was it necessary for those living in the late Ming to define qi? In fact,
late Ming users of this critical term seem unconcerned to define it and used it
rather loosely. It was precisely its vagueness that opened the term up to innu;
merable possibilities. Any innovation-commercial, intellectual, artistic-
could be labeled, advertised, and justified as qi. It was in this period, with its
taste for qi, that Dong Qichang launched an individualist movement in the
field oflate Ming calligraphy.
DONG QICHANG AND
INDIVIDUALIST CALLIGRAPHERS
No one occupied a more central position in late Ming calligraphy than Dong
41
Qichang. Born in 1555 in Songjiang, Dong Qichang obtained his jinshi degree
in 1589, the seventeenth year of the Wanli reign. Later, he became a senior offi~
cial at court. A cautious politician, Dong Qichang established friendly relation~
ships both with members of the Donglin movement and with their rivals.
While serving as a Hanlin bachelor and compiler in Beijing during the period
1589-99, Dong became a member of the creative cultural circle that included
Jiao Hong, Tang Xianzu, Yuan Hongdao (a leading literary radical) and his
two brothers, Yuan Zongdao (1560-16oo) and Yuan Zhongdao (1570-1623),
42
and more important, the notorious Li Zhi. Although deeply influenced by
this group, Dong was not as radical as the Yuan brothers and Tang Xianzu in
terms of the treatment of ancient canons. From his youth, Dong Qichang cop~
ied numerous masterpieces by ancient calligraphers. His primary models for
regular~ script calligraphy were such Tang masters as Ouyang Xun (557-641)
and Yan Zhenqing (709-85). In running and cursive calligraphy, Dong fol~
lowed the "Two W angs" tradition ofWang Xizhi and his son Wang Xianzhi
(344-88), but often he was heavily influenced by the interpretation of their style
offered by the Song calligrapher Mi Fu (ro52-no8), a master of running and
cursive calligr_aphy. For large~ scale cursive calligraphy, Dong followed the monk
Huaisu (725-85), a famous calligrapher of the Tang dynasty.
The richness and broad variety ofDong Qichang's calligraphy prevents a
comprehensive discussion of the scope of his training and achievement here. A
few points, however, are relevant to this discussion oflate Ming calligraphy.
An artist intensely conscious of the theoretical aspects of calligraphy, Dong
was able to formulate his artistic theories in a lucid and powerful manner. A
key concept in Dong's aesthetics of calligraphy was the quality of" rawness"
(sheng). 43 "Both painting and calligraphy have their own criteria: calligraphy
can be raw, but painting must be skillful. Calligraphy first must be skillful,
44
then must become raw, but painting has to be skillful and yet more skillful."
To Dong Qichang, painting, as a representational art, could embrace the
breadth and beauty of nature. A painter could seek out spectacular scenery
and, with his representational skill, incorporate it into his paintings. The late
Ming painter Wu Bin, for example, incorporated in his landscape paintings
45
marvelous scenes from the mountainous areas ofFujian. Unlike painting,
· ~ ~:~lftA'_JJA l¥i~' ~r?L~ t ['{t.; Jf '~~' l: '·t l ft:l ~ I
~1~~~~~~-~~~~~4~~~~
~ ~ ~~ h_JL?G~~·l :r~~ .~ ~~ 'f ~ ~ l
?~;,t A.
·-t ~ ~ ~ 'f M4; ~X. 'f ~ *-ll it; ~~ ~ WJ ._ ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~j~~~~~~
-<.;i ;JJ: ~~_Y.f "i{i t'f ~~ill~~ E- ~ ~ ~ iji Jl ~
k~a~t ~ ~ -~lL~~t k_~!iC_jt Jl~ il_
. ~~ ~~~ i1~ -*~ ~~ -f ~Jj; ·l: ~~~t_~ {~ ~~ ~
·~ 1! t>~ iilf f1 if£ 1'J . ~-~'-~a~~~~ •f -ip 1~J~ Ia}
however, calligraphy is nonrepresentational. Although there are stories of cal- Fig. 1.4 Zhao Meng-
ligraphers being inspired by watching natural phenomena, the copying of an- fu (1254-1322), Record
of the Miaoyan Monas-
cient masterworks has always been the foundation of calligraphic learning.
tery in Huzhou. Dared
After diligently studying ancient masterworks, a calligrapher may achieve skill.
ca. 1309-10. Portion.
But skill, refined to its ultimate, may suppress the creativity of the calligrapher. Handscroll, ink on
Dong Qichang "therefore called for an extension of the path of studying callig- paper, 34.2 x 364.5 em;
raphy to a point beyond the acquisition of skill," since "to evolve from skill to colophons, 34.2 x 206.7
46
rawness was to be free of the bonds of antiquity." em. Art Museum,
Dong Qichang also gave concrete examples of what was raw and what was Princeton University.
Bequest of John B.
not. Dong always considered Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322), the greatest calligra-
Elliott, Class of 1951.
pher of the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), his chief competitor. When comparing Photograph by Bruce
his own calligraphy with Zhao's, Dong admitted that he was not as skillful as M. White. 1998-53.
Zhao, but he claimed that his calligraphy was "rawer"-less polished-than
Zhao's and hence superior:
My calligraphy seems to continue in a direct line from Zhao W enmin [Zhao
Mengfu], except that mine is a little less polished, and Zi'ang's [Zhao Mengfu] skill-
fulness is not as good as my gracefulness. But I cannot write in large quantity. In this
47
respect, I admit I cannot rival Wuxing [Zhao Mengfu].
Zhao's calligraphy appeals to the popular eye because of its technical beauty; my
calligraphy exhibits an elegant atmosphere on account of its rawness. Zhao's
calligraphy was always written self-consciously; mine often in a spontaneous manner.
48
Ifi wrote with concentration, Zhao's calligraphy would not be better than mine.
A comparison of Zhao's calligraphy with Dong Qichang's will illuminate

what "skillfulness" and "rawness" mean in Dong's argument. In Zhao's Record
of the Miaoyan Monastery in Huzhou (Huzhou Miaoyansi ji), the strokes are well
organized and polished, the edges of each stroke are even and neat, and the
structures of the characters are carefully balanced (Fig. 1.4). Everything
-tl ~ 1•Ji ,}J -/~
~ I~ jl: ~ Jf.
a~
~ ¥1 ~J:. ~
... !}
~-
~· $. $.i] 4i ~
..,...-
~
- .~ ,,~
'~ ~
.
~
~t if -/if t .~t ·J?_
~ li 1if t!1 ·J1'

~ ~
-*a ft.. ~~ ft ~ {o~
h:_ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Fig. 1.5 Dong Qichang (1555-1636), Copy of an Imperial Patent. Regular script. Dated 1636. Por·
cion. Album of sixteen leaves, ink on paper, each 29.9 x 30.8 em. Shanghai Museum.
seems under the control of an extraordinarily skillful calligrapher. Zhao's solid

training and cultivated manner are obvious, but little artistic imagination is
involved. Zhao faithfully followed certain rules of brush method, and he
seems never to have attempted to violate these rules. Dong's calligraphy, by
contrast, though skillful, has something of the "raw." Strokes in his regular-
script calligraphy sometimes lack polish; for instance, traces of a dry and split
brush are often visible. Even in some well-executed works of regular calligra-
phy, imperfections can be found. In his rendering of a Copy of an Imperial Patent
(Fig. r.s), dated 1636, Dong wrote in a carefully formal style, reflecting the seri-
ous purpose of this document. As in Zhao Mengfu's Record of the Miaoyan
Monastery, medium-sized characters in regular script are formally placed in a
carefully drawn grid. But in Dong's work something always makes viewers
aware of rawness. For instance, the character bi ]f tilts to the left, and a split
brush tip leaves unpolished strokes in the character zhen Ja (Fig. r.6).
Unexpected results often occur in Dong's large cursive calligraphy as are-
sult of its spontaneous execution. A handscroll in running and cursive script
written by Dong Qichang in 1603 epitomizes his spontaneous manner. The
most intriguing part of the scroll is Dong's inscription in large cursive script
(Fig. 1.7). It reads:
In the third month of the guimao year [April II- May 10, 1603], I was in Suzhou at
the Cloud Shadow Mountain Studio. Outside my window it was raining, and I
had nothing to do. My friends Fan Erfu, Wang Boming, and Zhao Mansheng
dropped by to visit. We sampled some Tiger Hill tea and ground [some fresh]
Korean ink. Then I tried out a new brush, writing with abandon and all quite at Fig. 1.6 Dong Qi-
49
random. chang ( ISSS-1636),
Characters hi fl and
The character structures in the first two lines are relatively poised. With the
zhen $&. in Copy of an
third line, something dramatic happens. The scroll climaxes again and again in Imperial Patent (see
large characters, each occupying the whole or almost the whole of a single line. Fig. 1.5).
The strokes are thin, the brush moves vividly and naturally, and stroke tonal-
ity changes subtly with speed and the decreasing amount of ink in the brush. 5°
Dong's brush was running out of ink as he began to write the character cha ~~
"tea," in column thirteen, and since he continued without hesitation, the
strokes become thinner and drier. The lower part of this character consists
ordinarily of a horizontal stroke and a vertical stroke with a dot on either side.
Here, the vertical stroke is written diagonally. The brush pauses to make a dot
on the left side of the diagonal and then moves swiftly to the right side of the
diagonal and pauses again to make the second dot. This dot is heavy and more
noticeable, and its weight unexpectedly balances a structure otherwise lacking
equilibrium. The raw quality in this work was achieved by "writing with aban-
don and quite at random."
Dong Qichang claimed, as we have seen, that if he wrote with concentra-
tion, even Zhao Mengfu could not compete with him. But Dong thought that
writing without concentration brought out the rawness of spontaneous execu-
tion. For him, the two were mutually exclusive: one could not write with both
concentration and spontaneity. Dong Qichang's advocacy of rawness and
spontaneity in calligraphy was probably associated with Li Zhi's idea of the
"childlike mind." It was a widely accepted philosophical and aesthetic view that,
in their original state, things are raw but authentic. The innocent and unpol-
luted state of an artist's inner world was genuinely revealed or preserved
through the quality of rawness in his art. In this sense, Dong Qichang' s calli-
graphic theory and practice reflected a contemporary intellectual trend.
-- ...
' .
Intricately associated with his promotion of the "rawness" was the quality of
qi in calligraphy:
Having studied the art of calligraphy for thirty years, ... I now realize that what
seems unorthodox and dangerous practice is actually the direct, sound, and classical
path to excellence. It is no use to tell this to the uninitiated.... The ancient masters
never took a prosaic and static affroach, because they used the surprising and the
dynamic to achieve equilibrium.
The key concept in this statement is qi, variously translated here by Nelson
Wu as "unorthodox and dangerous practice" and "the surprising and the dy~
namic." As Wai~kam Ho observes, the concept of qi "was the new Ming crite~
rion for naturalness, replacing the old literati concept of ya (refinement and
52
elegance) as zheng (orthodoxy )." As demonstrated above, the concept of qi in
art theory was in the ascendant in the late Ming, with eager literati searching
for their true selves. Dong Qichang was their spokesman in the field of callig~
raphy.
Despite Dong Qichang' s advocacy of the raw and surprising in calligraphy
and his belief that unorthodox practices could lead directly to excellence, his
calligraphy, in the larger historical framework, remains within the model~ book
tradition. Not only are his models drawn from this tradition, but his calligra~
phy is generally graceful and refined. The characters in his running calligraphy,
for example, are widely spaced (Fig. r.S), following Yang Ningshi (873-954) of
the Five Dynasties. These voids create a relaxed, easy atmosphere. In addition,
fluid brush movements make his work refined and elegant. Formed by the
firm traditions of the model~ book school, Dong Qichang's calligraphy was
neither strongly raw nor dramatically surprising, even though at times it ex~
hibits tendencies toward these qualities, as demonstrated above. Thus Dong
Qichang, although his calligraphy had qualities that pointed to the radical cal~
ligraphic transformations just ahead, can still be viewed as the last great master
of the model~ book school. 53
It is nonetheless clear that Dong Qichang sensed that a transformation in
calligraphy was under way when he wrote that "in my hands, there is definitely
a 'change.' "54 His idea that one should search for one's true self in calligraphy
and his advocacy of rawness and the surprising inspired the individualist
calligraphers of the late Ming. The search for one's true self opened up infinite
possibilities of unpredictable innovation in the art of calligraphy. For once,
calligraphers were prepared to go to extremes. In many ways, Dong Qichang
was the theorist and prophet of a seventeenth~century change in calligraphy,
(facing page) Fig. 1.7 Dong Qichang (1555-1636), Calligraphy in Running and Cursive Scripts.
Dated 1603. Portion. Handscroll, ink on paper, 31.1 x 631.3 em. Tokyo National Museum,
TB 1397.
Fig. 1.8 Dong Qichang
( 1555-1636), Poems
Written ir1 Runnir1g·
Cursive Script. Dared
1631. Album of nine
leaves, each 25. 1 x 12
em. Palace Museum,
Taipei.
although he was unable to see in what directions that change might lead. The
significance of Dong Qichang is that, rather than expounding techniques of
execution, he provided late Ming calligraphers with a new way of thinking
about calligraphy. This way of thinking allowed other calligraphers to tran-
scend the limits of traditional form in ways that Dong himself could not.
Dong Qichang remained a dominant figure in late Ming calligraphy, but
toward the dynasty's end, in the Tianqi reign, calligraphers developed a new
artistic individualism. Zhang Ruitu (1570-1641), a senior government official
from Jinjiang, Fujian, was probably the first whose calligraphic style contrasted
55
sharply with Dong Qichang's. In a calligraphy handscroll that Zhang exe-
cuted in 1625, now in the collection of the Ho Ch'uang-shih Calligraphy
Foundation, the brush is sometimes firmly pressed against the cloth, some-
times lifted with great rapidity (Fig. 1.9). The strokes are swift and rough, with
sudden, powerful pauses, leaving dry brush traces on the untreated satin.
Horizontal strokes that turn downward at their right to become vertical
strokes make abrupt and angular turns, giving an impression of toughness.
Dong Qichang left wide vertical spacing between characters to capture a
sense of the void. In contrast, Zhang Ruitu left wide horizontal spaces be-
tween his lines but vertically compressed the characters of each line. His char-
acters often seem knotted together, especially in his cursive script; this unique
spatial arrangement stresses powerful linear motion. The traditional method
of writing characters one by one from top to bottom, led to a natural tendency
in running script toward downward movement. But since Zhang had ab-
sorbed the elements of draft-cursive calligraphy (zhangcao ), horizontal strokes
that turn into vertical strokes at their right tend to slant upward in their hori-
zontal passage; only then do they suddenly move downward to become vertical.
The upward drift of his horizontal strokes leads to acute angles in the upper
right corners of his characters, a spiky, angular treatment that diminishes the
fluency of running script, creating tension among the strokes. Zhang Ruitu's
sharp brush movements and dynamic linear motion create a restless and un-
easy feeling that contrasts with the sense ofleisure and ease in the works of
Dong Qichang.
v""
~ A~: ww~
~l ~
~
-&...)
~
~)
"'7
1!
t '
*
! iPJ
''-~. ;
'~
• 't
.....
Fig. 1.9 Zhang Ruiru
(1570-1641), Transcrip-
~
~t
I
~ ~1.- 1 tt!
~
tion of Meng Haoran's
(689-ca. 740) Poems in
Cursive Script. Dated
~
1625. Portion. Hand-
1t ~ t~
scroll, ink on satin, 26
~~~
x 520 em. Ho Ch'uang-
14- shih Calligraphy
~
.....
Foundation, Taipei.
Scholars studying the history of calligraphy often trace stylistic sources
when analyzing a work of art. Zhang Ruitu's distinctive calligraphy forces us
to rethink the validity of this conventional approach. The eccentricity of
Zhang's calligraphy may derive from an unusual writing habit he acquired
when mastering the basic techniques of calligraphy. Rather than copying the
ancients intensively, he developed personal mannerisms that gradually evolved
into an idiosyncratic style reflecting his "true sel£"
Zhang Ruitu was demoted from court in the late 162os for his association
with the clique of the once~powerful eunuch Wei Zhongxian. Meanwhile,
three other creative calligraphers and court officials, Huang Daozhou (1585-
1646), Wang Duo (1593-1652), and Ni Yuanlu (1594-1644), came to promi~
56
nence in the Chongzhen reign. Their talents in calligraphy, together with their
political influence, made them leading figures in the new generation of indi~
vidualist calligraphers. Like Zhang Ruitu, they were deeply involved in con~
temporary politics, but unlike him, all belonged to the Donglin tradition of
reform.
Huang Daozhou was a native ofZhangpu, Fujian, not far from Zhang
57
Ruitu's hometown. His calligraphy resembles Zhang Ruitu's in the narrow
spacing between characters and the wide spacing between columns. But com~
pared with Zhang Ruitu's, Huang's strokes are rounder and more graceful
(Fig. 1.10 ). Overall, however, his strokes seem tangled and entwined. Further~
more, the upper right~ hand corners of Huang's characters, like Zhang Ruitu's,
are often unusual. Take, for instance, the ninth character in column two, luo
it- (fall), which is written in cursive script (see Fig. 1.n). Beneath the two dots
at the top, Huang executes a horizontal stroke whose right end turns into a
downward stroke in an entirely unconventional way. He moves the brush up
and back to the left, so that the brush crosses the horizontal stroke as it turns
to move downward. This characteristic, together with the features mentioned
above, creates an unexpected visual complexity, which can be viewed as a
manifestation of qi, the surprising or extraordinary.
Wang Duo, from Mengjin in Henan, was a young friend and colleague of
58
Dong Qichang. Much more radical than his predecessor, Wang Duo pushed
many calligraphic trends initiated by Dong Qichang to extremes. The most
expressive oflate Ming individualist calligraphers, Wang favored extraordinar~
ily spontaneous and dynamic running and cursive scripts that cover his paper
with heavy black characters executed with violent abandon. His taste for spon~
taneous expression is demonstrated in a poem entitled "Ode to Cursive~Script
Calligraphy" ("Caoshu song''):
The origin of cursive script
Is truly in seal script.
Derived from the footprints of birds and images of eared grain, 59
It appears suitable:
(left) Fig. 1.10 Huang Daozhou
(I585-I646), Reply to Sun Boguan's
Poem. Undated. Hanging scroll,
ink on satin, 192.6 x 52.7 em.
Collection of Chokaido Bunko,
Yokkaichi, Japan.
(above) Fig. I .II Character luo it
in Reply to Sun Boguan's Poem (see
Fig. I.IO ).
Simple, peaceful, yet flying, hovering;

As it pivots, myriad images flow.
Hold firm on the brush, meditate deeply;
With extreme concentration cut swift with the brush.
The left side should avoid the sparse,
The right, not be humble;
Center dense,
Rapidly, strokes stretch out,
Sometimes mixed with the cutting strokes of clerical script
That circulate vitality,
It suddenly starts with energy full-
No hesitation.
Lifting leads to mighty peaks,
Descending holds the dragon pearl,
Stretching is a phoenix, turning sudden,
Movement is frightened snakes,
Appearing abnormal, yet normal still,
Seeming to capsize, yet safe after all.
Running about, it stops for a moment,
And yet its running force cannot be halted;
The lion, angry, roars:
Rising, falling, there is a rhythm in it.
Density and spaciousness perfectly distributed
Spread like an army's deployment;
It appears, disappears, moves with great ease;
Stopping suddenly, it stands, a steep clif£
Continuously it moves at random:
How admirable is controlled irregularity.
Neither bewitched nor obsessed,
Always walking the top of a ruined wall, or confronting great danger.
Metamorphosis effaces clues to its source;
Its excellence lies in the unpredictable.
Gathering vigor, returned to the perfection of peace,
It is the "One" that governs all.
Learn from Zhang Zhi, Wang Xizhi and Xianzhi,
Chop off unworthy branches.
Investigate deeply into antiquity,
Following the masters, establish foundations.
Bones and veins hold the spirit:
Do not pursue surface beauty
And you will reach the heavenly secret.
The ultimate method: forget the method,
Never drop sweat in pleasing others.
Hurried, what time would you have
To taste the subtlety of cursive calligraphy?
Do not say its change is magical;
60
An outlet for anger, it vents deep sorrow.
It is gathering fog and twinkling stars,
61
Breast of earth, eyebrows of heaven.
Esteem it in meditation as a spiritual communion
That can only be told by its inherent traits:
Great is the Way within this art
Nurturing substance, not illusion.
Enjoying it till old age,
One can achieve the pine's longevity.
Those knowing it and skillful,
Intelligent, talented, can reach the marvelous.
This ode describes the cursive script,
62
Its secret truly difficult to apprehend.
At 63lines and four characters per line, 63 or 252 characters, Wang Duo's
ode is without question the greatest celebration of cursive-script calligraphy
since the Tang dynasty. Written as an ode, a formal type of poem used most
often on ritualistic occasions, Wang's composition exalts and dignifies cursive-
script calligraphy. From its execution to its dynamic appearance, from the ori-
gins of Chinese writing to the great masters, from natural phenomena to
heaven and earth, Wang treats cursive calligraphy not only as art but as micro-
cosm. "Metamorphosis effaces clues to its sources; I its excellence lies in the
unpredictable," two lines that remind us of Tang Xianzu's characterization of
good literary composition: "It is odd and strange, and its physical appearance
cannot be described." Wang Duo's ode testifies to the fact that cursive-script
calligraphy, an art closely linked with spontaneity of expression, became the
most valued and desirable script among calligraphers toward the end of the
Min g. Wang's ode, a string of allusions and metaphors, obscures more than it
clarifies the nature of cursive calligraphy. Some of his critical comments on
literary composition, however, illuminate those on cursive script. He may have
had cursive calligraphy in mind when he wrote:
(In its composition,] an essay must be precipitous, dexterous, and strewn at random,
scattered here and there. Some sentences are not neat or tidy: their excellence is that
of a snake in the ~rass, of lines of smeared ashes, of pieces of snapped lotus root still
6
joined by fibers.
Writing an. essay should be like blowing something into the air with a single breath: it
should look as if it were flying and dancing, like a brush that cannot stop. Why:> Be-
. has dynam1c
cause 1t . rorce.
c 65
The "dynamic force" stressed by Wang Duo is manifested in his own run-
ning and cursive scripts. There is hardly a single vertical axis in any column
that does not shift or lean left or right. In a hanging scroll of running script
written in 1639, the axes of characters and columns tilt frequently (Fig. 1.12).
This spatial arrangement is compatible with Wang's idea, quoted above, that a Fig. 1.12 Wang Duo (1593-
composition should appear as if"strewn at random, scattered here and there." 1652), Memory of Traveling on
Wang Duo was not the first calligrapher whose running and cursive calligra- Mount Zhongtiao. Dared
1639. Hanging scroll, 252 x
phy reveals constant shifts and tilts of character axes to left and right, as well
55 em. Collection unknown.
as flexible vertical spacing between characters. Precedents can be found in
After Liu Zhengcheng and
Huang Tingjian's (1045-1105) running and cursive calligraphy, as Shen C. Y. Gao Wenlong, Zhongguo
66
Fu notes. But in HuangTingjian's calligraphy-for instance, in his cursive shufa quanji, vo!. 61, p. 148,
handscroll Biographies oJLian Po and Lin Xiangru (Lian Po yu Lin Xiangru pl. JO.
~)
-
~
Fig. 1.13 Huang zhuan)-the brush movement tends to be even and smooth, and the strokes
Tingjian (1045- flow naturally and freely (Fig. 1.13). In Wang Duo's calligraphy, however, the
1105), Biographies of tilting of lines and characters is pushed to an extreme. In a careful structural
Lian Po and Lir1
analysis of cursive inscriptions from the Eastern Jin to the Qing, Qiu Zhen-
Xiangru. Ca. 1095.
Portion. Hand-
zhong provides convincing evidence that in the history of Chinese calligraphy,
scroll, ink on paper, Wang Duo's cursive characters deviate from the central axis of each column
67
32.5 x 1822.4 em. more dramatically than anyone else's. His metamorphosing shapes lend his
Metropolitan Mu- calligraphy enormous freedom and spontaneity.
seum of Art, Be- Equally, Wang Duo's brush works are full of vibrant, uncurbed force. In
quest of John M.
the handscroll Poems Dedicated to Guo Yizhang (Fig. 1.14), now in the collection
Crawford Jr., 1988
of H. Christopher Luce, the brush moves hastily, but, at points, Wang Duo
(1989·363-4)
presses the brush down heavily. At stroke beginnings, at corners where strokes
change direction, and at points where straight strokes make slight changes in
direction to increase visual excitement, Wang applies additional pressure, the
result being a style full of angular turns and heavy emphasis. For example, the
brush pauses and adds emphases several rimes in the course of the last down-
ward-sweeping stroke of the character sheng ~ (sound), which dominates col-
umn four. As in many ofWang Duo's works, brush movement is speedy, but
a saturated brush often creates thick, heavy emphases, causing tension be-
tween his seemingly unrestrained brush movement and his frequent heavy
pauses. Contradictions like this are a compelling feature ofWang Duo's callig-
raphy. Viewing his work, we sense, on the one hand, the freedom the artist
enjoyed and, on the other, a restlessness, a struggle against invisible burdens.
Contradiction is manifest even in the structure ofWang Duo's cursive
characters. By nature, cursive script is shorthand: in most cases, character
structure is simplified to speed up writing. In Dong Qichang's cursive hand-
scroll of 1603 (see Fig. 1.7, p. 24), for example, the characters are highly simpli-
fied in comparison with the normal structures of regular script. But in
Fig. 1.14 Wang
Duo (1593-1652),
Poems Dedicated to
Guo Yizhang.
Dared 1650. Por-
tion. Handscroll,
ink on satin, 32.1 x
469.6 em. Collec-
tion of H. Chris-
topher Luce.
Wang Duo's handscroll for Guo Yizhang, the structure of the character sheng
1t is not only different from the normal structure of this character in cursive
script but is also more complicated. Character structures that are more rather
than less complicated are a common feature ofWang Duo's works in cursive
or running script. By choosing for his calligraphy character forms that were
ancient and unusual-character variants such as wei ~);] (say) in a scroll for
Zhang Baoyi, which is more complicated than the normal running or standard
form (Fig. 1.15)- Wang Duo was able to impart new visual complexity to his
works.
The artistic situation of late Ming calligraphy was similar to that of the late
Northern Song, when the three great calligraphers SuShi (1037-IIOI), Huang
Tingjian, and Mi Fu created their innovative and distinctive styles: one senses,
in the works of each of these calligraphers, the individual spirit of the North-
ern Song literatus. But the comparison cannot be carried too far because in the
late Ming, Zhang Ruitu, Huang Daozhou, Wang Duo, and Ni Yuanlu were
stylistically so different from one another. This diversity of style is the reason
for calling them "individualist calligraphers."
Of course, we can find similarities among them. If we contrast their work
and that of Dong Qichang, the correspondences among them become more
apparent. Dong Qichang leaves more spacing between his characters than do
these calligraphers, who favored tall hanging scrolls with tight vertical spacing
and characters that sometimes seem locked together, giving an impression of
restless, ceaseless motion. Dong Qichang' s calligraphy is notable for its grace
and fluency, both attributes of the model-book school, whereas works by the
ri\
Fig. I.l5 Wang individualist calligraphers are strongly characterized by tension, roughness,
Duo (1593-1652), even awkwardness.
Cursive Calligra- But this does not mean that the younger generation was not indebted to
phy for Zhang Dong Qichang. Dong's innovations in practice and theory were their inspira-
Baoyi. Dated tion,68 and from that starting point the later artists went on to breach the aes-
1642. Hand-
thetic framework of the model-book school. The unconventionality of the in-
scroll, ink on
satin, 26 x 469 dividualists broadened the visual experience of their era and prepared the
em. Tokyo Na- ground for even more radical change.
tional Museum.
ANCIENT CANONS IN QUESTION
A key contribution of Dong Qichang to late Ming calligraphy was his trans-
formation of"free copying" (lin) from a method of calligraphic instruction into
69
a creative technique. For centuries, copying the ancient masters had been an
essential element of calligraphic learning and transmission of the calligraphic
tradition. As Lothar Ledderose notes:
By its very nature calligraphy entails copying. Every writer has to follow a "prescribed"
form. In this regard the situation of a calligrapher is quite different from that of a
painter, who represents objects of an outside world. Of course, a painter is condi-
tioned in what he sees and paints by the pictorial tradition of which he himself is a
member, and in that sense he copies earlier artists. Bur the phenomena of the outside
world provide him with a constant check against rhe pictorial tradition and with
stimulation for new artistic explorations. A calligrapher, by contrast, has to operate
within a closed system of forms. He has nothing to compare his creations with except
0
rhe works of former artists?
The various types and techniques of copying can be divided into two broad
categories: exact copying (mo) and free copying (lin). In free copying, "the
range of faithfulness to the original is considerable. On the one end of the
spectrum are the works in which the copyist still tries to follow the model
closely. On the other end are free creations 'in the spirit o£' that share no more
with the model than a vaguely defined aesthetic mood.'m Although there was
always room for "free creation" in copying ancient masterpieces, before the
seventeenth century convention prevented calligraphers from deviating far
from their models.
But the late Ming saw a turning point in the history of calligraphic copying,
as the practice of copying ancient masterpieces assumed a new dimension. No
longer was copying regarded primarily as a means oflearning and transmitting
a great tradition; rather, it became a vehicle of creation, or more precisely,
invention. Chu Hui~liang, in an essay on Dong Qichang's practice of copying
ancient works, points out that an important shift in Dong's time in attitudes
toward the copying of ancient masterpieces. Chu notes perceptively that Dong
Qichang often gave his freehand copies of ancient calligraphic models to
friends as gifts. To Dong Qichang, these pieces were stylistically as original as
works in his own personal style. Unlike earlier calligraphers, who regarded
copying mainly as a method of calligraphic learning, Dong Qichang held that
capturing the inner spirit of the model rather than mastering its formal ap~
pearance was the purpose of freehand copying. But he went further, insisting
that grasping the inner spirit rather than reproducing the outer appearance of
a model was not only the secret to attaining true understanding of a model but
also the key to finding one's true self. These ideas led to increasingly subjective
and expressive interpretations of ancient models, and Dong, in copying an~
dent wor~s, paid less attention than others to how closely his copies resem~
72
bled their models. He even stated that creative calligraphers should keep
their distance from the masters from whom they have learned. In a colophon
commenting on the Tang calligrapher Liu Gongquan (778-865), Dong wrote:
"Liu Gongquan in his calligraphy did his best to transform the method of
Wang Xizhi because he did not want his calligraphy to resemble the style of
the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering. It has been said that the divine and
marvelous can be transformed into the rotten and decayed; hence Liu departed
from W ang.'m To Dong Qichang, even the masterworks of the sage calligra~
pher Wang Xizhi could be transformed for the worse if they were uncritically
and repeatedly copied. For this reason, Dong advocated "departing from" (li)
the model as a creative way to treat works by ancient masters. Take, for exam~
ple, Dong's copy of a rubbing of a calligraphy in running script by the great
Tang calligrapher Yan Zhenqing (Fig. r.r6), his Letter on the Controversy over
Seating Protocol (Zhengzuowei tie). The calligraphy in the rubbing features plain,
round, solid, evenly pressed strokes (Fig. 1.17), but the concave vertical strokes
Fig. I.I6 Dong Qichang (1555-1636), Copy of Yan Zhenqing's "Letter on the Controversy over Seating
Protocol." Dared 1632. Album of thirty-four leaves, ink on paper, each 32 x 29.7 em. National Palace
Museum, Taipei.
Fig. 1.17 Yan Zhenqing (709-85), Letter on the Controversy over Seating Protocol. Dared 764.
Rubbing mounted as an album, ink on paper, measurements unavailable. Palace Museum,
Beijing. After Yang Renkai, Zhongguo meishu quanji, vol. 3, p. 146, pl. 65.
in Dong's copy are characteristic of the more lively ti'an (press~and~lift)
method he learned from the Song dynasty calligrapher Mi Fu. Moreover, in
contrast to the tight, active spacing between the characters ofYan's work,
Dong Qichang's spacious arrangement exudes a casual flavor that reminds us
of the calligraphy ofYang Ningshi. This comparison demonstrates that Dong
paid little attention to the physical appearance, or even the "spirit," of the
works he cop1edll74
II •
.
Full of insight as Chu's essay is, a critical dimension of Dong's free copying
remains unexplored in her study: the inventive nature of some of Dong's so~
called copied works. Dong's copy of the Tang calligrapher Zhang Xu's (ca.
700-750) Record of the Langguan Stone Pillar (Langguan shizhu ji), a handscroll
now in the collection of the Art Institute of Detroit (Fig. 1.18), marks a new
trend in late Ming copying. Zhang Xu's stele inscription, which survives as a
rubbing of the original engraving, has long been regarded by calligraphy critics
as one of the most celebrated Tang masterpieces in regular script (Fig. 1.19 ).
Although Zhang Xu was known for his "wild cursive" calligraphy, this work
demonstrates his mastery of the techniques of regular script: every stroke is
meticulously executed and character structures are strictly balanced. Solemn,
dignified, orderly, it is a work appropriate to a serious official occasion. But
Dong Qjchang's copy is radically different. It is written in large cursive script,
and its spontaneous rendition approximates the manner of the Tang cursive
master Huaisu. The styles of these two works have nothing in common. Even
more troubling, in light of the traditional view of the process of"free copying,"
is Dong's inscription at the end of the handscrolL It reads: "Zhang Changshi's
[Zhang Xu] Record of the Langguan Stone Pillar and Huaisu's Autobiography are
described by Lugong [Yan Zhenqing] as follows: 'The method of regular
script [in these works] is precise and thorough; it is truly a standard in regular
75
writing.' There is also a cursive work. I have copied both. Dong Qichang."
Dong Qichang's inscription presents a problem. Although Dong claims to
have copied (lin) Zhang Xu's work, he does not even use the same script; as we
have seen, the text of Zhang's original is written in regular script, but Dong
copied it in cursive. Moreover, a careful comparison of the two texts reveals
that a few words are missing in Dong's version. Because of these problems,
some scholars believe that the handscroll is a forgery, although they admit that
it is in the manner of Dong's cursive writing and that the calligraphy itself is of
very h1g. h qu al'1ty.76
Celia Carrington Riely, however, an expert on Dong Qichang who has
thoroughly and meticulously studied Dong's seals for many years, has pointed
out that the two seals on the handscroll are genuine. Furthermore, Riely's
careful study of Dong Qichang's works with these seals suggests that the De~
77
troit handscroll dates to around 1608-9. IfRiely's observation is reliable, as I
believe it is, how is it possible that a forgery bears genuine seals? Was this
~~.\ n~r
. ~ rOf j';
~ fj
- r,
Fig. 1.18 Dong Qichang (1555-1636), Freehand Copy of Zhang Xu's "Record of the Langguan Stone
Pillar" (first (to right] and last (to left] sections). Dared ca. 1622. Handscroll, ink on sarin, 26.7 x
328.3 em. Founders Society Purchase, Henry Ford II Fund. Photograph © 1980 Detroit In-
stitute of Art.
Fig. 1.19 Zhang Xu (ca. 700-

750 ),Record of the Langguan
Stone Pillar. Dared 741. Rub-
bing mounted as an album,
ink on paper, measurements
unavailable. Shanghai Mu-
seum. After Yang Renkai,
Zhongguo meishu quanji, vo!. 3,
p. 120, pl. 53·
work written by someone who had access to Dong Qichang's seals and used
them to authenticate a forgery? If it is a forgery, why was the forger so igno-
rant or so foolish as to copy a regular-script model in cursive script, given that
Dong was a superb calligrapher and that Zhang Xu's work was well known to
any student of ancient Chinese calligraphy? But if the Detroit handscroll is not
a forgery, why did Dong use the term lin ("free copy," yet, nevertheless a copy)
in his inscription, especially since there was no precedent in the history of
Chinese calligraphy for using the term so loosely before Dong's time?
These seemingly insolvable riddles can be resolved if we allow the premise
that Dong Qichang's use of lin was broader and more flexible than its use both
before and after the seventeenth century. Thus, Dong might freely have copied
works without adhering strictly to their stylistic features. If so, why not go one
step further: use a script different from the model to write out the model's text,
yet continue to call the result a linhen, or "free-copy"? This hypothesis is sup-
ported by other works of Dong Qichang. There are several examples of
Dong's copying models in script types different from those of the original
works, although he may not necessarily used the term "lin" in these copies. For
instance, Dong used running-regular script to transcribe Yan Zhenqing' s Me-
morial Ode on the Resurgence of the Great Tang (Da Tang zhongxing song), a mas-
. 78
. regular scnpt.
terwor k m
Inventive as they were, Dong Qichang's copies of ancient works did not
dramatically alter the original texts. But the late Ming concept of free copying
was further expanded by Wang Duo. During his lifetime, Wang Duo copied
numerous ancient masterpieces, especially the works reproduced in the Callig-
raphy Model-Book from the Chunhua Archives (Chunhuage tie), a calligraphy
79
model-book dating from the Northern Song dynasty. The closeness of some
ofWang's copies shows that he still used copying for its conventional purpose,
80
as method oflearning. Others of his copies, however, especially some in the
form of huge hanging scrolls, are startlingly inventive.
One example is a hanging scroll Wang Duo made for a friend in 1643 that
mingles works by Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi (Fig. 1.20 ). The first thir-
teen characters of this cursive scroll are an excerpt from Xianzhi's Baonu tie in
81
juan eleven of the Calligraphy Model-Book from the Chunhua Archives (Fig. 1.21);
the next twenty-six characters are copied from Xizhi's Wuwei hianhian tie in
juan eight of the same model-book (Fig. 1.22); and the last ten characters are
Fig. 1.20 Wang Duo (1593- taken from another letter by Xizhi in the same juan entitled]iayue tie (Fig. 1.23).
Copy of Wang Xizhi's
1652), This mixture of sources makes the scroll not just awkward to read but nearly
and Wang Xianzhi's Letters. incomprehensible, although the individual characters are decipherable. Wang
Dared 1643. Hanging scroll,
Duo, however, added the character lin, "copying," after dating this work. This
ink on silk, measurements
unavailable. Collection un-
kind of"copying" in effect created new texts. Rather cynically, perhaps, Wang
known. Photo courtesy ofQi Duo inverted the natural order, proceeding from son Xianzhi to the father
Xiaochun. Xizhi, and then, at the end, he signed only Wang Xizhi's name. Thus the
(above left) Fig. 1.21 Wang Xianzhi (344-388),
Baonu tie. Undated. Rubbing mounted as anal-
bum, ink on paper, measurements unavailable.
After Chunhuage tie, pp. 465-66.
(above right) Fig. 1.22 Wang Xizhi (ca. 303-
ca. 361), Wu wei bianbian tie. Undated. Rubbing
mounted as an album, ink on paper, measure-
ments unavailable. After Chunhuage tie, p. ~65.
(to right) Fig. 1.23 Wang Xizhi,Jiayue tie.
Undated. Rubbing mounted as an album, ink
on paper, measurements unavailable. After
Chunhuage tie, p. 376.
signature is only half accurate, since it fails to identify who authored the vari-
ous parts.
The format and stylistic features of Wang Duo's calligraphy here differ
dramatically from the models he was following. The works that Wang Duo
was copying in his scroll of 1643 were short letters engraved in a model-book.
Wang Duo enlarged the letters out of all proportion to their original size. As
Dora Ching points out in a discussion of a similar work by Wang Duo, 'This
magnification was strange and daring at the time; Wang Duo was one of the
first to transform an intimate letter into a massive hanging scroll, a format still
relatively new in the Ming dynasty but later increasingly popular and wide-
n82
spread .
Wang Duo's three models are themselves stylistically different. Wang
Xianzhi's Baonu tie is written in running script, with a brush movement that is
swift and vivid. Wang Xizhi' s Wuwei bianbian tie is written in a less cursive
script, with most characters separate, unconnected by ligatures; gentle and
elegant, it is more controlled than the Baonu tie. In contrast, Xizhi' s Jiayue tie, is
fast and tightly disciplined, yet graceful.
But Wang Duo's calligraphy resembles none of these. In Wang's scroll,
often the last stroke of a character flows continuously into the first stroke of
the next, knotting the characters together in a string. An ever-changing line
bends, turns, penetrates, circles, vibrates like a dancer spinning to rapid drum-
beats as Wang molds his three sources into an organic whole. Judging from his
speed and the continuous linking of his characters, it is unlikely that Wang
turned the model-book pages while he was writing; instead, he selected the
three pieces beforehand and then wrote them out. Indeed, since writing these
famous, much-copied texts was second nature to him, he may simply have
jumped from one text to another in his head, a spontaneous approach that
seems most compatible with the untrammeled execution of this scroll.
Wang Duo made close copies of many ancient masterpieces, including
those in the Calligraphy Model-Book from the Chunhua Archives; a considerable
83
number of these copies are extant. Since he had copied these texts repeatedly
during his training, undoubtedly he could recite many of them in whole or in
part. As he executed the hanging scroll of 1643, he must have linked textual
fragments as they emerged in his mind, uniting them into a single piece as he
proceeded. The work he produced is perplexing: conceived intentionally yet
spontaneous in appearance. Wang Duo's calligraphic style graphically unifies a
Fig. 1.24 Wang Duo scroll whose grammar is at best awkward and at worst chaotic.
(1593-1652), Copy of Mi Fu's Creating an incomprehensible collage of several works, however, was not
"Colophon to Ouyang Xun's the only way in which Wang Duo inventively copied ancient masterpieces. A
Calligraphy." Dated 1641.
huge hanging scroll of 1641-over two meters in height-executed by Wang
Hanging scroll, ink on silk,
Duo in running script and now in the Shiao Hua Collection, has a different
239 x 37 em. Shiao Hua
Collection, Virginia. origin (Fig. 1.24). The text of this scroll is taken from Mi Fu's colophon to a
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pair of works by the Tang calligrapher Ouyang Xun, the Dushang tie and Yu Fig. 1.25 Mi Fu
Liang tie (Fig. 1.25). These two works and Mi's colophon had been reproduced (1051-II07), Colophon
to Ouyang Xun's
in several model-books, including Dong Qichang's Model-Book from the Hall of
"Dushang tie" and
the Playing Goose (Xihongtangjashu); Wang, as a friend ofDong Qichang, was "Yu Liang tie." Dared
thus familiar with them. Mi Fu' s colophon of 126 characters recounts first how 1090. Section. Rub-
the two works by Ouyang Xun came into his possession, lists their collectors' bing mounred as an
seals, adds a few comments on the works, and ends with the date on which he album, ink on paper,
composed the colophon. Following the colophon, Mi appends a 32-character 29.5 x 15.2 em. In
Dong Qichang. ed.,
encomium (zan) of four characters per line praising the calligraphy of Ouyang
Xihongtangjatie.
Xun and then concludes with his signature.
Private collection.
The hanging scroll in the Shiao Hua Collection, however, has only 81
characters, including Mi's colophon and encomium and Wang's dedication,
date, and signature. The scroll's first two columns consists of 31 large
characters that give Ouyang Xun's full official tide and the tide of the work,
Dushang tie. They are textually close to the first two lines ofMi Fu's colophon,
except for the omission of the two characters at the beginning, "you Tang"
(meaning "On the right is [the work of] the Tang dynasty [official, viz.,
Ouyang Xun]"), and the characters "Xun" and "shu" ("writes") from the signa-
ture "Ouyang Xun shu." Next, however, Wang skips over the bulk of
Mi' s colophon and proceeds to write out its last two lines, "Yuan du dong
xiaoxian waishe zanyue." But he mistakenly changes "Yuanyou" 7t:f;f; ("the
Yuanyou reign of the Northern Song"; ro86-93) to "Yuan du" 7t/i., which
has no referent. Columns three and four of Wang Duo's copy include Mi' s
encomium, but with no indication that it is part of Mi' s colophon. Aside from
the awkward sequence of its contents, the new text is misleading, since the
omission of Mi's name and the inclusion of Ouyang X un' s may cause viewers
unfamiliar with the original to think that the text is by Ouyang Xun, not by
Mi Fu. It is no exaggeration to say that in copying ancient works in this man~
ner, Wang Duo created what are virtually visual riddles.
Generally speaking, Wang Duo's more faithful copies of ancient master~
works are in handscroll format, and his inventive collages, like the two dis~
cussed above, take the form of hanging scrolls. Handscrolls were for personal
viewing or for showings in an intimate setting to a few friends. But hanging
84
scrolls were meant for public consumption. Huge in size, dramatic in style,
Wang Duo's collage scrolls, designed to hang on conspicuous walls, over~
whelm viewers with imposing images. One wonders how these works were
received by contemporary audiences. No reaction to them has survived, but
Wang Duo's fondness for taking liberties with canonical texts suggests that
there was considerable public appreciation of this new calligraphic game. One
of the attractions of these hanging scrolls was their strong participatory func~
tion. Friends and guests visiting the ·owner of such a scroll may not only have
viewed Wang Duo's extraordinary calligraphy as art but also have amused
themselves by trying to decipher Wang's texts. Viewing such a scroll was more
than an aesthetic experience; it was also an intriguing and entertaining one.
Furthermore, the anomalies of calligraphic collage, misleading attribution, and
the labeling of such a work as a "copy" (lin) together created the strangeness (qi)
that appealed to late Ming taste.
85
Other such scrolls can be found among the extant works of Wang Duo,
the most radical of which is a hanging scroll of 6I characters in the Kaifeng
86
Museum that mingles excerpts from at least five different ancient works.
These scrolls demonstrate that in the late Ming, the concept oflin was inter~
87
preted far more liberally than either before or after this time. During this
period, it is more loosely the "inventive copying of ancient canonical works."
This notion of lin allowed artists to change the script of an ancient calligraphy,
to make a collage of fragments from several masterpieces, and to distort the
text and style of the models being "copied." Although practices vary, they have
one thing in common: the works "copied" are always those of the ancient mas~
ters. Such scrolls reflect a new cultural use of ancient canonical works.
If we address inventive copying in the domain of calligraphy only in isola~
tion, however, the broad ramifications of this issue and its cultural implica~
tions will not become fully apparent. We must go beyond calligraphy and
Fig. 1.26 Illustration in
the late Ming vernacular
novel Qilin zhui. After Fu
Xihua, Zhongguo gudian
wenxue banhua xuanji, vol.
I, pl. 272.
examine this phenomenon in a broader cultural context by relating it to the

period's general attitude toward and treatment of ancient canons. A work of
fiction entitled Qilin zhui published in the W anli period contains a landscape
illustration with the inscription (Fig. 1.26): "Imitating the brush method ofMi
Fu," who was famous not only for his calligraphy but also for his landscape
painting. Although no genuine paintings by Mi Fu survive, the Mi style was
known to later artists and connoisseurs through descriptions of his work in
early catalogues and other texts, as well as through the extant paintings of his
son Mi Youren (1074-1151) and, most important, perhaps, a long tradition of
iconographic representations that-regardless of the true nature of the lost
originals-were universally taken as being in the Mi style. The style is charac-
terized by the use of numerous horizontal, ovally elongated dots mingled with
wash to create ranges of triangular mountains in a dreamlike landscape. Bur
the mountain in the illustration in the Qilin zhui is rendered with clearly de-
fined contours, entirely without dots and misty effects. The only possible rea-
son for associating this picture with Mi Fu might be its drifting clouds, be-
cause we know from Mi Youren's extant paintings that members of the Mi
family frequently featured clouds in their paintings. But Mi's clouds, unlike
the illustration in the Qilin zhui, are misty and blurred. Overall, the pictorial
style of this illustration has nothing to do with Mi Fu: the attribution is quite
simply outrageous. As this example demonstrates, the interpretation of an~
cient canonical styles in late Ming visual art was not only liberal but at times
even entirely arbitrary.
This illustration also directs attention to the role played by printed texts in
creating a cultural climate in which such free attribution was encouraged. Al~
though calligraphy differs significantly from printed textual materials, both are
graphic media based on the written word and involve the process of reading.
For this reason, it is worth investigating whether calligraphy was influenced by
the replicative nature of printed materials.
Free~copying in late Ming-early Qing calligraphy echoes a general mode of
production and reproduction typical of the print culture of that period. As
publishing enterprises boomed in the seventeenth century and a new reading
public emerged, reproduction-or more precisely, the reuse of old materials-
took a variety of forms and often involved taking liberties with ancient texts.
Through cutting and pasting, canonical works were dismantled, recycled,
mixed with popular writings, and formed into new texts for a burgeoning
market. Anonymous works were attributed to famous cultural figures, ancient
88
or contemporary, to increase their salability or popularity. At times, writers
even made use of the tide of an ancient classic for texts of their own composi~
tion. An episode in Antagonists in Love (Huanxi yuanjia), a vernacular fiction
published in the late Ming, reflects this practice. In this section, a young man
named Erguan tries to entice his sister~in~law into having an affair with him.
Erguan does his best to turn literature into an erotic lure:
Erguan said: "So, my sister~in~law, it seems that you know something about the Thou-
sand Character Classic (Qianziwen ). My hands are full right now, but when I am free
tonight, I will alter the text, mix its order completely, and show you an amusing re-
sult." ... The next morning, Erguan called: "Sister-in-law, last night I finished the
Thousand Character Classic. Please, have a look! Enjoy yourself1"
Although still tided the Thousand Character Classic, Erguan's work is, of course,
dramatically different from the original. The ancient text consists of 250 lines
of four characters each, whereas Erguan' s has only 134lines, with seven charac~
ters per line. His new text integrates lines from the Thousand Character Classic,
but it changes entirely their context and connotations. For instance, the origi-
nal text starts with the sentence "Tiandi xuanhuang" .:kJ:-11!. j;if (Heaven and
earth are black and yellow), a phrase that describes a universe detached from
human affairs. But Erguan puts the three characters "tongdaolao" ~ .ftj ~be~
fore the original four characters and creates a phrase that reads, in context,
"You and I will live together forever like the everlasting universe"; moreover,
he moves the line to the end of his work, which is now entirely erotic in fla-
vor.89 What is of interest here is not simply that Erguan attempts to seduce
his sister-in-law by a clever parody of an ancient text but that he continues to
call it the Thousand Character Classic.
Although the Thousand Character Classic was not a classic in the same sense
as such cardinal Confucian classics as the Book of Rites, it had a profound influ-
90
ence on society in late imperial China. By the late Ming, it was one of the
three most important primers in the elementary curriculum and was consid-
91
ered a vehicle of Confucian doctrine. Erguan's replacement of the moral
teachings in the original text with content that was erotic (immoral, or at least
thoroughly non-Confucian), though seemingly trivial, exemplifies a late Ming
cultural phenomenon: the use of parody to convert canonical works into
popular entertainments. Underlying this phenomenon was a significant
change in attitude toward the authority of ancient canons.
Similar examples can easily be found in late Ming reading material. For in-
stance, in General Words to Warn the World (]ingshi tongyan), a collection of
short stories popular in the late Ming, Zhuangzi (ca. 369-286 B.c.), the great
Warring States period (475-221 B.c.) philosopher who held himself aloof from
92
human affairs, is depicted as a vulgar snob seeking wealth, fame, and flesh. In
the most extreme case, quotations from Confucian classics like the Analects
were made into phrases used in drinking games or turned into jokes about
sexual intercourse, transforming these didactic texts into vulgar entertain-
ments.93 That this assault was so reckless as, for instance, to incorporate with-
out hesitation parodies of the classics into popular plays indicates that the au-
thority of ancient canons was not only in question in the late Ming but even
seriously cliallenged. In his preface to Slapping the Table in Amazement, a late
Ming popular collection of short stories, the author Ling Mengchu comments
on the abuse of ancient canons: "The country has enjoyed peace in recent dec-
ades, people are indulgent, and morality is decaying. While a few irresponsible
and frivolous young men are just beginning to learn how to write, still, their
first thought is how to slander society, ... offend Confucian teachings, [and
94
shock the world] •... Nothing is more popular than this." Ling may have
adopted a high moral stance, but he knew whereof he spoke, for many stories
in his collection treat conventions and traditional values with something less
than respect. Nevertheless, Ling's comment on the shock value of slandering
ancient canons as a means (we may assume) of gaining fame vividly highlights
issues that are central to the phenomenon of inventive copying in calligraphy.
The proliferation of Confucian and other works with a moral bent (such as
the Thousand Character Classic) has led many scholars to believe that the ex-
panding print culture was instrumental in further instilling Confucian beliefs
into the populace at large; such scholars tend to stress the hegemony of Con-
95
fucian ideology in this period. But in doing so, they neglect another aspect of
this proliferation: that although printing technology made available numerous
copies of the ancient classics, in the cultural context of the late Ming, the sa~
cred aura surrounding ancient canonical texts may well have been diminished
by this very proliferation. Parodies and .distortions of ancient canonical texts
subverted public belief in those works and respect for them: at the very least,
the large number of these parodies and distortions confirms that poking fun at
canonical texts was an important part of the late Ming cultural milieu. As Ling
Mengchu commented, "Nothing is more popular than this." It was against this
cultural backdrop that inventive copying arose in the field of calligraphy.
Nevertheless, all the examples cited here of denigrations of the canonical
texts spring from the literature of popular culture, whereas calligraphy is
96
generally regarded as an "art of the elite." Is it possible that trends in popular
culture could substantially alter attitudes toward ancient authority in the field
of calligraphy? Wai~kam Ho and Dawn Ho Delbanco point out that Dong
Qichang, for example, had a keen interest in popular culture:
Dong was also deeply interested in Yuan qu .it tlb, a colloquial and liberal poetic off-
*-
shoot of Song ci ~il] developed with Yuan drama under the Mongols, which Dong
used frequently to express his darkly veiled private feelings .... In relation to this po-
larization of taste, sometimes arbitrarily labeled as ya $(refined, scholarly taste) and
su 1~ (vulgar, popular taste), it should be noted that Dong Qichang was a recognized
collector of Yuan dramas and san qu 1)t tlb as well as Ming colloquial short stories and
novels. He has been credited in some modern studies as possibly one of the earliest
discoverers of the great novelJin Ping Mei (Golden Vase Plum). Among his friends were
some of the leading masters of popular literature, including Tang Xianzu )~ ~ ~ll
(r550-r6r6) and Liang Chenyu *~.\V, (ca. 1520-ca. 1580 ).... That he was the un-
disputed arbiter of scholarly taste in the fine arts and at the same time the silent
champion of popular taste in literature displays a unique sophistication and insight
97
into the convergence of these two traditions in the seventeenth century.
Interactions between high and low in late Ming society were lively and made it
likely that developments in popular culture affected contemporary elite culture,
including calligraphy.
In addition to this change in attitude toward the ancient canons, what
Harold Bloom has called the "anxiety of influence" was responsible in part for
98
the rise of"inventive copying.'' Andrew Plaks, in his discussion oflate Ming
novels, points out that "self-conscious artists of the period [laboredJ under a
strong pressure to restate their own position vis~a~vis a cultural heritage that
99
had already become too massive for any individual to wholly master." Late
Ming calligraphers confronted the same problem. The tradition was both a
rich heritage and a source of anxiety. In the contradictions and tensions in
Dong Qichang' s writings, we sense an anxiety created by feelings ofloyalty to
tradition and a need for creative innovation. Dong diligently studied ancient
masterworks; he also argued that a good calligrapher should "depart from"
these masterworks. Wang Shimin (1592-168o), a young friend ofDong's and
an important painter, vividly characterized Dong's struggles with the ancient
masters: "[Dong] fought a bloody battle with all the famous masters of the
Tang, Song, and Yuan; he carved their flesh, plucked out their marrow, and
100
combined their best qualities in a great synthesis.'' Although Wang was
commenting on Dong's painting, he might equally well have been speaking of
Dong's calligraphy.
Ironically, the more an aspiring artist admired his precursors, the more anx~
ious he might become, particularly in an era that favored searching for one's
true self over carrying on the tradition. Wang Duo-who was as ambitious as
Dong-was equally anxious about living in the shadow of the ancient masters.
Wang Duo also wrote in a colophon on a handscroll in cursive~ script calligra~
phy he executed in 1646: "I have studied calligraphy for forty years and pretty
much understand its method and sources. There must be people who deeply
love my calligraphy. Those who do not understand it think my calligraphy
derives from the wild calligraphy of Gaoxian [gth century], Zhang Xu, and
Huaisu. I refuse [to accept this judgment]! I refuse! I refuse!"(Wu buju! Buju!
Buju!) .101 In Wang Duo's powerful repetitions of "I refuse," we hear the voice
102
of protest and rebellion. What he resolutely repudiated was not simply
what he considered an unfair judgment of his calligraphy but the idea that
later artists must follow the styles of earlier masters. By refusing to be viewed
as a follower of the three Tang masters of cursive~ script calligraphy, Wang
Duo implied that he had surpassed the Tang masters and had reached the
great heights ofEasternJin calligraphy. Although Wang Duo never dared
openly challenge the authority of Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi and con~
tinued to claim that he admired them and his calligraphy derived from
03
theirs/ his manipulative copying surreptitiously transformed, if not reversed,
his relationship with them, confirming that he, not they, was central to his
creativity.
This examination of Dong Qichang and Wang Duo demonstrates that al~
though late Ming calligraphers continued to admire the accomplishments of
the ancient masters, they no longer regarded them as icons to be worshiped
with awe and veneration. The copying of ancient masterworks continued to be
fundamental for the learning of calligraphy, but late Ming calligraphers also
took delight in parodying the ancient masters. The absolute authority of an~
cient canons was declining.
The consequence of this decline was twofold. First, it gave calligraphers
more creative space: they now dared to deviate from, even rebel against, long~
accepted canons. They were no longer passive recipients of a great tradition
but its creative interpreters. Second, the decline of the classical canons meant
that greater attention was paid by some to a calligraphic creation quite differ~
ent from the "elite" tradition established by the Two Wangs, although gener-
ally speaking. calligraphy remained in the hands of the elite. In the early Qing,
as we shall see, calligraphy engraved by anonymous artisans on ancient steles
became a major source of artistic inspiration.
SEAL CARVING AND CALLIGRAPHY
Seal Carving as a Literati Art

Two literati artists besides Dong Qichang are on Xu Shipu's list: Zhao
~ Yiguang and He Zhen. Both names were closely associated with the art of seal
carving, which in the Wanli era became an important form of literati art. Xu
111..:t ~r -r Shipu places He's seal carving at the end of his list, probably in part because of
He Zhen's non-elite background. Nevertheless, Xu's list marks the first time
~~ ~{ p in Chinese art history that seal carving was ranked with other important cul-
tural and artistic achievements. It was in the late Ming, centuries after callig-
ill~ i. raphy and painting had already become an indispensable part ofliterati life,
$1
.)J!' *
1!1})
~
w. -~
that seal carving became a flourishing form of artistic expression for Chinese
literati. This "new" art had an important impact on calligraphy.
Zhao Yiguang was a native of Suzhou. Living in retirement on Cold
Mountain in Suzhou, he became a legend in his own lifetime. His garden,
""
104
dress, deportment, talk: all were admired by his contemporaries. A promi-
~
'~
~
iii=
nent paleographer and idiosyncratic calligrapher, Zhao Yiguang's creative
"cursive seal calligraphy,'' which applied cursive methods of writing to seal
script, epitomized the two major avenues of change in late Ming calligraphy
IS
(Fig. 1.27 ). On the one hand, the seal script elements of this unusual script re-
flected an increasing interest in ancient forms of writing as a source of novelty
Fig. 1.27 Zhao Yiguang and surprise, an interest that was transformed in the early Qing into scholarly
(1559-1625), Colophon in
investigation of the antique. On the other hand, the unprecedented applica-
Cursive Seal Script to Zhang
tion of cursive techniques to this ancient script reflected the Ming period's
]izhi's Copy of the "Diamond
S11tra." Dared 1620. Album iconoclastic search for stylistic originality. Unconventional, even eccentric,
of 128leaves and 54 leaves cursive seal script exemplified the stylistic freedom oflate Ming artists as well
of colophons, ink on paper, as imaginative use of the past for unusual forms and ideas in fashionable pur-
each 29.1 x 13.4 em. Art 105
suit of innovation. Zhao was also a seal carver and influential critic of seals.
Museum, Princeton Uni-
He had a profound impact on ZhuJian (zi Xiuneng; d. 1624), the most ac-
versity. Bequest of John B. 106
complished seal carver after He Zhen.
Elliott, Class of 1951. Pho-
tograph by Bruce M .
Zhao Yiguang's hometown ofSuzhou was the cradle ofliterati seal carving
White. 1998-52. in the late Ming. Wen Peng (1498-1573), son of the famous painter Wen
Zhengming. is credited as being the founding father of the Ming literati seal-
carving movement. Wen Peng' s major contribution to the rise of this move-
ment was his reintroduction of soft stones as the medium of choice. The use
of such stones in seal carving can be traced to much earlier times; some schol-
so • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life
ars place the beginning ofliterati seal carving as early as the Northern Song,
107
arguing that Mi Fu may have engaged in it. The Yuan dynasty painter
Wang Mian (d. 1359) was one of earliest of the literati to carve seals in soft
108
stone, according to some textual evidence. Recent archaeological excavations
have confirmed that, even before Wen Peng, soft stone was already in use for
109
seal carving. It seems to be the case, however, that the use of soft stone for
seal carving was not common until Wen Peng found a large quantity of the
material in Nanjing and began to carve it into seals. The establishment of soft
stone as the primary medium for seal carving was revolutionary in the history
of Chinese seal carving. As James Watt has pointed out, "The necessary con-
dition for the birth of this new art form, or rather the transformation of an
ancient artistic craft into a medium ofliterati expression, was the use of soft
110
stones (or soapstone) for seal carving.'' Thereafter, the metal, jade, and ivory
previously used by seal carvers were rapidly replaced by soft stone.
The W anli reign witnessed the widespread popularity of soft stone as a
material for seal carving. According to contemporary records, the rapid forma-
tion of a market for seals caused the price of the most desirable stones to ex-
111
ceed that ofjade. A number oflate Ming and early Qing scholars and artists
lavishly praised the beauty of seal stones from Qingtian in Zhejiang and
112
Shoushan in Fujian. It is probably no accident that this fascination with
stone took place at a time when rocks in and of themselves had became cult
113
objects and cultural icons, the end result of a thousand-year literati tradition
of collecting and appreciating rocks.
Enhancing the beauty of the stone itsel£ literati seal carving was really a
miniature art that integrated calligraphy, sculpture, painting, and literature in
one artistic whole. These lovely stones were engraved with poetic phrases,
moral admonitions, and literary names. Sometimes a miniature sculpture
topped the stone, and figures, landscapes, flowers, and birds, or inscriptions
(in the form of a poem, short essay, or phrase) might be carved on the sides.
Several distinctive features of seals increased their popularity with the lite-
rati. First, there was their size and durability. Their small size made them
easily carried personal articles, a constant presence on a scholar's person. Their
durability not only allowed them to travel without damage but also allowed
repeated touching. They could be held, stroked like a worry stone, or played
. h 10r
Wlt I:
amusement (b awan ), perm1ttmg
114 . . a constant an d more mtlmate
. .
physical contact between person and object than was possible with large or
fragile objects like musical instruments or calligraphy. Second, compared with
calligraphy and painting, the physicality of its stone-the effort needed to
carve it and the sensuous contact of stone and skin in the fingering and using
of seals-meant that seal carving promoted more literati involvement in their
making. To carve a seal, one must take firm hold of a three-dimensional stone
in one hand and a chisel in the other; the gouging, scraping, gritty sound of the
iron chisel against the stone aurally reinforces the physicality of" making." Li
Liufang (1575-1629), a friend of Dong Qichang's and Zhao Yiguang's, once
recalled how as a youth his interest in the art had been provoked by the sound
of carving when he and a group of friends were making seals and drinking
wme rogerher. 115
0
Late Ming literati seem to have become increasingly interested in object

making. Shen Ye even compared seal carving to Xi Kang's (224-63) penchant
116
for forging metal and to Ruan Fu's (fl. 317-29) delight in waxing shoes. Li
Liufang was also a bamboo carver. The Hangzhou literatus Zhang Dai's
(1597 - 168o?) writings show great familiarity with the refined crafts of Suzhou
117
artisans. No wonder Xu Shipu listed the seals of He Zhen alongside the
pottery ofShi Dabin, the metallurgy of Master Gu, the ink-sticks of Fang
Yulu and ChengJunfang, and the jades ofLu Zigang. All these objects have a
pronounced three-dimensionality, whose making involves a very physical
process, and all of them can be handled and played with. Seal carving, an art of
small but precious objects closely associated with literature, calligraphy, and
sculpture, became a new obsession with literati in the late Ming, who found a
118
mental refuge in this absorbing activity.
This flourishing of interest in seal carving among literati was accompanied
by a growing interest in collecting ancient seals. Made in various shapes, from
such assorted materials as gold, bronze, jade, and agate, ancient seals were
treated as precious objects by late Ming literati (Fig. 1.28). Wang Hongzhuan
(1622- 1702), for instance, a collector living in Huayin, Shaanxi, recalled the
joyful experience of seeing his teacher Guo Zongchang (d. 1652), a famous
scholar of ancient metal and stone objects, display his ancient seals. He wrote:
Mr. Guo, a scholar, loved to collect ancient seals. After collecting chem for more chan
fifty years, he owned chirceen hundred of chem. There were dozens boch of jade and
Fig. 1.28 Official seal with silver in his collection. The characters on chese seals were archaic and vigorous, plain
knob in the shape of a tor- and elegant .. . . Each cime he showed chem co me, (che richness of cheir colors,] green
toise. Six Dynasties (220 - and red, looked like brocade, and cheir animal knobs looked like a herd of curcles. lc
589) . Gilt bronze, height s.z was a marve1ous s1g hc. 119
0
em. Ex-collection of Dr. Paul

Singer. After Kuo, Word as
Guo's passion for collecting antique seals was probably a reflection of his de-
Im age, p. 65. sire to demonstrate his cultural sophistication in a period in which "the 'en-
joyment of antiquities' shifted its role from being a personal predilection, one
of a number of potential types of privileged cultural activity, to being an essen-
tial form of consumption, which was central to the maintenance of elite status.
In the late Ming and the Qing periods it was no longer acceptable not to be a
. . .,,J2o
'I over o f antiqUity.
Wen Peng, the founding father of literati seal carving, died at the very be-
ginning of the Wanli reign. His friend and disciple He Zhen, however, pro-
pelled seal carving to a new level of sophistication. Exploiting to the full the
intrinsic nature of soft stone, He applied his chisel in a more spontaneous
manner, leaving gashes and cuts that allowed viewers to trace the process of
carving and thus appreciate his great skill as a carver. The natural breaks and
cracks created by this more spontaneous execution added to his seals a flavor
of antiquity. He developed, moreover, a new method of carving inscriptions on
the sides of seals (Fig. 1.29). Treating the flat sides of the stone almost as if
they were paper or satin and his chisel like an iron brush, he used the chisel
edge to imitate a pointed brush tip and created a style of script that looked like
brushwork. Ever since, side inscriptions have become an integral component
of seal carving. The literary content, calligraphic flavor, and dedicatory func-
tion of side inscriptions (like the inscriptions and colophons on calligraphies
121
and paintings) made seal carving even more attractive to late Ming literati.
The W anli era also saw another important development in seal carving: the
compilation and publication of books of seals of individual carvers. Seal books
122
dated from as early as the Tang dynasty, but those published before th late
Ming were mainly catalogues of ancient seals. In the late Ming seal carvers
started to use seal books to preserve and publicize their art, a pivotal develop-
ment in the history ofliterati seal carving. Previously, a seal carver's works-
that is to say, his seals-were scattered in different hands. Impressions of his
seals were found only on pieces of calligraphy and paintings by other artists
and so were circulated and viewed only in conjunction with these artworks.
Ironically, seal impressions on a calligraphy or painting did nothing to pro-
mote recognition of the carver of the seal because there was no indication of Fig. 1.2.9 Impression
his identity. In this context, the carver was an anonymous artist: no matter and side inscription of
a seal carved by He
how excellent the carving, the carver derived little if any credit from impres-
Zhen (1535-1604).
sions of his seals.
After Fang Quji,
The situation changed with the publication of seal books. Impressions of Ming-Qing zhuanke
seals preserved in seal books had a different function from impressions of the liupai yinpu, p. 5·
same seals on calligraphies and paintings. They were no longer "certifica-
tions" of a work; instead, they were the works themselves, by a particular art-
ist whose name is known. Seal books bear the names of their authors-
Zhu ]ian's seal book is entitled the Seal Book of Xiuneng [Zhu ]ian] (Xiuneng
yinpu )-and individual carvers' seal books helped the public to identify the
personal styles of carvers. In addition, the booming popularity of such books
launched the new field of seal criticism. Without seal books, critics would
have been unable to gather together a seal carver's works for thorough study
and criticism. Seal carvers could even invite critics and renowned literati to
write prefaces to their seal books, which further promoted their distribution
and sale. Many famous literati and leading scholars, including Dong Qichang,
Chen Jiru (rssB-1639), Zhao Yiguang, and Qian Qianyi (r582-r664), enthusi-
astically promoted seal carving by writing prefaces or colophons to seal
123
books.
Ep
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The Wanli, Tianqi, and Chongzhen reigns saw a rapid increase in the
number and variety of seal books published. A seal book entitled A History
Carved on Seals (Yin shi), published in 1623 by He Tong, contains impressions
of seals with the names of celebrated historical figures from a chronological
succession of dynasties, including statesmen, scholars, and artists; since a short
biographical note was printed under each seal impression, this seal book be-
came in effect a short textbook of Chinese history (Fig. 1.30 ). Many seals of
this period were engraved with political and literary expressions, which seal
books have preserved for posterity. Zhang Hao, the son of a senior official,
published his seal book entitled Seal Book from the Xueshantang Studio (Xueshan-
124
tang yinpu) in 1633, when the Ming dynasty was in crisis. In his preface, he
openly stated that his seals expressed his criticism of and frustration with con-
temporary politics. Two seal impressions from his book read:
125
(a) I store one sheng of tears lamenting the affairs of this world.
(b) One should view one's country as one's family, exterminating evils and wiping our
humiliations; one should not set up cliques or recruit people of one's own kind. (Fig. I.JI)
These texts are almost political slogans; indeed, the second is a direct expres-
sion of disappointment in the partisanship oflate Ming politics.
Although the significance of the introduction of soft stone for the devel-
opment of literati seal carving is fully recognized, other social and cultural fac-
tors affecting this new art should not be overlooked. The fifteenth and six-
teenth centuries witnessed economic prosperity and a flourishing cultural
54 • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan 's Early Life
-
Fig. 1.31 Two seal impressions from Zhang Hao (fl. first half 17th c.) ed., Xueshantang yinpu:
(left) "I store a sheng of tears lamenting the affairs of this world," 2.7; (right) "One should
view his country as his family, exterminating evils and wiping out humiliations; one should
not set up cliques to recruit people of one's own kind," 5.70. Dated 1633. Harvard-Yenching
Library.
life, especially for those living in the Jiangnan region. The spread of education
among_ better-off families increased the literacy of the population. Many of
those who were not fortunate enough to obtain government jobs through the
civil service examinations became calligraphers and painters, and increasing
demand fueled the formation of an active seal market.
A critical feature of this expanding market was the recognition of its artists.
Dorothy Ko points out that "visibility was the essence of the urban print cul-
126
ture and of the monetary economy that sustained it." Seal books increased
the visibility of seal carvers in a period when artists and artisans were becom-
127
ing keenly aware of the importance of name recognition in art making. In-
deed, the new prestige and popularity of seal carving as an art-reflected in
the recognition accorded to seal carvers, in the writing of prefaces for and pub-
lication of seal books, in the growth of critical commentary on the quality of
seal carving, and in the addition of side inscriptions recording the artist's iden-
tity with dates and signatures-were directly tied to the fact that literati as
well as artisans now engaged in carving seals. During the long period in which
seals were carved largely by artisans, no need was felt to promote the artists or
the art. Fame was not accepted as a normal component of an artisan's social
status, and impressions of artisans' seals testify mutely to the unacknowledged
artistry of the anonymous. Only with the advent ofliterati seal carving was
there a sudden interest in publicity, publication, and reputation.
The spread of seal carving owed much to the country's expanding economy.
In the mid-Ming, networks for exchanging goods grew in scale, and there was
a marked increase in economic activity. Both commercial activity and letter
writing promoted the use of seals. Seals had long been used to authenticate
128
documents and legitimize contractual agreements. Pawnshops and their
customers, for instance, probably used seals when executing a written agree-
ment. Seals were frequently used in late Ming commercial publishing. Books,
especially popular ones, often bore publishers' seals that read "Original print-
ing block owned by the publisher" or gave the publisher's studio name. These
seals were usually imprinted on the tide page to assure buyers and readers that
the books they were buying or reading were authentic versions printed by re-
spected publishers. The aesthetic quality of seals of this kind varied, but some
were artfully carved, an indication that publishers employed accomplished seal
carvers. Some seals imprinted by publishers had pictorial images that served as
publisher trademarks. It is no coincidence that the majority of the best seal
carvers in the late Ming came from Suzhou and its surrounding area, from
Nanjing and from Anhui, especially the area ofShexian, for it is in these re-
gions that publishing, both commercial and private, was most active. Many
distinguished late Ming and early Qing seal carvers, for instance, were from
Shexian, including such leading figures as He Zhen, Zhu ]ian, and Cheng Sui
(1607-92). At the same time, Shexian was also the most important area for
ink-stick production and woodblock printing, two arts that often required
refined engraving skills.
Commercial activity increased travel, and travelled to more letter writing,
either among far-flung agents who needed to maintain contact with their bases
of operation, or among family members and friends who were separated. This
129
in turn led to an increase in the use of seals to authenticate communications.
130
Many late Ming letters, including private ones, bear seal impressions. In the
second half of the sixteenth century, the practice spread of affixing seals on
private letters. The Harvard-Yenching Library houses more than 700 letters,
dating for the most part from the 1550s to 1590s, written to Fang Yuansu
(1542-r6o8), a member of the gentry and a merchant; many bear the seals of
their writers, testifying to the use of seals on an everyday basis in ordinary cor-
131
respon dence.
By the late sixteenth century, seal carving was emerging as a full-blown art.
When Matteo Ricci arrived in China during the W anli reign, he was im-
pressed by the wide use of seals in everyday and artistic life:
The use of seals for stamping objects is well known and very common here. Not only
letters are safeguarded with a seal but they are affixed to private writings, poems, pic-
tures, and many other things .... As a rule, they are made of some more or less pre-
cious material, such as rare wood, marble, ivory, brass, crystal or red coral, or perhaps
of some semiprecious stone. Many skilled workmen are engaged in making these seals
and they are regarded as artists rather than as artisans, because the characters en-
graved upon the seals are very old forms, not in common use, and high esteem is al-
132
ways accorded to those who display any knowledge of antiquity.
The spread of seal carving, however, may have caused anxiety among the elite,
who felt that culture was their own domain. In his preface to th~ seal book of
Jin Guangxian (1543-after 1618), Zou Diguang (jinshi 1574) wrote:
Today, those who have failed the examinations and do not know how to farm or
trade cannot make a living: they cannot teach music or poetry, cannot paint, and do
not even have skill in divination and fortune-telling. Of these, nine out of ten choose
seal carving as a career. Today, of those unable to read ancient calligraphy or in-
scriptions on Zhou and Qin bronzes or on objects like the tianlu and bixie [mythical
animals], nine out of ten, when thinking to gain a reputation for elegance or erudi-
tion, pretend to be lovers of seals.... It has come to the point where those who
cannot read even a single character pick up ivory, jade, or metal and cut it at will,
making the material useless, deserving only to be thrown away. Moreover, the
equally illiterate collect these useless works and put them in boxes covered with
brocade and wrapped in colored silk, treating them as heavenly treasures. Oh! How
. . . . . ,133
1rntatmg 1t 1s.
Zou Diguang' s complaints may exaggerate the popularity of seal carving, but
his comments make it clear that carving seals was a popular activity across a
wide social spectrum, not least among those who were anxious to convey an
impression of elite status by owning seals. Carving and using seals had ceased
to be a prerogative of artists and the upper echelon of the traditional elite.
The Impact of Seal Carving on Calligraphy

Generally speaking, seal carving, like calligraphy, is an art based on writing,
since the overwhelming majority of seals bear texts; only a tiny percentage are
pictorial. Literati seal carving was thus inextricably linked to the art of callig-
raphy. The rise ofliterati seal carving in the late Ming was to have a profound
impact on the calligraphy of that period and the succeeding Qing dynasty,
leading to greatly increased interest in ancient scripts, in unusual character
forms, and in the pursuit of archaic flavor.
Seal script had long since become archaic and had been used only rarely in
everyday writing since the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220 ). Since the late
Spring and Autumn (770-476 B.c.) and early Warring States periods, how-
ever, seal carving had always intimately related to seal script, since the legends
: - --· l
1 8 I
I I
~~-
Fig. 1.32 Impression of a Warring States
period (403 -221 s.c.) seal. M easurements
~- 'f.r:..
,
I......._~ -
unavailable. After Feng Zuomin et al.,Jinshi
l ~
zhuanke quanji, p. 7J.
of most seals were cast or carved in seal script (Fig. 1.32). Late Ming literati seal
carving was no exception. The preference for seal script resembles the attitude
of some prestigious Western universities that continue to print their diplomas
in Latin. Originally no more than ordinary writing, seal script, once dropped
from common use, acquired by its very obscurity an aura of antiquity that lent
authority to seals, which were often symbols of political, economic, and cultural
power.
To carve and read seals, Ming literati had to study seal script. This could be
time-consuming because there were many varieties of seal script. China had
nominally been unified during the last half of the Zhou dynasty, but its largely
independent states developed individual cultural characteristics, such as a large
number of seal script variants, which made seal script the most stylistically
diverse of the five major types of Chinese script that eventually developed. For
a literatus to learn even one style of seal script took almost as much effort as
learning a new form of writing. In the late Ming, carving and reading seals be-
came an important means of access to ancient scripts, even though it was a
limited access; as Zhou Lianggong, the most important collector and critic of
seal carving in the seventeenth century, put it, "Study of the six ancient scripts
is almost dead; only one has been preserved in seal carving.'' 134
Seal carving, and a growing interest in ancient rubbings, drew attention to
ancient scripts, and more calligraphers began to practice seal-script and clerical-
script calligraphy. Guo Zongchang, a native ofShaanxi, was famous both as a
collector of seals and as a collector of ancient rubbings. According to an account
by Wang Hongzhuan, Guo devoted himself to studying the clerical-script cal-
135
ligraphy ofHan steles. In the r63os, Wang Duo took the beautiful and ele-
gant style of the Memorial Stele of Cao Quan (Cao Quan hei) of the Han, excavated
in the early W anli period, as a model for his own calligraphy in clerical script. 136
As interest in ancient scripts spread, a new game emerged: leading calligra-
phers in the late Ming like Wang Duo, Ni Yuanlu, Huang Daozhou, and
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Chen Hongshou (1598-1652) took delight in using variant archaic character

forms in their calligraphy. These variants had graphic forms different from
those in common use.
Such variant forms emerged because over the course of Chinese history,
there evolved a number of different script forms, later known as bronze script,
Stone Drum script, clerical script, and regular script. As time passed, one
script replaced another as the everyday form of writing. At times, especially
during periods when national disunity led to the formation of competing
states with divergent cultures, different character forms were used in differ-
ent regions. For this reason, what eventually came to be the standard form of
a character might have several variants, perhaps even more than a dozen.
Variant characters in old scripts were often preserved in dictionaries long
after they ceased to be used. In A Dictionary of Seal Script and Guwen Script
Compiled in Rhyming Order Uizhuan guwen yunhai) by Du Conggu (fl. m9) of
the Northern Song, guo ~ (meaning "state," "country," "capital city") has
eight different written forms (Fig. 1.33). Some archaic forms in dictionaries
are easy to read because they are similar to the standard (or common) form.
Others differ markedly and are extremely difficult to decipher. For example,
one finds in the Expanded Edition of the Dictionary of Seal Script Arranged by
Rhymes (Zengguang zhongding zhuanyun), compiled in the Yuan dynasty, that
most of the many forms of the character feng lit (wind) are similar to the
common one, but one variant is quite different (Fig. 1.34).
The literati used unusual ancient character forms playfully or to show off
their erudition, a practice long predating the late Ming and early Qing. In the
Six Dynasties (266-589), many variant character forms were invented and
used in everyday writing either to simplify characters (thereby making them
easier to write) or to satisfy aesthetic reasons. This was also an era of political
division in China, and many of the character forms invented at this time were
the result of cultural isolation. 137 Yan Zhitui (531-after 590 ), a scholar of the
Northern Qi (550-77), complained of the confusion in communications
138
caused by this variation. Even after the country had been reunified, the use
of unusual character forms never entirely ceased. One aspect of the literati use
of these forms, at least in the Ming, is nicely captured in an anecdote about a
Ming literatus: "Jiang Hui Uinshi 1517] was a native ofRenhe. He obtained his
jinshi degree in the Zhengde reign [1506-21]. When he wrote, ... he inserted
ancient and unusual characters at random in his writing, puzzling readers so
that they were scarcely able to finish a sentence; whereupon, blushing and
139
speechless with shame, they gave up." Playing with unusual character forms
was a literati tradition already many centuries old, but the intense and wide~
spread fascination with unusual characters among calligraphers, seal carvers,
and even publishers in the late Ming suggests that it was in this period that the
game reached its peak. Although this playing resulted in part from the late
Ming obsession with the unusual, in a cultural climate in which novelty was
encouraged, it resulted in the main from the popularity of seal carving among
the literati.
Seals in the late Ming tend to be stranger and more bizarre than in other
periods because artists not infrequently chose to use unfamiliar character
forms. In the Seal Book from the Ten Bamboo Studio (Shizhuzhai yinpu) by Hu
Zhengyan (1584-1674), a famous publisher and seal carver of the late Ming
and early Qing, for instance, some seals are almost impossible to decipher. In
the seal impressions jixu ~it (gathering void) and sizai .~{;£..(think of being),
for example, the characters differ so greatly from the common forms as to be
scarcely recognizable (Fig. 1.35). The same is true of many late Ming seals, as,
for example, in the Lianzi seals of the famous painter Chen Hongshou (Fig.
1.36), in which several different character forms were used for the same text,
Lianzi it q-, or "lotus seed," Chen's sobriquet. The most obscure form is the
one shown on the right, reading simply lian; the form is taken from the Han~
jian (Fig. 1.37), a dictionary of ancient script compiled by Guo Zhongshu (ca.
910-77).
Seal impressions in seal books published in the late Ming are often accom~
panied by clerical script or regular script transcriptions, as for instance, in the
seal books of Zhang Hao and Hu Zhengyan. Such books served two purposes.
First, they instructed the reader in ancient scripts. Second, they served as cribs.
When seal carvers selected difficult variants for their seals, they knew it
6o • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life
(to left ) Fig. 1.35 Hu Zhengyan
(1584- 1674), two seal impressions:
(left) jixu 1f, JN; (right) sizai .~{i. .
Dated ca. 1646. After Hu Zhengyan,
Shizhuzhai yinpu.
(above) Fig. 1.36 Three seals of

Chen Hongshou (1598-1652) read-
ing "Lianzi" j{ -=j-, Chen Hong-
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(ca. 910-977 ), page from Hanjian
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Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • 6r
(left) Fig. 1.38 Zhao Yiguang (1559-1625), Preface to Shuowen changjian. Dated 1633. Harvard-
Yenching Library. (right) Fig. 1.39 Bao Shiying (fl. first half 17th c.), Preface to Zhouwen gui
edited by Zhong Xing (1574-1625)· Ca. 1628-44. Harvard-Yenching Library.
would be hard for people to read them. Such seals became riddles. When their
impressions were preserved in seal books, the transcriptions provided the an-
swers to these riddles. With the assistance of these transcriptions, readers
could understand the meaning of these strange seals and, on future occasions,
could use these forms in verbal games with others. The paleographer and seal
carver Zhao Yiguang adopted the same practice in his Long Annotation to ''The
140
Analysis of Characters as an Explanation ofWriting" (Shuowen changjian). He
used many unusual character forms and made them readable by writing a
standard form of the character under each rare version (Fig. 1.38). He must
141
have taken pleasure in the erudition and elegance of his riddles and answers.
Other books of the time play the same game. In his preface to the Collection of
Essays of the Zhou (Zhouwen gui), Bao Shiying (fl. first half of the seventeenth
century) used many strange characters that would have been impossible for
ordinary people to read had he not appended the standard forms beneath (Fig.
1.39). All these examples testifY to the widespread interest in unusual character
forms in the late Ming.
Calligraphers, many of whom were also seal carvers, were not immune to
the new fashion in seal carving. But compared with seal carvers, who typically
derived unusual character forms for their seals only from types of seal script,
calligraphers had recourse to many more sources. They could select strange
characters from ancient dictionaries of scripts other than seal script, such as
the Yupian, the earliest Chinese dictionary of regular script, compiled by Gu
Fig. 1.40 Ni
Yuanlu (1594- Fig. 1.41 (left) Unusual
1644), Impromptu form of the character
Poem While Drink- di !11!, by Ni Yuanlu.
ing Wine (later (right) Unusual form of
copy?). Undated. di !11!. in the dictionary
Hanging scroll, Yupian.
ink on silk, 103.9 x
47 em. Freer Gal-
lery of Art. Pur-
chase. F1988-4.
Yewang (519-81) of the Southern Dynasties ( 420- 589 ), or the ]iyun, a diction-
ary compiled by Ding Du (990-1053) and others in the Northern Song; or
they could select forms from seal script dictionaries but use them to structure
characters in regular, running, or cursive script.
We find few unusual character forms in Dong Qichang's calligraphy. Such
forms were first used frequently by calligraphers who grew up in the Tianqi
reign, by calligraphers who were one or two generations younger than Dong.
(a)
~
.:-r_
Ni Yuanlu, for instance, writes in a hanging scroll the character for di Jt
(earth) as [a], an unusual form taken from the Yupian (Fig. 1.40, 1.41). In the
works ofNi's close friend Huang Daozhou, the number of variants increase. ~)i:
In a small regular-script calligraphy handscroll now in the collection of the (b) T
Palace Museum, Beijing, Huang writes hu "f- (breath) as [b ], a form much
more complicated than the standard form, and de 1!f (to obtain) as [c), de-
rived from the seal script form for the same character. In a handscroll of
E1'-
/
small regular-script calligraphy entitled Casually Intoning [Poems] at a Mountain (c) ~
Dwelling (Fig. 1.42, 1.43), Cai Yuqing (r616-98), who was married to Huang
Daozhou, writes the character ling 1t ("spirit") as [d), a form also taken from -
.,--::1?
the Yupian. It is noteworthy that under this character in the Yupian, there is
a short note specifying how the character should be pronounced and stating
(d) ~~5
that it is the character ling in guwen (ancient script) form. Guwen is an impor-
tant term in Chinese paleography and intellectual history. Although the exact
meaning of the term is still a matter of dispute, guwen is now generally
thought to have been a pre-Qin script form that evolved in the areas influ-
~
-:f. ~\f] ·~ ~ .?. ~
.~
A1- ~ iE:. m A=~ ~ ~
-~
JhJ )J'} .J-
~~ ilK -t~
~~
~
~ ~if ·t::
ill\...
J1.. }. % -Ar
- ti~
, ~
Jll· ~ ..
i\3.- ~.r ~ -Jr
177 ~~
,-
.X1 '(,
f~~ 1~~ 1i
}~ Jl .)!~;
.~ -iff l:h-
J~,fj -fil't
~
·t-
.:f :-ljf- jfo
~*
~~- Jl- ~~ro ;@: ~
;'h; ,-:;
fir $) ' '· ,.;f-
(:II}
.,J-
.@
(to right) Fig. 1.42
B:. {I]' f~
•-;.I-
{ -~ ;w
.-:,,
Cai Yuqing ( 1616-
98), Casually Intoning
J.t
!f!L..
~t ~E
.... ~
-;10
-.#f--. .:rw :t i\111...
[Poems] at a Moun- *I' ~ rt Ii£ 'W ~ (above) Fig. 1.43 (left) Unusual
tain Dwelling. Hand- H: fttlii :!t ...M21,..:::.· .~{f] ~ ~ form of rhe character ling :I by
scroll, ink on silk, ~; ,flt vlif,, '- Cai Yuqing (1616-98). (right) Un-
~ k & ~
......
-.1
23.7 x 210 em. ,'if: usual form of ling :if in Yupian.
Shanghai Museum.
~5 ~
>t- 4:-- f- 'iJi> !&
142
enced by Qi culture during the Warring States period. Originally, it ap-
pears to have been a form of seal script whose characters were in many cases
related to those appearing in the Hanjian, but a great number of guwen char-
acters were changed to regular script form and found their way into regular
script dictionaries. In any case, such guwen characters recorded in non-seal-
script dictionaries were one of the major sources of unusual character forms
[e] in the game under discussion.
Although Ni Yuanlu and Huang Daozhou were interested in this game,
they were fairly restrained in their use of strange characters. It was Wang Duo
(f] who pushed the game of playing with strange characters to the extreme. Not
only did Wang Duo use such forms more often, but he also delighted in
choosing forms that were particularly strange. Long itt (dragon), for instance,
[g]
he wrote as [e), chun *(spring) as [f], andgu -5 (ancient) as [g), aguwen ver-
sion of this character recorded in Xu Shen's The Analysis of Characters as an
Explanation of Writing (Fig. 1.44). In what I judge to be a close copy of a work
Fig. 1.44 Wang Duo (1593-1652),

Unusual form of the character
gu -5 in Boxiang tie. Collection
unknown. After Wang Duo shufa
xuan. o. 121.
Fig. 1-45 Wang Duo (1593-1652), arrrib.
Copy oJYan Zhenqing's "Baguam;hai huiji."
Dared 1646. After Wang]uesi shu "Ba-
guanzhai huiji" (jenkai hece).
by Wang Duo in clerical and regular scripts whose text is an essay by Y an ~

Zhenqing. there is intensive use of bizarre variants, so much so that the work
/"\,..
143
is extremely difficult to read (Fig. 1.45). A few characters in the regular
*~
script section can serve as examples. The characters tianzi k -=f- (Son of
Heaven) are written as [h], which bear little resemblance to the standard
forms, and the character guo ~ (state) is written in several different forms [i].
[h]
~
Some characters diverge so dramatically from their standard forms that they
are undecipherable except to those who are practiced in the game of reading
and writing such variants. Snobbery, of course, was at the heart of this game,
which served, in effect, as an entrance examination to the social milieu of the
til
knowledgeable elite. It excluded the ignorant yet at the same time excited their
~
envy and admiration. Thus, perversely, some of the pleasure of this game for
its players came from the reactions of those considered unworthy of playing it.
Much of the pleasure of membership in an exclusive elite is the reaction, or
supposed reaction, of the excluded. This feeling of exclusivity is part of what
*'
144
Gombrich means by the "watch me" aspect of the "logic of Vanity Fair.''
Another aspect of the "logic of Vanity Fair" is the acceleration that often
takes place in the competitive search for novelty, as evidenced in the more [i] !-~~
radical use of unusual character forms by Wang Duo, compared with his con-
temporaries like Huang Daozhou. Wang Duo, like other late Ming literati,
stressed the quality of qi in art, but his approach was more active, visible, and
dramatic:
Strangeness (qi) is simply the true essence completely brought forth. (Bringing it
forth] is like excavating an artifact from an ancient tomb that has never been seen or
heard ofbefore: [the object) is strange, odd, and shocking-truly bizarre. But what
one does not realize is that this ancient artifact has always been in the tomb. Other
people have dug two to three feet, or six to seven feet, and then have stopped. Today I
have dug deeper and drawn it out to show to people. I did not [need to] dig elsewhere
145
to find the strange.
Wang Duo's advocacy of the search for qi explains his indulgence in strange
character variants and the radical nature of his cursive calligraphy. Obviously,
his idea of bringing the true essence forth completely derived from Li Zhi's
theory of the childlike mind, which holds that human nature (essence) is
originally pure. But Li Zhi believed that this childlike nature was naturally
expressed as one cleared away the incrustations of habits of thinking and of
rigid, unnatural beliefs and attitudes. Given a neutral environment, qi will
naturally flower and express itself. Wang Duo, like Tang Xianzu, believed
that qi was the manifestation of one's intrinsic value. But Wang stressed the
constant, painstaking effort needed to reveal qi: qi, even if inherent in one's na-
ture, has to be dug out. In pursuit of strangeness, Wang Duo dug deeper than
others. By arguing that one's true essence, when completely revealed, is
"strange, odd, and shocking-truly bizarre," Wang Duo legitimized his use of
particularly deviant character forms as well as the strangeness of his cursive
writings and calligraphic collages.
Wang Duo expressly stated that he had expended great effort in his search
for qi, an effort exemplifying the active, at times fanatical pursuit of the un-
usual that led in the end to an industry of the bizarre. This high level of effort
was visible, potentially ostentatious: it was almost as if unusual things discov-
ered without effort were without value. Li Zhi' s pursuit of qi was an internal
tapping of personal depth, invisible and quiet. Wang Duo converted this
search into an industrious, activity-ridden plundering of the past for specific
artifacts whose discovery became evidence that he possessed qi (or, at least,
evidence of successful research). Such an approach, by its visibility, made
games like the employing of unusual character forms ever more popular and
susceptible to fashionable imitation.
Fashionable imitation was made easier by handy aids. As the game of un-
usual character forms spread, there was an increasing demand for dictionaries
cataloguing rare characters. A famous dictionary of this type was the Dictionary
of Characters (Zihui), compiled around r6r5 by Mei Yingzuo (fl. 1570-r6rs). In
the first chapter of his dictionary, Mei juxtaposed ancient and current charac-
ter forms. As he explained, "Those who are knowledgeable and elegant enjoy
antiquity, and those who are interested in accomplishment and fame like to
follow the fashion. The ancient and current forms of characters are inter-
changeable; people may select from them at will" (Fig. I-46). Mei's comment
may not explain the increased use of unusual character forms in calligraphy,
but it does demonstrate that publishing enterprises, especially those that com-
piled and published dictionaries, actively promoted this new game, and that
(left) Fig. 1.46 Mei Ying-
zuo (fl. 1570-161S), Zihui,
1.13a. Lace Ming edition.
Formerly collection of
Wang Fangyu.
(right) Fig. 1.47 Xue Shang-
gong (fl. ca. 1131-62), Lidai
zhongding kuanzhi fa tie. Lace
Ming edition published by
Zhu Mouyin (ca. 1633),
reprinted in 1935 by the Yu
Family in Haicheng.
the game had a degree of popularity. Judging from its contents, the Dictionary
of Characters was intended for a broad audience, including commoners who
commanded only ordinary reading and writing skills. Readers could quickly
pick out variants of characters they had already used in writing simply by
146
looking them up and replacing them with selections from the dictionary.
Such an exercise was far from equaling the etymological research and
knowledge of serious literati players, nor, of course, did such dictionaries meet
the needs of sophisticated players obsessed with the game. To enable the so-
phisticated literatus to study ancient scripts and equip him with advanced
knowledge for strange-character gamesmanship, a sizable number of books on
ancient scripts were published or reprinted, a number of them works of some
considerable antiquity. Zhu Mouwei's (d. 1624) Guwen Script and Strange Char-
acters (Guwen qizi), published in the late Wanli reign, was intended for an au-
dience different from that served by the Dictionary of Characters. This twelve-
chapter work not only listed strange characters, some of them distinctly odd-
looking, but also gave their paleographical and etymological roots. Among
other late Ming dictionaries and publications, two were particularly influential.
One was Inscriptions on Bronze Ritual Vessels from Successive Dynasties (Lidai
zhongding yiqi kuanzhi fa tie), a catalogue of inscriptions on ancient objects com-
piled by the Southern Song scholar Xue Shanggong (fl. II31-62) that was re-
printed in the Chongzhen reign by Zhu Mouwei's cousin Zhu Mouyin (ca.
1581-1628) (Fig. 1.47). The other was Zhao Yiguang's paleographical work A
Long Annotation to "The Analysis of Characters as an Explanation of Writing,"
mentioned above; as we have seen, Zhao's paleographical studies were hailed
147
by Xu Shipu as one of the cultural achievements of the Wanli reign. With
these advanced dictionaries, well-educated literati could now play the game in
an even more elegant and cultivated manner.
This playing with unusual character forms precisely suited the aesthetic
trend in the late Ming. In an essay entitled "Elegant Activities of the Literati"
("Yunchuang yashi"), Shi Qing (fl. r6sos-6os) lists "carrying wine to visit
friends to discuss strange characters"(zaijiu wenqizi) as one of the favorite cul-
148
tural activities of the elite. Thus, in the game of deciphering unusual charac-
ters, late Ming intellectual curiosity was intertwined with late Ming cultural
life. Relaxing and drinking wine, the literati could view examples of calligraphy
and discuss the paleographical and etymological origins of strange characters.
Shi' s essay makes it clear that this activity was not merely scholastic; it was
also entertaining. Historians of calligraphy have overlooked the recreational
aspect oflate Ming calligraphy, with its stresses on the tricky, the puzzling, the
dramatic, and the amusing. This aspect was probably encouraged by the
spread of urban culture and its emphasis on values other than the strictly in-
tellectual. Difficult-to-read characters corresponded to the word games, rid-
dles among them, that were included in such popular publications as house-
hold encyclopedias and collections of dramas, much as crossword puzzles and
other word games are included in modern magazines and newspapers. The
obsession with strange characters may also have arisen in response to increas-
ing literacy, which allowed those of relatively low social status to imitate the
elite; by making reading more difficult, well-educated literati were able to dis-
tinguish themselves from their emulators. Cultivating obscure character forms
149
helped the literati preserve their distinctive social status.
Seal carving made one other significant contribution to calligraphy. Callig-
raphers in the late Ming, attracted by antique seals with their signs of wear
and damage, attempt to impart an antique flavor to calligraphy by giving it a
ravaged appearance. Ever since the Yuan dynasty, seals from the Qin and Han
periods-dating well over a thousand years earlier-had been viewed as im-
portant models of seal carving. For a number of seal carvers and critics in the
Wanli reign, Qin-Han seals were canonized as the primary models to be fol-
Fig. 1.48 Impres-
sion of a Han lowed. Many of these seals had suffered the depredations of time (Fig. 1.48) .
seal. After Luo By the late Ming, such signs of decay had become a desirable aesthetic quality
Fuyi, ed., Qin - that seal carvers attempted to reproduce in their works. The seal critic Shen
Han -Nanbeichao Y e relates some amusing anecdotes: "When Wen Guobo [Wen Peng] made a
guanyin zhengcun, seal, upon completing the carving, he put the seal in a box and asked a young
p. 64.
attendant to shake it all day. When Chen T aixue carved a seal, he threw the
stone seal on the ground several times until parts of it were broken, giving it an
.
annque fl avor. ulSO
Fig. 1.49 A seal impression reading
"Chen Sheng zhi yin" from He
Tong's Yinshi, 1.5. Dared 1623. Har-
vard- Yenching Library.
He Zhen, as discussed above, rook advantage of the natural break and

cracks in the stone as he was working to fracture the strokes of his characters.
He's influence was profound. Take, for example, a seal impression reading
"Chen Sheng" from He Tong's A History Carved on Seals (Fig. 1.49). In this seal,
the carver has deliberately severed strokes and marred the areas between
strokes. This damage contributes an antique feel to the work.
James Watt has argued that, to a large extent, the sensibility that encour-
aged artificial damage in seal carving resulted from the intensive connoisseur-
ship of calligraphy rubbings during the late Ming. "A large proportion oflate
Ming literature on connoisseurship was devoted to rubbings, and the meticu-
lous attention and intense connoisseurship lavished on stone inscriptions
sharpened the eye of the scholar I collector to an extraordinary degree.'' 151 The
influence undoubtedly moved in both directions: firsthand experience with
seal carving was as likely to awaken sensitivity to the qualities shared by seals
and rubbings. Otherwise, how can we explain the fact that although the lite-
rati began collecting rubbings in the Song dynasty, the traces of wear on en-
graved rocks, stones, or wood did not attract great interest until the heyday of
literati seal carving in the late Ming? The Northern Song calligrapher Huang
Tingjian, for instance, copied the Inscription for Burying a Crane (Yihe ming),
which had been engraved on a cliff probably early in the sixth century. This
inscription is regarded as having had a major influence on Huang's work; yet
from Huang's extant calligraphies, it is evident that he was attracted chiefly by
the character structures of this ancient work and that he showed little interest
Fig. 1.51 Derail of Fig. 1.50.
in the effects caused by the extensive damage it had received. 152 We know also
that the Wu School master Wen Zhengming had ancient rubbings in his col-
lection, including a rubbing of the Memorial Stele of Zhang Qian (Zhang Qian bei),
a work very much damaged/ 53 but Wen's clear, neat, defined brushwork
shows no sign that the calligrapher made any attempt to embrace the flavor of
antique destruction.
Calligraphic techniques for imitating wear were introduced only in the
Tianqi reign by calligraphers like Zhang Ruitu and particularly Wang Duo.
In their calligraphies, some characters were written with ink so wet that it
spread across absorbent satin or paper to the point that where at times a char-
acter's internal strokes merged, leaving only the character's outline recogniz-
able. In a running script hanging scroll written in 1647, now in Taipei in the
collection of the Ho Ch'uang-shih Calligraphy Foundation (Fig. r.so ), the
brush is so saturated with ink that strokes in a number of characters bleed,
leaving their edges irregular, not unlike the unexpected and irregular cracks on
stone seals that result from speedy carving. The character wu ~(without),
the eighth character in the fourth column from the right (Fig. r.sr), is so wet
that the individual strokes in the middle part of the character have disap-
peared. This blurry execution generates in the viewer a slight feeling of ambi-
guity. None of this bothered the artist, who kept his brush moving till the end,
creating a truly extraordinary effect.
We do not know how Wang Duo evaluated such effects in his own work.
But from his dedications, we can assume that this practice was acceptable to
both the calligrapher and his audience. Rough as it may appear, however,
Wang Duo's use of wet ink to produce a ravaged look in many of his calligra-
Fig. 1.50 Wang Duo phies is in several respects a rather sophisticated experiment: it intensifies con-
(1593-1652),Calligraphy for trasts among characters, increases the impression of spontaneity, and makes
Shan Danian. Dared 1647. viewing a more theatrical experience. A few ofWang Duo's personal seals
Hanging scroll, ink on with broken strokes further confirm the hypothesis that the calligrapher
sarin, 237 x 56 em. Ho sought to attain a somewhat similar effect in his calligraphies. The visual ex-
Ch'uang-shih Calligraphy
perience of viewing damaged seals may have inspired Wang's bleeding strokes
Foundation, Taipei.
in calligraphy, as a display of naturalness and genuineness as well as of qi.
The significant impact of seal carving on late Ming calligraphy deserves to
be more fully explored. Such an investigation would help to explain why, in
the Qing, almost all the important calligraphers of the stele school were asso-
ciated, to a greater or lesser degree, with the art of seal carving.
A SENSE OF CRISIS
Although the urban culture of the late Ming appeared to enjoy both artistic
and economic prosperity and vitality, its lively surface hid serious ongoing
crises, including the political strife between the literati bureaucrats and
eunuchs discussed above. There were problems in the economic sphere as
well. In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, a massive amount of
silver flowed steadily into China from Japan and South America through
154
Japanese and Portuguese merchants who traded for Chinese luxury goods.
In the wake of this influx of silver, a tax reform in the middle decades of the
sixteenth century, the so-called Single Whip Method (yitiaobian fa), com-
muted most land taxes, labor service obligations, and other levies in return
for payments of silver. Despite apparent affluence, the country became in-
creasingly dependent on silver as the circulation of silver increased, resulting
in inflation and speculation, and considerably changing traditional economic
patterns. China became vulnerable to shortages in silver supply that eventu-
ally arose as the result of expensive wars against domestic rebels, defensive
measures to protect the country from threats beyond its frontiers, and reduc-
tions of imported silver when China's maritime trade was blockaded by the
Dutch. The Ming government was forced to raise taxes seven times during
the last two decades of the dynasty. A series of devastating natural disasters
further damaged the already wobbly economy. Signs of instability were
evident !n both urban and rural areas: rebel armies led by Li Zicheng (1606-
45) and Zhang Xianzhong (1606-46) presented serious challenges to the
government.
Threats from beyond the northern frontier became more severe even as
the domestic crisis deepened. The Manchus, who lived northeast of China,
became increasingly bellicose, in part because Ming military forces had
shrunk due to ingrained problems in the military system. The military effec-
tiveness of hereditary soldiers based in military colonies and garrisons de-
creased drastically, as a result of fiscal mismanagement and the increasing
dominance of civil officials over military affairs. By comparison, paid soldiers
became the more efficient fighting force. This change, however, caused an-
other dilemma. Well-paid recruits were a tremendous burden on the gov-
ernment. Underpaid or unpaid troops could turn their weapons on the citi-
zens.155 In general, the deterioration of the Ming military establishment
encouraged would-be rivals of the dynasty to become more aggressive. The
Manchus frequently raided frontier regions. At times incursions even reached
areas near the capitaL
The Manchus also devised a strategy that was as important a threat to
China as their military capacity. As they began the process of slow expansion
in Manchuria, they built a political apparatus modeled on that of the Chinese
but incorporating elements of their own. Their political preparations meant
that they had a system particularly well designed to ensure a smooth transition
if and when they replaced the Ming government.
Confronted with these crises, many of those who felt strongly responsible
for the destiny of the dynasty, such as the members of the Donglin movement,
turned their attention to the counsels of ancient sages and exemplary figures in
the Classics as a means of coping with contemporary affairs. There was a sig-
nal renewal of interest in the Confucian classics and the histories on the part
of scholars even as others were seriously challenging their authority. In the
r62os, the Fu she, another literary society with a strong political orientation,
openly declared that its platform was "to revive ancient teachings." In the Fu
she's manifesto, Zhang Pu (r6o2-4r), the founder of the society, wrote:
From the time education [began to] decline, scholars have not understood the
wisdom embodied in the Classics. Instead they plagiarize what they have heard and
seen and call it their own. Some have been lucky enough to become officials. [But]
those at court are incapable of advising the emperor [and] those who are local officials
do not know how to help the people. There are fewer and fewer talented men and the
government gets worse every day. This is all because [of the decline in education]. I
do not want [to attempt] to measure [my own] virtue nor calculate [my own] ability.
I [only] hope to join with many scholars from all over the empire to revive the ancient
teachings so that future generations will be able to provide useful service [to the coun-
try]. For tQis reason, [our group's] name is the Fu she [The Society for Reviving (An-
. T each'mgs )] .156
c1ent
Many members of the Fu she, with this injunction in mind, devoted them-
selves to the Classics and historiography. Zhang Pu compiled a number of
books on Confucian classics and history. Chen Zilong (r6o8-47), another
leading figure of the Fu she, compiled a multivolume anthology of writings on
Ming politics and economics.
The revival of ancient learning led to evidential examination and textual
analysis, methods of study that competed with the traditional approach to the
Classics and were regarded by some scholars as a more profitable way to study
them. Fang Yizhi (r6u-7r), for example, promoted ancient learning but ap-
plied a textual approach to the study of the Classics in an attempt to compre-
hend them more accurately from a linguistic standpoint. Practical learning and
textual analysis never completely disappeared, even when late Ming scholar-
ship was at its most introspective and speculative. The revival of ancient learn-
ing as a prescription for the ills of the late Ming crisis marked a significant de-
parture from the intellectual trends of the time. By the early Qing, as we shall
see in Chapter 3, practical learning and textual analysis gradually became ele~
ments of mainstream scholarship.
1
FU SHAN S LIFE IN THE MING
On the nineteenth day of the intercalary sixth month of the dingwei year (r6o7),
the thirty~fifth year of the W anli reign, Fu Shan was born in Yangqu, a
county close to the city ofTaiyuan in Shanxi province (see Map r.r). He was
the second son ofFu Zhimo. He had two brothers: the older w.as Fu Geng (d.
1642), and the younger Fu Zhi.
The Fu family had long lived in Datong, a city north ofTaiyuan, but six
generations before Fu Shan, an ancestor, working as a tutor in the Shanxi
residence of one of the Ming princes, moved to Xinzhou, a prefecture
neighboring T aiyuan. Fu Shan's great~grandfather subsequently moved to
nearby Yangqu when forced, because of his handsome appearance, to marry
the daughter of a prince living in Yangqu. Even though his family had moved
from Xinzhou decades earlier, Fu Shan nonetheless considered Xinzhou his
native place. This was more than a psychological attachment: the Fu family
still owned land in Xinzhou from which it received income.
The Fu family had a long tradition of commitment to education, but the
pinnacle of academic success-passing the national civil service examination-
was achieved only when Fu Shan' s grandfather Fu Lin obtained his jinshi degree
in 1562. Fu Lin's official career reached its peak when he became head of the
military district ofLiaohai in Shandong province, where he performed well on
the battleground. Military service, however, did not prevent Fu Lin from having
an interest in history and literature. He composed essays in the manner of the
ancients and had a particular liking for Ban Gu's (A.D. 32-92) History of the West~
ern Han (Han shu). He also published his own anthology, Collected Writings of
Musuitang (Musuitangji), and sponsored the publication of an edition of the
Huainanzi, a work by Han scholars of which Fu Shan later became very fond.
Fu Lin had several brothers, two of whom were also successful in the civil
service examinations. Fu Zhen became a juren in 1561 and was later appointed
prefect ofYaozhou in Shaanxi province. Fu Pei, another brother of Fu Lin,
earned his jinshi degree in 1577 and was promoted to investigating censor after
meritorious service as magistrate ofHuating. The successes of these three
brothers in the civil service examinations and in their official careers, together
with the marriage of Fu Shan's great~ grandfather to the daughter of the Prince
ofTaiyuan, meant that the family enjoyed a degree of prominence in Shanxi in
the latter half of the sixteenth century. 157
There was an imbalance between economy and culture in late Ming Shanxi.
Shanxi merchants-skillful in finance and in trading salt, coal, alum, furs, and
oatong
0
ZHILI
Daizhou
XinzhOu
Jingle 0
0
wenshui
0
•
Qixian
Fenzhou
SHAANXI
Fuping
• HENAN
•
Huayin
Map 1.1 Shanxi
other highly profitable goods-were as rich as Huizhou merchants in the late

Ming, bur in contrast to their Huizhou counterparts, Shanxi merchants in-
vested little in cultural enterprises, and culturally speaking, Ming Shanxi was
comparatively backward. Only 5.6 percent of the jinshi degrees awarded during
58
the dynasty went to men from Shanxi/ far behind provinces like Nan Zhili
and Zhejiang. The Fu family's three degrees must have brought them dispro-
portionate power and prestige. This social background also enabled Fu Shan
to marry a daughter of Zhang P an (jinshi 1586), a government official, even
159
though Fu Shan's father was not a degree holder.
The generation ofFu Shan's father, Fu Zhimo, was nor as successful as the
generation of his grandfather in pursuing official careers. Although two ofFu
Shan's uncles became juren in the Wanli and Tianqi reigns, Fu Shan's father
did nor participate in the civil service examination: he stayed at home to fulfill
his duty as a filial son and worked as a private tutor.
Fu Shan studied at home from the age of seven to fifteen sui under the
guidance of a private tutor, Mr. Zhu. At the age of fifteen, he passed an ex~
amination and became a shengyuan (government student). Later, in 1626, he
passed a higher~ level examination that brought him a stipend from the gov~
ernment. During this time, Fu Shan became increasingly aware of the crises
confronting his country and realized that, from the standpoint of good gov~
ernment, the knowledge required to pass the civil service examinations was not
of practical use. He thus began studying the thirteen Confucian classics, his~
tory, and books by the thinkers of various schools of ancient times.
Calligraphy was an important part of a traditional Chinese education, and
Fu Shan practiced it from a young age. He wrote:
I started to copy Zhong You [A.D. 151-230) when I was eight or nine years old but
could not achieve a likeness. When I was older, there was little I did not try to copy.
[I copied) the Yellow Court Classic (Huangting [jing]), the Memorial Stele of Cao E (Cao E
[bei] ), the Eulogy ofYue Yi (Yue Yi lun ), the Poem Praising Dongfang Shuo's Portrait (Dong-
fang [Shuo hua]zan [by Wang Xizhi]), the surviving thirteen lines of the Rhapsody of the
Nymph of the Luo River (Luoshen [fu] [by Wang Xianzhi]), and the Preface to "Poxie lun"
[by Yu Shinan, 558-638 ], yet I still could not achieve likenesses. Following that, I
practiced copying Yan Zhenqing's Memorial Stele of the Yan Family Temple ( [Yanshi]
jiamiiw [bei]) and finally grasped some ofYan's unusual stylistic features. 160 Later, I
proceeded to copy his Letter on the Controversy over Seating Protocol and succeeded in
achieving a resemblance. As a further step, I copied the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion
Gathering (Lanting [xu]). Even though I could not achieve its spiritual expression, I
gradually came to understand the major principles of the art [of calligraphyJ•161
According to Fu Shan's autobiographical statement, his calligraphy studies by

and large followed the model~ book tradition. Nothing is known about the
appearance of his early calligraphy because almost none ofhis works dated
before the 1640s have survived.
One ofFu Shan's earliest extant calligraphies was written in 1641 (Fig. 1.52).
A short essay describing a garden he donated to a Buddhist temple, it survives
only as a rubbing: neither the original calligraphy nor the stone stele on which it
was engraved are extant. Despite the damage to the stele shown in the rubbing,
the stylistic features of this work are still visible. It is written in lesser cursive
script, in a style that still exhibits-as modern scholar Lin Peng has pointed
out-some characteristics of the model~ book school style ofMing calligra-
phy.162 The beginnings, turnings, and endings of strokes are carefully executed,
with refinement and elegance. Nothing is graphically dramatic except the over~
sized character "ye" -It in the last line. Some turned~up rightward diagonal (na) ~
strokes suggest the influence of draft cursive~ script calligraphy, in which cleri~
cal~ script characteristics are mingled with cursive.
A short poem in two columns of clerical~ script calligraphy is appended to
the essay and appears on the left side of the stele. The style is casual, as evi~
Fig. 1.52 Fu Shan,
Record of the Garden
of Shanglanwulong
Shrine. Dared 1641.
Rubbing of a stele,
ink on paper, meas-
uremenrs unavail-
able. Phorograph
courtesy Lin Peng.
denced by variations in the size of the spaces between the characters. Fur-
thermore, normal characteristics of typical clerical-script writing, such as the
turned-up ends of certain horizontal strokes and of the flaring rightward di-
agonals (na), are exaggerated, lending the calligraphy an unconventional air.
Like the essay, refined and elegant, the poem contrasts markedly with Fu
Shan's later, bold, dramatic pieces. Here, Zhao Mengfu's influence on Fu
Shan is visible: Fu Shan once wrote that Zhao Mengfu greatly influenced his
163
early calligraphy.
As we have seen, seal carving entered its heyday in the late Ming. Fu Shan
began carving seals in his late teens, and under his influence, his son and
grandson also studied this newly thriving art. Fu wrote: "All three generations
of my family are devoted to seal carving. Since I was eighteen or nineteen, I
have been able to carve seals. I am able to distinguish immediately between the
style of seals made in the Han dynasty and those carved later. Just like T atha-
164
gata, who knows the truth, I dare to be confident."
A seal reading "Seal ofFu Dingchen" ("Fu Dingchen yin") in relief is
probably an early seal carved by Fu Shan: "Fu Dingchen" was an early name
Fig. 1.53 Impression of that Fu later replaced with "Fu Shan" (Fig. 1.53). The execution of the carving
"Fu Dingchen yin" (The .tnd composition of this seal show that Fu Shan had mastered the techniques
seal ofFu Dingchen). of seal carving while still a young man. Many seals used by Fu Shan were
presumably carved either by him or by his son Fu Mei (r628-84), who was
165
especially skilled at carving seals with texts in intaglio. In fact, most of the
seals by Fu Shan and Fu Mei that survive are carved in intaglio.
Fu Shan's proficiency in seal carving spurred his interest in contemporary
publications dealing with seal script. Although no seal-script calligraphies by
Fu Shan predating the r64os have survived, it is evident from his mastery of
greater seal-script characters in the early r65os that he was already highly ac-
complished in seal script and that he must have practiced it before the fall of
the Min g. This early training led him to become a leading advocate in the early
Qing of ancient seal and clerical scripts as models fundamental to the mastery
of calligraphy. Bleeding strokes, which, I suggested above, were one result of
the influence ofliterati seal carving on calligraphy, are also frequently found in
the calligraphy both ofFu Shan and Fu Mei.
Fu Shan, already a talented artist, had gained a reputation as a connoisseur
by his twenties, and as such he was sought out by Shanxi collectors before the
fall of the Ming. In the early Ming, Shanxi collections were relatively rich in
famous ancient calligraphies and paintings, in part because the first Ming em-
peror, Zhu Yuanzhang (r. 1368-98), had given many ancient works of calligra-
phy and painting in the imperial collection to his sons enfeoffed in the prov-
inces. Zhu Gang (r358-g8), Prince ofJingong, Shanxi, received large numbers
166
of calligraphies and paintings as imperial favors. As a collateral descendant
of the prince, Fu Shan had access to this and other collections.
Many works that had been in the collections of early Ming princes, however,
were in private hands by the late Ming. Fu Shan knew a number of these collec-
tors. In a colophon to an album of Song and Yuan paintings, he wrote:
Many paintings in this album were once in the collection of Huang Xiaolian of
Shuangfeng. Some ofXiaolian's ancestors were officials in Shanxi, and they acquired
many calligraphies and paintings that were formally in princely hands. Xiaolian,
moreover, was both a knowledgeable and a good connoisseur. He had also studied
literature under Mr. Longchi. Hence, in quality and quantity, his collection was re-
fined and rich. [The Huang family collection] was the best in Taiyuan in the Jiajing
and Longqing reigns. In the gengwu [1630] and xinwei [1631] years, he invited me to
167
stay at his studio Bing'an to help him sift through his collection.
Han Lin (ca. r6oo-ca. r649), a friend ofFu Shan and a figure largely over-
looked by later art historians, was the owner of the richest collection in Shanxi
and an important cultural figure toward the end of the Ming. Born into a
wealthy merchant family in Jiangxian, Shanxi, Han Lin became a juren in r62I.
Later he traveled to Beijing several times in an attempt to pass the metropoli-
tan examination for the jinshi degree. Although he never succeeded, he made
many friends there in the capital. Han made several trips south to the Jiang-
nan region, to socialize with literati and to buy books, calligraphies, and paint-
ings. There he became a young friend ofHuang Daozhou and Ni Yuanlu and
a student of Dong Qichang. He was himself a good calligrapher in the styles of
Su Shi and Mi Fu.
Seal carving was merely a fashionable trend for many late Ming literati, but
Han Lin studied the art for decades and associated with many leading seal
168
carvers, among them Hu Zhengyan and Zhu Jian. Zhu was regarded as the
best seal carver of his time, and in r625, Han Lin sponsored the publication of
Zhu's seals. Through Han Lin, Fu Shan kept up with developments in seal
carving. Shen C. Y. Fu has pointed out the impact of Zhao Yiguang's cursive
169
seal calligraphy on Fu Shan. This influence was probably exercised through
Han as an intermediary, since in all likelihood Zhao and Han were friends.
Both Han Lin and his brother Han Yun were devout Catholics and stu~
dents of Xu Guangqi. In the late Ming, Catholic missionaries were active in
Shanxi, and the Han brothers invited several missionaries to Jiangxian, mak~
ingJiangzhou the area of most active Catholic influence in the late Ming. In
r627, the first Catholic church funded by Chinese members was built in Jiang~
zhou. Only four years later, the number of Christian churches in Jiangzhou
had increased to 30. The Hans also published numerous religious pam~
170
phlets and books introducing Western scientific knowledge to China. 171 As~
sisted by Han Yun, Nicolas Trigault Qin Nige, I577-r628), a French Jesuit,
compiled in the r62os a book entitled Phonetics by Western Scholars (Xiru ermu zi)
that transliterated Chinese characters into Western letters. This book was
extremely influential in the late Ming and early Qing: Fu Shan's interest in
phonology in the r66os and r670s may have been inspired in part by this work.
Han Lin was also politically active. He was one of only two Shanxi members
of the Fu she.
This background made Han Lin a prominent cultural figure in Shanxi. Fu
Shan frequently mentions Han in his writings, especially in reference to Han's
collection of calligraphy and painting. Han was killed by local bandits in the
second half of the r64os after he had been captured by and served in Li Zi~
cheng's army. His collection was scattered, and later Fu Shan and his friends
tried to retrieve some of his pieces. In about r646, for instance, Fu Shan helped
his friend Dai Tingshi (ca. r623-92) obtain the landscape handscroll by the
famous Northern Song painter Yan W engui (late tenth-early eleventh cen~
tury) that survives today in the Osaka Municipal Art Museum. In a colophon
on this scroll, Fu Shan wrote that Han Lin excelled in connoisseurship and
was a close friend of Dong Qichang, with whom he had often discussed callig~
172
raphy and painting. Although Fu Shan may have had ambivalent feelings
about Han Lin's belief in Christianity, 173 his association with Han was impor~
tant because late Ming intellectual and artistic life flourished more in the
south than in the north, and through Han, Fu Shan was kept informed about
what was happening in southern cultural circles. 174
The philosophical and religious diversity of Fu Shan's friends was consid-
erable. Jiangzhou was not only one of the most important bases for Chinese
Catholicism in the late Ming but was also the home ofXin Quan (rs88-r636),
the most influential Confucian scholar in late Ming Shanxi. Fu Shan was
friendly with Xin Quan and several of his important followers. 175 Shanxi was
also home to many Moslems: Fu Shan had two close friends, Wen Xuanxi
(1596-after 1679) and Liang Tan (ca. rsSs-after 1654), both believers in Islam,
whom he mentions with respect several times in his writings. 176 Well-trained
in Confucian thought, Fu Shan, from his thirties onward, also became in-
creasingly interested in religious texts, chiefly Buddhist and Daoist, and later,
he became a Daoist priest. Fu Shan' s study of different philosophies and his
association with people of different religious backgrounds, including Mos-
lems and Catholics, made him notably open-minded and undogmatic on
such issues.
Fu Shan's tolerance of doctrinal variety, however, was no guarantee that his
writing and behavior were without internal contradictions. On the one hand,
Fu Shan, like other members of the Fu she, was sensitive to the political crises
of his time and paid a great deal of attention to what was called practical learn-
ing (shixue). On the other hand, he was greatly influenced by the late Ming
intellectual climate of introspective philosophy, especially that espoused by
N eo-Confucian scholars such as Wang Yangming and Li Zhi. The latter had
lived in Shanxi at the turn of the sixteenth century and was influential in that
province throughout the late Ming and early Qing. 177
This contradiction is manifested in two early works. One is People in the
"History of the Western Han" and "History of the Eastern Han" Arranged by the
Rhymes of Their Last Names (Liang Han shu xingming yun). This book, compiled
by Fu Shan in the early r64os, is a reference work listing the figures mentioned
in the two canonical histories of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220 ), with a
brief note following the name of each person. Historiography was regarded as
a necessary training for Confucian scholars. This work, whose compilation
must have required a great amount of time, demonstrates Fu Shan's solid
scholarship, and it is used even today as a reference work for the study of Han
history.
The other book by Fu Shan predating 1644 was A History of Human Nature
(Xing shi); such discussions of mind, heart, and human nature were common
among late Ming scholars. The book was lost during the dynastic transition,
but by Fu Shan's own account, it was full of unconventional ideas. 178 Unusual
and distinctive arguments were part of the fashionable quest for novelty
among late Ming literati, and Fu Shan was no exception: his diverse intellec-
tual interests and the heterogeneous nature of his thought remained lifelong
characteristics. In an essay entitled 'The Biography of Mr. Who" ("Ruhe xian-
sheng zhuan"), he wrote:
Mr. Who is a person whom people do not understand. Since they do not understand
him, they question him. When he is asked, "Are you a Confucian scholar:"' he answers,
"I do not preach to students.""Are you a Daoistt "I cannot achieve longevity with in-
difference."" Are you a Zen believer:"' "I do not play tricks."" Are you in the School of
Nominalists?" "Am I not substantial?" "Do you believe in the Mohist School?" "I can-
not accept the idea of universal fraternity without distinction." "Are you a believer of
Yang Zhu [an early Warring States period philosopher] t "I am really not for mysel£''
"Do you know military strategy?" "I do not like to kill people." "Can you compose po-
ems:"' "I regard being a poet as disgraceful." "Can you write essays:"' "I do not know the
so-called great writers of today." "Do you make comments on people:"' "I have been a
follower ofRuan Ji [2ro-63] for a long time." "Are you lofty?" "I am contemptible." "Do
you have the great truth?" "I am the great falsehood."" Are you really wrong:"' "I have
something of the so-called great right." "Who are yout "I am all of the various." "Don't
you forget yourself?" "How difficult it is to forget. How come? How come? Because I
forget myself a lot." "Sir, Sir, who are you, really:"' "I am the one you are neither able to
179
understand nor know how to understand: just leave me as I am."
Fu's essay modeled on Tao Yuanming's (372:'-427) autobiographical

"Biography of Mr. Five Willows" ("Wuliu xiansheng zhuan"). Mr. Who,
180
obviously, is Fu Shan himself. In the essay, he asserts his independence
from others but admits his debt to different schools of philosophy and
thought. The seemingly contradictory and heterogeneous state ofFu Shan's
mind revealed in this passage is characteristic oflate Ming culture. The
philosophical pluralism, the equal treatment of different schools of philosophy
and religion, and the advocacy of a self-expressive individualism are clearly
inherited from late Ming thinkers.
Yuan Jixian (d. r646), an official who was later to have an important influ-
ence on Fu Shan, arrived in Shanxi in the seventh month of the year jiaxu
(r634) as commissioner of education. In the ninth month of the same year,
Wu Shen ( r589-after r644) was appointed governor of Shanxi. Both Yuan
and Wu were opponents ofWen Tiren (jinshi I598; d. r638), a senior official
associated with the clique of the notorious eunuch Wei Zhongxian, who had
died in r627. During their service in Shanxi, Fu Shan established good rela-
tionships with both.
Supported by Wu Shen, in r636 YuanJixian re-established the Sanli Acad-
emy, the most important educational institute in Shanxi. Some 250 govern-
ment students (shengyuan) from Shanxi were enrolled in the academy and
awarded stipends. Renowned local scholars were invited to lecture on a regular
basis, Fu Shan' s talent soon won him a reputation among his fellows, and he
was ranked by Yuan as the academy's best student. The Sanli Academy soon
proved influential in the political and cultural life of Shanxi and had profound
influence on Fu Shan himsel£ who was brought into contact with some of the
most promising young men in the province.
So • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life
An analysis of the family background of Fu Shan' s friends at the academy
may be helpful in understanding their political positions in the early Qing.
Students at the academy came mainly from the local elite, including govern~
ment officials and the landed classes. For instance, Yang Fangsheng (b. r6m),
also a native ofYangqu, was the son of a Ming official. So were Dai Tingshi
from Qixian and Sun Yinghan (fl. 1630-50) from Yuxian. Other friends came
from the landed class, such as Bai Yuncai (fl. I63o-6o) from Pingding and Cao
Liangzhi (d. 1643) and Wang Rujin (d. 1649) from Fenyang. Most of these
men became members ofFu Shan's small circle ofloyalist friends in the early
Qing.
In the fourth month of 1636, Zhang Sunzhen was appointed regional
inspector (xuan'an yushi) of Shanxi by Wen Tiren, then at the peak ofhis
power at the imperial court. In the seventh month of the same year, W u Shen
submitted a memorial to the emperor recommending that Yuan Jixian be ap~
pointed a position in Beijing. As a partisan of Wen Tiren and in an attempt to
attack Wu Shen, Zhang impeached Yuan Jixian for taking bribes. In the tenth
month, Yuan Jixian was arrested and sent to Beijing for interrogation.
Having heard that Yuan Jixian was in trouble, Fu Shan and his close friend
Xue Zongzhou (d. 1649) decided to attempt his rescue. They urged other stu~
dents at the Sanli Academy to petition the court. Meanwhile, they followed
Yuan Jixian by walking to Beijing, where Yuan was thrown into the prison of
the Ministry ofJustice. To finance his activity, Fu Shan sold much of his
property. Fu Shan and a friend drafted a petition in Beijing that was signed by
some hundred students from Shanxi. They attempted to present it to the
court through an official channel, the Office ofT ransmission, but the head of
that office was a friend of Zhang Sunzhen. Zhang's friend rejected the peti~
tion with the excuse that it was not in the proper format and sent a copy to
Zhang in Shanxi. Zhang was furious with Fu Shan and threatened to perse~
cute his younger brother, Fu Zhi. Fu Shan ignored him. After several rejec~
tions by the Office ofTransmission, Fu Shan and his friends realized that it
would be impossible to reach the emperor by this means. Fu Shan then
drafted a leaflet and made copies for various government offices in Beijing. Fu
and his friends carried the leaflets with them and, when they met officials and
eunuchs, handed out the leaflets in the hope that it would eventually reach the
emperor. In the leaflet Fu Shan wrote:
The false accusation against Mr. Yuan of my home province is truly a national trag~
edy. Mr. Yuan has been in charge of education in my home province for almost three
years. As soon as he arrived, he began using Confucian moral teachings and the rights
and wrongs of society as the basis for education, then tested students on this basis in
the annual examination. He spared no effort in the performance of his duties. He
traveled back and forth through places where there were bandits, robbers, and fight~
ing. He took great pains to teach students, and those students always passed the ex~
Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • 8I
aminations .... In establishing the Sanli Academy, he began by using his own savings
to renovate the Sanli Shrine to honor virtuous people of the past and then enrolled
students in the academy, encouraging and inspecting their studies from morning to
night, and eating plain food with them, neither receiving money from the government
181
nor bothering local people for funds. Could a corrupt official behave like this!
At the end of the leaflet Fu Shan appealed to the government to uphold jus~
tice and reject the false accusations against Yuan.
Zhang Sunzhen was arrested and brought to Beijing for interrogation in
the first month of the following year. In the fourth month, Yuan Jixian was
judged not guilty. The brave and successful initiative ofFu Shan and Xue
Zongzhou in rescuing Yuan Jixian earned them an enormous reputation
among scholars and officials in Beijing. At the request of Yuan Jixian, the sen~
ior official Ma Shiqi (r584-1644) wrote an essay entitled "Record ofTwo
Righteous Scholars from the Right Side of Mount [Taihang]" ("Shanyou er
yishi ji") in their praise. Fu Shan thus became the leader among the literati
182
from Shanxi.
A few years later, in 1642, Fu Shan failed the civil service examination at the
provincial level. His failure, however, was not important to him. That his in~
terest in practical knowledge and religious texts predated the civil service ex~
amination is an indication that he paid less than full attention to the studies
necessary for passing the examination. In fact, a number of intellectuals of the
late Ming understood that the greatest defect of the examination system dur~
ing their time was that the knowledge required to pass the examination-the
memorizing of model essays and "likely" passages from the Classics (that is,
passages likely to be tested on the examinations)-was not useful knowledge.
Fu Shan' s indifference to the civil service examinations did not mean that he
was indifferent to contemporary affairs. His leadership in petitioning for the
release of Yuan Jixian demonstrates his political consciousness and capacity.
His concern for the fate of the country is manifested in a work entitled "Rhap~
sody of the Capital City" ("Yudu fu"), which he wrote during his stay in Beijing
in the spring of 1637 when the Manchus were becoming an increasing threat to
the capital. In the summer of 1635, a Manchu army had raided Baoding, a city
not far from Beijing, and Beijing was on the alert. Rumors that the emperor was
going to move the capital circulated in Beijing. Expressing his views on the sub~
ject, Fu Shan wrote that he believed that the emperor would not move the capi~
tal, since that would harm the country. He extolled the emperor and encour~
aged him to lead the country to repulse the Manchu aggression.
Fu Shan cherished the hope that the emperor would rally the country
against the Manchu crisis. The situation, however, worsened further in the
early 164os, and dynastic collapse seemed inevitable.
fu 5han's Lite
and
Chapter 2 • Calligraph!)
in the E_arl!j
Years otthe
YEARS OF WANDERING
Military threats in the early 1640s from both Manchus to the north and Li
Zicheng's rebel army in Shaanxi to the west deepened the Ming dynastic crisis.
In Shaanxi and the neighboring province of Shanxi, an air of crisis prevailed
among the local elite. In the first month of 1642, Cai Mao de (d. 1644) was ap~
pointed governor of Shanxi, and the following year, he reopened the Sanli
Academy and invited scholars to lecture on a range of practical subjects. Fu
Shan and Han Lin (who had studied ballistics under the Jesuits) were among
the scholars teaching battle tactics and strategy, defense, artillery, water con~
servation, and what we might now call "economics."
Li Zicheng' s army conquered Xi' an in late 1643. On New Year's Day of the
jiashen year (February 8, 1644), Li Zicheng established his own dynasty in
Xi' an and prepared to launch an expedition toward Beijing. Shanxi lay on the
shortest route from Shaanxi to Beijing, and people there were alarmed at the
likelihood of his advance.
Fu Shan became involved in anti-Li Zicheng activities. After Li occupied
Xi' an, his supporters in Shanxi spread the word that his army did not sack the
places they passed through or occupied, nor did they levy taxes. In response,
Fu Shan and Cai Maode put up posters in cities and villages, claiming under
false names that they were from Shaanxi and had witnessed the brutality of
Li's army. The two also composed children's rhymes, which said that the year
jiashen would be a bad one for Li Zicheng. Because children's rhymes were of~
ten viewed as omens, Fu and Cai hoped that they could undercut Li's support
in Shanxi by making people believe that Li did not possess the mandate of
Heaven.
The court was shocked by Li Zicheng's establishment of a rival dynasty and
his plan to march on Beijing. Vice Minister of Personnel Li Jiantai (jinshi r625),
a native of Quwo, Shanxi, submitted a memorial to the throne asking permis~
sion to use his family fortune to establish an army in his hometown to fight Li
Zicheng. When the emperor agreed, LiJiantai asked Fu Shan and Han Lin to
be his advisers. In the middle of the first month of 1644, Fu Shan went to
Pingding, in eastern Shanxi, to wait for Li Jiantai in the hope that he could
lead an army to protect T aiyuan. But Quwo fell to Li Zicheng even before Li
Jiantai had raised an army. On the sixth day of the second month, T aiyuan
was surrounded by Li Zicheng's army, and two days later it fell. Cai Maode
hanged himself at the Sanli Academy.
On the nineteenth day of the third month, Li Zicheng entered Beijing. The
Chongzhen emperor hanged himself the same day. But Li did not hold the
capital long. A month and a halflater, the Manchus conquered Beijing; they
justified their action by claiming that they were punishing Li and his fellow
rebels. In the tenth month, T aiyuan fell to the Manchus, and soon most of
China was under the governance of a Manchu dynasty, the Qing. 1
The struggle against the new alien regime was fierce in the early years
following the conquest. In southern China, resistance came chiefly from what
later came to be called the Southern Ming, a series of three regimes founded
by Ming princes in the south, each claiming to be the legitimate ruler of the
Ming dynasty. Fighting between Manchu armies and forces of the Southern
2
Ming continued for some time. Military resistance by local Chinese in the
conquered territory also continued sporadically.
Yuan Jixian, Fu Shan's teacher in the Sanli Academy, served as vice minis~
ter of war of the Hongguang regime of the Southern Ming until he was cap~
tured by the Manchus in the sixth month of 1645. Emphatically refusing to
serve the Manchus, Yuan Jixian was escorted to Beijing two months later.
From there, he sent a poem and a letter to Fu Shan through a former student
of the Sanli Academy who was serving the new government. The poem reads
in part:
It was you alone who shared my suffering;
Now our parting is forever.
But the ancient Way remains with the universe;
From life and death grows heart-to-heart friendship.
In the letter, Yuan wrote:

I sought death inJiangzhou [where I was captured]. I failed. At present, calm, I can
only wait. I hear that you have entered the mountains to care for your mother. That
is good. At this moment, you should not move a step from the mountains. I have
84 • The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
given Xiting of Quwo an album of my poems, and asked him to forward it to you.
3
Please keep it in the mountains. Have you received it?
The following year Yuan was executed. Before the execution he sent an~
other letter toFu Shan: "Among the scholars of Shanxi province you are the
one who knows me best. I will be killed soon. I dare not betray your trust, dare
14
not make you ashamed to call me, Yuan Jixian, your friend.' lt was said that
Fu Shan cried when he received this letter and said, "How could I dare bet;ray
,,s
you, M r. Yuan.
Many poems written by Fu Shan in the early years of the Manchu conquest
show his concern for the political and military affairs of his time and his deep
sorrow at the fall of the dynasty. But how deeply Fu Shan was involved in
anti~ Manchu military activities is an open question. As a filial son, Fu Shan
felt strongly that it was his duty to tend to his aging mother, since his elder
brother, Fu Geng, had died. In many poems, Fu Shan used phrases such as
6 7
"Oh! My mother is old!" or "I take refuge here to make a home for mother."
Fu Shan' s repeated poetic sighs over his mother should be seen not only as a
sign of his deep affection for her but also as an expression of the conflict in his
mind between loyalty (zhang) and filial piety (xiao ). One of the cardinal tenets
of Confucianism was that an official should sacrifice his life for the dynasty he
served. Theoretically, loyalty to the emperor took precedence over filial piety.
But even supposing that an official had the courage to face death, he con~
fronted the problem of who would care for his parents if he died. In the early
Qing, many scholar~officials claimed that they endured the humiliation of sur~
vival for just this reason. But no matter what their justification, most Confu~
8
dan scholars were ashamed that they had not defended the Ming better. For
this reason, Fu Shan, in one of his poems, styled himself"a servant of the em~
peror" (chen), sighing that "The mother of your servant is old!" The guilt~
9
ridden poet was begging forgiveness from his deceased monarch.

Fu Shan's long years of wandering began with the fall ofT aiyuan early in
1644. In the third and fourth months of that year, he traveled to the moun~
tains ofPingding and Shouyang, where later he was joined by his mother, his
son, Fu Mei, and his nephew Fu Ren (1638-74). In the eighth month, he be~
came a Daoist priest. 10 Like many Ming loyalists who became Buddhist
monks after the fall of the Ming, Fu Shan's motivation was clear. By becoming
a Daoist priest, he could disguise his anti~ Manchu activities and avoid having
to shave his forehead and wear a queue in the Manchu fashion, as the Qing
government had ordered.
Fu Shan did not live in Taiyuan during the first few years of the Manchu
conquest, perhaps because the Manchus made it a major military base. Instead,
he traveled and lived in different places in Shanxi, including Yuxian, Wuxiang,
Quwo, Shouyang, Pingding, and Fenyang. His occasional visits to Yangqu
The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest • 85
and T aiyuan were brie£ Of all the places he stayed, he sojourned longest in
Fenyang, the home of his close friends Wang Rujin and Xue Zongzhou. Our~
ing these travels, Fu Shan stayed with friends or occasionally in temples. In
Yuxian, for instance, he stayed with Sun Yinghan, and in Pingding with Bai
Yuncai, both of them friends from the Sanli Academy.
Jonathan Spence writes: "In Ming and Qing China, there was almost no
aristocracy as such. The descendants of the ruling families of even the greatest
dynasties did not retain their tides and prestige once their dynasties had
fallen .•.. Similarly, after r644, the former Ming aristocracy was not pre~
served.''ll The dynastic transition had disastrous consequences for the once
welko~do Fu family. A poem by Fu Shan suggests that he sold some houses
12
he owned before setting out on his travels, but apparently his money soon
ran out, and he was forced to find other ways to support his family. A letter to
a friend reveals that around r650 Fu and his friends tried to open a liquor
shop, which they supposed would be highly profitableP Apparently it was
unsuccessful, in part because the Qing government strictly prohibited the pro~
duction of alcohol in areas of northern China suffering from severe grain
shortages because of the fighting and natural disasters. 14 In a study of the
Ming~Qing transition, Lynn Struve notes that "the rich lowerYangzi and
Hangzhou Bay regions had much that was vulnerable to destruction, but they
also had the greatest resources for recovery. Other parts of the country, once
devastated, remained longer in that condition.'' Shanxi was one of the prov~
15
inces that suffered worst and longest. In the early r65os, the Qing government
frequently waived taxes in many areas of the province because of the severity of
16
the destruction it had suffered.
An important source ofFu Shan's income was his medical practice, in
which his son acted as his assistant. He was known especially for his skill in
17
women's medicine. Records confirm that he owned a small pharmacy in the
city ofTaiyuan, probably after the late r65os. It was run by Fu Mei; Fu Shan
himselflived in the suburbs. A number ofFu Shan's extant calligraphy al~
18
bums include prescriptions he wrote for his patients.

Other major sources of income were painting and especially calligraphy.19
But Fu Shan expressed dismay that he was forced to sell his calligraphy: "My
family has been good at calligraphy for five or six generations. But my ances~
tors never wrote calligraphy for a living. It is I who now suffer the burden of
writing calligraphy for an income.'' Despite his chagrin, Fu Shan was fortu~
20
nately able to make his living this way. Unlike political power and wealth,
which might be drastically reduced or lost during a time of dynastic transition,
cultural "assets" were not so easily stripped away, and Fu Shan's cultural repu~
ration not only remained intact but continued to grow in the early Qing. The
Ming~Qing dynastic transition had no revolutionary impact on Chinese social
structure and culture. Cultural tastes and patterns remained the same among
the Chinese social and political elite, who preserved their political interests by
cooperating with the Manchus or by becoming government officials after pass~
ing the new regime's civil service examinations. At the local level in Shanxi, the
gentry and moneyed classes continued to be the major purchasers of calligra~
phy. Although reluctant to make his living as a calligrapher, Fu Shan could
find customers for his work without difficulty. Sometimes he was commis~
sioned to write or paint; more often, he exchanged his art for favors.
During this difficult period, Fu Shan received considerable economic sup~
port from friends from a similar sociopolitical background. One of his chief
supporters was Dai Tingshi. Some sixteen years younger than Fu Shan, Dai
Tingshi had been Fu Shan's friend from their days at the Sanli Academy. 21
Born into the family of a Ming official, Dai had an estate in Qixian that appar~
ently remained intact through the war. Dai, in addition, had a head for com~
merce. His secure financial situation enabled him to sponsor Fu Shan, as well
as other Ming loyalists in Shanxi from outside the province. From Fu Shan's
2
surviving letters to Dai/ we know that Dai not only directly supported Fu
Shan in a variety of ways, from buying food to providing a donkey for Fu's
journeys to other provinces, but also acted as an agent for Fu Shan' s artworks.
Fu Shan repaid him with gifts of calligraphy and painting. Dai was also a
prominent collector, and Fu Shan served as his consultant.
Fu Shan's unsettled life apparently continued until 1653, when Wei Yi'ao
(ca. r6r5-94 ), a Chinese official in the Qing government, bought a house for
Fu Shan in the village ofTutang, northwest ofTaiyuan. Fu Shan moved to
Tutang from Fenzhou in the ninth month of that year.
SHARED SORROW
The friendship between Fu Shan and Wei Yi'ao reveals how complicated rela~
tionships between Ming loyalists and Chinese officials in the Qing government
were and how crucial these officials were to the survival ofMing loyalists, a sub~
ject long ignored by historians. Wei Yi' ao was born into a rich farmer's family in
Xincheng, Baoding prefecture, Zhili province (modern Hebei). He became a
juren in 1642 but failed the examination for the jinshi degree the following year.
Wei Yi'ao' s dream of serving the Ming was soon shattered by the Manchu inva~
sion of 1644. When Sun Qifeng (rs8s-r675), a native ofBaoding and are~
nowned philosopher in the Neo~Confucian tradition, sought refuge from cha~
23
otic times in Wei Yi'ao's hometown in 1645, Wei became his student.
There was a critical shortage of officials to govern the huge area the Man~
chus had conquered in north China. The desperate Manchus recruited Chi~
nese scholars into the state apparatus. In r645, an urgent imperial edict to the
governor of Zhili province ordered all those with a juren degree either to take
the official selection test held by the Ministry of Personnel in Beijing or to sit
for the examination for the civil jinshi degree the following year. Those who
refused would be arrested, and the governor and other senior provincial offi~
cials would be impeached. In the sixth month of r645, Wei Yi'ao was taken to
Beijing for the examination. After passing it, he was appointed to Pingding in
eastern Shanxi. Before Wei Yi'ao left for Shanxi, Sun Qifeng, a Ming loyalist,
wrote for him an eight~character motto: "Be honest in performing official du~
ties, love the people, respect the scholars."24
Sun Qifeng's attitude toward the Manchus was complex. When Manchu
armies attacked the city ofRongcheng in r635, Sun led the inhabitants in a
bloody battle to protect the city. Even after neighboring cities had fallen to the
Manchus, Rongcheng remained in Chinese hands. This won Sun the reputa~
tion of a hero. When Li Zicheng ascended the throne in Beijing, Sun refused
to recognize his government as legitimate and led a force against Li. But once
the Manchus had occupied Beijing, he tacitly acquiesced to Manchu rule. 25
The protracted wars in the north, first with the Manchus, then with Li
Zicheng, and then with both, made many in the north hungry for peace. They
craved a political regime, even an alien one, that would restore social order. To
many northern gentry, Li Zicheng was more threatening than the Manchus.
Pragmatically, they accepted the alien regime for want of a better alternative.
Although Sun Qifeng himself declined several requests to serve the Manchu
government, like many other Ming loyalists (a loosely defined group), he con~
doned his students in the next generation working for the new government,
and even encouraged them to do so.
Wei Yi'ao arrived in Pingding in the ninth month of r645. According to
one local gazetteer, he did much to benefit the people over the following year,
consoling those who had survived the wars, commemorating those who had
died in fighting Li Zicheng, reducing the local burden oflabor service, and
26
reopening schools. But for an unknown reason-probably political-he was
demoted from his official post in r646 and, late that year, was appointed to a
low~ranking position in the Registry of the Shanxi Provincial Administrative
Commission in T aiyuan. His administrative ability and literary talent, how~
ever, were soon recognized by Sun Maolan (fl. r645-55), a Chinese bannerman
from Manchuria and the provincial administrative commissioner of Shanxi.
Some three years later, he was promoted to the head of the Registry.
The relationship between Fu Shan and Wei Yi'ao began about r647, after
Wei arrived in T aiyuan. They had previously known of each other through Fu
Shan's closest friend in Pingding, Bai Yuncai. Soon after arriving in T aiyuan,
Wei became a generous sponsor ofF u Shan. A handscroll of eighteen letters
dating from the r64os and r65os from Fu Shan to Wei Yi'ao provides ample
evidence that Fu Shan frequently asked Wei for assistance, ranging from fi~
27
nancial support to political protection. In his first letter to Wei Yi'ao, Fu
Shan wrote:
I was born a useless person who relies on others, and that alone is ridiculous; not even
one person and one mouth can depend on me. Having wandered for three years, I
have burdened others with feeding me.... Although I wear a Daoist hat, I have
abided by Buddhist disciplines since my youth.... My aged mother also prays con-
stantly to the Buddha. Every day she needs salt and rice so she can cook. ... Contrib-
28
uting money, you make a monk [Fu Shan] thankful.
Thus Fu Shan frankly acknowledged Wei Yi' ao' s financial generosity the first
time he wrote to him.
We know from the other letters that Wei Yi' ao helped Fu Shan in various
ways. When Fu Shan lived in Fenzhou, Wei sent him wine for his table (letter
6); and when Fu Shan's son married a daughter of a former Ming official in
Pingding, Wei used his influence to provide the Fu family with conveniences
(letters 4, 5, 8). In 1653 he bought Fu Shan a house, and in 1652 Fu even asked
Wei for a tax exemption on his land:
My family is originally from Xinzhou; at present I and my brother and cousin still
own a few mu of poor land there.... This land has not been taxed for eighty years
[because we were] a registered household. But now treacherous officials have put it
into the tax category "Real Grain." I am bombarded with complaints from my clans-
men there, and my brother and cousin are burdened with taking care of this matter.
Their bitterness cannot be expressed by words. I am going to submit a report to the
government and ask to have the case transferred to the prefecture in which I am living
and to have the property made tax exempt as before. Is this possible? If so, I do not
know how to process it. I hope you can advise my brother Fu Zhi about this. I myself
am ready to live in abject poverty, but this concerns the livelihood of my family, so I
cannot leave the matter unsettled. I have just heard that the Tax Circuit is investigat-
29
ing famine. Would this be an opportunity for pursuing it? (letter 17 )
Apparently Fu Shan felt somewhat ashamed to ask the government to exempt

his land from taxation, even though he felt compelled to do so because of the
need to feed his family. At the end of the letter he added: "After reading,
please burn this immediately; do not keep it. Be sure of that." But Wei Yi' ao
so treasured Fu Shan's calligraphy that he failed to honor Fu Shan's request
and thus preserved an important historical document because of its calli-
graphic value. Fu Shan repaid Wei Yi'ao for his help by writing calligraphy,
painting, and providing medical services for his family and friends. In his let-
ters, Fu Shan noted that he had produced a painting of bamboo (letter 3) and
executed a set of hanging scrolls for Wei (letter 8 ).
Wei Yi' ao' s aid went beyond the financial. When necessary, he provided Fu
Shan and his friends with political protection. Fu Shan's handscroll of eight-
een letters records his narrow escape from imprisonment or even death.
Around 1652, Fu Shan was lodging at the home of his friend Yang Fangsheng,
a descendant of a Ming official in Y angqu county. According to Fu Shan, one
day, during a gathering of friends, a young man who was the son-in-law of
Zhang Zhong, Fu Shan's brother-in-law, suddenly collapsed and died after
getting off a swing in the garden. Hearing this, a powerful local figure who had
had a quarrel with the Yang family seized the opportunity to advance the in-
terests of his clique and charged Yang Fangsheng, Fu Shan, and several others
with the death (letter 10 ). Fu Shan wrote to Wei Yi' ao asking for help. The
letter reads in part:
If the case is sent to you, please have your office make favorable comments about
us .... At all levels of government-county, prefecture and province-please do your
best to handle it. We have no one to rely on in the county government; I do not know
whether you know someone there. If you do, is the relationship closer We rely on you
to take care of this matter, and then your poor friends (Fu Shan andY ang Fangsheng]
will not muddle things up. (letter ro)
Letters nine to seventeen all deal with this case. Fu Shan repeatedly asked Wei
Yi'ao to use his power and influence to help get the cas·e dismissed. Since there
is no other record of the case, there is no way to verifjr Fu' s account of the
situation. But with Wei Yi'ao' s help, the case against Fu Shan and his friends
was dropped.
Conflict between former members of the elite and their local rivals was
sometimes intense in the early Qing. With the advent of the new dynasty,
newly powerful local strongmen in the north displaced former members of the
elite who had lost their political privileges during the dynastic transition and
the subsequent redistribution of political and economic power. In Fu Shan's
writings, we often find descriptions of how he and his Shanxi friends were
bullied by their "ferocious neighbors," probably new powerholders who rose as
the social structure changed under Manchu rule. Fu Shan wrote in letter four-
teen that his rivals, "relying on their close relations with the Manchus, were
plotting desperately to further their ends. It is really hateful" (letter 14). De-
scribing the difficult situation in Shanxi, Fu Shan sighed, "At present it is
really hard for us to live in our villages" (letter 17 ). The accusations against Fu
Shan andYang Fangsheng were probably a result of the conflict among local
elites, new and old. In these shifting circumstances, Wei Yi' ao now became the
30
political backer ofFu Shan and his friends.
In a study of the behavior of the local elite in T ongcheng, Anhui, during
the Ming-Qing transition, Hilary Beattie points out that "most of the elite,
even those in office, undoubtedly put local, family interests and the mainte-
nance of their position and prestige a long way above the abstract notion of
loyalty to a fallen dynasty or a few outward symbols of Chinese cultural iden-
tity." As she notes, "Overall, ... collaboration seems to have been more com-
31
mon in T ongcheng than retirement." The same situation prevailed in Shanxi.
In his biography ofDai Yunchang (1579-1667), a former Ming official, which
he composed at the request ofDai's son Tingshi, Fu Shan wrote:
. 9q " . The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
When writing the biography of Mr. [Dai Yunchang], I deliberately chose to dwell on
the twenty-three or -four years since he retired to Lutai mountain in the year jiashen
32
[1644 ], where his behavior matched that of Guan You' an in the Han dynasty. His
friend, Mr. Yang Huifang ofPuban, who obtained his jinshi degree in the same year
as Mr. Dai, also lived in retirement and died a few years earlier. Alas! In the year ding-
chou [1637 ], nineteen people from Shanxi received the jinshi degree. Since jiashen [1644],
when Mr. Zhang Yuanfu ofXaoyi fought loyally and died on the city wall, there have
been only these two in Shanxi who, when deciding between collaboration or retire-
ment, kept therr . mora1'mtegnty.
. 33
The implication ofFu Shan's remarks is clear: of the nineteen men from
Shanxi who received the jinshi degree in 1637, one died in the war, two chose
retirement-Dai Yunchang andYang H uifang-and the rest served the
Manchus. Those who remained loyal to the fallen dynasty tended to be few
and far between. It was therefore not uncommon in the early Qing forMing
loyalists to seek political backing from sympathetic Chinese officials in the
Qing government. Ironically, economic and political support from these offi-
cials was important for the survival of many Ming loyalists. Forced to struggle
for a living, Fu Shan noted sadly that he was unable to find a place of peaceful
retreat in the traditional style of the ancient hermits (letter 16).
Many Ming loyalists-Fu Shan among them-were careful to maintain
relationships with Chinese officials in the Qing government. One such official
whom Fu Shan cultivated was Yang Sisheng (1621-63), a native ofZhili prov-
ince and jinshi of 1646, who was appointed surveillance commissioner of
Shanxi in 1655. During his service in Shanxi, Yang and Fu became friends. In
1656, Yang was promoted to the post of provincial administrative commis-
sioner of Henan province. But both Fu Shan and Dai Tingshi kept in touch
with him. Yang Sisheng wrote to Fu from Henan, asking him to carve seals
for him, and Fu and Dai made plans to visit Yang in Henan and bring him
34
artworks and antiques. In 1663, when Yang Sisheng became critically ill in
Qinghua, Henan, Dai Tingshi sent him a valuable landscape handscroll enti-
tled Temple on a Mountainside (liangshan louguan tu) by the famous Northern
Song painter Yan W engui, with a colophon by Fu Shan; both painting and
colophon survive today in the collection of the Osaka Municipal Museum in
Japan. 35 Fu traveled hundreds of miles to try to cure Yang, but Yang died be-
36
fore Fu's arrival.
Fu Shan had close relations with another high-ranking official, Sun Maolan,
a Chinese bannerman from Liaodong. Sun served as the provincial administra-
tive commissioner of Shanxi from 1646 to 1652. Int~oduced by Wei Yi'ao, Fu
Shan became a friend of Sun Maolan and his son Sun Chuan (fl. 1646-1704).
Both father and son received medical care from Fu when they were ill. Sun
Maolan was promoted to the post of governor ofNingxia province in 1652.
Through Wei Yi'ao, Fu Shan kept in touch with the Sun family (letter 3) and
37
remained a lifelong friend of Sun Chuan.
Qing historians have noted that in the early years of the conquest, the Man,
chus relied most heavily on Han Chinese from two regions: on Chinese ban,
nermen and the scholar,gentry from areas in Liao,Shen in northeast China;
and on the scholar~gentry from Zhili, Shandong, and Shanxi in north China.
38
Sun Maolan belonged to the first group, Wei Yi'ao andYang Sisheng to the
second. Most governors and many senior officials at the provincial level were
Chinese bannermen, spoke both Manchu and Chinese, and maintained tradi,
tional Chinese mores. Their ethnic background made them more acceptable to
39
the Chinese, and they played a crucial role in ruling China.
Association with Chinese officials in the Qing government again proved cru~
cial for Fu Shan in what became known as the "Case of the Red, Robed Daoist."
In the fifth month of 1654, Song Qian, a native ofHuangzhou prefecture, was
arrested by the Qing government for organizing anti, Manchu activities in
Shanxi and Henan. In his confession, Song Qian named Fu Shan as a
sympathizer and insider, with the result that the following month Fu Shan was
jailed in Taiyuan. Fu Shan was called "The Red, Robed Daoist" (Zhuyi daoren)
because of his unusual dress: hence the name ~ven to the case by later histori~
ans. Details of the case are well documented in three reports submitted to the
Shunzhi emperor by three judicial departments in the central government in
40
the fourth and tenth months of 1654 and in the seventh month of 1655.
Fu Shan was tortured in jail, and his son, Fu Mei, and younger brother, Fu
Zhi, were also taken into custody. During the interrogations, Fu Shan flatly
denied any association with Song Qian. At this critical juncture, Fu Shan told
his interrogators that he was a friend of Sun Maolan, then serving as governor
41
of Ningxia province, and gave the name of Wei Yi'ao as a witness. What is
notable in Fu Shan's statement is that he mentions his relationship with two
Qing officials. Although Sun Maolan had left Shanxi more than two years
earlier, no doubt he still had influence there. When the case was investigated,
Wei Yi' ao, then living in Pingding, was on three, year leave because of his fa,
ther' s death. He was called in, and heedless of the consequences, he confirmed
Fu Shan' s statement. His testimony proved to be the turning point in the
42
case. As a result, several Qing officials helped to resolve the case favorably for
43
Fu Shan: Sun Chuan exerted himself to get Fu Shan released, and in the
central government two senior officials, Gong Dingzi (1616-73) and Cao Rong
44
(1613-85), did their best to influence the case. Fu Shan was finally released in
the seventh month of 1655.
Wei Yi'ao was appointed prefect ofXinzhou, the ancestral home ofFu
Shan' s family, in the tenth month of 1656. He resigned the post two months
later on the excuse of illness and returned to his hometown of Baoding in
Zhili, northeast of Shanxi. On behalf ofWei' s friends in Shanxi and himsel£
45
Fu Shan executed twelve hanging scrolls for Wei as a farewell gift. The text
of these scrolls was an essay by Fu Shan, describing how much Wei Yi' ao
loved wine. It reads:
As Brother Lianlao sets off for the North, frank words are presented in farewell:
46
Around the year jichou [r649) or gengyin [r65o), a wine lover from Shanggu came
to Shanxi as an official without specific duties. He was interested not in his post but
in wine and even brought the "sprit of wine" with him into his office. He called him-
self the "Wine Daoist" (Jiu Daoren).
This wine lover had once been the prefect ofPingding. I have heard from friends
in Pingding that the Wine Daoist described himself as "coming from a family that
had for generations not only plowed the land bur studied the Confucian classics and
followed the rites and models of scholars." In the year renwu [r642], he became a juren.
7
Mr. Jiaoshan [YangJisheng, r5r6-55t was a native ofShanggu and advocated follow-
8 49
ing the teachings of Xu Heng [r209-8rt but not ofJingxiu [Liu Yin, 1249-93). I
do not follow either, althoughJiaoshan's reason for rejectingJingxiu differs from mine.
Because the Wine Daoist is a true friend of wine, he would rather offend the teach-
ings ofJingxiu [than give up wine).
50
As I was about to write these scrolls, Mr. Zong Huang [fl. 1644-56) said to me:
"The Wine Daoist is, after all, an official; why don't you say something about what he
achieved?" I said: "Since he himself did not take his official duties seriously, ifi men-
tion them, then not o~ly would I offend the Wine Daoist but also wine." I only ask of
the Wine Daoist that when he is drinkinf wine, he must, in the spirit of drunkenness,
5
ask the Worthies of the Bamboo Grove of the Wei [220-65) andJin [265-420)
why they shunned the world by drinking wine. He will then have a good excuse to
desert Jingxiu.
But since the trend today is to choose one's steps and words carefully, he first took
2
his fellow townsman Liu Jingxiu as a model. 5 It was only later that he admired the
behavior of the Drunken Worthies of the Bamboo Grove and began to drink. He be-
came a heavy drinker-not a day or an hour went by when he did not drink. I truly do
not know why he abandoned Jingxiu and emulated the behavior of the distant Xi
53
[Kang) and Ruan Qi].
Mr. Yan [Yanzhi, 384-456) once wrote ofShuye [Xi Kang) in a poem, "The
wings of the luan [a sort of phoenix) sometimes snap; but who can tame the temper of
54
a dragon?" He wrote of Sizong [Ruan Ji), "His long whistle shows what he thought
of people; his violation of ritual naturally startles the crowd." These are descriptions
of Mr. Yan himsel£ which seems quite fitting. As for [Mr. Yan's) description of Bo-
5
lun [Liu Ling] 5 -"Immersing himself in drink to conceal his intent, who will know
that he does not indulge in licentious banqueting"?-it is a foul defense for those who
love alcohol. But I know Bolun would not accept such a defense. Bolun would say of
himself that since he is also a dragon-and-!uan-like man who disregards ritual and
startles the crowd, why should he not indulge in licentious banqueting? A man who
dares become a wine lover should not care about trying to excuse himself as a "licen-
tious banqueter." The Wine Daoist is one who dares eat at the licentious banquet.
I once worried that Jingxiu's Confucian ethics might restrain the Wine Daoist, but
the Wine Daoist paid no heed. Jingxiu had no intention of improving society; he only
lectured and hummed poetry. Although the Wine Daoist apparently intended to help
the world, the world is difficult to help, and so he helped himself to wine. 56 But in do-
ing so, he also comes close to hiding his intent. 57 He may use "hiding intent" to excuse
himself to Jingxiu, but such an excuse violates the spirit of wine. Wine is the liquid of
genuineness and purity. Genuineness allows no falsity; purity admits no mixing. Even
though Jingxiu disliked addiction to alcohol, how could he seek sincerity and purity
and yet reject wine~
I have taken Jingxiu to make my point, elaborating on the ideas of the ancients.
Jingxiu was a man of the Jin [ms- 1234], not of the Song. In the past, some scholars
have criticized him for his "Prose-Poem on Crossing theY angtze"("Dujiang fu"); 58
but even Jingxiu would have laughed.
Jingxiu's poems often evoke the Wine Daoist's interest in wine. Since the Wine
Daoist also studies poet~{" he should recite Jingxiu's poems. Written by the Man of
5
Qiaohuang, Zhenshan.
This set of scrolls is important both for its text and its calligraphy (dis-
cussed in detail in Chapter 4; see pp. 229-36). From the beginning, Fu Shan
downplayed the political aspects ofWei Yi'ao's office in Shanxi by claiming
that Wei had no specific administrative responsibilities. 60 He mentioned that
Wei Yi'ao had been the prefect ofPingding but said nothing about his accom-
plishments there. Fu Shan also noted that when Wei's friends asked him to
compose an essay as a farewell gift, they suggested that he praise Wei's
achievements as an official. Fu Shan claimed that, were he to do so, he would
offend not only Wei Yi'ao but also wine, since Wei was interested in one but
not the other.
"Wine" in Fu Shan's essay represents not only sincerity, innocence, and
sometimes irrationality but also political protest in a passive form. Wine is the
metaphorical opposite of"officialdom," the political establishment, and the
strict, hierarchical social order maintained by power. Wei Yi'ao, as a ConfU-
cian scholar, presumably was interested in helping the world. But the Manchu
conquest of 1644made that difficult. Although forced by circumstances to
accept im official post, he passively resisted the political apparatus of which he
was a part by turning to alcohol, as the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove
had done centuries ago. By explicitly stressing Wei Yi'ao' s love of wine, Fu
Shan excused his friend's serving an alien regime. By avoiding discussion of
Wei's official service in Shanxi, Fu Shan implicitly made the moral judgment
that serving the Manchus was understandable, though regrettable.
In his essay, Fu Shan frequently mentioned Liu Yin, a Neo-Confucian
scholar from Wei Yi'ao's hometown. Since Fu Shan knew that Wei would
follow his master Sun Qifeng and study N eo-Confucianism after retiring from
office, he took this opportunity to express his own opinion, having always
been critical ofN eo~ Confucianism, especially that of the Song~ Yuan
transitional period: he thought not only that it was something of a sham but
also that it missed an important principle.
Thus Fu Shan's mention, at the endofhis essay, ofLiu Yin's "Prose~ Poem
on Crossing the Yangtze River" is significant. Liu's work recounts a debate be~
tween a northern scholar representing the Jin and a southern swordsman argu~
ing for the Song. They debate whether the Jin will conquer the Song before the
Jin cross theY angtze to attack. After the northerner's eloquent argument in
favor of the Song's collapse, the work ends with the northerner saying, "Now
the dawn is coming, the Song is in peril, my China will be unified..•. Following
heaven and human wills, there will be an expedition but no battle.••. Who says
the Song cannot be conquered?" The southern swordsman then loses heart and,
crawling against a wall, cannot speak; his heart is broken and he knows not what
61
to rep1y.
The work ofLiu Yin, a Chinese living under the Jin, evoked much contro~
versy. Some complained that Liu Yin "gloated over the misfortune of the
Song'' in giving the Jin, an alien regime, victory in the debate. Others argued
that Liu Yin's intention was to warn the Song and stimulate action that might
62
lead to survival. Wei Yi'ao' s teacher Sun Qifeng held the latter view. Fu
Shan, pointing out that Liu Yin lived under the Jin rather than the Song,
seems to defend Liu Yin. But, in the context here, where serving the Manchus
is deemed an unfortunate necessity, an intent to defend Liu Yin seems unlikely.
Although Liu Yin lived in the Jin, he was nevertheless Chinese. In his essay,
Fu Shan placed Liu Yin in the awkward position of a Chinese speaking for the
enemy. From Fu Shan's point of view, Liu Yin was a philosopher who did not
adhere to a key Confucian principle: that a distinction was to be drawn be~
tween Chinese and foreigner (hua~yi). Fu wrote:
In the hundred or so years from the Song to the Yuan, there was no single out-
standing person. So-called people of virtue were ignorant and did nothing more than
follow superficially the teaching of Cheng Hao [1032-86], Cheng Yi [ro33-no7 ], and
Zhu Xi [II30-r2oo ]. They touted themselves as orthodox Confucianists to promote
their own status. They ignored the distinction between Chinese and alien, sovereign
and subordinate, yet they talked glibly about the Sage's interpretation of the Spring
63
and Autumn [Annals]. They truly arouse one's scorn.
Thus for Fu Shan, the crucial mistake ofNeo-Confucianism was its neglect
of the distinction between Chinese and aliens or non-Han Chinese, and be~
tween sovereign and subordinate. Hence, on the occasion ofWei Yi'ao's de~
parture, he wrote these "frank words of farewell." But Fu Shan could hardly
express his ideas as frankly as he would have wished, given the political situa~
64
tion-he later wrote to Wei Yi'ao and asked him to read "between the lines.''
The Early Years of the Manchu Gonque~t " 9?
An interesting question arises: Why on the one hand did Fu Shan continue
to seek assistance from Qing officials, while on the other he still believed that
the distinction between Chinese and aliens or non~ Han Chinese should be
maintained? To answer this question, we need to consider the ambivalence of
the Chinese such of Wei Yi' ao who served the Manchu government.
Wei visited his hometown about r649 after serving in Shanxi for three years.
Accompanied by friends, he visited the Jingye Monastery (Jingye si). A poem
he wrote on this trip reads:
Three years an official, now I return:
How sorrowful the scene of my old hometown!
No longer old swallows fly to the houses ofWang and Xie;
There is just First Terrace [where the monastery stands],
65
cheerless and cold.
The third line is an allusion to a poem on dynastic change by the Tang poet
Liu Yuxi (772-842). The poem tells us that following the change of dynasties,
the old Wang and Xie families, powerful during the Six Dynasties, declined
in the Tang. In the early years of the Manchu conquest, vast lands in the
north, including the area ofWei Yi'ao's hometown, were granted to the
Manchu aristocracy by the government. Many Chinese, including Wei Yi'ao's
teacher Sun Qifeng, were forced to leave. Wei's poem paints a forlorn picture
of his native place after the dynastic change. The phrase "how sorrowful"
(busheng'ai) was also used by him in other poems.66 Indeed, the melancholy
tone characteristic of Wei's poems reveals an important aspect of his person~
ality: that deep in his heart, he mourned that the Ming dynasty had fallen to
the alien regime for which he worked. This was a sorrow shared by many
Chinese.
The Manchus were in the minority, and to rule China effectively and effi~
ciently, they relied heavily on the Chinese elite. To the Han Chinese who
took office under the Manchus in the early Qing, serving an alien regime was
a pragmatic choice, as the Manchus well knew. To keep power in their hands,
the Manchus practiced institutionalized discrimination against the Chinese.
Although some Han Chinese officials held high positions in the Qing gov~
ernment, in general their position was inferior to that of their Manchu coun~
terparts. Given the strict Manchu policy of discrimination, Han Chinese offi~
cials knew that no matter how high in the government they rose, they were
still second~class citizens, and frustration became deeply rooted. Furthermore,
those who took office in the early years of the Manchu conquest knew that
assisting an alien government to rule their own people would inevitably be
stigmatized by later generations, and those who had earlier served tbe Ming
would be labeled in future histories as "officials who served two dynasties."
To a traditional Chinese official, there was probably no description more
96 • The Early. Years of the Manchu Conquest
shamefuL One means of assuaging their guilt was to assist Ming loyalists to
survive these difficult times by offering them economic assistance and politi~
cal protection. Many Han Chinese officials like Wei Yi'ao helped Ming loyal~
67
ists, albeit to differing degrees. Such help, they hoped, would provide some
justification for their "betrayaL" During this period of political transition, it
was the case not only that loyalist scholars and artists needed Han Chinese
officials but also that the officials badly needed the loyalists. The relationship
between these two groups was reciprocaL The officials provided the loyalists
with economic support and political protection; the loyalists could provide
officials with what they wanted most-justification for their actions in the
eyes of history: it was the loyalists who would determine history's assessment
of their participation in the Manchu government. That Han Chinese officials
were the principal acquirers of works produced by loyalist artists like Fu
Shan only increased loyalist~official interaction and the complexity of their
relationship. Support by officials for loyalists like Fu Shan may have been
chiefly economic, but their dealings were political and social as well: they
68
shared a loyalty to certain ideals and were often bound by ties of friendship.
In the study of early Qing culture, the role played by frustrated and guilt~
ridden Chinese officials should not be neglected.
Wei Yi'ao's opinion ofFu Shan is an indication ofhow Chinese officials
who served the Manchus viewed such loyalists. In a poem praising a landscape
painting by Fu Shan, Wei referred to a rock from Mount Shouyang, an allu~
sion that drew a parallel between Fu Shan and two Shang dynasty (ca. 16th
69
century-ca. nth century B.c.) loyalists, Bo Yi and Shu Qi. Bo Yi and Shu Qi
refused to serve the new Zhou dynasty after it overthrew the Shang, and, be~
cause they refused to eat Zhou rice, died of starvation on Mount Shouyang.
They thus became symbols ofloyalty in Chinese culture. Wei Yi'ao was well
aware that Fu Shan asked for help from Chinese officials in the Qing govern~
ment. Nevertheless, he felt that Fu Shan, by refusing to serve the Qing gov~
ernment, deserved praise as the Bo Yi and Shu Qj of his time.
HISTORIOGRAPHY AND DYNASTIC MEMORY
Immediately after being released from jail in 1655, Fu Shan wrote a poem enti~
tled "Written in a Mountain Temple When Ill":
Ill, I have returned to this mountain temple;
Still alive, I have walked in shame from jaiL
From now on
Who knows how many years are left?
I have kept my head to see my old mother
70
Yet feel too guilty to show my face in my homeland.
Several poems similar to this one and composed during the same period ex-
press the shame and guilt Fu Shan felt after his release from prison. Two lines
from another read:
Dying, I would have felt many regrets;
71
Not dying, I feel ashamed.
Why did Fu Shan feel so guilty about his release? He knew, for one thing, that
the three other Shanxi men involved in the case, Xiao Feng, Zhu Zhenyu, and
Zhang Qi, were cruelly punished: Xiao was hanged, Zhu and Zhang were
beaten and exiled. Fu was the only one not to be sentenced: his reputation and
celebrity status helped him survive. But Fu Shan apparently felt ashamed that
he had not died a martyr. Although he did not tell us in his poems what his
regrets would have been had he died, we may assume from what he wrote
elsewhere that he felt he had another important reason for remaining alive
besides tending his aged mother: a duty to use his brush to record the history
of the dynastic transition so that future historians would have a record of what
he regarded as the true course of events. This second duty, like the first, pro-
vided him with moral justification for continuing to live under an alien regime.
Growing up in a world in which Confucian philosophy was the dominant
view, Fu Shan was keenly aware of the importance of historiography. His
strong interest in this subject, even before the fall of the Ming, was manifested
when, in the early 164os, he compiled his reference work on Han history. As
the warehouse of collective memory, written history had always played a sig-
nificant role in traditional China. History texts, together with the Confucian
classics, formed the canon of Confucian teaching. Not only was the knowledge
needed for governing the country drawn from history, but also histories were
often written to support dynastic legitimacy. This was especially true after
periods of dynastic transition. Rulers of a new dynasty paid great attention to
historiography, and official histories were often written under the personal
supervision of the monarch. Those opposed to a new dynasty typically wrote
history from their own point of view. The importance to Ming loyalists of
writing a nonofficial history was best expressed by Huang Zongxi (r610-95), a
prominent loyalist historian from Zhejiang, who noted, "Our dynasty may
172
pass, but its history will not disappear.'
In the ninth month of 1644, Fu Shan took refuge in Yuxian and carefully
read through the Collected Annotations to the History of the Western Han (Han shu
pinglin) published by Ling Zhilong (fl. 1576-87) in 1581. In one of his marginal
notes to the book, Fu criticizes Ban Gu (A.D. 32-92), the author of the History
of the Western Han, for not taking a strong moral stand when commenting on
individuals' conduct during dynastic crises. Then, in red ink, he wrote:
I, a Daoist, live in a period a thousand years distant from the Han dynasty, and I have
nothing to do with the Liu imperial family of the Han. But when I read of the loyal
g8 • The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
behavior ofZhai Gongzi, I become excited and shed tears. A vivid image of this hero
flashes across my mind and does not leave. I quickly add water to my inkstone and
make fresh red ink [to write these comments], as if the blood ofZhai Gongzi flowed
3
down to the brush tip?
Fu Shan's annotations show that he paid special attention to incidents of dy~

nastic transition recorded in the histories.
Fu Shan's concern for history, of course, was shaped in large measure by
the political environment in which he lived. He once admonished his son, Fu
Mei, and nephew Fu Ren that they should read carefully such important his~
torical texts as the Records of the Grand Historian and History of the Western Han.
Then he pointed out: "As for the histories of the twenty~one dynasties, I have
already said to you that the History of the ]in, History of the Liao, and the History
of the Yuan can be treated as records but should not be viewed as orthodox his~
74
tory." The Jin (m5-1234), Liao (907-II25), and Yuan dynasties, like the Qing,
were founded by nomadic tribes from the north who were regarded by the
Chinese as aliens. To say that the histories of these dynasties should not be
viewed as orthodox history was to claim that these dynasties were not legiti~
mate, even though they had governed Chinese territory or, in the case of the
Yuan, had governed the whole China.
Not only did Fu Shan study the old histories, but he was himself a zealous
writer of history. A seal impression found on an album of small regular~script
calligraphy by Fu Shan, now in the Harold Wong Collection in Hong Kong,
throws light on Fu Shan's view of himself as a historian (see Fig. 2.14, p. rr3).
The legend reads: "Follower (or servant] of the Grand Historian" ("T aishi~
75
gong niumazou"). This phrase appears at the opening of the "Letter to Ren
An" ("Bao Ren An shu") by the great historian Sima Qian (ca. 145-ca. 85 B.c.)
of the Han dynasty.76 The words "Grand Historian" refer to Sima Qian's fa~
ther Sima Tan (d. no B.c.), who had served as an official at the Han court in
charge of the calendar and historiography. Sima Qian had been his assistant
and, in ro8 B.c., succeeded to his father's position as Grand Historian. It is
clear that Fu Shan was referring to Sima Qian, author of Records of the Grand
Historian, the most famous of all Chinese histories. The letter to Ren An was
written by Sima Qian after suffering the agony and humiliation of castration
for his outspoken defense of Li Ling, a Chinese general who had surrendered
to the Huns. In his letter, Sima Qian explained to his friend why he preferred
to live with dishonor rather than commit suicide. He claimed that the only
thing sustaining his will to live was his desire to complete the Records of the
Grand Historian. By borrowing the phrase "A follower of the Grand Histo~
rian," Fu Shan expressed his intention ofliving like the Grand Historian in
shame and humiliation and fulfilling of his duty as a historian by bearing wit~
ness to a great event, the Ming~Qing dynastic transition.
Driven by his strong sense of duty, Fu Shan began collecting historical rna~
terials at the start of the Manchu conquest. In a long letter to Dai Tingshi in
r646, he told his friend that Yuan Jixian had sent him a letter before his execu~
tion. In the letter, Yuan had asked him to document the political events Yuan
himself had witnessed. For this reason, Fu made great efforts to collect Yuan's
scattered writings. In the same letter, Fu said that although he had taken ref~
uge in Yuxian when Li Zicheng' s army conquered the city ofT aiyuan, he had
nonetheless written an account of the fall ofT aiyuan based on others' reports.
He asked Dai, who was in Beijing when Li Zicheng's army entered the capital,
77
to send him any writings of his own about the event.
The devastating wars left many dead in the r64os. Fu Shan wrote numer~
ous biographies during these years to commemorate members of his family,
8
his friends, and his friends' relatives who had died during the turbulence? In
early r649, Jiang Xiang, a former Ming general who later surrendered to the
Qing while retaining his military rank, led an insurrection at Datong,
79
Shanxi. In the fourth month, Jiang's army reached Fenzhou. Xue Zongzhou,
who, with Fu Shan, had masterminded the Sanli Academy student petition of
the r63os, and Wang Rujin, another close friend ofFu's from the Sanli Acad~
emy, participated in the armed insurrection and subsequently died in battle at
T aiyuan. In the eighth month of the same year, the insurrection was put down
by the Qing government. Soon after his friends' death, Fu wrote an essay to
commemorate them entitled "The Biographies ofTwo Men from Fenzhou."
F u' s detailed account of their actions has led some scholars to believe that he
was directly involved in the insurrection. Fu Shan wrote that as Xue and
Wang prepared to join the army to attack T aiyuan, a friend tried to persuade
them to desist. Xue replied with emotion: "We know very well that it is uncer~
tain whether we shall win or fail. But if we hesitate after seeing the flag of our
Ming, we would not be men." 80 At the end of the essay, Fu Shan commented:
Faced with such [brave J behavior, ordinary people are afraid that discussing it will
offend the government and so keep silent. Since ancient times, there has never been a
dynasty that did not fall. But after its fall, there have always been a few subjects who
remained faithful to [their dynastyJ regardless of whether they themselves would
eventually succeed or fail. These people were respected and praised even by succeed~
ing dynasties. One may treat such [brave] behavior as taboo; but why then did Em~
81 82
peror Taizu take Bo Yi and Shu Qi as examples to criticize Wei Su [1303-72]2
Who was the founding father of our dynasty2 How narrow~minded ordinary people
can be! In the future, there must be men of virtue who will follow those [loyal to their
83
dynasty] !
Here, the influence of Sima Qian on Fu Shan's historiography is evident: as in

many biographies Fu Shan wrote, he followed the model established by Sima
Qian, who in the Records of the Grand Historian often appended a short com~
ment to biographies, beginning always with the phrase "The Grand Historian
roo • The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
comments" ("T aishigong yue"). In similar fashion, Fu Shan often ended his
biographies with a short commentary that begins: "Fu Shan comments" ("Fu
84
Shan yue") or "D anyazt. [F u Sh an's so b nquet
. ] comments" ("D anyazt· yue") .85
From the time of Sima Qian, the biography was intended to be relatively ob~
jective account of the life of its subject (although in fact it was often highly
86
selective). In the commentary that followed, however, the writer was free to
offer his judgment of historical figures and events. These commentaries be~
came a key to understanding the moral stance of the writer and the view of
history that he wished to project.
Fu Shan knew that his account of the historical events of the late Ming and
early Qing would contradict points in the official accounts. He sometimes be~
gan his biographical commentaries with the words, "Yeshishi yue" or "Lush~
87
ishi yue," 88 instead of"Fu Shan yue." Both mean "a nonofficial historian com~
ments" and demonstrate his courage in writing history unacceptable to the
new regime. The use of"yeshishi"("a nonofficial historian") was extremely sen~
sitive, even dangerous, during this period because anything "nonofficial" was
politically taboo. Sun Qifeng, the loyalist philosopher mentioned above, was
accused of using such a term in his writing and would have been punished by
the Qing government had he not received protection from an unknown quar~
89
ter. By labeling himself as a nonofficial historian, Fu Shan placed himself
squarely in opposition to the Manchus. His careful accounts of the actions of
those who died fighting Li Zicheng and the Manchus show how strong was
his intention to record the history of his time to encourage later generations.
THE APPEAL OF Y AN ZHENQING
If this was an age in which history was treated as an ideological vehicle, it was
equally an age in which the art of calligraphy assumed a political hue. In his
Admonition to My Son (Xunzi tie), Fu Shan wrote:
When I was twenty or so, there was little I did not copy among [rubbings of] regular-
script calligraphy still in circulation by the masters of the Jin and Tang, yet I achieved
not even a small degree oflikeness. By chance, I acquired a calligraphy by Zhao
90
Mengfu entitled Poems on Mount Fragrance (Xiangshan shi). Loving its dexterity, flu-
ency, and beauty, I copied it. After copying it only a few times, I achieved an appear-
ance that looked almost genuine. The reason [I grasped Zhao Mengfu so quickly]
was simple. It was like someone who had tried to model himself on a man of honor
but, finding this difficult, gave up the effort and began associating with unprincipled
people. Such a person inevitably comes close to being like his new associates, so that
there is almost no difference between them. As I matured, I decried Zhao's behavior
and also became disgusted with the superficiality and vulgarity of his calligraphy,
91
which, like Xu Yanwang's personality, has no backbone. I returned to the work of
Yan Zhenqing, whom the last four or five generations of my ancestors had taken as
The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest • IOI
their model, and studied it painstakingly. But my wrist [habit of writing] was already
92
spoiled, and [my calligraphy] was not as firm and as vigorous, as strong and as
straight, as my ancestors'. How harmful it is to associate with unprincipled people! I
do not know why Dong Qichang said that there has been no calligrapher who ex-
ceeded Mengfu in the past five hundred years. I now have a true understanding [of
calligraphy], but truly I cannot understand [why Dong said what he did). I have writ-
ten this poem in Zhao's manner in order to prevent my son and grandsons from mak-
ing the mistake [of taking Zhao as a model). There is something here about how to
behave as a man. Zhao diligently studied Wang Xizhi, but because what he learned
was faulty, [his calligraphy] was soft and pretty. Thus mind and hand cannot deceive
each other. How dangerous it is! How dangerous! You must be careful to avoid such
a serious mistake! I would rather [my calligraphy] be awkward, not skillful; ugly, not
pleasing; deformed, not slick; spontaneous, not premeditated. To achieve these quali-
ties, one must be able to rescue calligraphy from the wrong trend.
The poem that follows this preface expresses the same idea:
To learn calligraphy, master behavior first:
When a man is exceptional, his calligraphy is naturally archaic.
Violating the morality of the Duke ofZhou [fl. nth century B.c.)
and Confucius (551-479 B.c.)
Makes your writing useless.
Liu Gongquan had a famous dictum:
93
Excellent calligraphy does not come only from a vigorous brush.
Before studying Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy,

Study his writings first.
With Yan Zhenqing's spirit in your chest,
94
Your brush will press down barbarians.
Of all Fu Shan's writings on calligraphy, the Admonition is the most frequently

quoted by calligraphy historians. In it, Fu Shan relates his youthful enthusi-
asm for Zhao Mengfu and his later realization of the problem underlying
Zhao's calligraphy: Zhao's lack of moral integrity. Zhao had been a member
of the Song ruling house. After the fall of the Song, however, he had served
the Yuan dynasty, generally regarded by the Chinese as alien. Like many of
Fu's peers in the early Qing, Zhao had the dubious distinction ofbeing a "man
of two dynasties," half regarded as a traitor. Thus Fu Shan felt impelled to
return to a calligraphic model respected by his family for generations: Y an
Zhenqing. In contrast to Zhao, Y an Zhenqing was a senior Tang official who
had sacrificed his life in subduing an uprising against the Tang court. 95 He
was thus viewed as a symbol ofloyalty. Fu Shan's stylistic preference for Yan
Zhenqing is predicated on an idea held by many Chinese calligraphers: that
96
"calligraphy reflects the mind" ("Shu, xinhua ye"), that is to say, that calligra-
phy is a record of a calligrapher's inner world, good or bad. Accordingly, it is
lQ2 • The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
97
often held that good calligraphy springs only from good people. Hence the
pronouncement of the great Tang calligrapher Liu Gongquan, to which Fu
Shan refers in his poem: "The use of the brush lies in the heart. If your heart is
upright, then your brush will be upright."
It is difficult to demonstrate an association between a preference for Yan
Zhenqing' s calligraphy and the politics of every period of history in which his
style proved popular. Amy McNair has studied Yan Zhenqing's canonization
98
as a model of calligraphy during the Northern Song period. Thereafter, Yan
Zhenqing was one of the masters whose calligraphic styles were regarded as
99
the orthodox models for calligraphy practice. Once Yan's calligraphy become
a widely followed model, a preference for Yan's calligraphy was not necessarily
politically significant. Dong Qichang, for example, studied Yan Zhenqing' s
calligraphy, especially his regular script, from the time he was in his teens, yet
this is hardly evidence of a strong political orientation. Whether a famous fig-
ure-even one potentially rich in symbolic meaning-is used politically and
ideologically depends on the context in which the use occurs. Yan was a Con-
fucian martyr, and, his story, deeply rooted in the collective memory of the
Chinese literati, could be awakened and reused afresh at politically opportune
moments.
100
Fu's Admonition to My Son is undated, nor does Fu tell us precisely when
he began to despise Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy and turned to that ofYan
Zhenqing. But his belittling of Zhao, who served an alien dynasty, and his
praise ofYan, an official loyal to the ruling house, together with the line "Your
brush will press down barbarians," make it clear that Admonition was written
after the Manchu conquest. Just as we saw politics affecting historiography in
the third section of this chapter, we see Fu's ideological stance affecting his
selection of a calligraphic style. Presumably, during this period of intense po-
litical confro~tation, he was attempting to turn every cultural means into a
political and ideological weapon.
Other writings by Fu Shan confirm that his enthusiasm for Yan Zhen-
qing' s calligraphy developed in the r64os and r6sos. Sometime in the middle to
late r67os, he wrote two notes describing his feelings when copying Yan's cal-
ligraphy. The first reads:
I have [often] copied the calligraphy of the Two Wangs, and although I have written
the names of Xizhi and Xianzhi thousands of times, I never paid them any special
attention. But when I write the name ofLugong [Yan Zhenqing], it calls forth in me
a feeling of profound respect. I do not know why. It is just as when reading the His-
tory of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo zhi), I encounter Guan [Yu] [d. 219] and Zhang [Fei]
101
[d. 221], and unwittingly I am partial to them and take their side.
The second short note not only tells us why Fu Shan studied Yan Zhenqing's
calligraphy so earnestly but also offers an important clue as to when he was
most actively engaged in mastering Yan's style:
When I open a calligraphy by Yan Zhenqing, I dare not look at it lightly. This is be-
cause I have the reverence of a loyalist.... I copied Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy care-
102
fully thirty years ago .... [NowJ I am old! I am old!
The words Fu Shan uses for "old" are lao and mao, meaning "seventy or eighty
years old." Thus Fu must have written the passage between 1676, when he was
seventy, and his death in r684 or r685. The reference to copying Yan's calligra-
phy thirty years earlier, therefore, points to the late r64os or early r6sos. In
sum, although Fu must have been exposed to Yan's calligraphy in his youth, it
was only in the late r64os or early r6sos, just after the fall of the Ming, that he
found himself attracted to Yan's work and began copying it intensively. It was
Fu Shan's loyalty to the fallen Ming that fueled his pursuit of a new calli-
graphic style; by powerfully advocating artistic correctness in his adoption of
Yan as a model, Fu reinforced his own political choice.
Fu Shan's calligraphy of the r64os and r6sos shows evidence of the growing
influence ofYan Zhenqing on his work. An album by Fu, now in the collec-
tion of the Suzhou Museum (Fig. 2.r), which was written in the twelfth month
of the year jiashen (January 1645), has eighteen leaves (of which two are by Fu
Mei) with over twenty poems by Fu Shan, all composed before 1644, except
for one dated that year. A group of nineteen poems in the album date to the
year 1642. In a note attached to these poems, Fu mentioned that he composed
these poems on his birthday in the sixth month of the year renwu (r642), but
he did not want to celebrate his birthday that year because it would remind
him of a celebration for him held the previous year (r64r) by his older brother,
who died two months before the poems were composed.
The album was probably executed in Yuxian, when Fu Shan was living at
the home of a friend, who had offered him refuge. There he had the time to
recall some of his old poems and write them out. Most leaves are written in
small regular script in the Zhong You and Wang Xizhi tradition: characters
tilt slightly to the right, with an air of imbalance, a common feature in the cal-
ligraphy of Zhong You, Wang Xizhi, and Wang Xianzhi. In contrast to Yan
Zhenqing's round, solid, convex, ink-saturated strokes, the strokes in these
two leaves are thin and often concave. There is little or no indication of any
influence from Yan.
But Fu's style began to change in the late r64os and early r6sos. His hand-
scroll of eighteen letters to Wei Yi' ao, all in running-cursive script, written in
103
·
t he nme-year span firom 1648 to 1657, reveaIsa sty1·1st1C
. change m. Fus' ca11·Ig-
raphy. Along with other works from this period, these letters may help us bet-
ter understand the changes taking place in his calligraphy.
--
Fig. 2.1 Fu Shan, Poems in
~
7
;(
---. (j Small Regular and Running
Scripts. Dated 1645. Album
~f;
~~~
...;J
;p, ..,
leaf. Suzhou Museum. Af-
rer Zhongguo gudai shuhua
-- ~
tumu, vol. 6, p. 74, Su 1-251.
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Fig. 2.2 Fu Shan, The first letter was written about 1648 (Fig. 2.2). There are no significant
first lerrer ro Wei stylistic differences with the calligraphy in the album of 1645: the thin strokes
Yi'ao. Dared ca. and graceful composition recall the sensitive calligraphy of those late Ming
1647. In Fu Shan,
calligraphers who remained untouched by new and unconventional trends.
Danya mohan.
Dared ca. 1647-
This is a work that would not stand out in a group oflate Ming letters. A
1657· Handscroll, comparison ofFu Shan's letter with one by Xia Yunyi (1596-1645), a senior
ink on paper, 29 official in the late Ming, for instance, reveals that their brushwork is similar in
x 581 em. Collec- its visual impact (Fig. 2.3). One likely reason there is nothing dramatic in the
tion of Yip Shing style ofFu's letters to Wei is that Fu's need to communicate led him to write
Yiu, Hong Kong.
in a particularly clear and legible manner. Nevertheless, it is possible to detect
stylistic changes over the nine-year period of their composition.
Letters four to eight, written probably from 1649 to 1651, exhibit features
that distinguish them from letter one. In letters four (Fig. 2.4) and five, the
turned-up endings of the na-strokes suggest the influence of draft-cursive
script (zhangcao). In contrast, in letter six (Fig. 2.5), we see firmly round
strokes borrowed from Yan Zhenqing' s running-script calligraphy (compare
Fig. 2.18, p. n5). Interestingly, in letter seven (Fig. 2.6), dated soon after letter
six, Fu returns again to the draft-cursive elements found in letters four and five.
Such stylistic inconsistency is also manifested in letters nine to seventeen,
all of which were written in or around 1652 and concern the legal case brought
against Fu Shan and Yang Fangsheng discussed above. The most revealing in
this regard are letters nine and ten (Figs. 2.7, 2.8), which, to judge from their
104
contents, were written within a day of each other. Letter nine is similar to
letters four and five, in that its na-strokes have turned-up endings borrowed
ro6 • The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
Fig. 2.3 Xia Yunyi (1596- jL 1.
~ :t h.
1645), Letter in Running
~~ ~ ~r 1 a ·if
Script. Album leaf, ink on
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paper, measurements un-
7>\ AI'. -.C ~t ;{ ,'1.
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Fig. 2.4 Fu Shan, fourth letter to Wei Yi'ao in Danya mohan. Dated ca. 1648.
Fig. 2.5 Fu Shan, sixth letter to Wei Yi'ao in Danya mohan . Dared ca. 1648 .
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Fig. 2.6 Fu Shan, seventh letter to Wei Yi'ao in Danya mohan. Dated ca. 1648.
Fig. 2.7 Fu Shan,
ninth letter to
Wei Yi'ao in
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Fig. 2.8 Fu Shan, tenth letter to Wei Yi'ao in Danya mohan. Dated ca. 1652.
from draft-cursive script. Otherwise, however, the letter is graceful in style,
full of delicately flexed strokes, often thin in their midsection, with carefully
shaped endings. In contrast, letter ten shows the strong influence ofYan
Zhenqing: its characters have a broad, sturdy stance, with strokes that are
blunt-ended, full and even in width, plain and without detailed shaping. De-
spite their similarity in content, the calligraphic styles of the two letters are
dramatically different.
This dissimilarity in style raises the challenging question of the relationship
between calligraphic style and textual content. Scholars of calligraphy have on
occasion argued that an artist sometimes chooses a calligraphic style for its
appropriateness to the subject matter or history of his text. Thus, for instance,
using the style of the Tang master Chu Suiliang (596-658) to copy a Buddhist
text is interpreted as appropriate, because of Chu's famous transcription of the
Priface to the Buddhist Canon (Shengjiao xu ). 105
An argument of this kind seems plausible enough, but it remains an un-
tested hypothesis or wishful speculation, at best interesting and stimulating,
unless it can be demonstrated that a particular calligrapher had attained mas-
tery during a specific period of two or more calligraphic styles of a script type
and could therefore make a choice. If not, how can we claim that he chose an
appropriate style to write out a text? Even if he did, how could we know that
he was purposively selecting, among his alternative styles, a style that would
match the type or content of his text? Would he have used a style other than
Chu's to write out a non-Buddhist text? We know, at least, something about
Chu Suiliang' s calligraphy, and what we know argues against the theory that
a style is usually selected to match a text. First, the year before Chu tran-
scribed the Preface to the Buddhist Canon in 653, he used the same style to write
out a secular text, the Memorial Stele of Fang Xuanling (Fang Xuanling bei). Sec-
ond, there was a reason he made the same "choice" of style in writing out
these two texts: he had no alternative. In his later years, Chu had but a single
personal style in regular script, and he used it in writing both religious and
nonreligious texts.
The stylistic inconsistency we find in Fu Shan's calligraphy of the 1640s
and 1650s is evidence of a tendency, already developed in the mid-Ming, for
literati to expand their stylistic range. Although still regarded as literati or
scholars, many calligraphers in the mid-Ming no longer held government of-
fice and, to a considerable degree, lived by painting and calligraphy. In the
process they diversified their skills. Calligraphers in sixteenth-century Suzhou
were representative of this trend. Wen Zhengming, for his large-sized run-
ning script, usually adopted a style strongly reminiscent of Huang Tingjian;
but when writing small-sized running script, he wrote in a graceful personal
style that was derived from the tradition of Wang Xizhi and Zhao Mengfu.
no • The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
Wen's close friend Zhu Yunming (r461-1527) mastered an even greater stylis-
tic range. Zhu "wrote in the styles of many different masters" and "liked to
106
exhibit his technique." As Zhu's younger contemporary Wen Peng com-
mented:
In our dynasty, there are so many who excel in calligraphy that I cannot count
them. But usually they write only in one style, and that style has only one idea be-
hind it. Zhu Yunming alone was able to absorb the merit of all the different scripts.
The reason is that when he was young, there was no calligraphic (style] he did not
study; and having once studied it, there was none in which he was unable to achieve
107
complete mastery.
Wen Peng's comment is illuminating. The majority of calligraphers in the

sixteenth century mastered only one style in any script type, as was the case
with most calligraphers of previous dynasties, including Chu Suiliang andYan
Zhenqing. But leading calligraphers of the sixteenth century like Zhu Yun-
ming attempted to broaden their stylistic repertoire, and seventeenth-century
calligraphers followed their example. Both Dong Qichang and Wang Duo
strove to master a number of styles modeled on those of the ancient mas-
ters.108 When Wang Duo wrote small regular script, he followed the Zhong
You tradition, but when writing larger characters in regular script, he imitated
Y an Zhenqing or Liu Gongquan, whose styles were commonly believed to be
aesthetically appropriate to large-sized calligraphy. In contrast, it was thought
that Zhong You's style did not translate gracefully into a large format, and few
if any calligraphies in large-sized characters were written in Zhong You's style.
Particular styles fit particular formats better than do other styles. The lim-
its placed on stylistic choice by the material aspects of a work are particularly
worth COIJ.sidering, given the heavy emphasis in art-historical investigations on
the literary, moral, and political connotations of particular texts. The diver-
gence and tension between text and calligraphic style that can be found in
some calligraphies challenge art historians to reconsider the validity of at-
tempting to find compatibilities between text and style, with the latter slav-
ishly serving the former.
Fu Shan complains in his Admonition to My Son that his calligraphy was so
spoiled by the early influence of Zhao Mengfu that it was difficult for him to
adopt a new style based on Yan Zhenqing; despite his efforts, from time to
tl.me old writing habits based on Zhao returned. But more and more the in-
fluence of Yan Zhenqing's style increased and began to dominate his calligra-
phy. A letter written about 1652-chronologically the seventeenth letter in
the handscroll, although it is mistakenly mounted as the third109-shows
brushwork substantially more solid and ink-saturated than do the earlier let-
ters, as the stylistic elements ofYan's style took hold in his work (Fig. 2.9).
The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest • III
(left) Fig. 2.9 Fu This development continued even after 1652, as the eighteenth (and last)
Shan, third letter to letter in the handscroll demonstrates (Fig. 2.10 ). This letter is one of the most
Wei Yi'ao in Danya stylistically distinctive in the handscroll; in particular, its characters have con-
mohan. Dared
vex sides that bow outwards after the manner ofYan Zhenqing. The letter is
ca. 1652.
(right) Fig. 2.10 Fu datable to early 1657 by its mention of the twelve hanging scrolls-discussed in
Shan, last letter to the preceding section-that Fu Shan wrote for Wei Yi'ao in 1657, when the
Wei Yi'ao in Danya latter retired from his office in Shanxi. Yan's brush manner and structural fea-
mohan. Dared tures are·even more pronounced in these twelve scrolls than in the letter (see
ca. 1657. Fig. 4.3, p. 230 ); thus the letter and scrolls testify to the decisive shift by the
mid-165os in Fu's calligraphy toward Yan Zhenqing's style.
Convincing evidence ofYan Zhenqing's influence on Fu's style is to be
found in three albums of small regular-script calligraphy, probably written in
the 165os. The first is now in the collection ofHarold Wong in Hong
Kong.110 In this album, Fu Shan has copied Wang Xizhi's Poem Praising
Dongfang Shuo's Portrait (Fig. 2.n) and Yan Zhenqing's Record of the Altar of the
Immortal of Mount Magu (Magu xiantan ji, Fig. 2.12).lll In his copy of Wang
Xizhi's Poem Praising Dongfang Shuo's Portrait (Fig. 2.13), Fu Shan has stressed
the risks Wang took with balance, tilting his characters still further without
overbalancing them. In his copy ofYan's Record (Fig. 2.14 ), we find that the
characters in Fu's copy are more elongated and their structures lean more to
the right than do the firm-footed, squared-off character structures ofYan's
II2 • The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
(left) Fig. 2.11 WangXizhi (ca.
303 -ca. 361), Poem Praising
Dongfang Shuo's Portrait. Dated
356. Rubbing mounted as an
album, ink on paper. Tokyo
National Museum.
(right) Fig. 2.12 Yan Zhenqing
(709- 85), Record of the Altar of
the Immortal of Mount Magu,
small regular-script version.
Rubbing mounted as an al-
bum, ink on paper. Collection
of Robert H . Ellsworth, New
York.
(left) Fig. 2.13 Fu Shan, Copy of Wang Xi zhi's "Poem Praising Dongfang Shuo's Portrait." Dated
ca. 165os. Album of twelve leaves, ink on paper, each 23.5 x 13.5 em. Collection of Harold
Won g. Hong Kong.
(right) Fig. 2.14 Fu Shan, Copy ofYan Zhenqing's "Record of the Altar of the Immortal of Mount
Magu." Dated ca. 1650s. Album of twelve leaves, ink on paper, each 23.5 x 13.5. Collection of
Harold Wong. Hong Kong.
The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest • II3
.,__
(left) Fig. 2. 15 Fu ,..·c ~
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Fig. 2. 16 Fu Shan,
"Zhuangzi" in Small
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Regular Script. Dared -;j~- I{or!
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1653/ 54· Aibum of
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"Ji IR .{t}- :$.1 \I 'J fl.: .:1:
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eight leaves. Ink on
fa1 ;](
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paper, each 18-4 x 11 .8 ~-r J ff.l'l-
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original. In copying Y an's work, Fu apparently incorporated, intentionally
or not, some of the brush ideas from Wang Xizhi' s small regular-script
calligraphy.
The other two albums in small regular script, written by Fu Shan in the
winter of the year guisi (late 1653 or early 1654), provide further confirmation
ofFu's interest in Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy in this period. The first is a
transcription of a chapter from the Book of Rites (Fig. 2.15). Fu's calligraphy in
this carefully executed work is modeled directly on Yan Zhenqing's small
regular script in Yan's Record of the Altar of the Immortal of Mount Magu. In
his album, Fu uses Yan's brush techniques to reproduce Yan's solid, convex
strokes. But the slightly tilting character structures continue to remind us of
Fu's early training in the small regular-script calligraphy of Zhong You and
WangXizhi.
The second album, in which Fu has transcribed a chapter from the
Zhuangzi, demonstrates a deeper engagement with Yan's calligraphy (Fig. 2.16).
Fu's strokes are thicker than in the previous album; character structure in gen-
eral is square, expansive, and sturdy (a distinctive feature ofYan's style); and
horizontal strokes create a strong pattern of uniform, level, and repetitive par-
allel lines.
Once ignited, Fu Shan's enthusiasm for Yan's style apparently remained
undiminished, and in his late calligraphy, especially in small running script, the
II4 • The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
model ofYan Zhenqing is dominant. For example, an album executed by Fu
in the 166os or 1670s (Fig. 2.17 ), formerly in the collection of John Elliott and
112
now in The Art Museum, Princeton University, shows a similarity to Yan
Zhenqing's masterpiece, Eulogy for My Nephew (Jizhi gao, Fig. 2.18), in its solid,
ink-saturated strokes full of velvet strength and a roundness that creates an
illusion of three dimensions.
Yan's patriotism was a significant factor in Fu Shan's choice ofYan's work
as his model, but not his sole reason for choosing Y an. Other aspects of Y an's
style attracted Fu. First, for Fu Shan, Yan's calligraphy served as a bridge be-
tween calligraphy of the model-book tradition and other styles of calligraphy
that fell outside this tradition. The sources ofYan's distinctive style, especially
that of his late years, have long puzzled scholars. But from the Qing dynasty
on, an increasing number of works engraved in stone predating Y an Zhen-
qing's time have been unearthed, and these discoveries have led many scholars
to conclude that two important sources for Yan's stylistic innovations in callig-
raphy were the calligraphic tradition of his family and stone inscriptions dat-
Fig. 2.17 Fu Shan, Selec-
ing to the Northern dynasties, particularly those of the Northern Qi.
tions from the "Zuozhuan."
Zhu Guantian, a scholar whose expertise is the calligraphy ofYan Zhen-
Dared ca. 166os. Album
qing, identifies two calligraphies of the Northern Dynasties that he believes of eighreen leaves, black
may have influenced Yan. One is the Northern Qi stele known as the Manjusri and red ink on paper,
Prajna Sutra Stele at Mount Water Buffalo (Shuiniushan Wenshu Banruo jing bei, Fig. each leaf ca. 35.0 x 15.2
2.19); the other is an engraving of the Diamond Sutra (Jingangjing) in the Surra em. The Arc Museum,
113 Princeron Universiry.
Valley at Mount Tai (Jingshi yu), Shandong province. Stylistically speaking,
Bequesr of John B. Elli-
Y an Zhenqing's late calligraphy (Fig. 2.20) is very close to the Mount Water
orr, Class of 1951. Phoro-
Buffalo stele. Calligraphy in the mainstream Tang tradition features tall, nar- graph by Bruce M.
row character structures and relatively thin, flexed strokes. In contrast, both Whire. 1998-128.
Fig. 2.18 Yan Zhen-

qing (709-85),
Eulogy for My
Nephew. Dared 758.
Porrion. Hand-
scroll, ink on paper,
28.2 x 75·5 em.
Palace Museum,
Taipei.
The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest • rrs
(left) Fig. 2.19 Manjusri Prajna
Sutra Stele at Mount Water Buffalo.
Carved in rhe Norrhern Qi
(550-77). Ex-collection of Uno
Sesson. Rubbing mounred as
album, measuremenrs unavail-
able. Afrer Kanda Kiichir6 and
Nishikawa Nei, Hokusei Sen Shu
ra no hi I Suinyu zan Monjii han-
nyakyo no hi, p. 53· (right)
Fig. 2.20 Yan Zhenqing (709-
85), Memorial Stele of the Yan
Family Temple. Dared 780. Rub-
bing mounred as an album, ink
on paper, measuremenrs unavail-
able. Palace Museum, Beijing.
Afrer Zhongguo shufa bianjizu,
Yan Zhenqing, vol. 5, p. 204.
Yan and the Mount Water Buffalo stele are characterized by wide character
structures, with broad heavy strokes, and horizontal strokes that are level,
even in width, and long enough to provide stability. Furthermore, the brush
tip is reserved (that is, when commencing or finishing a stroke, the sharp tip of
the brush is turned into the body of the stroke so that the stroke ends are
smooth rather than sharply pointed), and the brushwork is firm and round.
The Mount Water Buffalo stele provides compelling evidence of the influence of
Northern Qi calligraphy on Yan's work.
Fu's study ofYan Zhenqing's late calligraphy inspired him to go beyond
the model-book tradition and seek artistic inspiration in epigraphical inscrip-
tions. In the sixth century Shanxi had fallen within the boundary of the terri-
tory controlled by the Northern Qi, and a considerable number ofNorthern
Qi stone inscriptions still survived in Shanxi during Fu' s time, mainly in
Yuxian, Pingding, Jiexiu, Yangqu, Jiangzhou, and Fengtai. Fu had lived in
most of these places; indeed, Yangqu was his hometown. Fu Shan is even re-
114
corded as having visited Northern Qi stone monuments and steles. A com-
parison ofFu's Copy oj"A'nan yin" (Fig. 2.2r), an album of regular-script callig-
raphy in the collection ofZhao Zhengkai, Taipei, with the Mount Water
Buffalo inscription demonstrates conclusively the close stylistic connection be-
tween Fu's calligraphy and this Northern Qi inscription. In both works (Fig.
2.22), strokes are full, generous, and vigorous. Whereas in the polished
n6 • The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
(left) Fig. 2.21 Fu Shan, Copy of"A'nan yin." Undated. Album of twenry-two leaves, including five leaves of
colophons, ink on paper, measurements unavailable. Collection of Zhao Zhengkai. After Fu Qingzhu xian-
sheng "A' nan yin" shouji, p. 4a. (right) Fig. 2.22 (first column) Characters from Fu Shan's Copy of"A'nan yin."
(secor~d column) Characters from Manjusri Prajna Sutra Stele at Mount Water Buffalo.
calligraphy of the model-book tradition there are numerous stroke-end hooks,

resulting from an exposed brushtip, in Fu Shan's work. we see an almost relent-
less shedding of hooked strokes, an appearance that is distinctly unusual for
regular script, making it at once less ornamental and more original than regular
script in more traditional styles. Fu's work is undoubtedly inspired by works
like the Mount Water Buffalo inscription, where hooks are significantly reduced.
In addition, Fu Shan's work shares all the characteristics noted above ofYan
Zhenqing and the Mount Water Buffalo inscription. Not only does Fu's Copy of
"A'nan yin" illustrate Fu's stylistic interest in Yan Zhenqing, but it also demon-
strates beyond debate his enthusiastic embrace of a style outside the model-
book tradition. It was owing toFu Shan that such epigraphical styles became a
source of inspiration to a whole range of seventeenth-century calligraphers.
A second quality that attracted Fu Shan to Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy was
what he called zhili (deformation or fragmentation), a concept critical to un-
derstanding Fu's art in particular and early Qing loyalist art in general, and
one that demands further analysis.
FRAGMENTATION AND AWKWARDNESS
In Admonition to My Son, Fu Shan claimed, "I would rather [my calligraphy] be

awkward, not skillful; ugly, not pleasing; deformed, not slick; spontaneous, not
premeditated. To achieve these qualities, one must be able to rescue calligra-
phy from the wrong trend." This powerful, deeply felt manifesto advocates an
aesthetic that contrasts sharply with the aesthetic qualities of calligraphy in
the tradition of the Two Wangs, which stressed harmony, elegance, andre-
finement. Although the aesthetic of ugliness and awkwardness, and its
political overtones, has often been discussed on the theoretical level in both
115
Chinese and Western publications, the artistic practice underlying this
aesthetic has been little studied. What kind of calligraphy did Fu Shan con-
sider awkward and fragmented? What are the aesthetic connotations of these
critical terms? Did Fu Shan ever produce calligraphy with the qualities he
applauded?
Fu Shan believed that Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy possessed the quality of
deformity or fragmentation (zhili). Indeed, his "would rather be X, not Y,"
declarations in Admonition to My Son follow his comparison ofYan Zhenqing
with Zhao Mengfu. Elsewhere, Fu Shan noted two works by Yan Zhenqing
that he thought had the quality of zhili: Yan's Memorial Ode on the Resurgence of
the Great Tang (Da Tang zhongxing song, Fig. 2.23) and his Memorial Stele of the
Yan Family Temple (Yanshi jiamiao bei, Fig. 2.20 ). 116 Both are late works by Yan.
If we compare them to one ofYan's early works in regular script, thr;: Prabhuta-
ratna Pagoda Stele Inscription (Duobaota ganying bei, Fig. 2.24), we find that the
earlier work is more conventional, a finding that should hardly surpri11e us,
since most Tang masterpieces in regular script are conventional, pr~cisely be-
cause it was during this period that the classical conventions of regular
script-the most standardized of all script types-were finally hammered out.
By contrast, Yan's late works are more open and expansive, written in a freer,
more unrestrained manner. Fu Shan stressed this feature ofYan's late work
when he copied Yan's Memorial Ode (known also as the Inscription on a Cliff):
"The characters in Yan Lugong's Inscription on a Clif.f(Moya bei) are about five
to six inches high. Deformed (zhili) and spiritually untrammeled, this work is
117
far beyond ordinary comprehension." The Memorial Ode was composed by
Yuan Jie (719-72) in 76r, when the nation was rejoicing at the suppression of
the An Lushan (d. 757) rebellion after years of devastating war. 118 Yan Zhen-
qing was asked to copy it, and in 771 his calligraphy was carved into a cliff in
W uxi, Hunan. The large size of the characters and their bold strokes, with
ragged edges caused by the roughness of the cliff and by the damage of wind
and rain, make the work vigorous and compelling. When Fu Shan copied it,
he must have been attracted not only by Yan's vigorous calligraphy but also by
rr8 • The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
(left) Fig. 2.23 Yan Zhenqing
(709-85), Memorial Ode on theRe-
surgence of the Great Tan g. Dated
ca. 771. Rubbing mounted as an
album, ink on paper, measurements
unavailable. Palace Museum, Bei-
jing. After Zhongguo shufa bian-
jizu, Yan Zhenqing, vol. 2, p. 75·
(right) Fig. 2.24 Yan Zhenqing
(70!9-85), Prabhutaratna Pagoda Stele
Inscription. Dated 752. Rubbing
mounted as an album, ink on pa-
per, measurements unavailable.
Palace Museum, Beijing. After
Songta Duobao fota ganying bei.
a text that evoked his dream of a resurgence of the Ming and the re-
establishment of a Chinese dynasty.
What lies behind Fu's adoption of deformity as a stylistic ideal? Besides
"deformed," zhili can be translated as "fragmented," "broken," "disorganized,"
119
"distorted," "crippled.'' It first appears in classical Chinese as a name, Zhili
Shu, in achapter from the Zhuangzi entitled "In the World of the Human.'' In
Burton Watson's translation, the name becomes "Crippled Shu":
There's Crippled Shu-chin stuck down in his navel. shoulders up above his head,
pigtail pointing at the sky, his five organs on the top, his two thighs pressing his ribs.
By sewing and washing, he gets enough to fill his mouth; by handling a winnow and
sifting out the good grain, he makes enough to feed ten people. When the authorities
call out the troops, he stands in the crowd waving good-by; when they get up a big
work parry, they pass him over because he's a chronic invalid. And when they are
doling out grain to the ailing, he gets three big measures and ten bundles of firewood.
With a crippled body, he's still able to look after himself and finish out the years
Heaven gave him. How much better, then, if he had crippled virtue! 120
The Zhuangzi's use of zhili had political overtones: for those living in turbulent
times, zhi1i was a quality that enabled one to survive. Because it implied un-
involvement in government affairs, it sometimes symbolized retreat and pas-
sive resistance.
Fig. 2.25 Fu
Shan, section
of regular script
in SeiH miaohan.
Dated ca. 1652.
Handscroll, ink
on paper, 31 x
603 em. Ho
Ch'uang-shih
Calligraphy
Foundation.
Fu Shan went beyond eloquently advocating deformity as a superior

theoretical aesthetic; in some of his calligraphies, he sought to embody it
physically. A handscroll in various scripts written in the early 16sos, later
entitled Wonderful Calligraphy by Fu Shan (Selu miaohan), manifests in radical
121
fashion the aesthetic of zhili in calligraphy. In a section written in regular
script, disorder and chaos predominate (Fig. 2.25). Character structures are
severely deformed, even dismantled: characters pile up, strokes are disjoined
from one another, there are striking contrasts in character size. Rather than
separating the columns clearly, Fu jumbled the characters in a disorganized
mass, allowing large characters to protrude into neighboring columns. Lacking
the discipline imposed by clearly defined columns, characters with particularly
diffuse structures have strokes that are easily read as parts of nearby characters,
creating a text that is graphically confusing and difficult to read.
The same qualities can be found in the next section, written in cursive
script (see Fig. 2.26). As before, there is no clear organization into columns,
and characters sometimes appear to be combined with others or split in two.
The threat to legibility created by Fu Shan's eccentricities is compounded by
the characteristics of cursive script itself-its cryptically abbreviated structures
and the ligatures that link characters into chains.
Fig. 2.26 Fu Shan, section of cursive script in Selu miaohan.
Fu Shan's interest in deformity makes itself felt in his willful displacement

of the elements, or components, in a character's configuration. Sometimes he
divided a single character into two parts, making one character look like two. ~
Elsewhere he did the opposite, writing two characters as if they were one. In
the six~character phrase erhu dezui yuren ilQ ~ 11- ##A.. (but not offensive to
people), yu # ("to")-already an unusual form taken from the Hanjian-is
divided into two seemingly unrelated parts (Fig. 2.27 ). Worse, the next charac~
*..a..tt
-
19
~
Fig. 2.27
Fu Shan,
characters
ter, renA.., "people," is integrated into the lower half of the divided yu. Such -~ erbu dezui
practices stem from Fu's familiarity with inscriptions on bronze vessels of the
Shang and Zhou periods, which also occasionally split or combine characters.
t!P yuren
,tQ ~{Sf
~
At times Fu took a component that normally stands to the left or right of *#f... in
Selu miao-
the other elements in a character and placed it above them. For instance, the
han.
character zhuo 5!\IT, "cut," is normally written with its two halves side by side.
Fu sometimes wrote it this way, but at other times he set the left half above
the right, so that the halves are juxtaposed vertically instead of horizontally
(Fig. 2.28). Occasionally, he simply turned a component 90 degrees, as in the
character tui tft, "push" (Fig. 2.29). Practices like these were inspired by seal
carving. On ancient seals such as those dating from the Han dynasty, radicals
or other elements were often moved from their normal position to serve com-
positional needs.
In his efforts to achieve awkwardness, Fu often deliberately sought precari-
ously balanced configurations. The surname Y an At! is a combination of two
other characters, yan if, "a man of virtue and ability," on the left, and ye W,
"page" or "leaf," on the right. These two components are the same height, and
usually they stand together on the same imaginary line. But Fu placed the
right component much lower than the left one, dramatically twisting the char-
acter downward to the right (Fig. 2.30). Fu was not the first to distort the
Fig. 2.28 Fu normal positions of a character's components-usually without crossing the
Shan, characrer broad boundaries defined by the rules of writing-but he did so more fre-
zhuo ~. quently than any other calligrapher of his time.
Fragmentation and deformity appear also in Fu Shan's paintings. Fu was
one of the most eccentric not only of seventeenth-century calligraphers but
also of painters, and his paintings and calligraphies sometimes have features in
common. One example is an album leaf that has long attracted the attention of
122
Chinese art historians (Fig. 2.31) . The style of an undated poem by Fu on
the leaf opposite almost certainly dates the painting to after 1644. In emotional
expression, the image also seems Qing in date. It depicts a scene in which a
temple and a stone bridge nestle in a col, beneath a soaring, cavern-like arch.
This small abode of civility, however, is surrounded by a hostile landscape.
Above, deep ranges of needle-like peaks twist sharply into the air like drills,
Fig. 2 . 29 Fu
while vulture-like stalactites curve threateningly toward the temple from the
Shan, characrer
roof of the rocky arch above. From deep in the painting, a river bounds into
tui #1. views, disappears behind rocky forms, and finally thunders under the bridge
and through the arch.
The mountains-wild, simple, almost crude-exhibit the qualities Fu
sought in calligraphy: deformity, fragmentation, awkwardness. The temple sits
isolated in chaos. Surrounded by wilderness, buried in remote mountains,
perched on a wild river, the temple is hermetically encircled by a jumble of
rocks and faces a bridge with no path; indeed, the landscape is too tumultuous
to support a path. Even the plunging river is too wild to navigate, and it disap-
pears behind a ridge and is never seen leaving the painting. The strangely con-
toured mountains and rocks, whose gnarled or spiky forms twist and protrude,
further isolate the temple by drawing away the eye from the center of the
Fig. 2.30 Fu painting. The wilderness portrayed in this painting exemplifies what Jonathan
Shan, characrer Hay, describing the state of mind shared by many Ming loyalists, calls the
• · ex1'1e. nl23
"space o f mtenor
yan AJi.
Fig. 2.31 Fu Shan,
landscape painting.
Undated. An album
leaf, medium and
measurements unavail-
able. Collection un-
known. Photograph by
Qianshen Bai.
Fu Shan was not alone in advocating the aesthetic of deformity in the early
Qing. Shitao (1642-1707), a former Ming prince, used the same term, zhili, in a
poem inscribed on an album of plum blossoms (Fig. 2.32). On the first leaf he
wrote:
Seeing old plum is like seeing old leftovers from the former dynasty;
But who ordered plum branches to reflect these ancients?
Reading accounts of the Six Dynasties, there was only aloof retirement.
124
Now, [the plum lies] fragmented (zhili) at year's end, looks more spiritual.
Fig. 2.32 Shitao What is notable is that Shitao, like Fu Shan, used zhili to convey the idea of
(1642-1707), Plum "fragmented." In Shitao's poem, the plum clearly refers to dynastic loyalists.
Blossoms. Dated Again, we detect political implications in fragmentation.
ca. 1705-7. Album
The plum tree in Shitao' s poem also symbolizes fragmentation. At the far
of eight leaves, ink
on paper, av. 20.0 right edge is a tree trunk in diluted ink. Against this backdrop, a branch with
x 29.5 em.; mount: blossoms, in darker ink, grows upward, then suddenly breaks and stretches
29.8 x 36.3 em. toward the viewer. The breaks in the branch are depicted by three uncon,
The Art Mu- nected brush strokes that have been described by Wu Hung as traces of
seum, Princeton 125
ruin. That the artist intended the branch to represent the broken lives of
Museum. Gift of
literati remnants from the previous dynasty is evident from his poem: "But
the Arthur M.
Sadder Founda-
who ordered plum branches to reflect these ancients?" Zhili, the term used by
tion for the Ar- Shitao in the poem inscribed above the plum, accurately captures the image
. . . 126
thur M. Sadder t hat t he pamnng projects.
Collection. Zhili, as we have seen, derived from the Zhuangzi's description of a crippled
Y1967-15 a-h. body. The usual word for "crippled" in Chinese is can. Like zhili, it became a
critical term employed by seventeenth,century artists. It is interesting that
words describing disabilities were put to artistic and critical use in the second
half of the seventeenth-century. 127 The great monk,painter Kuncan (1612-ca.
1675) incorporated the character can, "crippled," into his Buddhist name and
into several of his studio names and used these names on his works, either as
his signature or in a seal, 128 one example being"Canna" (Crippled monk). He
Fig. 2.33 Kuncan
(1612-ca. 1675),
landscape paint-
ing. Undated.
Album of seven-
teen leaves, ink
and color on pa-
per, each 21.9 x
15.9 em. After
Siseng huaji: Jian-
jiang, Kuncan,
Shitao, Bada Shan-
ren, p. 40.
also used the term can in describing his paintings. In an inscription on a paint,
ing for Zhou Lianggong, he wrote: "Disfigured mountains and abandoned
129
rivers (canshan shengshui) are features of my paintings." "Disfigured moun-
tains and abandoned rivers" was also used to describe a country in the after-
math of devastating wars.
Among Kuncan's works, disfigured and broken landscapes abound. One
landscape, an album leaf now in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, per-
fectly captures Kuncan's aesthetic (Fig. 2.33). In the left-hand corner fore-
ground, a dense landmass is built up from the application of short, coarse
strokes lacking any apparent order. Kuncan, it seems, repeatedly rubbed his
brush on the mulberry paper he used for the leaf, to create a rough, dark land
form lacking clear contour lines. Kuncan' s dry, harsh brush strokes are
wholly unlike those, for instance, employed by painters who worked in so~
called Mi family landscape tradition, which mingles dots of dilute ink with
light washes to create lyrical scenes. Instead, eschewing prettiness, Kuncan
deliberately used a worn brush~tip unable to hold a point, a technique known
as "broken tip." Three trees on the land mass at the lower left lead the eye
across a river to the middle ground at the right, where a steep bluff overlooks
the river running diagonally below. Rendered with ragged, stubble~like
strokes, the bluff is densely inked in dark and light tones. In the upper left~
hand corner, a poem inscribed by the painter, lonely in mood, is written out
in strokes that have a rough, primitive flavor. Overall, the atmosphere of this
work is wild and desolate.
Anything fragmented or crippled is ordinarily considered awkward or ugly.
It is hardly surprising, then, that in Admonition toMy Son, Fu Shan embraced
"awkwardness" (zhuo) and "ugliness" (chou) as key terms in his aesthetic vocabu~
lary. Others followed his lead. On one album leaf, Shitao wrote, "I use ugly ink
130
to paint ugly mountains and ugly trees." By the second half of the seventeenth
century, a group of creative artists had successfully transformed fragmentation,
awkwardness, and ugliness into desiderata in Chinese calligraphy and painting.
Fu Shan was the key advocate and practitioner of this aesthetic.
Fu's advocacy of awkwardness during the early years of the Manchu con~
quest, like his advocacy of fragmentation, can be interpreted as an expression of
his political sympathies, in the face of what was still intense political confronta~
tion between the Manchu conquerors and Ming loyalists in the r6sos. His dec~
laration that he would "rather be awkward, not skillful" has political overtones
that are not hard to trace. The characters for "awkward" and "skillful" are zhuo
and qiao.131 According to Ban Gu, whose "Biography ofDongfang Shuo" ap~
pears in Ban's History of the Western Han, one ofFu' s favorite texts, Dongfang
Shuo associates zhuo, "awkward" or "stupid," with political resistance, and gong,
"skillful" or "clever," with political involvement and cooperation.
Ban Gu, after detailing Dongfang Shuo's conduct at court, describing his
eccentricities and his relationship with Emperor Wu (r. I40-87 B.c.), and
enumerating his writings, summarized Dongfang Shuo's philosophy in the
biography's final paragraph:
[Dongfang] criticized Bo Yi and Shu Qi and applauded Liuxia Hui. He cautioned his
son that the important thing was to get by: "To starve on Shouyang Mountain like
Bo Yi and Shu Qi is stupid (zhuo ); to serve like Laozi as a "clerk at the foot of the
pillar" in the palace is clever (gong). Eat your fill, walk in safety; work for the govern~
ment, not down on the farm; stay in the shade and make sport of the world; be wary
o f t he tlmes an d do not get caught.,132
0
r26 • The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
From Dongfang Shuo's point of view, Bo Yi and Shu Qi, who sacrificed their
lives out ofloyalty to their dynasty, were stupid; Laozi, who sought safety in
the palace, was clever. The words he uses for "stupid" and "clever" are zhuo and
gong, zhuo being the very word used by Fu Shan and gong meaning, in this con-
text, much the same as Fu Shan's qiao. Zhuo thus had connotations of political
resistance.
Each ofFu Shan's four assertions in the form "I would rather be X, not Y,"
presents a choice between opposites. Fu Shan made a resolute decision: "I
would rather be zhuo, not qiao." To Fu Shan, Zhao Mengfu's refined, graceful
style of calligraphy was qiao, andYan Zhenqing's thick, heavy brushwork pos-
sessed the flavor of zhuo. In passing aesthetic judgment on these two calligra-
133
phers, he passed moral judgment as well. As Quan Zuwang (1705-55), a
prominent Qing historian, pointed out, when Fu Shan said that he would
rather his calligraphy were awkward, not skillful, he was talking of more than
.
ca111grap hy. 134
The political connotations of fragmentation and awkwardness have been
examined above. But the handscrolllater entitled Selu miaohan, or Wonderful
Calligraphy by Fu Shan, was written for two ofFu Shan's close friends, the
younger brothers ofYang Fangsheng, when Fu Shan took refuge in their
home; it was, in effect, part of an exchange-calligraphy for shelter-that is, a
transaction with no apparent political implications. Did the two Yang broth-
ers view it in the light in which it has been presented above? In fact, it is en-
tirely possible that they did not. Although the political circumstance in which
Fu Shan lived provided the impetus that drove him to study Yan Zhenqing's
calligraphy, Fu, as a practicing artist, did not necessarily intend every client or
. d to rea d or v1ew
finen . h'1s art as po1'ltlca
. 1.135
Fu Shan's treatment ofDu Fu's (712-70) poetry can serve as an example.
From the Song dynasty on, works of the Tang dynasty poet Du Fu had been
considered by many Confucian literati chiefly in their role as reflections of po-
litical history, since many of the political events and issues ofDu Fu's time are
recorded in his poems. But in a short note, Fu complained that treating Du's
poems as history rather than as poetry belittled the poetic talent that made Du
one of China's greatest poets. He added, "Because I do not know history, I still
read his poems as poetry." He then cited a few lines by Du and argued that
136
there is a marvelous (qi) quality in his poems. Fu Shan was, of course, well
137
acquainted with Tang history; his claim of ignorance is a tactic to encourage
other to treat Du Fu's poems as literary works. Interestingly enough, another
stubborn Ming loyalist, Lii Liuliang (1629-83), also criticized Song Neo-
Confucian scholars for focusing mainly on the loyalist and moral aspects of
Du Fu's works. Lii argued that any poet (even a mediocre one) could be a loy-
alist, but that a poet's literary accomplishment should be measured by his
skillful use of poetic devices (shouduan), and that it was his talent not his ethics
138
that made Du Fu a great poet. Equally, it was talent that made Yan Zhen,
qing a great calligrapher, and Fu Shan would have wanted his own calligraphy
judged on aesthetic-not political-grounds. For this reason we can infer that
Fu Shan found deformation, fragmentation, and awkwardness aesthetically
attractive. Thus when commenting on Yan Zhenqing's Memorial Ode, Fu
called it "deformed and spiritually untrammeled" (zhili shenmai), "spiritually
untramme1ed" IS . not a po1'mea
. an aesthetic, . 1, JU
. dgment. 139
The Selu miaohan scroll was probably executed in the early r6sos, eight years
or so after the Manchu conquest. There remains the question of whether, be,
fore the Ming fell, Fu Shan ever wrote calligraphies that can be characterized
as fragmented, awkward, or deformed. Unfortunately, only one ofFu's callig,
raphies written before r644 survives-a rubbing from a stele-and it has none
of these qualities (see Fig. r.52, p. 76). On present evidence, then, it is impossi,
ble to argue that Fu Shan wrote calligraphy in a deformed or fragmented style
before r644. Thus we are forced to ask the question in a different way: Given
the late Ming cultural environment, would the aesthetic of deformed and
awkward calligraphy have met with a favorable reception?
Heterogeneous and creative, late Ming culture provided artists with in,
creased possibilities to pursue new forms of art. No known works by Dong
Qichang or Wang Duo are as awkward and eccentric as Fu Shan's, but Dong
Qichang's pursuit of rawness (sheng), as opposed to skillfulness (shu), may well
have inaugurated a movement that led to a more radical understanding of
rawness and eventually to the extremes of awkwardness. In the late Ming, seal
carvers had already begun to cultivate the effects of wear and damage in their
works, and the deformed appearance of some bleeding strokes in Wang Duo's
calligraphy points in the same direction. In a period in which artists competed
fiercely to produce novel and surprising works, it is not unlikely that Fu Shan
went one step further and created calligraphy in a "deformed" style before the
fall of the Ming. It is not unreasonable to argue, in other words, that the
movement toward deformation, fragmentation, and awkwardness had already
acquired its initial momentum in the Ming. In a study oflate Ming literature,
Shang Wei notes that some late Ming fictional works and drama collections
were constructed m . a pateh work £ash'Ion, Wit . firagmentatwn.
. h" narrative . ,140 I n
calligraphy, Wang Duo's collages (see pp. 40-44)-ironic fusions of excerpts
from unrelated ancient masterpieces-can also be seen as exhibiting deforma,
tion and fragmentation. Very likely, the roots of deformation lie also in the
late Ming enthusiasm for strange and bizarre artistic effects; there appears to
be a continuum in thought and energy that carries "strangeness" from its early
appearances in the late Ming to its more obvious manifestations in the Qing.
Those living in the late Ming, of whom Fu Shan was one, must frequently
have encountered fragmentation and awkwardness in literature and art. De,
formation in the Qing should be seen as an extension of the late Ming taste for
rz8 • The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
the bizarre, since they have similar visual and emotional qualities and a similar
aesthetic direction. Their different political overtones spring from external
events impinging on an aesthetic movement already under way. It was only as
this taste traversed the Ming-Qing divide that a drastic political change gave a
new significance to its artistic direction.
Even were it possible to demonstrate the existence of deformity in late
Ming art, it would not diminish the validity of the political analysis attempted
above. In new political environments, old forms, like Yan Zhenqing's calligra-
phy, may be given new interpretations. In any progression from one period to
another, some visual properties are seized on and intensified, whereas others
are neglected and gradually died out. New meanings arise and new styles de-
veloped in response to the immediate sociocultural context. In the study of
seventeenth-century art, it is important to observe artistic trends as they cross
the Ming-Qing boundary and to identify which are discarded, which em-
braced, and which transformed.
But intensification and transformation must have an aesthetic as well as
political basis. Politics, together with other sociocultural and material factors,
may play an important or even crucial role in intensifying and transforming
artistic trends. But Fu Shan's claim that he "would rather be awkward, not
skillful; ugly, not pleasing; deformed, not slick; spontaneous, not premedi-
tated" was not merely a political statement. Deformation, awkwardness, and
ugliness must have been visually appealing qualities to him. True, he never
used words like "graceful" or "beautiful" to describe calligraphy that was awk-
ward and ugly, deformed and fragmented. But his characterization of works
with these qualities as "romantic" (fengliu) and "spiritually transcendent"
(shenmai) implies an aesthetic satisfaction so profound that it went beyond the
confines of"graceful" and "beautiful." To those engaged in the political inter-
pretation of art and its social history, the challenge is to bring aesthetics back
into the discussion. In Fu Shan's case, one way is to reconsider late Ming cul-
ture-a legacy less colored by politics than one might assume-and its influ-
ence on Fu Shan's calligraphy.
THE LINGERING INFLUENCE OF
LATE MING CULTURAL LIFE
It would be naive to suppose that a calligrapher's style changed overnight be-

cause of a change of dynasty. Many examples can be cited to'defend the con-
tention that some calligraphers' styles did not alter during times of dynastic
transition. What calligraphers could change, however, and change dramati-
cally, was the textual content of their calligraphy. Just as some painters, with-
out changing their style of painting, might reflect their disquiet over dynastic
transition by suddenly painting utopias, like the idyllic village ofTao Yuan-
ming's "Peach Blossom Spring," and just as other painters might suggest new
political realities by depicting harsh, wild scenes, so calligraphers could choose
texts that, implicitly or explicitly, were critical of the new regime. 141 A case in
point is an album in cursive script executed by Fu Shan in r648, in which, at
the request of his close friend Chen Mi, Fu transcribed 26 of his poems com~
posed between r644 and r647, many tinged with sorrow over the fall of the
Ming. Fu's calligraphic style, however, is graceful and peaceful, with no hint of
the abrupt political change reflected in the text of his poems. 142 There is a
clear divergence in this album in terms of the response to dynastic transition
between textual content and calligraphic style (see Fig. 4.2, p. 229).
Although the textual content of a calligrapher's output might change over~
night, therefore, his style would not. Style is a product of deeply ingrained
physical habit. Calligraphers build distinctive styles over relatively long periods
of study and practice; to change them involves similarly long processes of re~
habituation. In most cases, the process of selecting, learning, and changing a
calligraphic style is the product of constant interactions between a calligrapher
and the legacy of his family tradition (if any), the broad stylistic traditions of
calligraphic history, the cultural climate, and the contemporary environment,
rather than simply or chiefly the product of a new ideological preference. Even
if a calligrapher desired to mark a change in the political situation by changing
his style, the alteration in the physical habits of writing calligraphy would al~
most certainly take place more slowly than the changes in his thinking. In the
case ofFu Shan-a calligrapher sensitive to a highly politicized environment
who consciously developed a style based on his ideological views-the stylistic
change from Zhao Mengfu to Yan Zhenqing discussed above was a painstak~
143
ing process that stretched over years. Seldom do dynasties mark clear
boundaries of calligraphic style.
Thus, while demonstrating the impact ofYan Zhenqing's style on Fu
Shan's calligraphy, we must also address another influence on Fu's calligraphy
in the early Qing: the lingering influence oflate Ming culture. This lingering
influence is best reflected in Fu Shan's calligraphy handscrolls and albums in
assorted scripts ( zashu juan/ ce).
Zashu juan/ ce are handscrolls or albums in which the calligrapher deliber~
ately employs scripts of three or more different types to write out texts that
144
are usually unrelated and relatively shorr. Za means "miscellaneous, diverse,
heterogeneous." It refers to the coexistence of various, divergent items in a sin~
gle context. Some scholars use the term zashu juan/ ce to describe a calligraphy
of diverse textual content. But in the present study, the emphasis is on vis~
145
ual rather than textual heterogeneity, on different scripts rather than different
texts. The textual contents of zashu juan/ ce vary: they may be poems, essays,
or random notes by ancient authors, or the calligrapher's own writings, or a
I3o • The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
i.f±~;t±_;f±t
~ t!t tt ~;j- ~ li
~ a ~ a e ~
~ ~~ ~ ~~it ~~ ~~~
/c. 1'- -~ i:- t
t£ ~ ~i) ±-*; ±~
~~ 1~ ~t rr:..1~ 1LL
~ ~Ji it trt~~ ~
Fig. 2.34 Zhao Mengfu (1254-
1322), amib., The Thousand Charac-
ter Classic in Six Different Scripts
~ Jf- ~ ~i' t~ ~ (portion). 1316. Format, media, and
*
measurements unknown. After
~,f~~* t
Zhao Songxue liuti Qianwen. Beijing:
Guwu chenliesuo, 1931.
mixture of these. Some scrolls may have one long text or several longer texts
rather than numerous short ones, but even these are transcribed in different
scripts.
The visual heterogeneity of zashu juan/ ce distinguishes them from works
like the Thousand Character Classic in Six Different Scripts (Liuti Qianziwen) that is
attributed to Zhao Mengfu but was probably written by his student Yu He
14
(1307-82). ?In this work, the complete text of the Thousand Character Classic
was written out six times, each time in a different script: guwen/ 47 lesser seal,
clerical, cursive, running, and regular (Fig. 2.34). Rather than write out six
complete texts, each in a different script, Yu He arranged the text so that each
line was repeated six times in succession, each time in a different script. This
format enabled the reader to view the six different forms of each character si-
multaneously.
Yu He's work harks back in its compositional arrangement to the set of
steles known as the Classics Carved on Stone in Three Scripts (Santi shijing), which
was engraved in the Wei dynasty of the Three Kingdoms period (220-65). 148
There, the text repeats each character three times before proceeding to the
next character, each repetition in a different script (Fig. 2.35). But most zashu
juan/ ce repeat nothing and are divided into a succession of paragraphs ran-
domly written in a wide variety of scripts. The format of the zashu juan/ ce
resembles in many ways a group of colophons attached to a painting or
Fig. 2.35 Stone Clas-
sics in Three Scripts.
Dared A.D. 240-48.
Portion. Rubbing
mounted as anal-
bum, ink on paper,
measurements un-
available. Collection
unknown. After
Shrifa congkan, 1981,
no. 2:21.
calligraphy handscroll or album, each colophon written by a different com-

mentator in whatever script appealed to his taste and suited his skill, in a prac-
tice common from the Song dynasty on (Fig. 2.36). The difference is that the
zashu juan/ ce was usually written by one artist. The variations in scripts give
the album or handscroll a motley look, even though at times the text might be
taken from a single essay.
The precursor of the zashu juan/ ce is unclear, but it may well have been a
work like the Thousand-Character Classic in Six Different Scripts mentioned
above. Shortly after Zhao Mengfu, in the late Yuan and the early Ming, cal-
ligraphers from the Songjiang area began to write zashu juan/ ce. A handscroll
by Song Ke (1327-87) dated 1370 is an early example (Fig. 2.37). Song Ke
transcribed Zhao Mengfu's Thirteen Colophons to the "Preface to the Orchid Pavil-
ion Gathering" (Lanting shisan ha) using four different scripts: regular, running,
cursive, and draft cursive. But unlike Yu He's scroll, the complete text is not
repeated in different scripts; instead, the text is written out only once, with
different portions in different scripts. Some colophons are written entirely in
a single script, but, in a further innovation, some mingle two or more scripts,
so that the text shifts freely from one script to another. The brothers Shen
Du (1357-1434) and Shen Can (1379-1453) from Songjiang, students of Song
149
Ke, were also fond of writing handscrolls in assorted scripts; why it was
Songjiang calligraphers who adopted the practice remains a question for fu-
ture investigation.
Fig. 2.36 Colophons by Ling He (fl. late 19th-early 2oth c.), Tiannan Dunsou (fl. late 19th-early 2oth c.),
Wu Shiqing (fl. late 19th-early 2oth c.), Li Dingyuan (fl. late 19th-early 2oth c.), Liang Qinggui (1858-1931),
and Yang Songfen (fl. late 19th-early 2oth c.) on Wang Hong's (fl. ca. 1131-61) Eight Views of the Xiao and
Xiang Rivers. Ca. 1150. Pair of handscrolls, ink on silk, each handscroll with four sections of paintings and
colophons; frontispiece, 23.6 x 87.5 em.; painting, each section ca. 23.4 x 90.7 em. Art Museum, Princeton
University. Edward L. Elliott Family Collection. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund.
Photograph by Bruce M. White. Y1984-14 a&b.
Fig. 2.37 Song Ke (1327-87), Transcription of Zhao Mengfu's "Thirteen Colophons to Preface of the
Orchid Pavilion Gathering." 1370. Handscroll, ink on paper, 25.5 x 160 em. Private collection.
The W u school master Zhu Y unming was renowned even in his own day
for his mastery of script types-including regular, running, and lesser cur-
sive-in a wide variety of styles, and his exceptional versatility allowed him to
display his talent in such works as his handscroll in assorted scripts now in the
Palace Museum, Beijing. 150 Zhu began the scroll quietly: the calligraphy opens
with a passage in the style of Ouyang Xun, in carefully executed regular script,
followed by a section in his characteristic running-cursive, and although the
two scripts are different in type, they here share identical graphic values in
terms of character size, stroke width, and the like. But then, for variety, Zhu
followed these passages with a second section of cursive script, this time heav-
ier and more abbreviated, with more linkages between characters. The fourth
section of the scroll is a passage of running script modeled on the style of
Huang Tingjian, whose distinctive elongated horizontal strokes permeate the
entire section. The final passage is a bold example of running script, heavy
with ink and slightly rough in execution. Yet despite such scrolls by Zhu, in
the mid-Ming the practice of working in a variety of scripts in different styles
seems to have been limited to a fairly small circle of calligraphers.
It was only in the greatly altered cultural context of the late Ming that zashu
juan/ ce attracted the attention of more calligraphers in every region. Interest-
ingly enough, Dong Qichang was not one of these: among his extant works we
find few zashu juan/ ce. Dong wrote only in regular, running, or cursive script;
no calligraphy by him has yet been found in clerical, draft cursive, or seal script.
His preference for only a few scripts may have led to his disinclination to write
calligraphy in assorted scripts. Dong, however, often copied a series of short
passages or excerpts from calligraphies by several different famous masters as
one handscroll or album. A handscroll with passages from calligraphies by Su
Shi, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu, and Cai Xiang (ro12-67 )-the Four Great Mas-
ters of the Northern Song-survives in the collection of Shanghai Mu-
seum.151 Another example, in the collection of the National Palace Museum,
Taipei, is an album in which Dong has copied Wang Xizhi's Eulogy ojYue Yi,
in regular script; a letter by Yang Ningshi and another by Y an Zhenqing, in
running script; and Huaisu's The Holy Mother Stele (Shengmu tie), in cursive
script. The script types in this work vary; thus, in a broader sense, the album
resembles a zashu juan/ ce. 152
A scroll more closely associated with the late Ming practice of writing zashu
juan/ce is a handscroll (Fig. 2.38) by the influential art critic and friend of
Dong Qichang, Li Rihua (1565-1635). The text of this scroll is a typical assem-
blage of random notes ofLi's own composition: short critiques of calligraphy
and painting; anecdotes about Daoist immortals, Zen monks, and famous lite-
rati; discussions of ancient social customs; and so forth. Za, "miscellaneous,"
very accurately describes the text of this handscroll. The scroll's format is
of interest here. Most of the characters can be classified as written in small
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regular script, but their size differs from paragraph to paragraph, as does the Fig. 2.38 Li Rihua
height of the columns. This variation in height between paragraphs, together (1565- 1636), Calligra -
phy in Running-
with the variation in character size, makes the definition of paragraphs clearer
Regular Script. 1626.
than usual, and the viewer's experience is thus conditioned and directed by a
Portion. Hand-
format that treats each paragraph as a distinct, independent unit. In this re- scroll, ink on paper,
spect, Li's handscroll is similar in format to the zashu juan, which usually un- 23.5 x 550 em. Wong
rolls sufficiently to display concurrently several unrelated texts written in as- Nan-p'ing Family
sorted scripts. Li' s scroll fails as a zashu juan only because it is written in a Collection.
153
single script (running-regular) rather than in several different scripts.
Wang Duo, another key figure in late Ming calligraphy, should probably be
given credit for pioneering the late Ming revival of the zashu juan/ ce. Like
Dong Qichang, Wang Duo frequently copied ancient works, especially those
reproduced in the Calligraphy Model-Book from the Chunhua Archives, and, like
Dong, he treated copies more as creative works than as learning exercises. The
overwhelming majority of the works in the Calligraphy Model-Book from the
Chunhua Archives are short letters by calligraphers from successive dynasties.
When Wang Duo copied these letters in a handscroll, he created a work with
a distinctly "miscellaneous" appearance. Wang also excelled in more scripts
than did Dong Qichang, including in his repertoire-in addition to regular,
running, and cursive-both clerical and draft cursive scripts. In a calligraphy
handscroll he executed for his friend Yugu in 1647 (Fig. 2.39), Wang Duo tran-
scribed nine poems in four scripts: running, draft cursive, cursive, and regular.
Immediately noticeable are the striking differences in the size of the characters
Fig. 2.39 Wang Duo (1593-1652),

Poems for Yugu in Assorted Scripts.
Portion. Dated 1647. Handscroll,
ink on satin, 25.6 x 271.7 em.
Ho Ch'uang-shih Calligraphy
Foundation.
Fig. 2.40 Fu Shan, Selu miaohan. Dated ca. 1652. Handscroll, ink on paper, 31 x 603 em. Ho
Ch'uang-shih Calligraphy Foundation. (Note: The panels of the illustration overlap slightly.
Continues on facing page.)
' "
,.
i- ~ ,.,
-
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•
~I
J •
j_
•! ·; 1/ ~:1
... ~E ~ I / 1i
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i
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.•.
Fig. 2. 41 Fu Shan, sec-
tion of Selu miaohan with
many characters showing
breakdown of script
types.
he used for each poem. The fourth and seventh poems are both written in regu-
lar script, but the size of the characters in the seventh poem is at least twice the
size of those in the fourth . This disparity divides the work into very clear sec-
tions. Although the handscroll was executed three years after the Manchus vic-
tory, it is reasonable to assume that Wang Duo was producing scrolls of a simi-
lar pattern before the fall of the Ming.
But it was Fu Shan-equipped with more scripts even than Wang Duo-
who became the true master of the zashu juan/ce in the seventeenth century. Fu
wrote more zashu juan/ ce than anyone else, and he pushed the format to an
154
extreme. Almost chaotic in its number of scripts and overall composition,
the Selu miaohan scroll, introduced above, stands at the pinnacle of this
achievement (Fig. 2.40 ).
The rich graphic content of the Selu miaohan scroll demands careful study,
to identifY its scripts, decipher unusual character forms, examine the stylistic
features of its character composition and brush technique, and analyze its
138 • The Early Years of the Man chu Conquest
format and overall composition. The scroll is written in five scripts: seal,
clerical, cursive, running, and regular. Moreover, some of these scripts are
written in different styles. Ordinarily, for instance-as here-Fu Shan wrote
small regular-script calligraphy in the manner of Zhong You and Wang
Xizhi but modeled his medium-sized regular script on Yan Zhenqing. Fu
Shan did not follow the historical evolution of Chinese writing-that is to say,
he did not progress from seal script to clerical script and then on to cursive,
running, and regular; rather, he chose a script quite unsystematically, although
with an eye to maintaining visual interest. The handscroll is divided into 26
sections, usually defined by a change in script type. The text is a mixture ofFu
Shan's notes, prescriptions, excerpts from three chapters of the Zhuangzi
(which constitute the major portion of the handscroll), and Fu Shan's own
commentaries on the Zhuangzi.
The heterogeneity of this handscroll springs not only from the use it
makes of five scripts available at the time but also from the breakdown that
has occurred between scripts, a breakdown that allows "new" scripts to
emerge (Fig. 2.41). For example, when writing in clerical script, Fu Shan in-
troduced elements borrowed from seal-script inscriptions on ancient bronze
vessels and seals. In one of his renderings of the character wei /h ("for," Fig.
2.42), for example, the character is written for the most part in seal script,
but its upper portion is modeled on regular script, and one of its principal
horizontal strokes on clerical script. In crossing the boundaries between
script types, Fu was inspired-initially or in part-by the late Ming calligra- Fig. 2 . 42 Fu
pher Zhao Yiguang, the inventor of so-called cursive seal script, but Fu Shan, character
Shan's writing was so radical that it challenged the normative categories of wei~ .
script and resulted in a scroll whose format is bizarre and whose calligraphy
is full of puzzles.
The most striking feature of the Selu miaohan scroll is precisely this exagger-
ated use of unusual character forms, which makes this scroll probably the
most eccentric and unreadable in Chinese history up to this point (Fig. 2.43).
Whereas most seventeenth-century calligraphers made use of unusual charac-
ter forms only in regular- and running-script calligraphy, Fu Shan used such
forms in writing seal script as well and did so extensively. These strange forms
were drawn from The Analysis of Characters as an Explanation ofWriting and
from four dictionaries of ancient script compiled in the Song dynasty but still
in use as the most authoritative dictionaries in Fu Shan's day: Guo Zhong-
shu's Hanjian; Xia Song's (984-1050) Dictionary of Ancient Scripts Compiled in
Four Rhymes (Guwen sishengyun ); Du Conggu' s Dictionary of Seal Script and Gu-
wen Script Compiled in Rhyming Order; and Xue Shanggong's Inscriptions on Rit-
ual Bronze Vessels from Successive Dynasties. Fu Shan also incorporated the seal-
script forms from these dictionaries into his running-script calligraphy. In
the Selu miaohan scroll, for instance, there are at least three versions of the
Fig. 2.43 Fu Shan, section
of Seltl miaohan with exten-
sive use of unusual charac-
ter forms.
character yu ~{'- ("in" or "at") derived from seal script (Fig. 2.44), all of which
vary dramatically both from one another and from the character as it is com-
monly written.
In some portions ofFu's scroll, the text is hardly readable without the assis-
tance-in the case of the excerpts from the Zhuangzi-of the original text,
since there is such a superabundance of unusual character forms. In two lines
of running script, for example, in the twelfth section of the handscroll (Fig.
2.45), there are ten unusual character forms (zi -=f, xi iff~, yu *'yuan iJit wen
M, shi ~ifi,jin ~~xi$;, wei~~ and ru ~11) that in the main are drawn from
Xu Shen' s Analysis of Characters as an Explanation of Writing and Guo Zhang-
shu's Hanjian. Other passages contain characters that are even more unusual in
form, making the reading of this scroll well beyond the abilities of most literate
Chinese.
At times, Fu went so far as to invent new characters. We find one such in-
vention in a section of the scroll in running script, where Fu has written the
character pin Ht, "frown," four times (Fig. 2.46). Pin's radical, mu ( El ), mean-
ing "eye," which occurs in characters having to do with the eyes, is normally
written as a vertical rectangle with two horizontal strokes, standing to the left
Fig. 2.44 Fu of the element bin ( :fi). But Fu Shan has laid the rectangle on its side, so that
Shan, char-
it is horizontal rather than vertical, and inserted into the center of bin. Fu
acter yu #
in three dif- commented on his innovation in a short note in small characters appended to
ferent forms. the paragraph:
=iL
1~
+ Jk\
!\
. -/
(left) Fig. 2.45 Comparison of Fu Shan's unusual character forms and their sources: (middle column) an ex-
cerpt of Selu miaohan. (left-hand column) transcriptions of the excerpt in regular script. (right-hand column)
sources of Fu Shan's unusual character forms . (right) Fig. 2.46 Fu Shan, section of Selu miaohan with an in-
vented character form for pin !J'fi .
Whatever the script, pin (a) was never written like this. Forced by circumstance, I
wrote pin with a horizontal mu ( g) ). I had not intended this, but when I was writing
pin, I forgot to write a vertical mu. I was unaware of this until I had finished the upper
part (b) of bin, so I simply invented a new way to write mu.
(a] (b)
Fu must have taken pleasure in his new invention-although the first un-
conventional pin was written accidentally, he used it three more times in the
same paragraph. Fu knew very well, of course, that many of the character
forms preserved in dictionaries had in the past either been purposely invented
or had appeared spontaneously and become sanctioned by repeated use. Many
so-called folk characters (suzi) had originated as simplifications or, occasion-
155
ally, as mistakes by those with little education. Once such character forms
entered dictionaries, they became accepted alternatives. As Fu Shan no doubt
posed the question: "Since the ancients could invent character forms, why
shouldn't It
Fu Shan's clerical script in the eighteenth section of the Selu miaohan scroll
illustrates his imaginative approach to calligraphy (Fig. 2.47). Several stylistic
features of the calligraphy in this section define it as clerical script: the hori-
zontal strokes, for instance, are usually quite level, and some of the horizontal
[c] and na [d] strokes exhibit a flared ending (or "swallow's tail," in calligra- (c) [d)
--------- - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -
Fig. 2.47 Fu Shan, sec-
tion of clerical script in
Selu miaohan.
phy's technical jargon) that is a distinctive feature of clerical script. But Fu

Shan's clerical script here is hardly conventional. Fu was aware that clerical
script derived from seal script, but before the excavation, in the twentieth cen-
tury, oflarge numbers of bamboo and wood strips with writing from the Qin
and Han periods, understanding of the transition from seal to clerical script
was cloudy at best. In pursuing the sources of antique forms, Fu Shan gleaned
what he could from the little that could be found in contemporary writings
and, beyond that, used his imagination. Many unusual character structures he
borrowed from guwen - a form of seal script supposedly earlier than Han
clerical-script calligraphy-but he wrote them in clerical script style. Examples
include the characters zhu ~~"various"; dong tn, "move"; and shou-t, "longev-
ity" (Fig. 2.48).
The most striking eccentricity in this section is the form of the two-
character phrase tiandi, "heaven and earth." Here tian 7\..., "heaven," is written
as three short, parallel horizontal lines, one atop another, and di J~, "earth," is
written in similar fashion, but with the lines broken in the middle. The forms
for these two characters are not borrowed from dictionaries of seal script; they
Fig. 2-48 Fu
Shan, ch aracters
are instead the trigrams, or symbols, corresponding to heaven and earth in the
zhu it, dong tQ , Book of Changes. It had been believed for centuries that the eight trigrams were
156
and shou lt. the origin of the Chinese writing system. By representing heaven and earth
as trigrams, Fu Shan, in effect, was forging a link between his clerical script
and the traditional origins of Chinese writing.
Fu Shan appended a short note to this section of clerical script: "The brush
method of the calligraphy in this section is archaic and plain. It resembles [the
clerical~script calligraphy of] the Han. 157 Few examples of this brush method
remain. Only the Memorial Stele of Guo Youdao ( [Guo J Youdao bei) survives as a
model for this method." Fu Shan implied in this passage that his clerical
script-which he characterized as "archaic and plain"-was modeled on the
calligraphy of the famous Han stele, the Memorial Stele of Guo Youdao. Guo
Youdao (or Guo T ai, A.D. 128-69) was a native ofJiexiu, T aiyuan, during the
Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 ). He began his career as a leader among stu~
dents at the National University, but on leaving the University, he declined a
summons to serve in the government and returned to his hometown. When
the political situation deteriorated as the result of partisan strife, he chose re~
treat and became a teacher. A prominent cultural figure, he had thousands of
disciples. Because of his reputation, it was said that his memorial stele was
written by the most famous oflate Eastern Han calligraphers, Cai Yong (132-
92). Subsequently, Guo Tai and his stele became cultural icons. By citing
Guo's stele, Fu Shan intended to invest his clerical~ script calligraphy with the
authority of tradition.
But Fu Shan's claim here is suspect. The character structures ofFu's cleri~
cal script in the Selu miaohan scroll are more than imaginative: as clerical script,
they are imaginary. This is because many of his characters are derived from
sources that have nothing to do with clerical script, some, for instance, from
seal script, and two-tian and di-from the symbols for heaven and earth in
the Book of Changes. These forms, and others, never occur in inscriptions in
clerical script on Han memorial steles, and their sudden appearance here leads
us to doubt Fu Shan's claim that he derived his style from the Memorial Stele of
Guo Youdao.
This suspicion is confirmed by another ofFu Shan's notes. In a calligra~
phy album dated 1669, he wrote: "The Memorial Stele of Guo Youdao was lost
long ago. Who knows who was responsible for making the rubbing of the
fake Guo Youdao stele in my collection."158 Contrary to his claim in the Selu
miaohan scroll, Fu Shan admitted that his model was nothing more than a
fabrication.
In 1673, Fu Shan was commissioned by the residents ofJiexiu-Guo Tai's
hometown, and once the site of his stele, although it had long since disap~
peared-to write out the calligraphy for a new stele as a replacement for the
old one. A long note Fu wrote on this occasion confirms that in the seven~
teenth century there could have been no calligraphic method genuinely based
on the Memorial Stele of Guo Youdao. The note reads:
Fig. 2.49 Fu Shan,
secrion of grearer seal
script in Selu miaohan .
The text of (the Memorial Stele of Guo Youdao] is not recorded in Interpreting Han Cleri-
cal Script Writing (Li shi) [by Hong Kuo, lll7-84), or in Collected Records of Antiquity
(]igu [lu)) (by Ouyang Xiu, 1007-72), or in the Record of Inscriptions on Bronze and Stone
(]inshi lu) [by Zhao Mingcheng, ro8r-IJ29), but only in the Annotated Canon of Water -
ways (Shuijing zhu) [by Li Daoyuan, 466 or 472-527 ) ... . I have always believed that
once Hong Jingbo [Hong Kuo) had followed the Song imperial court to the South,
he was unable to continue collecting rubbings of northern steles. But why did Ouy-
ang Xiu and Zhao Mingcheng of the Northern Song fail to record the text of this
stele? Commenting on the steles recorded in the Annotated Canon of Waterways, Hong
Kuo wrote: "Only 10 to 20 percent of the steles recorded in the Annotated Canon of
Waterways have survived. Those not recorded in Ouyang Xiu's Collected Records of
Antiquity and Zhao Mingcheng's Record of Inscriptions on Bronze and Stone are no longer
in this world." Thus I know that this stele had already been lost before the Southern
159
Song dynasty.
In his research notes, therefore, Fu Shan acknowledged that the Memorial Stele
of Guo Youdao had been lost long ago; not even rubbings of the original engrav-
ing survived. Yet in his Selu miaohan scroll, he claimed that his clerical script
was modeled on the brush method of Han clerical-script calligraphy as mani-
fested in the Memorial Stele of Guo Youdao-knowing full well that his claim
160
was groundless. In actuality, then, Fu in this handscroll was simply continu-
ing the practice of inventive copying initiated by Dong Qichang and Wang
Duo.l61
The Selu miaohan scroll, as we have seen, reflects an increasing interest in
ancient scripts stimulated by the resurgence ofliterati seal carving in the late
Ming (Fig. 2.49). Fu Shan mastered one more script type than Wang Duo-
seal script-and he could write it in several forms, lesser seal (xiaozhuan) and
greater seal (dazhuan), as well as the cursive seal script (caozhuan) invented by
Zhao Yiguang in the late Ming. Fu Shan's interest in this most ancient of
script types is demonstrated by his use of pictographs found on bronzes,
which were by then commonly accepted as one of the earliest forms of writing,
two examples being the pictographic symbols he drew to represent the words
yu ;w_, "fish," and xiang ~, "elephant" (Fig. 2.50 ).
Others ofFu Shan's works in the 165os exhibit calligraphy that is almost
equally eccentric. One example is an album of seal script written in 1655, while Fig. 2.50 Fu
Shan, picto-
Fu was imprisoned during the Case of the Red-Robed Daoist. Its text is the
graphs in Selu
Lotus Sutra, one of the canons of Buddhist scripture (Fig. 2.51). While Fu was miaohan.
awaiting the decision of the Qing government as to his guilt or innocence, his
thoughts turned to his aged mother, and he copied the sutra and dedicated it
162
to her. Many quite bizarre seal script characters are included in this work,
making it exceedingly difficult to read. Its brush method, character forms, and
composition are clearly influenced by inscriptions on ancient bronze vessels
recorded in such Song catalogues as the Collected Records of Antiquity from Xiao-
tang (Xiaotangjigu lu, Fig. 2.52) by Wang Qiu (fl. II46-76).
The Selu miaohan scroll, with its abundance of obscure character forms, use
of seal script, distorted character structures, frequent rearrangements of char-
acter components, invention of new character forms, and lack of clear spacing
between columns, taxes the reader to an even greater extent. The major por-
tion of the text-the "Tianyun," "Tiandi," and 'Tiandao" chapters of the
Zhuangzi-was well known to the public, and many readers undoubtedly
knew parts of it by heart. Nevertheless, reading the scroll is a journey of dis-
covery, with the reader forced time and again to guess the way. Like Wang
Duo's calligraphic collages, the Selu miaohan scroll is full of riddles.
Writing is an extension of oral communication. As Jack Goody writes, in
Literacy in Traditional Society, "Its essential service is to objectify speech, to
provide language with a material correlative, a set of visible signs. In this
(left) Fig. 2.51 Fu material form speech can be transmitted over space and preserved over
163
Shan, "Lotus Su- time.'' But in the Selu miaohan scroll, the signs-that is to say, the charac~
tra" in Seal Script. ters-are not always legible: the natural process of reading is blocked by the
Dated 1655.
graphic obscurity of forms that are often very far from the standard characters.
Album leaf,
Thus, ironically, the communicative function of writing is undermined or se~
measurements
unavailable. Col- verely hampered in Fu Shan's handscroll by the writing itself. By diminishing
lection unknown. its communicative function, Fu Shan forced the viewer to pay more attention
After Shuanghong- to the work's graphic content-to the calligraphy as art. Viewing this work
kan mobao, p. 1. gives aesthetic satisfaction when the anxiety and frustrations caused by failure
(right) Fig. 2.52
to recognize some of its signs yield to the pleasure of discovery as obscure
Wang Qiu (fl.
forms are deciphered and to amazement at this extraordinary calligrapher's
1146-76), Xiaotang
jigu lu. After Xiao- erudition and imagination. The process of viewing this scroll is thus both in~
tangjigu lu, p. 21. tellectual and entertaining. With this scroll, the search for qi was extended to a
new dynasty.
A particularly intriguing feature of the Selu miaohan scroll is Fu Shan's addi-
tion of marginalia to his own work. These commentaries, called pidian, or
164
"analytical annotations," were popular during the Ming and Qing. Many
literati-for example, Fu Shan's famous contemporary, the critic Jin Shengtan
(r6o8-6r)-wrote comments in the margins ofbooks and plays or between the
lines of the text. Adding commentaries to the margins of one's own work,
however, was distinctly unusual: Fu Shan was probably the first to do so in a
calligraphic work. His marginalia in this scroll are concerned exclusively with
the art of calligraphy and are written in small regular or running script. Com-
pared with the difficult calligraphy in which, for instance, the passages from
the Zhuangzi are written, Fu's commentaries on its calligraphy are much easier
to read. Fu Shan seems to have written his comments in a clear hand, in the
hope that these, at least, would be easy to understand.
Two of his comments are worth noting. One reads:
There is calligraphy that is truly good, and calligraphy that is truly bad. The truly
good is not recognized by people as good, nor is the truly bad recognized as bad. Cal-
ligraphy that achieves fame (quickly) must be bad. Several decades to a hundred years
must pass, and then, if there are keen critics, a final judgment can be made. (Fig. 2.53)
The other reads:

I lay claim to having divine eyes when viewing paintings, essays, poetry, and calligra-
phy. Of hundreds and millions of things, not one escapes them. Every time I try to
tell someone the significance (of something), he cannot understand it. I dare say that
in ages to come my views will be counted as unique insights. Although I would be
crazy to keep making this claim, I would also be crazy ifi did not. I know, however,
that my own creations are not equal to my sensibilities. (Fig. 2.54)
The startling language of these comments immediately catches our attention,

making us pause to wonder whether the calligraphy of this handscroll is as
good as the artist would have it. Although in the second note, Fu Shan admit-
ted that his artistic creations were not the equal of his insights into art, he
clearly believed that his eccentric calligraphy was at least on the way to being
good. Fu Shan was keenly aware that the awkwardness of his calligraphy made
it difficult for his contemporaries to accept, and he countered criticism by
claiming that truly good calligraphy was never judged good by an artist's con-
temporaries. His comment serves at the same time as self-justification and
self-promotion.
One reason that Fu Shan may have occasionally interjected marginalia into
the viewing process was to provide relief, since a viewer could easily be ex- (top) Fig. 2.53 Fu
Shan, a note in
hausted by the eccentricity of the calligraphy he was encountering. Easy to
Selu miaohan.
read and startling in their frank language, marginalia mitigated the tension (bottom) Fig. 2.54
created by the difficulties of the text. Whereas marginalia in printed books Fu Shan, a note
simply gave clues to its content, the marginalia ofFu Shan's handscroll are in Selu miaohan.
part of its substance: they are integral to the effect of the work on the viewer
and provide special information about its meaning.
The texts of zashu juan/ ce are usually an assemblage of short passages. They
resemble, in this regard, the genre known as xiaopin biji or zazu xiaopin, vari~
165
ously translated as "miscellanies," "random notes," or "literary trifles." This, to

late Ming-early Qing literati, was one of the most attractive of literary genres.
166
It can be traced to the writings of the Song literati or even earlier, but its
popularity peaked in the late Ming. As the word "miscellaneous" (zazu) sug~
167
gests, the writer jotted down his thoughts more or less at random.
Zashu juan/ ce were produced in much the same fashion as xiaopin hiji. In the
Selu miaohan scroll, for instance, the selections from the Zhuangzi are copied
out in the order Fu Shan chose them, rather than in the order in which they
originally appear. There is no logical connection between a text and the script
type chosen to transcribe it (such as selecting a script that dates to the same
period as the text), nor does the sequence in which scripts are employed corre~
spond to the sequence in which Chinese script types evolved. "Miscellaneous"
and "random" seem appropriate descriptions of the handscroll's content and
layout, qualities that are also characteristic of most late Ming xiaopin hiji. In
the preface to his famous Random Notes Compiled in a Leisurely Mood (Xianqing
xiaopin), Hua Shu (r58g-r643), a late Ming literatus, described how it came to
be written: "Over the long summer in my humble cottage, I casually pulled out
books. Encountering a well~turned verse or an anecdote of the ancients, I ran~
domly jotted it down, stopping at such points as my interest waned." Like xia-
opin hiji, zashu juan/ ce are casual, almost accidental, in their construction.
Both xiaopin hiji and zashu juan/ ce echo, in their form, the sequential charac~
ter ofliterati cultural life. Reading late Ming miscellanies, one receives the
strong impression that much writing was devoted to the depiction of a series
168
ofleisurely cultural pursuits. Chen Jiru, Dong Qichang' s closest friend and a
famous writer, provided a list:
Many activities, such as burning incense, sampling tea, washing ink-stones, playing
the zither, collating books, enjoying moonlight, listening to the sound of rain,
watering flowers, leaning from high places, observing the divinatory square board,
pacing up and down, basking in the sun, fishing, appreciating painting, washing in
spring water, wandering with a staf£ worshiping Buddha, tasting wine, meditation,
browsing the classics, gazing into the mountains, copying calligraphy, engraving
169
bamboo, and feeding cranes, can all be enjoyed by one person alone.
The increasing richness of cultural life among the elite was reflected in their
consumption of cultural products. In describing their activities, late Ming lite~
1 ed to use t h e wor d s su1,• 170 as one p1eases, an d sh'1, try or samp1e.11171
rat1• l'k II II II II II
Both sui and shi imply an activity of short duration, without devoted, consis~
tent engagement. They emphasize moments of peak interest. To stave off the
r48 • The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest
boredom of doing one thing too long, late Ming literati moved from one activ~
ity to another, keeping interest fresh and life enjoyable. The availability of a
wide range of cultural amusements and activities made such shifts in attention
possible. As each activity ended, a literatus could move on to a new one. A
handscroll by the Songjiang painter Sun Kehong (1533-r6rr) entitled Pictures of
Leisure Activities (Xiaoxian qingke tu ), now in the collection of the Palace Mu~
seum in Taipei, depicts twenty such scenes ofliterati activity, each with a title
and inscription. The scenes include reading history, appreciating painting,
copying calligraphy, washing ink~ stones, making tea, watering flowers, sitting
at night, worshiping Buddha, wandering in the mountains, listening to the
sound of rain, and so forth. From this handscroll we can visualize the life~style
of the late Ming literati, at least its ideal form.
Mixtures of subject matter were common in late Ming literature and art.
Two catalogues illustrating inksticks-lnk Garden of the Cheng Family by
ChengJunfang and The Ink Manual of the Fang Family (Fangshi mopu) by Fang
Yulu-show designs ranging from literati cultural motifs to Buddhist icons to
172
illustrations of the Bible, a range so diverse that it defies easy description.
Xiaopin biji are by definition xiao, "small" (or in this context, "short"); xiao
also implies a certain triviality in subject matter. Each passage is usually no
more than a paragraph long. The reader quickly peruses one passage and
moves on to another. One has much the same experience when viewing zashu
juan/ce. Unrolling the Selu miaohan scroll, the viewer perceives a series of
paragraphs in which the script type and size and style of calligraphy change
in rapid succession. The miscellaneous nature of the handscroll, with its as~
sortment of scripts and large number of unusual character forms, is intended
to intrigue, even puzzle, the viewer, forcing him to make a visual readjust~
ment from one paragraph to the next and requiring him to draw fully on his
knowledge of different scripts. It thus keeps his interest high and quickens
his curiosity.
The rise in popularity of the zashu juan/ ce corresponds with a change in
reading habits in the late Ming. In a discussion of the relationship between the
famous sixteenth~century novel Golden Vase Plum Uin Ping Mei) and late Ming
print culture, Shang Wei points out that in the late Ming qualitative printing
(careful printing of select materials in small quantities) gave way to quantita~
tive printing (routine printing of any material that would sell in quantity).
With the rapid expansion of commercial publishing came a shift from inten~
sive reading to extensive reading; at the same time there emerged new page
designs, with two or even three rows of text. As Shang Wei argues, in late
Ming print materials we see a general tendency toward a more and more so~
phisticated way of organizing the text world. One such method is to structure
the texts of each page into registers or rows. Although the division of pages
into two rows of text can be dated to earlier times, it was not until the Wanli
(left) Fig. 2.55
A page in Yao -
tian yue. W anli
(1573-1620) ed.
After Wang
Qiugui, Shanben
xiqu congkan,
vol.1, p. 8.
(right) Fig. 2.56
A page in Xinke
Meigong Chen
xiansheng bianji
zhushu beicai
wanjuan souqi
quanshu, 13.6b.
1628. Harvard-
Yenching Li-
brary.
reign that the three-row format became popular, especially in drama miscella-
nies (Fig. 2.55). This format had, as least, two effects: on the one hand, it
served as a means for ordering otherwise disorganized texts; on the other,
however, it also allowed unrelated texts to coexist on the same page. 173 Frag-
ments of dramas, popular songs, jokes, riddles, verses designed for drinking
parties, and the like, were often printed, in two or three rows, on the same
page. As Shang Wei notes, although none of these reading materials was pub-
lished in the form of a series or on a regular basis, yet as a whole they resemble
the magazines of later periods in significant ways. 174
A page from a late Ming household encyclopedia, for example, is divided
into two rows (Fig. 2.56). The upper row, with illustrations and written in-
structions, features wrestling tips. The lower row has jokes for teasing differ-
ent types of people-for instance, geomancers or men without beards. The
contents of the two registers have little in common. In the three-row format,
one usually finds highlights from a novel or play in the top and bottom rows,
continuing on the same row in the pages that follow. The middle row, the
most diverse, mixes puzzles, slang, jokes, jibes at courtesans, and things of a
similar nature. In the Yaotian yue, a drama miscellany published in the late
Ming, the top and bottom rows contain excerpts from two plays, and the
middle row a series of rather vulgar jokes (see Fig. 2.55). With pages of this
design, readers could interrupt their reading of the lengthier material in the
outer rows to glance briefly at the material in the middle.
This new method of reading, together with the popularity of xiaopin
hiji, contributed to the emergence of the zashu juan/ce as an important
format in calligraphy. It is highly unlikely that such a work as the Selu miao-
han scroll, in which Fu Shan shifted continually from one style or type of
calligraphy to another, was completed in a single session. Almost certainly
Fu would execute a few paragraphs-or perhaps only one-and then stop.
Later, with interest refreshed, he would renew his efforts. Evidence that
Fu Shan did indeed work in this fashion is provided by the excerpts
from Zhuangzi, which are not transcribed in the order of their sequence
in the book.
The format of the zashu juan/ ce introduced a new way of viewing into the
art of calligraphy. Traditionally, when a calligrapher writes a scroll in a single
script, his brush moves from stroke to stroke, characters to character, and
line to line, in a performance that has a temporal dimension akin to that in
music and dance. This temporal flow, extending through the piece from be-
ginning to end, helps unite the work, and the well-trained viewer can retrace
the path that the artist followed in its creation. But in the Selu miaohan scroll,
the viewer's experience is shaped by a very different format. The scroll is di-
vided into distinct blocks, differentiated by their scripts, which differ dra-
matically in type and style, and by their texts, which are quite unrelated in
content. The consequence is that there is no need to read segments in the
sequence in which they were written. These blocks of text are small enough
that a number may be viewed simultaneously, allowing the viewer to pause
over the sections most appealing to him, and to move back and forth to
compare different sections in whatever order he chooses. The sectional char-
acter of the calligraphy of the Selu miaohan scroll thus disrupts the hand-
scroll's natural movement from right to left, introducing into the realm of
calligraphy a nonlinear viewing process, similar to the one involved in reading
175
the multiple rows of a printed miscellany. In short, the rise in popularity
of the zashu juan/ ce format in seventeenth century calligraphy owes much to
the literary culture of the late Ming.
The Selu miaohan scroll was written in the r65os, but it is almost certain that
Fu Shan wrote zashu juan/ ce before the fall of the Min g. After the war and the
resulting dynastic change severely jeopardized the material well-being of Chi-
nese literati like Fu Shan, the late Ming literati life-style became an ideal for
176
many in the Qing. Not only does Fu Shan's Selu miaohan scroll testify to the
lingering oflate Ming cultural influence in a drastically changed political con-
text, but it also demonstrates that many late Ming calligraphic trends-the
The Early Years of the Manchu Conquest • I5I
search for qi, experimentation with unusual character forms, manipulative use
of ancient canons, and interest in random and heterogeneous zashu juan/ ce
format-reached new levels of development in the early Qing. In the 166os
and 167os, however, an intellectual trend that was soon to form the basis of a
new aesthetic in the art of calligraphy began to evolve.
New Intellectual
Tendencies
Chapter) •
Advocac,y ot
E_pigraphical
Calligraph,y
THE INTELLECTUAL COMMUNITY
IN SHANXI, I660S-I670S
Around 1656, a year after he was released from jail, Fu Shan traveled to the
south in what was probably his only trip to Jiangnan. From his poems and from
local gazetteers, we know that he visited Shanyang, Peixian, and Nanjing, meet-
ing Yan Xiuling (1617-87), Yan Ermei (1603-79), and other Ming loyalists. 1
Fu Shan' s purpose in making this trip remains unclear. In the late 1650s, the
south, especially the region around Nanjing, was the center of numerous
schemes for restoring the Ming dynasty, and some scholars have argued that
2
Fu's trip may have had a political motivation. But no known evidence sup-
ports the assertion that in the 1650s Fu was heavily involved in anti-Manchu
activities. What we do know is that the trip was significant for Fu because it
led to his acquaintance with a number of influential figures who proved im-
portant to his later intellectual activities and orientation.
Armies led by Zheng Chenggong (1624-62) and Zhang Huangyan (1620-
64) attacked Nanjing by sailing up the Yangtze from the sea in 1659. The two
captured a number of cities and towns, but were soon defeated by Manchu
forces. Zhang was arrested and executed by the Qing, and Zheng retreated to
the island ofTaiwan. In 1661, Wu Sangui (1612-78), a Ming general whose
defection at the crucial pass of Shanhaiguan in 1644 had enabled the Manchus
to capture Beijing, led a Qing army into Burma to force the Burmese to hand
over the last Ming "emperor" and his only son, who were executed in Yunnan
the following year. Their death ended the Southern Ming. With every failure
153
to restore the dynasty, Ming loyalists were made increasingly aware of their
military impotence. The new political reality was crucial in shaping their per~
ception of what they should and could do to oppose the Manchus.
Although military struggle had proved futile, resistance continued, albeit in
indirect forms. For most Chinese, resistance amounted to little more than har~
boring a feeling of alienation, but those who felt accountable for the fate of
their nation resisted more assertively. Their attitude was clearly expressed in a
remark ofQu Dajun's (1630-96), a friend ofFu Shan: 'Han is conquered, but
Han hearts cannot be conquered." By "Han" (a reference originally to the Han
empire), he meant China. To prevent the loss of Chinese identity, many loy~
3
alist scholars devoted themselves to the study of Chinese culture. Because of

their efforts, intellectual trends in the early Qing were, to a considerable extent,
a response to the political environment.
14
Intellectual life had been dominated for centuries by "men from the south,'
but in the r66os and r67os in Shanxi an intellectual community formed of men
from both north and south contributed significantly to cultural life. Hitherto,
students of Qing intellectual history have concentrated on scholarly activities
in the south, especially in the Jiangnan region, to the relative neglect of north~
ern scholars. 5 Study of the scholarly community in Shanxi, however, broadens
our understanding of early Qing intellectual trends and, most important for
this study, illuminates the influence of these trends on Fu Shan's practice and
theory of calligraphy.
As a native of Shanxi and a cultural leader, Fu Shan acted as host to this
intellectual community. In the r66os and r67os, he devoted himself to studying
Chinese culture, and his house in Songzhuang, a village about two and a half
miles southeast ofTaiyuan, was a center for scholarly gatherings.
In the winter of r662, Gu Yanwu (r6r3-82), a leading scholar whose ideas
6
had a profound influence on Qing intellectuallife, arrived in Shanxi. At the
beginning of the following year, he and Fu Shan met in T aiyuan. In 1657 Gu
Yanwu had left his hometown of Kunshan in Jiangnan and set out to travel
extensively. He was to spend most of his remaining years in northern China,
including Shanxi. Although some scholars have argued that Gu was only
marginally involved in military resistance to the Qing and have questioned
the assumption that Gu's trip north was concerned with the restoration of
the Ming, 7 it is undeniable that Gu was a leader of resistance through cul~
rural means. Through his original research in the Classics, historiography,
and phonology, Gu became a pioneering figure in the intellectual history of
the Qing and a key person in the Shanxi intellectual community.
Another member of the Shanxi intellectual circle was Pan Lei (r646-r7o8)
8
from Wujiang, Jiangnan, who followed Gu Yanwu to Shanxi in the r67os.
Born into a wealthy family with an extensive collection of books, Pan Lei
received his early training in the Classics and in literature from his half~
154 • Fu Shan's Advocacy ojEpigraphical Calligraphy
brother Pan Chengzhang (1626-63), a renowned historian and close friend of
Gu Yanwu. Pan Chengzhang had been executed by the Qing government for
his involvement in an illicit history of the Ming, Summary of Ming History
(Ming shi jilue), sponsored by Zhuang Tinglong (d. 1655). Because writing the
history of a former dynasty was a politically significant act and the preroga~
tive of the succeeding dynasty, the Qing government considered the compila~
tion of an unofficial history of the Ming an act tantamount to treason or re~
hellion. Many members of Pan's family suffered from the government's
reprisals. Pan Lei was forced to change his name to Wu Qi and fled to north
China. Hearing of Pan Chengzhang's death while traveling in Shanxi, Gu
Yanwu composed a memorial eulogy for him and sent Pan Lei a poem ex~
9
pressing his grie£ Gu seldom accepted students, but when Pan Lei wrote to
ask if he might come, Gu immediately made an exception. Under the guid~
ance of his mentor, Pan Lei made a thorough study of the Classics, history,
phonology, phonetics, etymology, and the study of inscriptions on ancient
bronze and stone objects.
The leading scholar Yan Ruoqu (1636-1704), who was also a member of the
circle, came to T aiyuan about 1663 to take the civil service examination at the
provincial level. Although Yan's family had lived in Shanyang, Jiangnan, for
several generations, members of his family usually returned to their ancestral
hometown ofTaiyuan to take the examinations.10 Yan Ruoqu' s father, Yan
Xiuling, was an old friend ofFu Shan and had hosted Fu in Shanyang on his
11
trip south in the 165os. Yan Ruoqu frequently visited Fu Shan when he was
in Shanxi, and in 1672 he met Gu Yanwu at Fu Shan's home. 12
A number of other literati participated in Shanxi's intellectual community.
Some were neither distinguished scholars nor financial sponsors, but their
presence was significant because they came from other parts of China. Qu Da~
jun from Guangdong and Shen Hanguang ( r620-77) from Hebei, for instance,
brought word of new intellectual and academic trends. 13 Yan Ruoqu asked Qu
Dajun to store his most important work, An Evidential Study of the Guwen
Documents (Shangshu guwen shuzheng), in Guangdong. 14 Without their traffic in
intellectual news, the Shanxi intellectual community would not have been so
active or influential in early Qing cultural life.
Generous, welho~do Ming loyalists and literati provided patronage to this
group of scholars. Fu Shan's friend Dai Tingshi, known for his large collection
of books and paintings, provided financial assistance toFu Shan after the fall
of the Ming. In 1675, Dai built a house, including a study, for Gu Yanwu near
his own home in Qixian, and he supported many other scholars at his resi~
15
dence. Wang Hongzhuan from Huayin, Shaanxi, another famous northern
collector, was a patron of scholars as well as a scholar himself. His particular
field of study was the Book of Changes. As the son of a senior Ming official,
Fu Shan's Advocacy ofEpigraphical Calligraphy • 155
Wang probably had property in Nanjing, and his repeated visits to Nanjing
16
kept the north informed on the literati circle there.
Scholars have long been aware of how substantially Qing scholarship bene~
fited from the sponsorship of government officials. In Shanxi's intellectual
community in the r66os and r67os, the activities of two Han Chinese officials
stand out. In r662, the year of GuYanwu' s arrival in Shanxi, Cao Rong, a
scholar from Xiushui, Zhejiang, and a Ming official who had chosen to serve
17
the Qing, was appointed surveillance vice commissioner ofShanxi. Cao
Rong and Fu Shan had known of each other since the r6sos. In 1655, when the
Case of the Red~ Robed Daoist was forwarded to Beijing for final disposition,
Cao Rong was among the Han Chinese officials in the central government
who rescued Fu Shan. After they met in Shanxi in the r66os, they were to re~
main lifelong friends. Cao Rong' s accomplishments were mainly in poetry and
bibliography. He was also a famous collector of calligraphy, paintings, and
rubbings of inscribed ancient bronze and stone objects. Under Cao's sponsor~
ship, his fellow townsman Zhu Yizun (r629-1709) came to Shanxi in the fall
of r665 to work as his secretary or assistant. Later, Zhu was employed by
Wang Xianzuo, the administrative commissioner ofShanxi. In both aca~
18
demic and literary circles nationwide, Zhu Yizun was regarded as one of the
finest scholars.
The other Qing official was Chen Shangnian (d. ca. 1675), a native of
Qingyuan, Zhili, who obtained his jinshi degree in 1649. From r66o to r667,
he was in charge of military affairs in Yanmen in the Daizhou area of Shanxi.
His residence in Yanmen, about eighty miles from T aiyuan, was a center
19
for scholarly gatherings. His children's tutor, Li Yindu (r631-92), a scholar
20
from Fuping, Shaanxi, was also active in the Shanxi intellectual community.
Han Chinese officials were increasingly willing to assist Ming loyalists as the
military struggle against the Manchus came to an end. Leading scholars who
declined to serve the Qing like Fu Shan, Sun Qifeng, and GuYanwu were es~
teemed as symbolic figures by Han Chinese officials, who provided the protec~
tion and patronage necessary for the survival of the loyalists and the continua~
tion of their research into Chinese culture. Such support shifted from helping
loyalists survive the difficult times of the Shunzhi period to sponsoring their
research and promoting their cultural achievements in the Kangxi period. Han
Chinese officials provided important institutional backing for the loyalists' cul~
tural activities.
About 1673, Gu Yanwu made plans to found a research library in Fenzhou,
Shanxi. Three of his nephews, Xu Qianxue (1631-94), Xu Bingyi (r633-17rr),
21
and Xu Yuanwen (1634-91), all senior officials in the Qing government,
wrote an open letter that circulated in literary circles asking for donations of
books. 22 The Xu brothers' letter should not be viewed simply as a request for
assistance but as a symbolic rallying call to the Chinese literati.
This call fell during a period in which many Han Chinese officials were
zealously participating, in whatever manner they could, in the cultural move~
ment launched by Ming loyalist scholars. In a preface to the collected works of
Liu Tiren (zi Gongyong, 1624-?, jinshi 1655), a government official and
influential literary figure, Xu Qianxue offered readers a short vignette to
illustrate Liu' s noble character and cultural achievements:
Mr. Liu Gongyong from Yingchuan was a marvelous scholar with extraordinary tal~
ent.... When he visited Sumen and met Sun Zhongyuan [Sun Qifeng], he wanted
to leave office and become Sun's disciple. He stayed there about a month, building a
house [for future visits] and leaving behind his zither. Passing through Taiyuan, he
paid special homage to Fu Qingzhu [Fu Shan] in Songzhuang villafe. Sitting under
2
thatch, they composed poetry the whole day. How noble Liu was!
Aside from some general remarks on Liu' s literary talent and unusual person~
ality, the two specific pieces of evidence that Xu gives us to demonstrate Liu' s
superior quality as an individual are, first, that Liu built a house in Sumen and
24
studied with Sun Qifeng and, second, that he and Fu Shan composed poems
together. No details are offered about what Liu learned from Sun Qifeng or
what happened when he and Fu Shan composed poems. None of that mat~
tered. For Xu, the mere fact that Liu associated with these leading cultural
25
figures was proof of his nobility.
Although brief, Xu's remarks on Liu's association with Sun Qifeng and
Fu Shan point to an interesting phenomenon in early Qing politics and cul~
ture. Extant historical documents record that, in the early Qing, many Han
Chinese officials eagerly supported celebrated loyalist scholars, and many,
like Liu Tiren, became their students. After Sun Qifeng was forced to move
to Sumen, in Huixian county, Henan, from his hometown in Zhili, several
senior government officials became his disciples, including Wei Yijie and
Tang Bin (1627-87 ). Although Fu Shan and Gu Yanwu were not enthusias~
tic about recruiting and preaching to students, many Han Chinese officials
paid their respects to them as they passed through Shanxi. In addition, loyal~
ists such as Gu Yanwu often received hospitality from local officials when
26
they traveled.
Shanxi's intellectual community was to prove of crucial importance to
Fu Shan's late scholarship and art. First, Fu Shan's connection with this
group of prominent scholars and literati from other areas of China kept
him informed and placed him at the forefront of new intellectual trends.
Second, these scholars were not only intellectual companions but also
competitors who challenged his position as the foremost cultural authority
in Shanxi. In the r66os and r67os, Fu Shan devoted himself to studies of
the ancient classics, phonology, and paleography in response to this active
27
intellectual environment.
Fu Shan's Advocacy ojEpigraphical Calligraphy • 157
NEW TRENDS IN INTELLECTUAL LIFE
When Xu Shipu wrote of the cultural achievements of the W anli reign, in the
passage quoted at the beginning of Chapter r, his mood was nostalgic. As he
said in his opening sentence, "In the reign of Emperor Shenzong, cultural ac~
tivities in the nation flourished." But ironically, this period of cultural efflo~
28
rescence corresponded only briefly with a period of peace. The country soon
confronted a variety of crises. The political strife, widespread corruption, se~
vere famine, domestic revolts, and border conflicts that were to end two dec~
ades after the Wanli reign with the Manchu conquest began to plague China
during this period.
Members of the "conquest generation" (those born in the late Ming who
survived into the Qing) always felt a certain ambivalence toward the fallen dy~
nasty. On the one hand, the undeniable achievements of the late Ming in
many cultural fields were both admirable and memorable. The cultural at-
mosphere had been free and creative, and the material life of the elite, rich and
29
sophisticated. On the other hand, the tragic collapse of the Ming forced
many early Qing scholars to rethink the causes of the fall of the Ming and the
rise of the Qing. A painful question inevitably arose: Did the diversity and
heterogeneity that contributed to late Ming cultural prosperity lead to the de-
cline of the official ideology of Confucianism and thereby cause the dynasty's
eventual collapse?
Modern historians identify many factors contributing to the dynasty's fall
that could not have been recognized by the intellectuals of the conquest gen-
eration. In retrospect, the Ming collapse can be attributed not so much to a
weakening of Confucian orthodoxy as to the inadequacy of imperial institu~
tions and official ideology to deal with the problems besetting the country.
Late Ming social fluidity and diversity provided a stimulating environment
for cultural activity; whether the traditional political and ideological system
could tolerate, accept, and incorporate this diversity depended on the effec-
tiveness of the system in meeting political and economic challenges from
within and without. When the system failed to meet these challenges, diver~
sity, although not fundamental to Ming collapse, was an easy scapegoat. In~
deed, many who experienced the painful Ming-Qing cataclysm blamed late
Ming philosophical trends for the fall of the dynasty. As Benjamin Elman
points out: "The decisive impact of the fall of the Ming dynasty to Manchu
'barbarians' in 1644 confirmed, rightly or mistakenly, for many Chinese lite~
rati who experienced it, the sterility and perniciousness of recent Confucian
discourse. They vigorously attacked the heterodox ideals of their predeces~
sors, which had betrayed the true teachings of Confucius and thus had
brought on this debacle." 30
158 • Fu Shan's Advocacy oJEpigraphical Calligraphy
Among the members of the Shanxi intellectual community, GuYanwu was
foremost in expressing his aversion to the late Ming intellectual climate and
cited it as the cause of the nation's disaster. To him, the introspective philoso~
phy prevalent in the late Ming encouraged the conceptual abstractions of
"pure conversation" rather than the solid rationality of pragmatic inquiry.
GuYanwu did not limit his attacks to the philosophy of the elite; he held
other cultural practices of the late Ming responsible for undermining common
1
morality. A native ofKunshan/ a county in Suzhou prefecture and a late
Ming center for publishing, GuYanwu must have seen many of the parodies
of ancient canons printed as popular entertainments before 1644. He casti~
gated popular print culture for degrading morality: "People in the Wanli reign
liked to alter and distort ancient books. Since then, evil thoughts and customs
32
have prevailed." In contrast to Xu Shifu' s praise of the Wanli reign as ape~
riod of great creativity, GuYanwu thought it a period of moral decline. His
opinion of the late Ming intellectual environment and its cultural practices
was shared by many, if not by all, loyalist scholars.
Given such views, empirical research was viewed as an antidote to late
Ming intellectual practices. Increased attention was paid to a more accurate
understanding of the Classics and histories, and "return to origins" became
33
the new scholastic cry. Empirical research was viewed as having more than
methodological value: the so~called plain scholarship (puxue) promoted by
Gu Yanwu and his friends had strong moral connotations. It was believed
that such scholarship could effectively restore the spirit of the ancient past
and thereby rehabilitate society. Gu Yanwu claimed that through such schol~
arship one could "rehabilitate people's minds, bring order out of chaos, and
,34
create peace.
The ailfl, then, was to understand the ancient canonical texts accurately in
order to re~establish the authority of the Confucian canon. Three fields thus
began to attract intense scholarly attention among intellectuals in Shanxi, and
the focus of their research gradually became mainstream scholarship during
the early Qing. These fields were phonology (yinyunxue); the study of ancient
bronze and stone objects, particularly their inscriptions (jinshixue); and textual
verification of the Classics (kaozhengxue).
That phonology became an important discipline was no accident. The
Confucian classics were over seventeen hundred years old. Occasionally schol~
ars had taken great pains to annotate these texts and make them accessible to
later readers, but there remained much controversy over how to read them.
Because phonology was closely related to etymology and paleography in tradi~
tional Chinese scholarship, it was seen as an important approach to under~
standing the original meaning of the Classics.
Phonology had in fact been a subject of scholarly interest even since the
Song dynasty. Although late Ming intellectual practices were criticized by
many early Qing scholars, the study of phonology in the early Qing owed
much to late Ming scholarship. A significant contribution to the field was
made by Chen Di (rs4r-r6r7), who set out to discover the phonological rules
of the Book of Songs, a work dating to the Spring and Autumn period (770-
35
476 B.c.). Interest in phonology was also stimulated by Catholic missionaries
like Matteo Ricci and Nicolas Trigault, who, for the first time, transliterated
Chinese words in the Latin alphabet. Inspired by Chen Di's research and the
new approaches introduced by Europeans, scholars of etymology and paleog-
raphy shifted their attention from the construction of characters to the pho-
nological relationships between characters in order to ascertain the meanings
36
of these characters in ancient texts. The importance of phonology went be-
yond the field itsel£ As GuYanwu put it, "Studies of the nine [Confucian J
classics should start with studies of characters; studies of characters should
137
start with the study of phonology.'
Given the significance of phonology, as a means of gaining a new under-
standing of the ancient classics, it is not surprising that most of the important
38
members of Shanxi's intellectual community took up the study. In r666, Gu
Yanwu finished his Corrections to the Restoration of Rhymes (Yunbu zheng), which
was written to correct the errors of a phonological work by Wu Yu (ca. noo-
II54) of the Song dynasty. In r667, in a project sponsored by Chen Shangnian,
Gu reprinted the Expansion of Rhymes (Guangyun), a Song compilation that was
39
one of the earliest dictionaries of phonology. In the same year, in Shanyang,
Jiangnan, Gu published his Five Books on Phonology (Yinxue wushu). Through an
analysis of rhymes used in the ancient poems in the Book of Songs, he made sig-
nificant progress toward reconstructing ancient phonologic practices. This
groundbreaking work became a model for Qing research on the Confucian
classics and other texts.
Fu Shan' s increasing interest in phonology during the r66os and r67os is
best demonstrated by his meticulous study of the Song dictionary Expansion of
Rhymes. After GuYanwu reprinted the Expansion in r667, he sent Fu Shan a
copy. In his colophon to the book, Gu also acknowledged Fu's discoveries in
40
phonology, and it is evident that the two friends had discussed the subject.
The copy Gu sent Fu as a gift survives with many ofFu's notes and is now
housed in the collection of the Beijing Library. On the opening page, Fu im-
pressed four seals: "Seal ofFu Shan," "Fu Gongta," "Lao Shi," and "In the Fu
Family Collection" (Fig. 3.r). Both Fu Shan's seals and his annotations are a
measure of the value he placed on this book. Fu' s method of studying phonol-
ogy was unique for its time. According to the modern scholar Wang Shiqing,
the major portion ofFu's notes in this book are some r2,ooo lines taken from
poems by the Tang poet Du Fu. Fu checked the rhymes in the Expansion
against the end rhymes in Du's lines in order to confirm what was then
r6o • Fu Shan's Advocacy ofEpigraphical Calligraphy
···--
Fig. 3.1 Chen Pengnian
(961-1071) et al., Guang-
yun. 1011. Reprinted by
Gu Yanwu in 1667 with
Fu Shan's notes after
1667. Beijing Library.
believed-that the Expansion, although published in the Song, actually repre-

41
sented Tang dynasty phonetics.
Phonology's goal was to provide critical analyses of the meanings of ancient
texts. A r669 album of etymological notes by Fu Shan, now in Taiwan in the
collection ofYuan Shouqian, is an example ofFu's application of phonological
42
techniques to the study of ancient texts. As Fu wrote in a short preface, he
composed this work to help his grandson Fu Liansu read the Rhapsody of Sir
Vacuous (Zixu ju) by Sima Xiangru (r79-n7 B.c.) of the Han dynasty. In deci-
phering the meanings of words in this text, Fu frequently discussed their ety-
mological roots in terms of phonology. There is no doubt that his research
during this period was heavily influenced by new academic trends in phonol-
ogy and that he himself was an active participant in the field.
The second field that scholars in Shanxi were instrumental in promoting
was the study of ancient bronzes and stone objects. Their interests lay chiefly
in the social function of such objects in ancient times, in their historic and ar-
tistic evolution, and in their inscriptions. Studies of these objects had begun as
early as the Han and had flourished in the Northern Song, but they had de-
clined in the Yuan and Ming. The early Qing witnessed a strong revival of
interest in the field. Scholars in Shanxi paid particular attention to bronze and
stone inscriptions as important primary sources for the study of the Confucian
classics and other historical texts. The use of these inscriptions to authenticate
Fu Shan's Advocacy ojEpigraphical Calligraphy • r6r
and verifY events recorded in historical texts became an indispensable part of
evidential research. Gu Yanwu emphasized the importance of such inscrip-
tions in the preface he wrote to his Record of Inscriptions on Bronze and Stone Ar-
tifacts (]inshi wenzi ji):
Ever since my youth, I have been fond of searching for the ancients' inscriptions on
bronze and stone objects, but at the time I did not understand them clearly. After
reading Ouyang Xiu's Collected Records of Antiquity (]igu lu), I realized that the events
recorded in these inscriptions and those described in historical texts could be verified
one against the other; that such inscriptions could be used for interpreting the con-
cealed, clarifying the unclear, supplementing the missing, and correcting the misre-
corded, and so should not be valued solely for the grace of their literary styles. In
twenty years' travel in China, whenever I visited famous mountains, large towns,
shrines, or Buddhist temples, I would without exception search for inscriptions on
bronze and stone objects. I climbed risky peaks, explored deep valleys, handled fallen
rocks, trekked through wild forests, walked on broken walls, and scooped up decayed
soil; and as long as texts were legible, I transcribed them. When I found a text unseen
by my predecessors, I would be so happy that I could not sleep.... Day and night I
have sought [such inscriptions] and used them to verify historical texts and to inter-
pret the Classics. Many of my discoveries are not recorded in Ouyang Xiu's Collected
Records of Antiquity or in Zhao Mingcheng's Record of Inscriptions on Bronze and Stone. 43
Gu Yanwu's enthusiasm for studying inscriptions on ancient bronze and

stone objects was shared by other members of the Shanxi intellectual commu-
nity, many of whom were among the most accomplished early Qing scholars
in the field. Zhu Yizun, for example, produced a six-juan work entitled Colo-
phons to Bronze and Stone Artifacts from the Pushu Pavilion (Pushutingjinshi bawei),
which, like Gu Yanwu's Record ofinscriptions on Bronze and Stone Artifacts, be-
44
came famous as a pioneering work in the early Qing revival ofjinshixue. An-
other member of the northern group, Cao Rong, was one of the principal col-
lectors of rubbings of bronze and stone inscriptions in his day and compiled
the Catalogue of Bronze and Stone Artifacts from Gulin (Gulin jinshi biao), which
had more than eight hundred entries. In neighboring Shaanxi, the collector
Wang Hongzhuan studied with Guo Zongchang, a prominent late Ming-
early Qing scholar of bronze and stone objects and a collector of rubbings,
particularly rubbings ofHan steles. After Guo's death, much of his collection
came into Wang's hands, including the best Song rubbing of the Memorial Stele
of Mount Hua (Huashan bei) and a Ming rubbing of the Memorial Stele of Cao
Quan (Cao Quan bei), both now in the collection of the Palace Museum in Bei-
45
jing. In r663, in Yangzhou, Wang published Guo's History of Bronze and Stone
Artifacts (]inshi shi), probably with help from Zhou Lianggong, an influential
46
cultural figure in the south.
162 • Fu Shan's Advocacy ofEpigraphical Calligraphy
Fig. J.2 Memorial Stele of Kong
Zhou. Dared 164. Portion. Rub-
bing mounted as an album, ink
on paper, measurements unavail-
able. Palace Museum, Beijing.
After Qi Gong, ed., Zhongguo
meishu quanji, p. 139, pl. 84.
Fu Shan was by no means behindhand in developing an interest in jinshixue.

In the mid-166os, Yan Ruoqu visited Fu in T aiyuan, where they talked over
research on bronze and stone artifacts. So impressed was Yan Ruoqu by this
discussion that he recalled it more than once, writing on one occasion: "Mr. Fu
Shan is so excellent in the study of bronze and stone inscriptions that when-
47
ever he discussed them with me, we kept it up tirelessly, day and night.' Fu
Shan, too, collected rubbings of Han steles, and in the 166os, scholars often
gathered at his residence to view his collection and write colophons on his
. 48
ru bb mgs.
A copy !)f Interpreting Han Clerical Script Writing-Hong Kuo's scholarly
work on Han steles-that survives with Fu Shan's handwritten notes, demon-
strates that in the 166os and 1670s Fu systematically studied bronze and stone
49
inscriptions, especially inscriptions on Han steles. His notes include many
etymological and paleographical comments on the characters and phrases used
on Han steles, with occasional comments on calligraphic features. In juan
seven, for instance, he commented on the Memorial Stele of Kong Zhou (Kong
Zhou hei, Fig. 3.2), a stele inscription of which he was particularly fond and of
which he owned a rubbing: "In this inscription, the character [a] is written as
[b ]. Its form is extremely archaic and awkward, natural and unrestrained" (Fig.
(a) (b)
3.3). Scholars like Gu Yanwu focused almost entirely on the textual value of
bronze and stone inscriptions. In contrast, Fu Shan, a skilled calligrapher, paid
attention as well to their aesthetic features. The revival of research into bronze
and stone artifacts made such inscriptions more readily available, and interest
in the calligraphic aspects of ancient stele inscriptions, embryonic in the late
Ming, gradually developed in the Qing. giving rise to a new aesthetic that
complemented the new academic enthusiasm.
Fu Shan's Advocacy oJEpigraphical Calligraphy • 163
Fig. 3·3 Fu Shan, Nore
on Li shi by Hong Kuo
(m7-I184). Derail. For-
mer collection ofFu
Shan. Afrer Hong Kuo,
Li shi.
Fu Shan's enthusiasm, as well as his knowledge ofbronze and stone inscrip-

tions, is demonstrated by an album of his annotations to the Stone Drum In-
scriptions (Shigu wen), now in the collection of the Tianyige Library, in Ningbo,
Zhejiang province. 5° His annotations to the ten poems on the Stone Drums,
which constitute the early Chinese poetry cycle, similar to that recorded in the
51
Book of Songs, are carefully executed in small regular script, and on the last
leaf of the album Fu placed his personal seal, indicating that the album is a
final version compiled from notes made earlier on his research discoveries.
Transcribing the Stone Drum Inscriptions into his album, Fu wrote circles for
characters illegible in the original and appended to each inscription his own
annotations in small-sized characters. Not only did Fu cite scholarship on the
Stone Drums by earlier scholars like Zheng Qiao (uo4-62) and Xue Shang-
gong and meticulously compare different versions of the inscriptions, but he
even included reproductions of original rubbings of the inscriptions. With
such studies as this, Fu Shan became one of the foremost pioneers of the study
of bronze and stone artifacts in the early Qing.
The third field dominating the new trend in scholarship in the early Qing
was evidential research through textual analysis (kaozheng). Two representative
works by scholars associated with Shanxi's intellectual community were Gu
Yanwu's Daily Record of Gained Knowledge (Rizhilu) and Qianqiu's Reading Notes
(Qianqiu zhaji) by Yan Ruoqu; in both works, the authors analyzed customs
and institutions recorded in ancient texts by close textual examination. For
example, a letter by Yan Ruoqu to Fu Shan that Yan included in his Reading
Notes relates that on a visit to T aiyuan in the fall of 1672, Fu asked him why it
was that ancient texts record that when the ancients attended a feast, it was
considered courteous to take off not only one's shoes but also one's socks. Y an
could not answer the question without sifting through the evidence for this
practice in ancient texts. Several years later, he wrote to Fu Shan reporting on
2
his research into that ancient custom. 5
The fundamental principle of evidential research, as the words suggests, is
that research must base its conclusions on reliable, verifiable evidence. As evi-
dential research triumphed, becoming the new intellectual paradigm, ancient
or contemporary scholarship lacking solid foundation inevitably became a tar-
get of criticism. In the writings of Shanxi's intellectuals, we constantly encoun-
ter criticisms of this kind. Y an Ruoqu, for instance, wrote:
In literary accomplishment, I [myself] have said that Mr. Ou [Ouyang Xiu] was a
literatus unmatched for generations, whom no one could surpass; but in scholarship,
no one was so poor as he. Mr. Fu Shan heard this comment of mine and asked, "Did
you criticize Ou because Liu Yuanfu [Liu Chang, roo8-69] belittled him? You simply
followed Liu's criticism, did you not?" "Certainly not," I said. "I examined his notes in
53
the Collected Records of Antiquities.''
For centuries, Ouyang Xiu's Collected Records had never been seriously chal-
lenged; suddenly his scholarship was considered "poor."
Zhao Yiguang, whom Xu Shipu includes for his studies of paleography in
his list of the most celebrated scholars of the W anli reign, was also a target.
Zhao's Long Annotation to "The Analysis of Characters as an Explanation ofWrit-
ing,'' the most fashionable paleographical work of the late Ming, was fiercely
attacked by Gu Y anwu in his Daily Record of Gained Knowledge:
Toward the end of the Wanli reign, Zhao Fanfu [Zhao Yiguang] from W u [i.e.,
Suzhou] wrote A Long Annotation to "The Analysis of Characters as an Explanation of
Writing." In it, he wantonly distorted the Five Classics as they have been handed
down from ancient times, and he enjoyed displaying his insignificant cleverness by
manufacturing arguments different from those of earlier scholars.... Because this
was a period in which people were fascinated with the novel and unusual, the book
became fashionable. I am afraid that if we do not criticize it, its mistakes will have a
greater impact on future students than its truths. For this reason, I have selected and
54
examined some dozen mistakes in his book.
As Gu pointed out, in a climate favoring novelty, late Ming scholars de-

lighted in fanciful new arguments, often propounded at the expense of his-
torical accuracy. For instance, Zhao Yiguang interpreted a poem in the Book
of Songs describing a group of young students who dropped out of school and
wandered about the countryside as a metaphorical portrayal of an illicit love
55
affair.
Contemporary writers received their share of condemnation as well. No
one's work, including GuYanwu' s, was immune from scrutiny. When Gu and
Yan Ruoqu met each other in 1672 at Fu Shan' s home, Yan pointed out a mis-
take Gu had made in a study of ancient geography, writing afterwards:
Gu Ningren [i.e., Yanwu] argued that the three states ofYouzhou, Bingzhou, and
Yingzhou were not among the nine states recorded in the Tributes oJYu (Yugong). 56
On a visit to Taiyuan, I corrected him face to face. "In fact," I said, "according to the
'Zhifangshi' chapter of the Zhou Rituals, the state of Bing contains a lake called
Zhaoyuqi. Zhaoyuqi is thirty-two li northeast ofJiexiu county and is known locally
as W uchengpo. You and I have visited it together."57
Twenty-three years younger than Gu, Yan Ruoqu was the most contentious
member of Shanxi's intellectual community. In a later essay, Yan remarked
that he and Gu hotly debated interpretations of the Classics when they met in
58
T aiyuan, and Gu, deeply impressed by Yan's criticisms, took them seriously
when revising his Daily Record of Gained Knowledge.
Intense scholarly debate created a climate in which everyone was under
strain. In a letter to Pan Lei, Gu Yanwu wrote that both he and Fu Shan be-
lieved that those who wrote without being sufficiently well read produced
scholarship that was harmful to later ages. He also told Pan that some of his
own early writings should be thrown away because they were based on insuffi-
9
cient evidence. 5 So hypercritical did scholarly commentary become that, in a
note of 1671 to the Annotations on the Mao Recension of the Book of Songs (Maoshi
zhushu ), even Fu Shan reacted to Gu Yanwu' s complaint that Li Yindu had
misused a term from the Classics by saying that Gu was being overly fastidious.
From reading the notes and correspondence of early Qing scholars, it is evi-
dent that scholarly interchange and dispute rose to a unprecedented level in
60
this period. Under the circumstances, scholars tended to become increas-
ingly cautious about the points they made, the books they cited, and the evi-
dence they used to support their arguments. As scholars came to believe that
scholarship should be more precise, it rapidly became so.
Detection of forgeries (bianwei), as a discipline, was inextricably linked to
61
evidential research and can be viewed as part of the same movement. The
most shocking discovery in the early Qing was brought to light in Yan
Ruoqu' s Evidential Analysis of the -Guwen Documents, which convincingly proved
that the Guwen Documents-hitherto regarded as one of the core Confucian
classics-was not a pre-Qin version of documents originally written in so-
62
called guwen script, but a Han or a post-Han forgery. Yan's research created
an earthquake in intellectual circles. For centuries the Guwen Documents had
been considered an essential text for Confucian teaching; now, Yan had
proved it a forgery. Liang Qichao (1873-1929) has stressed the importance of
Yan's work in Qing intellectual history by comparing its effect to that of Dar-
win's Origin of Species (1859) on mid-nineteenth-century Europe.63
SCHOLARSHIP AND CALLIGRAPHY
The impact ofYan Ruoqu's research extended far beyond study of the Confu~
cian classics. Scholars were increasingly skeptical regarding the authenticity of
characters in so-called guwen script, other than those recorded in Xu Shen's
Analysis of Characters as an Explanation of Writing and some Song catalogues of
ancient bronze objects such the Inscriptions on Bronze Ritual Vessels from Succes-
sive Dynasties.64 Some scholars suspected that many guwen characters were
post-Han inventions, culled from "classics" that were in fact forgeries. If some
Confucian classics were forgeries, why not the guwen characters in which these
classics were purportedly written?
Inevitably, this new scholarly rigor influenced calligraphy. Fu Shan's calli-
graphic works of the 1650s are littered with unusual character forms. But by
the 166os calligraphers were becoming cautious in their use of unusual forms
lest they damage their reputation. For a literatus, playing with unusual charac-
ter forms, which might once have earned him a reputation as a man oflearning,
was now just as likely to brand him as unscholarly and ignorant. Calligraphers
had been in the habit simply of picking out strange characters from randomly
selected texts and incorporating them into their calligraphies. Now it was no
longer so easy: the selection of unusual forms had to be based on phonological
or paleographical evidence, a change in attitude affecting even calligraphers
such as Fu Shan, who had been eloquent advocates of eccentricity. Many of
the unusual character forms in Fu Shan's earlier calligraphic works were taken
from dictionaries compiled in the Song and Yuan dynasties, but with the ad-
vent of evidential research, their authenticity was now questioned. The Song
dynasty Dictionary of Seal Script and Guwen Script Compiled in Rhyming Order, for
example', was considered suspect, since it gave no source for any of its charac-
ters. One way to protect one's reputation was to reduce the number of unusual
character forms in one's calligraphy or eliminate them altogether.
Thus Fu Shan' s late calligraphy is markedly less eccentric, as witness the
works included in the Collection ofFu Shan's Calligraphy Engraved by the Duan
Family in Taiyuan (Taiyuan Duantie), reproductions of his late works carved by
65
his student Duan Xin (or Duan Shuyu, fl. 1674-85). Most of the works in
this model~ book were executed between about 1675 and 1683, when Duan Xin
began carving Fu's works in stone as a basis for the rubbings in the collection.
Fu Shan, of course, was fully aware ofDuan's project and knew that this col-
lection of his calligraphy would be the last he would live to see. No doubt he
66
discussed its production with Duan. Most significant, the works in this col-
lection exhibit remarkably few unusual character forms. Nor is there a single
example of seal script in the collection's seventy-some pages; all the calligra-
phies are works in regular, running, and cursive scripts. The character of this
collection implies that toward the end of his life Fu was carefully censoring his
calligraphy, perhaps aware of etymological problems in his early seal~script
calligraphies. He knew that the Collection, once published, would be handed
down for generations, and he wanted to exclude any materials that would
make him a laughingstock in years to come.
Fu Shan, however, did not give up seal script and unusual character forms
entirely. A set of twelve hanging scrolls, now in the collection of the Chokaido
bunko in Yokkaichi, Japan, is an interesting example ofFu's late seal~script
calligraphy. Although undated, the work was almost certainly executed in the
r67os, judging from the style ofFu's inscription and signature. Of the twelve
scrolls, eight are written in running script (numbers r, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, g), one is
in regular~running (number 5), and the remaining three are in seal script, a seal
script bizarre both in its character forms and in its stylistic features (Fig. 3.4).
In the eleventh scroll, the character for yu, "jade," in column one is written as a
large circle with four small circles inside. This form of character is taken from
the Pianhai leibian, a dictionary compiled in the Yuan dynasty that contains the
largest number of unusual character forms of any dictionary.
This work might seem to contradict the argument that Fu Shan became cau~
tious in writing seal script and unusual character forms in later life. But a more
careful analysis of the circumstances under which this work was written may
resolve this contradiction. Fu Shan' s short inscription on the last scroll reads:
My friends Zheng the Fourth, Shunqing, and Lithe Fifth, Duliang, wanted to estab-
67
lish a relationship with the master of this temple. They also wanted to make a do-
nation. So they asked me for an ugly ink-play as a gift of introduction. Chanting po-
ems, I casually wrote out these scrolls; no one can really tell the method of the poems
or the style of the calligraphy. This old man made these rashly. Looking them over, I
can only laugh at myself
F u Shan's inscription makes it clear that this set of scrolls was made as a gift for
friends who intended to present them to a temple. Mr. Zheng and Mr. Li were
probably local townsmen rather than scholars. Fu Shan may have been fond of
them or owed them a favor, but he seems not to have attached any great impor-
tance to their request. Fu Shan was well aware that people often asked him to
write calligraphy because of his fame, not because they valued it aesthetically. In
his inscription, Fu emphasized the casualness and haste of his "ugly ink~play,"
tuya, so that viewers would not take this work too seriously.68 By calling atten-
tion to its "deficiencies," he pre-empted criticism from scholars well versed in
paleography.
There may have been another reason Fu produced this strange seal-script
calligraphy. Fu was a Daoist priest, and his set of twelve scrolls falls into the
category known a "poetry of a roving immortal" (youxianshi). His frequent ref~
erences in these scrolls to Daoist immortals and to the Queen Mother of the
r68 • Fu Shan's Advocacy ojEpigraphical Calligraphy
Fig. 3·4 Fu Shan, Roving Immortal Poetry. Dared ca. 1670s. Eleventh (right)
and rwelfrh (left) of a ser of twelve hanging scrolls, ink on sarin, each 252.1 x
48.8 em. Chokaido Bunko collection, Yokkaichi,Japan.
Ir===.·
~
1
. .~ .I .
Fig. 3·5 Daoist secret

graphs: (left) Daoist Jti,
magic script. Dared
302. Ink-imprint.
Nanjing, Jiangsu.
(right) Daoist Ju. After
Tseng Yuho, A History
of Chinese Calligraphy,
pp. Bo-81.
West's peach of immortality support what we learn in the inscription, that

these scrolls were intended for the master of a Daoisr temple. They bring to
mind the Daoist tradition of writing in a magic script (ju) for religious talis-
69
mans (Fig. 3.5). There were characters in rhis magic script that were "nor
intelligible to the untrained person. They [were J esoteric and secret graphs, ...
highly inventive, and they were specially created to cover the three realms:
70
Heaven, earth and man.'' Although seal script is nor a form ofDaoisr ju, Fu
Shan may deliberately have chosen strange characters to recall ju script, to dis-
ranee viewers from the morral world and complement the remote atmosphere
of the temple in which his scrolls were to be hung. Whatever Fu's intentions
here, occasion and function were often significant factors in determining Fu's
71
selection of character forms and type of scripr.
Works such as this reflect an important aspect ofFu Shan's complex
personality, namely, the heterogeneity of his philosophical views, which set
him apart from other members of Shanxi's intellectual community such as the
dedicated Confucian scholars Gu Y anwu, Y an Ruoqu, and Zhu Yizun. Gu
72
once alleged that he had never been interested in reading Buddhist rexrs. Fu,
on the other hand, although deeply influenced by Confucian reaching-to rhe
73
point that he called Confucius "my masrer" -was a Daoisr priest who
74
claimed rhar he had abided by Buddhist discipline since his yourh. He rhus
embodied the late Ming ideal of the Three Teachings in One. As we saw in
Chapter r, in the "Biography of Mr. Who," he described himself in terms of a
long list of questions and contradictory answers to prevent anyone from mak-
75
ing par assumptions about his personality, about "who" he was.
The hybrid nature ofFu Shan's thought helps explain why his scholastic
orientation was different from that of his friends. Although Gu Yanwu, Yan
Ruoqu, and Zhu Yizun concentrated on studying the Confucian classics, Fu
devoted considerable energy to studying the various schools and exponents of
Daoist thought from pre~Qin times to the early years of the Han dynasty, in~
eluding the Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, and Huainanzi. He also wrote widely on
Taoism and Buddhism. Whereas orthodox Confucianists treated study of
classic Confucian classics (jingxue) as superior to study of the pre~ Han masters
(zixue, or zhuzixue), Fu held that they should be treated equally. He argued
that even Confucius and Mencius were called Kongzi and Mengzi (that is,
they were simply two among many masters [zhuzi]) and that study of the pre~
6
Han masters had a longer history than did study of the Confucian classics?
The breadth ofFu Shan's philosophical interests renders him almost unique
77
in Qing intellectual history. As evidential research became increasingly
popular among scholars in the early Qing, Fu Shan expressed grave doubts
about the soundness of this approach in searching for truth. He contended, in
a note written about r668 in a calligraphy album for his friend Gugu, that the
issues of concern to evidential scholars were easy to understand and required
little in the way of philosophical thinking. To explore the essence of things, he
contended that one must make metaphysical inferences, moving beyond mere
78
empirical research. GuYanwu, Fu Shan's friend and competitor, once said of
Fu Shan: "Unrestrained by the material world, he partook of the mystery of
,79
nature.
Given the unconventional, contradictory facets ofFu Shan's personality, it
is not surprising to find that although for the most part, perhaps, Fu in his
later years reduced the use of unusual character forms and strange seal~ script
calligraphy, yet on other occasions he reverted to practices that still exerted an
°8
attraction on him. Fu, however, was well aware in these later years that there
remained serious problems in determining accurately the forms, meanings,
and etymologies of ancient characters. One of his poems reads:
[Studying] seal, zhou, dragon, and tadpole scripts is profoundly exhausting,
Yet ancient scripts excel in their pictographic shapes.
[At work] in a studio far from the human world
81
I knew not my ignorance till I grew old.
In his last line, an aging Fu Shan frankly admitted the difficulties of under~
standing ancient scripts. His interest in and use of such scripts reflects the
shift from curiosity about the strange (qi) to intense study of the archaic (gu)
that was one of the broad intellectual trends affecting a number of disciplines
'h
m t e earlQ'
y mg. 82
Fu Shan's Advocacy ojEpigraphical Calligraphy • I7I
STELES
Evidential research and the study of bronze and stone artifacts were matters in
which something more than mere scholarship or intellectual activity was in~
volved. They awakened deep emotions, particularly in the study of ancient
steles-the major artifacts extant and the sites of the early collective memories
of the Chinese. A poem by Fu Shan, "Dream of a Stele" ("Bei meng"), provides
some understanding of the complex feelings experienced by students of steles.
An ancient stele enters my lonely dream,
Its text broken and illegible.
But the lone character rong stands so large
That even in my dream I halt and stare.
In the Explanation of Names (Shiming), rong is a kind of flower,
The hollyhock (shukui) that grows in areas of Shu.
When the Han court was in Cancong [Shu]
Where did the hearts of Han subjects lie?
Now I hold this red sunflower;
If even clouds cannot hide the sunlight, how can they?
It is said the emperor of Shu was wise,
83
Yet, he needed to ask W uhou [Zhuge Liang] to plan
. 84
hIS strategy.
This is a dream, or, more precisely, a poem about a dream, of a lost dynasty. It
seems to have been common for those mourning fallen dynasties to express
their regret and nostalgia by writing of dreams. Li Yu (937-78), third emperor
of the Southern Tang, who was imprisoned by the Song after their invasion of
his tiny kingdom, composed some of the most poignant ci poems ever written,
in all of them dreaming of what is no more:
So much to regret.
Last night I dreamed
85
of my palace gardens.
The dreaming emperor visits his old palace, site of pleasures that are now only
memories. In such dreams, the pain and regret oflosing his dynasty are briefly
healed:
I forget in dreams my imprisoned state;
86
I dwell in happiness, for a little while.
Unfortunately, beautiful dreams are short, but reality, long and sad:
In dreams, I see my vanished kingdom once again.
87
I wake. Two tears run down.
Happy dream over, regret returns.
Dream figures also in a poem by Emperor Huizong (Zhao Ji, ro82-II35;
r. uor-25), the second to last emperor of the Northern Song and a captive of
the invadingJin:
Heaven is far; my land distant.
Beyond ten thousand crags and torrents
Who can find my former palace?
How could I not miss it?
88
I only return in occasional dreams.
Small wonder, then, with a literature rich in poems like this, dreams invaded
the poetic musings of scholars who were themselves mourning a lost dynasty.
Dreams come with sleeping, but poems do not. Even if a poem is a truthful
record of a dream, it involves conscious expression. Fu Shan's "Dream of a
Stele" is full of allusions and metaphors that require explanation if it is to be
fully understood. The central image in the poem is the shukui, the hollyhock or
rose mallow. In China, the hollyhock is classified as belonging to a plant in the
kui (sunflower) family and is regarded as a symbol ofloyalty because it turns to
89
the sun, the sun symbolizing the emperor or imperial favor. But Fu Shan's
use of the shukui in "Dream of a Stele" is more complicated. The shukui was
believed to have originated in the ancient state of Shu in southwestern China,
whose territory corresponded roughly to what is today Sichuan province. Af~
ter the fall of the Han dynasty, three states-W u, Wei, and Shu~ Han-
competed with one another for political control of China in the 44~year period
known as the period of the Three Kingdoms. The Shu kingdom was founded
by Liu Bei, a member of the Han imperial family, who therefore named his
regime Han. For those loyal to the Han dynasty, Liu Bei was the only legiti~
mate ruler in China, even although he controlled only a portion of what the
Han had once ruled.
In Fu Shan's "Dream of a Stele," loyalty, symbolized by shukui, is not loyalty
in general but loyalty specially to the Shu~ Han regime. The original Han em~
pire was among the most powerful in Chinese history, and owing to the two
most famous texts of Chinese historiography, the Records of the Grand Historian
and History of the Western Han, a reverence for its former glory was deeply in~
grained in the minds and hearts of Chinese scholars. Two characters or words
in Fu Shan's poem play on this historical background. The "shu" in"shukui (hol~
lyhock) refers also to the Kingdom of Shu, and "Han" refers both to the Han
dynasty and to the Chinese as a people. The Chinese have long referred to
themselves as the "people ofHan," but in Fu's time, references to the "Han"
were significant in a more immediate way. During the Qing, the Manchus were
called Manren, or people of Man, in contrast to the Hanren, or people ofHan,
the ethnic Chinese. "Man~ Han" was a common term for "Manchus and Chi~
nese," or rather "Manchus versus Chinese." Thus, when in his poem Fu implied
that Han subjects are always loyal to the Han house, he means that he himself
will always at heart be loyal to the Ming dynasty, not to an alien regime.
The main point here, however, is not simply that Fu Shan was asserting his
loyalty to the fallen Min g. He could have invented many different dreams to
express his passionate hope for a Ming restoration and his unyielding loyalty to
an ethnically Han regime. Since the shukui symbolized loyalty already, why did
Fu introduce a stele into his dream? What was the stele's added significance?
Steles differ in format and literary style, as well as in their location and the
reason they were made, yet all had one thing in common: they are memorial
90
monuments. Since the durable nature of stone allows them to survive wars,
natural disasters, and the rise and fall of dynasties, over the passage of time
they have become witnesses to history. Not only are the texts of ancient steles
original sources for historiographers, but also the steles themselves are sym~
bols of the history and antiquity of Chinese culture.
Students of Chinese poetry have long noted that the dynastic loyalist is of~
ten portrayed as a traveler wandering despondently through the ruins of a
fallen capital.91 GuYanwu was the archetypal Ming loyalist. In the 1650s and
166os, he made more than a dozen visits to the Ming imperial mausolea in
Nanjing (specially to Xiaoling, tomb ofEmperor Taizu, the first Ming em~
peror and his wife Empress Ma) and Beijing (specially to Changling, tomb of
the Emperor Chengzu) for the purpose of"paying conscious and conscien~
tious obeisance to the memory of the imperial house which still had a call on
92
his loyalty." During his seventh visit to the imperial mausolea in Nanjing in
166o, GuYanwu wrote the poem "Revisiting Xiaoling" ("Chong ye Xiaoling"):
Seeing me wandering, eunuchs and old monks
I knew from before often wondered,
"Why do you travel three thousand li
93
To Changling in spring and Xiaoling in fall?"
At Xiaoling, Gu had viewed once again the massive memorial stele erected by
the Yongle emperor in 1413-housed in a pavilion standing at the center of the
94
road leading northward inside the main gate -that Gu had mentioned in a
poem entitled "Picture ofXiaoling" ("Xiaoling tu"), composed on a trip to the
. 95
mauso1eum m 1653.
Gu was not the only member of the Shanxi intellectual community to visit
the Ming imperial mausolea. His friends Li Yindu and Qu Dajun did so too.
On the day of the Qingming festival in 1669, to mourn the fallen dynasty, Li
accompanied Gu to Beijing on a visit to the thirteen Ming imperial mausolea
at Changping. Both Gu and Li commemorated this emotional journey in writ~
ing, Li producing a set of thirteen poems, one for each tomb. Deeply moved by
their pilgrimage, Fu Shan promised Li that he would write out the thirteen
96
poems in small regular script and accompany each poem with a painting.
Although wandering among imperial tombs and roaming through the ruins
of ancient capitals were perhaps the most ritualistic activities of Ming loyalists
when mourning the fallen dynasty, a visit to any ancient historical site might
. equally provoke deep sorrow. Numerous poems recording wanderings of this
kind can been found in the writings ofFu Shan, Gu Yanwu, Zhu Yizun, and
Qu Dajun. One object they frequently encountered at famous historical sites,
as GuYanwu had at Xiaoling, was the memorial stele, which for the nostalgic
loyalists symbolized the glorious past, now forever lost.
The Southern Song poet Zhang Yan (1248-1320), was one of the earliest to
employ the stele as a metaphor for dynastic misfortune. Hangzhou, the capital
city of the Southern Song, was conquered by the Mongols in 1275. There, in
1278, when the complete collapse of the Song dynasty appeared inevitable,
Zhang Yan visited a famous garden, where he found an inscribed stele hidden
by bushes. A few lines from one of his poems read:
My homeland has already seen so much sorrow.
I touch a broken stele:
97
Again I mourn the present.
Touching a broken stele, the poet establishes a historical connection between

past and present: the past is contemplated, the present mourned. Those who
wandered through historical ruins tended to reflect on their own place in his~
tory. Whether they accepted the demise of their own dynasty, historical sites
were a place for them to meditate on how their predecessors responded to the
trauma of dynastic transition.
A few poems by members of the Shanxi group suffice to demonstrate that
Zhang Y an's metaphorical use of the stele was adopted by Ming loyalists in
the early Qing. Qu Dajun, for instance, wrote "Reading the Memorial Stele of
Zhuge Wuh~u [Zhuge Liang] in Leiyang" ("Leiyang guan Zhuge Wuhou bei"):
[W uhou] was a hero forever;
98
Reading this stele, tears never cease.
The shedding of tears before a stele can be traced back as early as the mid~
third century, when a memorial stele was erected for Yang Hu (221-78), a
popular governor of the region that includes Mount Xian (Xianshan, near
Xiangyang in modern Hubei province). According to the History of]in (]in shu):
[After Yang Hu's death,] the people ofXiangyang erected a stele and built a temple
on the spot where Yang Hu used to take his ease on Mount Xian, and every year they
[made] sacrifices to him.... Not a single person who looked on the stele could help
99
shedding tears, so that T u Yu gave it the name "stele for shedding tears.''
Later, the Stele for Shedding Tears (Duolei bei) became not only one of the
most famous of memorial steles but also an image that constantly reappears in
poetic meditations on the past (huaigu). As the Tang dynasty poet Meng
Haoran (68g-ca. 740) wrote in his "Climbing Mount Xian with Others"("Yu
zhuzi deng Xianshan"):
In human affairs there is succession and loss;
Men come and go, forming present and past.
Rivers and hills keep traces of their glory,
And our generation too climbs here for the view.
The waters sink, run shallow through Fishweir;
When the sky is cold, you see deep into Yunmeng Marsh.
Yang Hu's stele is still here:
100
Done reading, tears soak our robes.
Yang Hu lived through a dynastic transition from the Cao Wei to the West~
ern Jin and was deeply involved in contemporary politics. Meng, however,
lived some 400 years later, and when he speaks of reading Yang Hu's stele, in
all possibility he is engaged simply in meditating on the past rather than asso~
ciating it with a specific political incident. In this case, as Peter Sturman ar~
gues, "Reading stelae is contemplation of the past, diaogu, reflection on the pas~
sage of history, the actions of great people of former times, and by
consequence, reflection on one's own place in history. It was a pattern that
repeated over and over again on Mount Xian, as those who passed through
101
Xiangyangwere drawn to Yang Hu's stele." Qu Dajun's shedding tears be~
fore the Memorial Stele of Zhuge W uhou falls into the general category of medi~
tating on the past. The memory ofZhuge Liang, however, who appears as well
in Fu Shan's "Dream of a Stele," was particularly cherished by survivors of the
Ming~Qing cataclysm, who hoped against hope for the restoration of a native
Chinese dynasty.
The association of stele reading with dynastic transition is evident in the
poems of that most frequent visitor to steles, GuYanwu. Accompanied by Hu
Ting (fl. r64os-I67os), a student ofFu Shan's, Gu Yanwu visited Northern
Qi steles in Fenyang, Shanxi, in r674. His poem "Visiting Northern Qi Steles
with the Hermit Hu" ("Yu Hu Chushi Ting fang Bei Qi bei") is an evocative
record of their visit:
Spring mists float idly in the mountains
Although grass and trees have yet to bloom.
By town walls, the pheasants call;
Off in the fields, voles run riot.
I walk with my cane to the city's edge
Where hermits live in mountain caves.
Since upheaval marred theY ongjia reign [307-12]

North China has lived long without stable rule:
Rising, falling, ten monarchs have passed in a dizzy whirl.
I76 • Fu Shan's Advocacy ojEpigraphical Calligraphy
Distracted by affairs of the human world,
My friends hastily gather here.
Reading a broken stele together
102
We mourn in sorrow both past and present.
In this case, mourning the present was accomplished through a ritualistic visit
to a stele erected in the past.
Small wonder, then, that Fu Shan dreamed of a stele, which to the Ming
loyalist was a tangible manifestation of his emotional loss. Naturally enough,
Fu's poem has elements in common with those just discussed. First, of course,
there is the stele-broken, as was often the case, its ancient text an allegory of
the ravaged homeland and broken hearts of the loyalist Chinese. Second, the
poet sorrows over the collapse of both dynasties, his own and the dynasty to
which the stele belonged. And finally, the stele is seen as linking present with
past, having endured the tribulations of the past to endure the painful realities
of the present.
Discussing what the fall of a dynasty meant to its loyalists who survived,
Kang~i Sun Chang points out that "to ... loyalists who [refused] to accept the
death of the old order, the dynastic transition [was] the very definition of the
tragic moment in history." For those with deep feelings for their nation, dy~
103
nastic fall was a catastrophe, and wandering the country to visit ancient sites,
reading and touching broken steles, provided an outlet for suffering. At least
temporarily, these visits were soothing to psyches traumatized by the dynasty's
collapse, an opportunity for a dialogue with history that transcended the limits
of time.
The search for ancient inscriptions in the early Qing promoted the practice
of visiting steles (janghei). The sites most often visited were China's early po~
litical and cultural centers, in the north, where most early steles were located.
As Yan Ruoqu once remarked, "Inscriptions on bronze and stone objects are
more numerous in the north; writings carved on the wood of date and pear
104
trees are better in the south." As we know from scholarly catalogues and
observers' notes, the steles visited by early Qing scholars were primarily pre~
tenth century in date, that is to say, they were steles erected in the Han
through Tang periods. By the early Qing, northern provinces like Shandong
and Henan were famous for the large number of steles and stone inscriptions
dating from the Han and Six Dynasties period, whereas the region around
Luoyang in Henan was famous for stone inscriptions from the Northern Dy~
105
nasties, and Xi' an and its vicinity for Tang steles. Areas in which ancient
steles were concentrated-places like the sacred Mount Tai and Qufu, Con~
. 's h ometown-were natura11y t h e most attracttve
fu ems . to vtsttors.
.. 106
Most of those in Fu Shan' s circle in Shanxi joined in this pursuit. Gu

Y anwu, in particular, made a point of seeking out steles in his travels about
China. In the mid~I66os, Gu journeyed to Shaanxi, a province famous for its
ancient steles, and Cao Rong wrote two poems for his absent friend that read
in part:
Shed tears for the rise and fall of dynasties:

Who said the Way is finished?
On your return, we will talk of steles,

107
Valuable rubbings stuffed in your bags.
Cao knew that in the course of his trip, Gu would be sure to visit steles and
make rubbings of their inscriptions; some of these rubbings of Han and Tang
108
steles he later sent to Cao from Shaanxi.
Fu Shan himself traveled to other provinces to visit steles. In a letter to Dai
Tingshi that probably dates from the early I67os, he wrote:
I am going to realize a dream I have cherished for many years: visiting Mounts Song
[Songshan) and Shaoshi [Shaoshishan in Henan]. Now that I am old and weak, I
want to fulfill this goal before I die. I ask you to lend me a horse. And when the time
comes, I will also need a capable servant to help me...• To cover travel expenses, I
plan to sell a few calligraphies and paintings. Are there foolish people in your county
109
who would buy them?
Mounts Song and Shaoshi were famous mountains in China, particularly the
former, which was the central mountain in the Chinese cosmological system of
Five Yue mountains (Wuyue) and was thus considered the center of the uni~
110
verse. As a sacred mountain, it had attracted innumerable pilgrims over the
dynasties. Both Mount Song and Mount Shaoshi preserved many ancient ste~
les and stone inscriptions, including the famous Inscription on the Stone Gate to
the Grand Cave at Mount Song (Songshan Taishi shique ming) and Inscription on the
Stone Gate for the Temple of Grand Empresses at Mount Song (Songshan Kaimumiao
shique ming). These inscriptions were carefully recorded by early Qing scholars,
including Gu Yanwu. 111 Viewing the steles on these two mountains would
have been one of the chief goals of Fu Shan's trip.
The practice of collecting rubbings from ancient bronzes and stone objects
by no means began with the Qing literati. The Song literatus Zhao Yanwei (fl.
ngs), for example, related that in the Five Dynasties period Xu Xuan (gi6-gi),
a famous paleographer of the Southern Tang, visited the memorial stele of Xu
Guo. 112 But it was in the Northern Song that collecting and cataloguing stele
113
rubbings first became a fashion among the literati. Scholarly works on
bronze and stone artifacts written in this period record contemporary ac~
counts of stele visiting. Ouyang Xiu, for instance, mentioned in his Collected
Records of Antiquities that when he was appointed magistrate of Qiande county
in the Jingyou reign (w34-37), he visited the memorial stele ofXuan Rulou of
114
the Eastern Han. Zhao Mingcheng, another Northern Song scholar of
bronze and stone artifacts, also recorded his trips to ancient steles in his Record
of Inscriptions on Bronze and Stone. 115
Stele visiting in the Song and in the Qing, however, differed in several re~
spects. First, whereas the practice was by and large the province ofloyalist
scholars in the early Qing, in the Song it was a hobby of scholars serving as
officials. Second, unlike Qing scholars, who traveled long distances to view
steles, Song scholar~officials visited steles only occasionally and usually as they
passed through places where famous steles were located. Third, rubbings of
stone inscriptions, which Qing scholars made themselves as part of their re~
search, were in the Song produced by artisans as commercial items and were
obtained by scholars chiefly through the antiques marker. 116
Last and most important, the study of bronze and stone artifacts in the
Song did not contribute significantly to contemporary philosophical or in tel~
lectual discourse, as it did in the early Qing. True, the Song search for stele
inscriptions was intended to advance the study of the Classics and historiog~
raphy, as in the work of Ouyang Xiu and Zhao Mingcheng, and, as Robert
Harrist argues, "The study of ancient artifacts and inscriptions was an impor~
rant part of intellectual life during the Northern Song dynasty." 117 N everthe~
less, in the Song, such studies were undertaken out of personal interest, as a
hobby, whereas in the Qing they assumed the guise of a moral and ideological
118
mission. In the preface to Collected Records of Antiquities, Ouyang Xiu listed
the reasons he collected jinshi objects: "By nature, I like to have something on
which to concentrate; I am also obsessed with antiques." He pointed out that
rubbings of ancient inscriptions "can add and correct what has been missing
and incorrect in the writing of history.... People may sneer at me by saying,
'As more things are discovered, it becomes harder and harder to collect [them
all]. And collections will inevitably be broken up after a time.' But I reply,
'Collecting will satisfy my need for a hobby till I grow old. That is enough."'119
Reflecting the increasing enthusiasm for collecting rubbings, paintings of
scholars reading steles make their appearance in the Song; some of the paint~
ings even purport to beTang in date. A painting entitled Reading a Stele by Pit~
ted Rocks (Dubei keshi tu ), now in the collection of the Osaka Municipal Mu~
seum of Art (Fig. 3.6), is the earliest such painting extanr/20 although
traditionally attributed to Li Cheng (919-67 ), the painting is more likely a
work by a Yuan artist in the Li Cheng tradition. But clearly earlier paintings
than this once existed: in the Northern Song Painting Catalogue of the Xuanhe
Era (m9-25) (Xuanhe huapu), four paintings entitled Reading a Stele (Dubei tu)
are catalogued under the name of the Sui dynasty painter Zheng Fashi, 121 two
more of the same title appear under the name ofWei Yan (fl. late seventh cen~
122
tury-early eighth century), and two paintings, both entitled Reading a Stele
by Pitted Rocks under the entry for Li Cheng. 123 Whether these paintings were
really executed by these paint~rs is, of course, questionable, but the appearance
Fig. 3.6 Li Cheng (919-
67 ),attrib., Reading a
Memorial Stele. Hanging
scroll, ink and color on
sarin, 126.3 x 104.9 em.
Osaka Municipal
Museum of Art,
Abe Collection.
of such titles in the Xuanhe catalogue is proof of the theme's popularity. At

any rate, by the end of the Northern Song period, paintings of a scholar read-
ing a stele had been incorporated into the long huaigu tradition of poetic medi-
tation on the past.
The study of bronze and stone artifacts declined in the Yuan and Ming
periods. A few scholars, such as Du Mu (1459-1525), Yang Shen (1488-1559),
Guo Zongchang, and Zhao Han (fl. 1573-1620 ), continued to pursue jinshi
studies and traveled to view steles to further their research. Zhao Han, for
example, who lived in Shaanxi, where many Han and Tang steles still survived,
visited steles whenever they were at hand. In a preface to Zhao's study of
bronze and stone artifacts, to which Zhao gave the title Excellent Rubbings of
Stone Carvings (Shima juanhua), Kang Wanmin (jinshi 1634) wrote:
(Mr. Zhao) loves antiquities from the depth in his heart. He searches for them eve-
rywhere and purchases them from distant places. He often rides a donkey from which
hangs a pianti (a special container for alcohol) full of strong wine. Followed by atten-
dants carrying brocade bags and by masters expert at making rubbings armed with
paper and ink, he travels through the regions about the Zhou and Han capitals.
Whenever he finds a stele, he cleans it himsel£ Then he directs exquisite rubbings to
be made that he puts into his traveling bag. When meeting lofty literati at scenic
spots, he brings out wine and enjoys the rubbings with them. If any beautiful poetic
124
lines are written, he deposits them in one of the brocade bags.
Zhao Han's attitude toward ancient steles reflects the leisurely mood of many
late Ming literati. Generally speaking, collecting and appreciating took place in
comfortable studios and gardens where life-as pictured in the paintings of
Ming literati-was peaceful, quiet, and cultured. If these paintings can be
taken as reliable, many cultural activities, including presumably the viewing of
stele rubbings, took place in such locations in an atmosphere of elegance and
relaxation. Although the Ming literati talked of what was gu-archaic or an-
tique-in their minds gu was closely associated with what was ya, or "refined,"
125
a delicate quality and a playfulness that echoed the relaxed literati life-style.
There was, for such refined scholars, no strenuous hiking in search of ancient
inscriptions long lost in remote stretches of difficult terrain.
In the early Qing, those engaging in stele visiting were chiefly Ming loyalists
who enjoyed neither the official position nor the economic and geographic
stability of officials in the Song or literati in the Ming. As GuYanwu de-
scribed it, "As an ordinary person in straitened circumstances, I do not have an
attendant and horse when traveling. Nevertheless, I always take brush and ink
with me as I wander among mountains and forests, amid gibbons and
11126
birds. Their accounts often speak of hardship and danger, desolation and
wilderness; GuYanwu, for example, had "climbed risky peaks, explored deep
valleys, handled fallen rocks, trekked through wild forests, walked on broken
walls, and scooped up decayed soil" to search for ancient steles. Sometimes
such hardships led to an exciting discovery. Zhu Yizun told this story about
FuShan:
My friend Fu Shan from Taiyuan was traveling among the mountains ofPingding.
By accident, he stumbled on a deep valley where he found a cave in which many steles
engraved with [Buddhist] sutras had been erected. Like the Buddhist steles in the
cave of Mount Fengyu, the inscriptions on those steles had been [carved] in the
127
Tianbao reign (550-59] of the Northern Qi.
The lonely atmosphere often pervading such scenes of stele visiting is nicely
captured in a fan painting dated 1659 by the painter Zhang Feng (d. r662). A
Ming loyalist, Zhang traveled extensively after the fall of the Ming to many of
the places also visited by Gu Yanwu. Like Gu, he visited Mount Tianshou
(Tianshou shan), where the Ming imperial mausolea are located, and no
doubt he wandered among the imperial tombs. He was well aware, of course,
of what ancient steles meant to the loyalists, as well as to those Han Chinese
Fu Shan's Advocacy oJEpigraphical Calligraphy • r8r
Fig. J.7 Zhang
Feng (d. 1662), Read-
ing a Memorial Stele.
Dared 1659. Fan
mounred as an al-
bum leaf, ink and
color on paper, 16.6
x 50.1 em. Suzhou
Municipal Museum.
Afrer Zhongguo gudai
shuhua tumu, vol. 6,
p. 64, Su 1-213.
officials who remained sympathetic to the old dynasty even while serving the
new Manchu regime. In Zhang's painting (Fig. 3·7 ), a scholar-official is care-
fully reading a stele with his hands clasped behind his back while his atten-
dant holds the reins of a horse. The figure in the painting is not identified,
nor is the recipient known. Probably it was an official like Cao Rong, who,
like his loyalist friends, enjoyed visiting steles. Zhang wrote a short inscrip-
tion on the painting: "Chilly mists, withered grass, ancient trees, distant
mountains-huge, imposing, a stele stands. Around it, nothing human.
Viewing it, I feel both past and present." As with Zhu Yizun's inscription,
this note by Zhang Feng conjures up a desolate scene in which the stele
128
evokes a strong sense of history (gujin ). The playful mood so often found
in Ming paintings is gone.
The change of habit-from viewing rubbings of stele inscriptions in the
quiet of one's own studio to reading the steles themselves, abandoned amid
rustic decay-triggered a vastly increased appreciation of ancient stele inscrip-
tions as calligraphy. Interactions with the actual physical environments in
which ancient steles were to be found reinforced calligraphers' interest in the
antique, the ruined, and the awkward, an interest that-although budding in
the late Ming-only reached full flower in the early Qing.
Fu Shan and his grandson Fu Liansu visited Mount Tai (Taishan) and
Qufu, Confucius's hometown, about 1671. Fu Shan must have planned this
trip for long time. A poem by Cao Rong written about 1666 is entitled
"Farewell toFu Qingzhu, About to Pay Homage to the Family Mausoleum
129
of Confucius (Konglin)." The mausoleum was in Qufu, fifty miles or so
from Mount T ai. We do not know for certain whether Fu Shan made a trip
to Konglin in 1666; if he did, he must also have visited Mount T ai. A long
poem Fu Shan wrote for his grandson after returning from his trip in 1671
expresses the excitement he and his grandson felt. The poem starts with the
following lines:
When I was fifteen years old,
Study at home was very strict.
My view of the world was limited to the courtyard,
Not allowed to go out the gate.
Now you are fifteen,
Respected as a young adult.
Old and weak, I journeyed to Mount Tai,
You were allowed to accompany me.
[After ascending Mount Tai],

Insignificant books will not be worth reading,
Nor composing meager writings.
Riding the high clouds we looked far across the world,
Nbl .. resonate m
o e sp1nts . t h e sk y. 130
For most of his life, Fu must have dreamed of visiting Mount Tai. Ever
since the Eastern Zhou period, Mount T ai had been considered the most im~
portant and sacred mountain in China. In no B.c., Emperor Wu of theW est~
ern Han held the first jengshan ceremony at Mount T ai, a ritual in which, as
emperor, he received the mandate of Heaven and expressed gratitude to the
Earth. Similar ceremonies were held there in the dynasties that followed. 131
Over time, numerous inscriptions were engraved on the natural rocks, creating
2
monuments that in grandeur were akin to steles.U As Wu Hung points out,
"Rarely [do] we find a 'memory site' like T aishan: instead of being dedicated to
a single person and for a definite cause, T aishan commemorates numerous
133
historical personages and events, and conveys the voices of different ages.''
From reading histories like Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian and po~
ems like Qu Fu's "Gazing at Mount Tai" ("Wang yue"), the legend of Mount
T ai remained vivid in the minds of the Chinese literati.
Thus the first half ofFu Shan's poem for his grandson recalls the long leg~
endary history of Mount T ai, beginning with Confucius's climb to visit the
divine mountain's pines, which were themselves regarded as monuments. The
poem's second half treats their visit to Qufu, where he and his grandson saw
several steles. By the early Qing, T ai' an, the region that included Mount T ai
and Qufu, was the place where most ancient steles-particularly Han steles-
were concentrated. Not only did many Han steles survive in the Temple of
Confucius at Qufu, but also, some twenty miles to the south in Zou county
(Zouxian), the home ofMencius (ca. 372-289 B.c.), there were mountains
with famous cliff inscriptions from the Northern Dynasties. And twenty~five
miles southwest of Qufu lay Jining, where a Confucian temple housed anum~
ber of famous Han steles. Several members of the Shanxi intellectual commu~
niry, among them Gu Yanwu and Zhu Yizun, made pilgrimages to these sites.
Not only did Fu and his grandson see the ancient steles at Qufu, but it is likely
Fig. 3.8 Wujeng
Stone Inscription .
Dated 56 B.c.
Rubbing
mounted as an
album, ink on
paper, measure-
ments unavail-
able. Palace
Museum, Bei-
jing. After Qi
Gong, Zhongguo
meishu quanji,
P· 64, pl. 45·
that they made rubbings, including one of the Memorial Stele of Kong Zhou (see
134
Fig. 3.2). In Qufu, Fu Shan and his grandson also visited a stone with fa-
mous inscription carved in the second year of the Wufeng reign (56 B.c.) of
the Western Han (Fig. 3.8). In his poem, Fu spoke movingly ofboth the in-
scription and another untitled stele:
North of the cypress (planted by Confucius) stands a
massive stele
Sadly damaged by earthquakes,
Inscription now too blurred to read.
Touching it, deep in our souls, we sense the spirit of the
master sage.
You, too, loved the calligraphy of the W ufeng Stone
Inscription (Wujeng [keshi ]):
How marvelous the element ge ~ (in the character
cheng AJ.
Copying it,
135
Like visiting the capital of the Western Han.
Copying steles, like touching them, was a spiritual act, replete with
emotion.
The Memorial Stele of Kong Zou and the Wufeng Stone Inscription had been
damaged with the passage of time. But damage only accentuated the rough,
plain, and awkward qualities of ancient steles and inscriptions that appealed so
greatly to a number of early Qing calligraphers. What they needed was some-
one to conceptualize the new taste.
EPIGRAPHICAL CALLIGRAPHY
With "returning to origins" now in large measure the framework for scholarly
activity, and embracing history-or the past-not merely an intellectual but
also a psychological need, conditions were ripe for changes in calligraphy, an
art that has always enjoyed a close relationship with intellectual trends. Early
Qing calligraphers, aware of the shift in calligraphic taste, confronted two
questions: To what origins should they return? And how was this search for
origins to be conceptualized?
Many members of Shanxi's intellectual community in the early Qing were
leading scholars, but of these, Fu Shan was the most influential in the art of
calligraphy. Not only was he an extremely talented calligrapher, but also his
income largely depended on it. More than others, then, he devoted himself to
calligraphy, and his interest and accomplishments in this field made him an
eloquent spokesman for the change in calligraphic taste. Yet Fu Shan never
wrote a unified treatise on calligraphy: most of his comments on calligraphy
are either brief notes found scattered among his writings or colophons on rub-
bings of ancient inscriptions. A careful study of these scattered comments,
however, reveals that Fu Shan argued persistently in favor of"returning to ori-
gins" as a source of new inspiration for calligraphic innovation:
Unless one practices seal- and clerical-script calligraphy, even if one has studied
calligraphy for 36,ooo days, in the end, one is still unable to comprehend the key
136
source of this art.
To talk of calligraphy without knowing the origins of seal and zhou scripts is like liv-
. . dream.137
mgma
If one's regular script is not derived from seal, clerical, and bafen scripts, it will have a
slavish appearance not worth looking it. Old Suo [Jing; 239-303) grasped this princi-
ple, and people can understand it by studying Suo's Model Essay on Draft Cursive (]i-
jiu[zhang]). (When studying] the seal, clerical, and bafen scripts, one should give full
attention not only to shapes and structures but also to their lively movements and
138
turns of the brush.
Writing regular script without incorporating transformations derived from a knowl-
edge of seal- and clerical-script calligraphy will, even if one is highly skilled, yield vul-
gar results. The value of the calligraphy of Zhong (You) and Wang (Xizhi] came
139
from their understanding of this precept.
In line with the early Qing intellectual trend of a "return to origins," Fu

Shan-by insisting that calligraphy should be grounded in seal and clerical
script-was seeking for roots earlier than Wang Xizhi, who was himself the
origin of the elegant, fluent, refined calligraphy of the model-book tradition.
Chinese writing had begun with the forms of seal script, which were the
common scripts of everyday life up until the end of the Qin period, at the end
of the third century B.c. In the Han dynasty, clerical script replaced seal script
as the dominant script type. Zhong You and Wang Xizhi lived in the third
and fourth centuries, when clerical script and seal script (which lingered on)
were largely superseded by cursive, regular, and running scripts as the domi~
nant types. With the advent of these newer script types, both seal script and
clerical script became archaic. It was to these early scripts, preceding the era of
Wang Xizhi that Fu Shan and other early Qing calligraphers traced the ori~
gins of call,raphy. Fu Shan stated forcefully that the seal and clerical scripts
prevalend)efore the Wei~Jin period of Zhong You and Wang Xizhi were the
best models for the study of calligraphy. He reasoned further that Zhong You
and Wang Xizhi became the greatest masters of regular~, running~, and cur~
sive~script calligraphy because they had explored the transformation of seal
and clerical scripts into more modern scripts and therefore retained the
method and spirit of these early scripts.
Fu Shan was not the first to observe this transformation in ancient calligra~
phy. Huang Bosi (ro79-m8) of the Song dynasty pointed out in his Dongguan
yulun:
In the Qin dynasty, seal script evolved into clerical script. In the Han dynasty, which
was not far from ancient times, standard clerical script still bore the spirit and form of
seal script. After the Han dynasty, the method of the small regular styles of Zhong
Yuanchang [Zhong You] and Shiji [Zhong Hui (225-64), Zhong You's son] of the
Wei dynasty and Wang Shijiang [Wang Xizhi's uncle Wang Yi], Yishao [Wang
Xizhi], and Zijing [Wang Xianzhi] of the Jin dynasty derived from the Han clerical
script. The brushwork was round, powerful, plain, and elegant, and character struc~
140
ture was squat, not oval.
This argument must have found echoes in the late Ming because a text attrib~
uted to Li Zhi discusses the calligraphic transformation from script to script
141
in nearly identical terms. Although Fu Shan was not the first in the early
Qing who made this observation, he readdressed the issue in lucid and power~
fullanguage and called on calligraphers to reinvestigate the transformation for
purposes of calligraphic innovation.
Although Fu Shan stressed the importance of seal script for calligraphic
studies and innovation, most early Qing calligraphers, including Fu Shan,
concentrated on clerical rather than seal script. There were at least two possi~
ble reasons for this. First, original rubbings of ancient inscriptions in seal
script came mainly from two sources, stone and bronze objects. Archaeologi~
cally reliable steles inscribed in seal script predating Wang Xizhi were rare in
Fu Shan's time. Only the inscriptions on the Stone Drums and a few severely
damaged Qin steles survived, and few rubbings of these were available. Fur~
thermore, few rubbings of seal script inscriptions from bronze vessels and
stone objects circulated among the literati. Gu Yanwu's six~juan Record of
r86 • Fu Shan's Advocacy ojEpigraphical Calligraphy
(left) Fig. 3-9 Memorial Stele of
Cao Quan. Dared A.D. 185.
Rubbing mounted as anal-
bum, ink on paper, each 24.2 x
12.5 em. Former collection of
Fu Shan. After Zhongguo
Jiade auction catalogue, April
24, 2001, Beijing, lor 775·
(right) Fig. 3.10 Wang Duo
(1593-1652), Calligraphy in
Clerical Script. Dared 1644.
Rubbing mounted as an al-
bum, ink on paper, measure-
ments unavailable. After
Wang Duo, Nishanyuan tie,
p.172.
Inscriptions on Bronze and Stone Objects records only two inscriptions on bronze
vessels and five on stone objects carved before the Qin, and some of these were
regarded by the author either as dubious or as later copies.
By contrast, in the late Ming and early Qing periods, not only did a number
of Han steles in clerical script survive from which to rubbings could be made,
but also Han steles in clerical script were continually being rediscovered. In
the Wanli reign, when the Memorial Stele of Cao Quan was excavated, its refined
writing and engraving immediately provoked an interest in clerical script
142
among caltigraphers (Fig. 3·9 ). Wang Duo, for example, made a study of the
clerical script on this stele, and the well-balanced character structures and
gracefully curved strokes in an example ofWang's clerical-script calligraphy
from 1644, the last year of the Ming dynasty, strongly resemble the stylistic
features of the Cao Quan stele (Fig. 3.ro ). The Shaanxi collector Guo Zong-
143
chang, who owned the best rubbing of the Memorial Stele of Cao Quan, was
another calligrapher known for his clerical script. Inscriptions in clerical script
in late Ming printed books, such as the Ink Manual of the Fang Family (Fig. 3.rr),
reflected the increasing interest in this script. Ironically, the careful, scholastic
revival of interest in clerical script during the early Qing owed much to the
lively if indiscriminate culture of the late Ming. Although Qing scholars re-
acted against the lack of rigor in Ming scholarship, it was freethinkers in the
Ming who first envisioned the broad possibilities of clerical script.
Rubbings of Han steles were treasured by early Qing scholars, collectors,
and calligraphers. Many Shanxi intellectuals, such as Cao Rong, Wang
Fu Shan's Advocacy ofEpigraphical Calligraphy • r87
e ·~ ~ ~ ¥~ ~ 1~
(left) Fig. 3.1l Wang
Daokun (1525-1593) .
l":f
JK. -t.r ~ ,~
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Preface ro Fang {!!., dz! !I. q!f -I!!. YA.
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clerical script. 1583.
.. pn
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Library.
(right) Fig. 3.12 Me-
~
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fi*1 ~~ '00'~ ~
~
morial Stele of Zhang
Qian. Dared A.D. 185.
~ )-!,{ FPt u~~ pi
1 }~ R~
Rubbing mounted
'fi&
~
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as an album, ink on 1§{
-1t.$t
*
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ments unavailable.
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~ 7F.t 1 ~ 1!!.. if!E t!
Beijing. After Han ~ tit --~ q~ ~ ~
~
Z hang Qian bei.

~ ~ ;f~ [@1 .j~ if
Hongzhuan, andY an Ruoqu, collected such rubbings. Fu Shan, the most elo-
quent promoter of Han clerical script, owned rubbings of at least nine Han
steles: the Memorial Stele of Zhang Qian (Fig. 3.12), Memorial Stele of Yin Zhou
(Yin Zhou bei), Memorial Stele of Kong Zhou (Kong Zhou bei), Memorial Stele of
Xia Cheng (Xia Cheng bei), Memorial Stele of Liang Hu (Liang Hu bei), Memorial
Stele of Shi Chen (Shi Chen bei) Memorial Stele of Cao Quan, Memorial Stele of Heng
Fang (Heng Fang bei), and Memorial Stele ofYi Ying (Yi Ying bei). 144 The wide
range of Han stele rubbings available to early Qing scholars and calligraphers
was a necessary condition for the revival of clerical script writing.
Early Qing scholars also neglected seal script for another reason. Although
there was increasing interest in studying ancient writings in the early Qing,
paleography did not acquire a systematic scholarly character until much later,
in the second half of the eighteenth century. This lack of systematization
characterized in particular such primary seal script sources as the Analysis of
Characters as an Explanation of Writing, the Han dictionary written in lesser seal
script, as well as what compilations there were of inscriptions on bronze ob-
jects, especially inscriptions that were pre-Qin. 145 Without reliable studies of
ancient seal script, serious calligraphers working in a period that set great store
on scholarly accuracy were reluctant to practice it.
Studies of Han clerical script steles advanced more in the early Qing than
they had at any time since the Song dynasty. Fu Shan's careful examination of
Hong Kuo's Interpreting Han Clerical Script Writing demonstrates the serious-
ness of his studies, and he seems to have copied many more Han clerical script
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146
steles than he did objects inscribed with ancient seal script. Studies ofboth Fig. 3.13 Fu Shan,
rubbings and textual documents made Fu Shan confident that when it came Copy of the "Memo-
rial Stele of Cao
to Han clerical script, he had obtained the very essence of the art. In a colo-
Quan." Undated.
phon to a rubbing of the Han dynasty Memorial Stele of Mount Hua owned by
Section of a
Wang Hongzhuan, Li Yindu said that he had recently met Fu Shan in T ai- handscroll, ink on
yuan and that the two had discussed Han clerical script; Fu had claimed a paper, 26.5 x 626
deep understanding of its essentials and said that it had been ignored by callig- em. Collection
147 unknown. After
raphers for a thousand years.
Christie's New
Surviving works testify toFu Shan's enthusiasm for Han clerical script. A
York auction
calligraphy handscroll in assorted scripts by Fu Shan contains a section in
catalogue, May
clerical script (Fig. 3.13) that Fu Shan copied from three Han steles, the Memo- 1990, lot 84.
rial Stele of Liang Hu, Memorial Stele of Xi a Cheng, and the Memorial Stele of Cao
Quan. 148 Although the handscroll is undated, it was probably executed in the
late J66os or in the 1670s. A note by Fu Shan on the rubbing of the Memorial
Stele of Cao Quan, now in the collection of the T aiyuan Jinci Museum, reads,
149
"In the winter of yisi [I66s], the Fan Family ofHeyang sent this [to me] ."
An album of a rubbing of the Memorial Stele of Cao Quan survived, and it was
presumably on this rubbing that the Cao Quan portion of the handscroll is
based (see Fig. 3.9). The Memorial Stele of Liang Hu, the Memorial Stele ofXia
Cheng, and the Memorial Stele of Cao Quan are famous Han steles. Although
scholars have been skeptical of the authenticity of rubbings of the Memorial
Stele of Xia Cheng, which began circulating in the Ming dynasty, Fu Shan and
other scholars thought that these rubbings were authentic or at least faithful
°
15
to the Han style. Fu Shan copied the Memorial Stele ofXia Cheng many times,
writing:
151
After repeatedly studying the Memorial Stele ojChunyuzhang [Xia Cheng], I became
aware that the methods [one uses to write] seal, clerical, and regular scripts are the
same, and that one should not decide upon structural arrangements for those scripts
before writing them. Self-conscious arrangement of character structures separates
152
mind and hand, and then the true spirit of calligraphy is lost.
Fu Shan's argument for not determining beforehand the structural arrange~
ment of characters for each script is consistent with his stand that he would
rather his calligraphy be "spontaneous, not premeditated" (see Chapter 2).
When we compare the Memorial Stele ojXia Cheng and the Memorial Stele ojCao
Quan with Fu Shan' s copies of rubbings of them, it is evident that he was try~
ing to capture what he believed were the basic features rather than the formal
appearance of the Han originals. With this goal in mind, he copied the steles
spontaneously, to avoid any impression of self~conscious arrangement and to
achieve the effects of plainness and awkwardness that he believed were the
essence of Han clerical script. Discussing the characteristics of Han clerical
script, Fu Shan made an interesting comparison in an album now in the col~
lection of the Shanghai Museum:
The excellence of Han clerical script lies in its awkward and plain spirit. [Viewing
Han clerical~ script calligraphyJ is like watching a hideous man. At first impression,
the script appears uncouth, funny. Looking again, you find it archaic and eccentric yet
not vulgar. Observing it carefully, you discover it is natural and unrestrained in its
movings and turnings; it is a bit slovenly, yet it seems all the more charming for this.
Then you begin to realize that the regular script oflater ages is nothing more than a
neat arrangement. Those who are really excellent in regular script comprehend the
method of clerical script and thus rid themselves of vulgarity. 153
In another note Fu Shan spoke of his early experience oflearning Han clerical
script:
As for the method of Han clerical script, three generations of my family have entered
profundity. We treasure our writings and do not show them to people because the
excellence of this style lies in things people do not understand: the ugly and awkward
(chouzhuo ), the archaic and plain (gupu ). I studied Tang clerical script in my child~
hood and slightly altered its squat shape, but even then [my calligraphyJ did notre~
semble Cai's and Li's. 154 [Now], having studied the method of Han clerical script, I
look back on the clerical-script calligraphy of my youth [and find J it deserves only to
be cast aside. Fu Mei learned the upright and vigorous style of the Memorial Stele of
Zhang Qian and Memorial Stele of Liang Hu. Monk Lian [Fu LiansuJ focused on the
excellence of the Memorial Stele of Chunyuzhang, but he also takes as references the
Memorial Stele ofYi Ying and Memorial Stele of Kong Zhou. Although his clerical-script
calligraphy has something of the precise and urbane, there is no flavor ofTang clerical
. m
scnpt . 1e strok e ofh'1s call'1graph y. 155
. even a smg
Although clerical script works by Fu Mei and Fu Liansu are rare today,
three generations of the Fu family made careful studies of Han clerical script
steles. But as Fu Shan suggested in the preceding paragraph, few in the early
Qing shared his taste for Han clerical script. To enjoy the stylistic characteris~
tics of this script required special knowledge. In a discussion of the nature of
"taste," Michael Baxandall argues:
Fig. 3.14 Guo Xiangcha
(fl. 165), Memorial Stele of
Mount Hua. Dated A.D. 165.
Rubbing mounted as an
album, ink on paper, meas-
urements unavailable. For-
mer collection of Wang
Hongzhuan (1622-1702),
now in the collection of the
Palace Museum, Beijing.
After Songta Huashanmiao
bei sanzhong hebi.
Much of what we call "taste" lies in this, the conformity between discriminations de-
manded by a painting and skills of discrimination possessed by the beholder. We
enjoy our own exercise of skill, and we particularly enjoy the playful exercise of skills
which we use in normal life very earnestly. If a painting gives us opportunity for exer-
cising a valued skill and rewards our virtuosity with a sense of worthwhile insights
156
about that painting's organization, we tend to enjoy it: it is to our taste.
Of the local elite who were buyers ofFu Shan's calligraphy, it is likely that
only a small proportion was equipped with the knowledge that enabled them
to appreciate Han clerical-script calligraphy. But the majority of the Shanxi
intellectuals who were Fu Shan's friends were connoisseurs of Han clerical
script; their discrimination was born of their intense involvement in epigraphi-
cal studies, a field much esteemed in the intellectual life of the time. Discus-
sions of the features of Han clerical script can be found in the writings of Gu
Yanwu, Wang Hongzhuan, and Zhu Yizun. Zhu Yizun used terms of his
own to categorize the charms of Han stele script:
There are three styles of Han clerical script. One style is square and upright, like the
Hongdu Stone Classics (Hongdu shijing), Memorial Stele ofYin Zhou, Memorial Stele ofLu
]un (Lu Jun [bei]) Memorial Stele ofWu Rong (Wu Rong [bei]) Memorial Stele ofZheng Gu
(Zheng Gu [bei]), Memorial Stele ofHeng Fang, Memorial Stele ofLiu Xiong (Liu Xiong
[bei]), and Memorial Stele ofBaishi Shenjun (Baishi shenjun [bei] ). Another is character-
ized by fluency and grace, like the Memorial Stele of Han Chi (Han Chi [bei]), Memorial
Stele of Cao Quan, Memorial Stele of Shi Chen, Memorial Stele ofYi Ying, Memorial Stele of
Zhang Biao (Zhang Biao [bei]), Memorial Stele of Zhang Qian, Memorial Stele of Kong Biao
(Kong Biao [bei]), and Memorial Stele of Kong You (Kong You [bei]). This last style is
unusual and archaic, like the Memorial Stele ofXia Cheng and Memorial Stele ofQi Bozhu
(Qi Bozhu [bei]). It is only the Memorial Stele of Mount Hua [Fig. 3.14] that has every
quality-the upright, the harmonious, and the unusual-and integrates the charms
157
of all three. It should be viewed as the premier Han stele.
Zhu Yizun' s characterization of the various kinds of clerical script to be found

on Han steles varies to a certain extent from Fu Shan's. Whereas Fu Shan
thought the Memorial Stele of Zhang Qian archaic and awkward, Zhu Yizun
placed it into the category "fluent and graceful." But although their characteri-
zations were not always consistent, their discussions of the stylistic features of
Han steles were the same in one important respect. Both Fu and Zhu de-
scribed and categorized the qualities of Han clerical script and thus joined a
collective effort to conceptualize and verbalize a new aesthetic that was still in
the process of taking shape.
BREAKING THE TANG SCHEMA
Both Fu Shan's ;md Zhu Yizun's discussions of clerical-script calligraphy re-

veal their adherence to the principle of returning to origins. But when search-
ing for origins, why should they have gone so far as the Han:' What was wrong
with post-Han calligraphy:' Fu Shan offered no detailed explanation, but his
friend Wang Hongzhuan provided an answer:
Han clerical script is archaic and elegant, vigorous and unrestrained. It has natural
charm. Calligraphy in the Wei period became a bit too tidy and foursquare, retaining
little of the charm of Han clerical script. People in the Tang applied rules to calligra-
phy, and structure and brush method became constrained and hesitant, unable to
capture the natural charm and unrestrained quality of calligraphy in the Han. In the
158
Song and Yuan periods, [the use of] ancient methods diminished still further.
The terms Wang Hongzhuan used to characterize Han calligraphy are similar
and sometimes even identical toFu Shan's. For instance, both use the term
bushan bulii (natural and unrestrained) to describe Han calligraphy. To Wang
Hongzhuan, the problem with calligraphy from the Tang period was that the
application of rigid rules resulted in the loss of the charm and unrestrained
vigor calligraphy had had in the Han.
In the early Qing, Wang Hongzhuan was by no means alone in his criti~
cism ofT ang calligraphy, or more precisely, Tang clerical~ script calligraphy. In
discussions ofHan clerical script by early Qing scholars, Tang inadequacy
almost always served to point up Han greatness. Fu Shan, as we saw above,
wrote that his studies of Han clerical script left him disgusted with the clerical
script of the Tang, and he was proud that there was no Tang flavor in the
clerical~script calligraphy of his grandson Fu Liansu. In a colophon to the
Memorial Stele of Cao Quan, he made a similar comment: "With regard to the
plain and awkward (zhizhuo) and random quality of the Memorial Stele of Cao
Quan, Tang steles are no match."159 Wang Hongzhuan, as we have seen, at~
tributed the decline of clerical~ script calligraphy to the strict and detailed rules
that Tang calligraphers applied to it.
Zhu Yizun's criticism ofTang clerical~script calligraphy was even more
specific. He pointed out that because running and cursive scripts had prevailed
from the Wei period on, few people in the Tang even practiced clerical script.
Still, for him, the turning point in its decline was the Kaiyuan era (739-3r) of
the Tang, in which a new way of writing clerical script developed as ancient
methods disappeared. In a poem, he wrote:
Since the Huangchu reign [220-26], running and cursive scripts have been
calligraphy's fashion;
The methods of Han [clerical script] have hardly been used.
In the Kaiyuan reign, emperor and courtiers kept clerical script's structure,
But in shape, it tended to be too tidy; in look, too obese.
[From then on] for eight hundred years, few knew much of it;
160
Ancient methods had vanished, the same as today.
The emperor to whom Zhu referred in his poem was Xuanzong (685-762)
of the Tang. Textual records as well as rubbings of his calligraphy demon~
strate that Xuanzong was talented at clerical~ script calligraphy. A case in
161
point is his Stele of the Classic of Filial Piety (Shitai Xiaojing, Fig. 3.r5). Written in
745, the text is in clerical script except for title in seal script. In the clerical
script text, rightward horizontal strokes (heng) are characterized by an upward
flick of the brush at the end. In downward left and right diagonals (pie and na),
the brush usually terminates in a heavy stop, finishing with a quick upward
flick, instead of ending in the horizontal, sword~ like point of regular script.
The flicked~up endings are basic to clerical script, and by employing such fea~
tures, Xuanzong's calligraphy captures some of the character of clerical script,
as Zhu Yizun noted in his poem. To Zhu Yizun, however, Xuanzong's callig~
raphy looked too "tidy" and "obese" and displayed little of ancient method.
Both Wang Hongzhuan and Zhu Yizun traced the decline of ancient
methods to the Wei, one of the three kingdoms that succeeded the Han, and
believed that these methods were completely lost during the Tang. Zhu
Fu Shan's Advocacy ofEpigraphical Calligraphy • I93
(left) Fig. J.IS Em-
peror Xuanzong (685-
762) of rhe T ang, Stele
of the Classic of Filial
Piety. D ared 745· De-
rail. Rubbing mounted
as an album, ink on
paper, measurements
unavailable. Afrer
Kanda Kiichiro and
Nishikawa Nei, TO
Gensii sekitai Kiikyii, vol.
I, P· so.
(right) Fig. 3.16 Zhong
You (A .D. 151-230),
Memorial on an An-
nouncement to Sun Quan
(Xuanshi biao ). 221.
Rubbing mounted as
an album, ink on pa-
per, measurements
unavailable. Afrer Sho-
dii zenshu, vol. 3, pl. 107.
Yizun's poem is not detailed art historical analysis, however, and he did not
elaborate why the ancient methods of clerical script had been lost by the Tang.
Although Wang Hongzhuan did comment that the loss stemmed from "peo-
ple in the Tang applying rules to calligraphy," he failed to indicate what rules
he meant.
If we look at the historical evolution of Chinese writing, however, it is clear
that the decline of Han clerical script that Zhu and Wang described resulted
from the emergence during the Wei period of regular script as the new para-
digm in writing. In his poem, Zhu Yizun spoke of running and cursive scripts
as being the fashion since the Wei, but in truth it was regular script that re-
placed clerical as the dominant formal script from the Wei period onward.
162
Even the brush methods of running script and so-called modern cursive (as
distinct from draft cursive, which was based on clerical) were influenced by the
methods of regular script.
Early regular script, which was derived from clerical script, retained many
elements of Han clerical script writing, as we can see in the early regular script
of such masters as Zhong You in the Wei (Fig. 3.16). Stroke endings, for in-
stance, were simple and reserved (i.e. turned into the body of the stroke), ow-
ing to the hidden-tip method; upper-right corner strokes retained rounded
corners. As the early Qing calligraphy critic Feng Xingxian (?-after r687) ar-
gued, "The calligraphy of Zhong You and Wang Xizhi is not far from the
L _ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -----"
ancients. (In their strokes] the pointed tip is hidden-their brush method is Fig. 3.17 Character
163 comparisons: (from
close to seal and clerical scripts." Fu Shan agreed that the value of the callig-
left, first and third
raphy of Zhong You and Wang Xizhi lay in its incorporation of elements
characters) detail of
from early seal and clerical-script calligraphy. 164 Emperor Xuan-
Regular script, after several hundred years of evolution, entered its heyday zong' s clerical callig-
in the Tang. which saw the establishment of precise rules for brush technique raphy; (second and
165
and character structure. After regular script became the common standard fourth characters)
for everyday writing in the Tang. it influenced the writing of other scripts, in- derail ofYan Zhen-
qing's regular callig-
cluding clerical. It is unnecessary here to elaborate on the complicated tech-
raphy.
niques that pertain to Tang regular script. A comparison of Emperor Xuan-
zong's clerical script both with Han clerical script and with contemporary
Tang regular script will suffice to demonstrate the influence of regular script
on Tang clerical-script calligraphy (Fig. 3.17 ). In regular script, when the brush
arrives at a right-angle turn in a stroke that begins horizontally and twists
down vertically (hengzhe), forming a corner, it is lifted slightly, then pressed
diagonally, and finally drawn downward into the vertical leg of the stroke.
This press-and-lift (ti'an) technique leaves a short diagonal stroke that cuts the
corner at 'an angle between the horizontal and vertical legs of the stroke. Cor-
ners like these, which can be found in Xuanzong's clerical script, are an uncon-
scious incorporation of a feature that is basic in regular-script calligraphy.
The regular script corner differs from the rounded corner of Han clerical
script, which is the product of a simpler technique-called the "even-
pressured brush movement with rounded turning" (shizhuan)-that yields a
corner bending in a gentle curve. The clerical script style of corner shows the
influence of the smooth, rounded, even-pressured brush technique used for
seal script, from which clerical script derived. Thus, comparing the upper-
right corner strokes (hengzhe) in Xuanzong's clerical-script calligraphy with
those in a regular script work by Yan Zhenqing. we can see that the two callig-
raphers employ the same technique. There are other similarities (see Fig. 3.17 ).
The two dots in the character qi Jt, are also written in regular-script manner;
and in structure, Xuanzong's characters retain the careful proportions typical
of characters in Tang regular script. In the character dao l!,, we find that the
spaces between Xuanzong's ~trokes seem calculated, as if the character were
constructed by an exacting architect, the strokes themselves as precise and
carefully arranged as in Tang regular script. It has nothing of the awkward and
ugly, or plain and archaic, qualities that Fu Shan and Wang Hongzhuan saw
as the soul of Han clerical~script calligraphy.
Inevitably the question arises: IfFu Shan did not like Tang clerical script
and the influences that Tang regular script exerted on it, why did he copy the
calligraphy ofYan Zhenqing? The samples ofYan Zhenqing in Fig. 3.17 are
from his Prabhutaratna Pagoda Stele Inscription (see Fig. 2.24, p. II9 ), an early
166
piece written in 752. But Yan Zhenqing' s style changed considerably in his
later years. Influenced by seal script, which Yan's family had a tradition of
practicing, Yan's brush method in his later works is solid, weighty, and
167
rounded. As we saw in Chapter 2, the works by Yan Zhenqing that Fu
Shan copied and admired were Yan's Memorial Ode on the Resurgence of the Great
Tang (see Fig. 2.23, p. rr9) and his Memorial Stele of the Yan Family Temple (see
Fig. 2.20, p. rr6), two late works with a strong seal script flavor. Not only was
Fu Shan drawn to Yan's loyalist image, but the brush method in Yan Zhen~
qing's late works appealed to Fu Shan because it lent support to his theory
that all good calligraphy was rooted in seal and clerical script. Thus it is no
surprise that Fu Shan claimed that Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy possessed the
quality zhili, deformity or fragmentation.
According to Zhu Yizun, the ancient methods disappeared in the eight
hundred years from the Kaiyuan reign to the late Ming. During these centu~
ries, clerical script in general was out of favor with the literati. A few masters,
such as Zhao Mengfu in the Yuan and Wen Zhengming in the Ming, prac~
ticed clerical script, but they incorporated even more regular script elements
than had their Tang predecessors. When Tang clerical~ script calligraphy
168
was compared unfavorably with Han in the early Qing, these masters, espe~
dally Wen Zhengming, became targets of criticism. In a letter to a friend,
Zhou Lianggong fiercely attacked Wen Zhengming's clerical script: "Han
clerical script declined in the Tang dynasty and died in the Song and Yuan.
Wen Hengshan [Wen Zhengming] and others took some interest in it, but
[Wen's clerical script] is tidy and repugnant: he never saw a single stroke by a
Han calligrapher, even in his dreams." 169 A look at Wen Zhengming's clerical~
script calligraphy will show why he was so criticized by Qing calligraphers.
The Nelson~ Atkins Museum houses a landscape handscroll by Lu Zhi (1496-
1576) that is followed by a calligraphy in clerical script by Wen Zhengming,
with the tide Essay on Streams and Rocks (Xishi ji) (Fig. 3.18). Overall, the com~
position of this short essay is carefully arranged. Each character conforms to
an imaginary standard square, and these imaginary squares are neatly piled in
straight columns. Character structures are tidy, and strokes are disposed in an
orderly fashion, with parallels carefully equidistant, and verticals and horizon~
tals written without a hint of diagonal inclination except for a slight curvature
Fig. 3.18 Wen
Zhengming (1470-
1559), Essay on
Streams and Rocks in
clerical script. F ol-
lowing a painting by
Lu Zhi (1496-1576).
Portion. Hand-
scroll, ink and color
on silk, 31.43 x 85.72
em. The Nelson-
Atkins Museum of
Art, Kansas City,
Missouri. (Acquired
through the 40th
Anniversary Memo-
rial Acquisition
Fund) F75-44.
in a number of the horizontal strokes. The strokes, moreover, are rigid and
tight, stiff and precisely executed. This regimentation is reminiscent of the
strict discipline needed to write regular script in the classical Tang pattern.
The influence of regular script is even more apparent in Wen's brushwork.
Evidence of the techniques employed in regular script abounds in Wen's verti-
u
cals and upper-right corner strokes (hengzhe ): Wen's vertical strokes, for
instance, often begin with what looks like a nail-head finial, the result of a
rather complicated technique used in regular script. In Han stele inscriptions,
the beginnings of vertical strokes are simpler and plainer. The upper-right
corner strokes in Wan Zhengming' s essay have angular corners similar to
those we observed in Xuanzong's clerical script, where again they result from
uu
the influence of regular script (Fig. 3.19 ). Fig. 3.19 Stroke
comparisons: (left
Textual records make it clear that Wen Zhengming collected rubbings of
column) vertical and
Han steles. 170 So why, in the words ofZhou Lianggong, did Wen never see-
hengzhe strokes in
that is to say, comprehend-a single stroke of Han clerical script? What Wen Zhengming's
blocked Wen's vision, preventing him from grasping the true character of Han Essay on Streams and
calligraphy? Our only answer comes from what Wen's clerical script tells us. Rocks (see Fig. 3.18;
Wen must have appreciated some stylistic features of Han clerical script writ- (right column) vertical
and hengzhe strokes
ing, or he would not have collected rubbings of Han steles. But he did not view
in Yan Zhenqing's
Han clerical with innocent eyes. His viewing experience was shaped by the
regular script.
schema established by the Tang masters, who reigned supreme in matters of
regular script composition and technique. Imprinted with these indelible rules,
he applied, consciously or unconsciously, regular script methods to his clerical-
script calligraphy.
To Fu Shan and other early Qing calligraphers, the rigid and complicated
rules of the Tang regular script method created neatly arranged and labored
calligraphy at the expense of the archaic and natural, plain and unrestrained,
qualities that in the aesthetic of the time were thought more desirable. Fu
Shan and some of his contemporaries warned against allowing later scripts to
influence the writing of clerical script, as had happened in the Tang, when cal~
ligraphers practiced earlier scripts only after drilling themselves in the latest
fashions of regular script. Fu Shan and others wanted to reverse the direction
of influence, maintaining that a good calligrapher should learn calligraphy in
the order of the historical development of the various scripts. A diligent novice
who learned a script in the same manner as the ancient writers who developed
it-that is to say, under the influence of the script types that preceded it-
could be almost certain of mastering the naturalness that had characterized it
when it was the script of primary use. This belief was put into words by Fu
Shan's contemporary, the calligraphy critic Feng Ban (r6o2-7r): "If one learns
the ancients' calligraphy by the methods oflater people, one will do no more
than follow the styles oflater people. If one learns the calligraphy oflater peo~
ple by retracing the practices of the ancients and only then looking forward,
171
one can master its essence." In this approach, the critical factor is not which
model one studies but how one studies it. When the method is different, what
is learned will be different, even though the model may be the same. A calligra~
pher equipped with the mental schema of earlier scripts as he studies models of
a later date will be able to bring to his art the antique flavor so frequently treas~
ured by calligraphers. The danger of following a different course may be seen in
the clerical~ script calligraphy ofWen Zhengming, who studied clerical script
with regular script, not seal script, in mind.
It was for this reason that Fu Shan, in his discussions of calligraphy, fa~
vored the term conglai, "origin" (literally, "from where something comes"). In
Fu Shan's view, whatever the script in which one was writing, one should
bring in hints of structure and style derived from older script types. Fu noted
that even Han clerical script was not autonomous and had elements that
hinted at the past. Thus, when writing lesser seal script, one should incorpo~
rate elements of the greater seal script that preceded it, just as when writing
clerical script, one should embrace the techniques of earlier seal script. In regu~
lar script, too, the plain and antique can be achieved by introducing elements
from earlier scripts; brushwork and character structures should allude to the
past to achieve an air of antiquity. But such allusions could not be appreciated
by an uncultivated mind. The ability to appreciate calligraphy derived in part
from a knowledge of its history, just as the ability to appreciate a poem de~
pended in part on a knowledge of earlier literature: only as one deciphered its
allusions did its layers of meaning stand revealed.
But to overcome Tang influence was no easy task. Because regular script
was commonly used for everyday writing in the early Qing and because regular
script works by the Tang masters continued to serve as primers for the
rg8 • Fu Shan's Advocacy ojEpigraphical Calligraphy
Fig. 3. 20 Fu Shan,
Clerical-scripc cal-
ligraphy. Undaced.
Album leaf, ink on
paper, measure-
mencs unknown.
Shanghai Museum.
learning of calligraphy, the Tang model dominated common practice. It was

this dominance that Fu Shan tacitly acknowledged when he complained that
his clerical-script calligraphy had only a small audience. Keenly aware of the
inadequacy of contemporary models of clerical script, Fu Shan and other early
Qing calligraphers strove to break the hold of the Tang. Fu repeatedly pointed
out that Tang regular script, in its strict discipline, was too tidy and restrained,
and he also purposely stressed Han clerical script's romantic freedom. The
awkward qualities of his own clerical script would remedy the faults of the
Tang method.
The Shanghai album (Fig. po) by Fu Shan from which a passage was
quoted in the preceding section presents a striking contrast to Wen Zheng-
ming's clerical script "Essay" in the Nelson-Atkins Museum. In Fu's work,
character sizes vary from tall to squat, and the character structures are fre-
quently unbalanced or even deformed. For instance, in the two-character
phrase jengliu JlUiL in the fourth column, meaning "wind and flow" or "natural
and charming," the horizontal stroke at the top of the character jeng undulates
downward to the right, dragging the character off balance. But Fu compen-
sated for such local imbalances by providing balance in the larger context. In
the next character, liu, many strokes tilt upward toward the right, including
the horizontal in the upper right and two of the three strokes in the radical on
the left; this compensates for the downward sag in the character jeng above it.
Fu's unrestrained brush movements often create large, rough, sometimes
broken strokes that test the limits of eccentricity, resulting in an imbalance of
ink between such strokes and other smaller, narrower, more conservative
strokes. Thus, in the sixth column, the character shi i:lt (generations) in the
phrase houshi 1$t i:lt (later generations) is written in bold, broad strokes that are
laid down wet and bristle at their edges because the ink has bled; whereas, the
character hou (later), just before it, is written in relatively thin, elegant strokes
whose roundness is reminiscent of the brush technique used in seal script. In~
stead of using the same technique to write both characters, Fu aimed for two
quite different effects, one intended to balance the another: round and narrow
balance wide and flat. The result of the contrast is fresher, more vital, and
various in its details than the continuous use of a uniform technique would
have led to; the two effects to some degree balance each other out to produce a
whole whose overall impression is midway between the two. Fu, then, created
imbalance in details, in a search for greater variety and spontaneity in his cal~
ligraphy's separate parts, but simultaneously sought unity in the impact of the
work as a whole. Playful alternation between thick and thin occurs throughout
this work, providing local interest; but, as a whole, each leaf has an even calli~
graphic texture that invests the work with a quiet dignity despite the variety in
the details. It was for this reason that Zhu Yizun praised Fu Shan's works in
clerical~ script calligraphy as "the most extraordinary" of the works in that
. by ear1y Q"mg ca11"1graphers. 172
scnpt
The early Qing preferences for the calligraphy of Han steles and for Han
calligraphic methods over those of the Tang mark a significant change in calli~
graphic taste. As the new taste was promoted and publicized, it opened con~
temporary eyes to new standards in clerical~ script calligraphy. As calligraphers
began to incorporate in their own seal~ and clerical~ script calligraphy what they
saw on Han steles, Tang calligraphers ceased to be the dominant model. With
the return to the Han, the archaic and plain now became not only a new aes~
thetic framework of how ancient calligraphy was perceived and learned but also
an impetus for calligraphers to execute calligraphy in exciting new ways.
The search for the archaic and plain was not confined to calligraphy. Oth~
ers pursued the same aim in literature. Sherr Hanguang, another member of
the Shanxi intellectual community, wrote Zhou Lianggong in the 166os to say
that he agreed with Zhou that literary styles should be plain: "Your two~
character criticism ningzhi [preferring the plain J is truly good medicine for the
current [unhealthy state ofliterature]."173 In his "Preface to the Collected Poems
oJLi Tiansheng [Li Yindu]," Pan Lei wrote:
For over one hundred years, scholarly wrong~headedness has led to the frivolity of the
Gongan school, the overrefinement of the Jingling school, and the ostentation of the
Yunjian school. Although these schools were different, none came close [to embracing]
the archaic.... Mr. [Li] laments that while there is no shortage of talented people, they
compete over trivial matters like novelty and dexterity. Thus, when he composes po-
ems, he would rather that they be awkward, not refined; plain, not flowery; solid, not
174
frivolous.
Pan Lei's comment on Li Yindu' s preferences shows that Li shared the idea
expressed by Fu Shan in his Admonition to My Son, discussed in Chapter 2, in
which Fu says, "I would rather [my calligraphy] be awkward, not skillful; ugly,
not pleasing; deformed, not slick; spontaneous, not premeditated." The syntax
is the same, as indeed to some extent is the content. The new ideas in calli-
graphic and literary criticism, however, did not stand in isolation; a more gen-
eral discourse on plainness in scholarship, puxue-one of the tenets of early
Qing thought-lay at the foundation of the search for plainness in calligraphy
and literature.
RESPONSE FROM THE SOUTH
To place early Qing epigraphical calligraphy in a broader perspective, it is nec-

essary to consider the southern response to the new intellectual trends. Al-
though stele visiting was an activity of scholars located in the north, and al-
though Fu Shan-a northerner-was the chief early Qing advocate of
epigraphical calligraphy, many important members of the Shanxi intellectual
community, such as GuYanwu, Cao Rong, Zhu Yizun, and Yan Ruoqu, were
southerners. These men had strong ties with scholars in the south, and the
writing of clerical script, as well as research on clerical-script calligraphy, in-
creased in the south in the second half of the seventeenth century. The vicinity
of Suzhou, in particular, was home to a number of scholars known for their
studies of inscriptions on ancient metal and stone artifacts (jinshixue) and for
their theorizing on epigraphical calligraphy. Ye Yibao, from Kunshan (Gu
Yanwu's hometown), in Suzhou prefecture, completed a Supplement to theRe-
cord of Inscriptions on Bronze and Stone (]inshi lu bu), the largest early Qing book
on jinshixue; and in 1718 Gu Aiji, another native of Suzhou prefecture, pub-
lished his Analysis of Clerical Script Writing (Li bian), still the most important
dictionary of clerical script characters. Lin Tong (r627-1714) from Fujian, not
only traveled extensively to visit steles but also compiled the Brief Study of In-
scriptions on Bronze and Stone from Laizhai (Laizhai jinshike kaolue).
Zhu Yizun, in a poem praising the Nanjingcalligrapher Zheng Fu (r622-93),
provided a list oflate Ming and early Qing calligraphers known for their clerical
script, in which, surprisingly, northerners like Wang Duo and Fu Shan are out-
numbered by southerners, among them the Anhui painter and seal carver
ChengSui 175 and the Suzhou artist Gu Ling (r6og-after r682), as well as Zheng
Fu himself. 176 InNanjing, Zhou Lianggong collected rubbings of Han steles
and practiced clerical-script calligraphy. In Zhejiang, Wan Jing (r659-I7 41),
from Yinxian, Ningbo, became an important calligrapher of clerical script in the
late Kangxi reign; and inNanchang, Jiangxi, the Ming prince and painter Bada
Shanren also engaged in epigraphical studies and practiced clerical-script callig-
177
raphy.
The interest in clerical script among southern literati was so strong that is
even became a subject of discussion at literary gatherings. The renowned poet
Sun Zhiwei (1620-87 ), from Yangzhou, mentioned in a note to a poem about
a literary gathering in 1666 that the poet Fang Wen (1612-69) brought up the
178
subject of Han clerical script at the gathering. This type of gathering was, in
a sense, similar to a modern seminar in its focus on a subject. The critical
terms used by southerners in discussions are strikingly similar to those em-
179
ployed by Fu Shan. Feng Xingxian from Changshu composed a treatise en-
titled "Secrets of Clerical Script" ("Lizi jue"), in which the first few lines read:
"[Clerical script] should look withered and old, archaic, and awkward.
Strength is contained in the withered; vigor is present in the old; the marvel-
ous is found in the archaic; and the ingenious resides in the awkward." 180
Against this theoretical backdrop, there emerged artists in the early Qing
who specialized in clerical script, among whom the foremost was the Nanjing
181
calligrapher Zheng Fu. Around 1675 he visited Shandong, where he made
numerous rubbings ofHan steles in such areas as Qufu andjining. Zhu Yi-
zun commented that compared to those by ordinary artisans, Zheng Fu's rub-
bings were superior in the subtlety of their ink tones and in the skill with
which they reproduced the texture of the carvings and the effects of damage
182
and wear. Zheng gave some of his rubbings away as gifts (see Fig. 3.8,
p. 184 i 83
and asked friends for help in collecting others. A letter by Wang
Hongzhuan to Zheng Fu reveals how highly Zheng' s works were regarded:
Each time I look at your works in clerical script, I think that they attain the level of
clerical script in the Han. You, I believe, are the foremost calligrapher of clerical
script among our contemporaries. Only Mr. Fu Qingzhu [Fu Shan] from Taiyuan
and Mr. Guo Yinbo [Guo Zongchang] from my hometown can possibly compete
with you; Wang Mengjin [Wang Duo] cannot match you.... Mr. Gu Tinglin [Gu
Y anwu] told me that you asked for rubbings of ancient steles; so now I send you rub-
bings of the Memorial Stele ofDoulu En (Doulu En [bei]) and the Memorial Stele of Re-
gional Inspector Feng (Feng Cishi [bei]), two pieces I have at hand.... Tinglin sends his
regards to you. When the rubbing of the Memorial Stele fMount Songshan (Songshan
18
bei) arrives, I will certainly send it to you with a letter.
If Wang's comment on Zheng's calligraphy is not mere flattery, then an

analysis of Zheng' s works will help us better understand what sort of clerical
script was seen by the early Qing literati as capturing the method and flavor
of the Han.
A hanging scroll by Zheng Fu dated 1682 (Fig. 3.21) exhibits a clerical script
that revives qualities lost during the Tang dynasty, when many of the script's
stylistic features were supplanted by borrowings from regular script, one
Fig. 3-21 Zheng Fu (1622-93),
Poem by Yang]uyuan. Dated 1682.
Hanging scroll, measurements
unavailable. Collection un-
known. After Shodci zenshu,
vol. 21, p. 62.
instance being the tall, elongated shape ofTang regular script characters,
which replaced the low, oblong format typical of Han clerical script characters.
In contrast to its Tang counterpart, Han clerical script is frequently loose,
playful, even childlike, with touches of rough execution and an amateurish
quality to its· composition. Zheng revived the spontaneity and whimsicality
clerical script often possessed in its heyday. Characters in his hanging scroll
show striking variations in size: shui 7]<., "water," the second character in col-
umn three, is only half the size of the character hua -$, "picture," to its right,
and jiu ~,"old," to its left. (In regular script, their sizes would be roughly the
same, despite the difference in their number of strokes.) Zheng broke the
mold ofT ang clerical script, shattering the rigid severity it had acquired from
the formal precision ofT ang regular script. Unbalanced character structures,
which appear frequently in Han clerical script, were another feature Zheng Fu
mastered: thus the two halves in the character yang [l§j, "sun," the fourth char-
acter in column five, are paired in an unbalanced but organic way.
Still another feature that Zheng resurrected was the Han method of exe-
cuting an "upper-right" corner, that is to say, a corner in the upper right por-
tion of a character or in one of elements composing a character. In the Han,
such corners were usually written in one of two ways, either with a slightly
rounded turn or with two separa~e strokes (or, at least, the appearance of two
separate strokes). In the latter case, the calligrapher first laid down the hori-
zontal stroke, then lifted the brush and began the downward stroke just above
the horizontal, so that its upper end protruded slightly (Fig. 3.22) . As we saw
above, under the influence of regular script in the Tang, upper-right corners
changed their shapes, so that a short diagonal marked the point where the
horizontal stroke turned and became vertical. Zheng corrected this degrada-
tion of the Han style by adopting both Han methods (for the first, see the
fourth character in column five in Fig. 3.21, yang; for the second, see the eighth
character in column four, jia ~ ).
To achieve, moreover, something of an archaic flavor reminiscent of the
wear and damage found in rubbings of Han steles, Zheng's strokes are ink-
saturated and bold, and his brush movement swift and spontaneous (a brush
Fig. p2 Detail movement borrowed probably from cursive script), techniques that leave some
ofhengzhe strokes with rough rather than clearly defined edges. The character yi, "one,"
strokes in Han
the last character in column two-written almost as if broken in half-recalls
clerical script.
characters with broken stroke edges in Han stele inscriptions. The overall im-
pression of this work is that it is rough, unrestrained, and original; there are no
traces of"neat arrangement." Wang Wan (1624-91), a contemporary ofZheng
Fu, commented that Zheng Fu's clerical-script calligraphy "shattered the tidy
185
conventions [of clerical script J in use since the Tang dynasty."
As enthusiasm for clerical script grew, a number of southern painters em-
braced clerical script to inscribe their works. One of the most gifted, Shitao,
whose album leaf depicting the branch of an old plum was briefly discussed in
Chapter 2 (see pp. 123-24), used clerical script to a degree hitherto unprece-
dented for poems, inscriptions, and colophons on his paintings. In the collec-
tion of the Tianjin Municipal Art Museum, there is a hanging scroll entitled
Lake Chao (Chaohu tu) that Shitao painted for a government official, Zhang
Chunxiu (zi Zimin, hao Jianyang), in the summer of 1695. On the painting,
Shitao inscribed four poems (Fig. 3.23), three in clerical script and one in run-
ning script. Influenced by the clerical-script calligraphy of his two friends
Cheng Sui and Zheng Fu, who like Shitao were active in Yangzhou and Nan-
jing, Shitao's clerical script is characterized by a swift spontaneity of execution.
Such spontaneity led to fortuitous accidents of the brush, especially to varia-
tions in ink tone. In some characters the ink bleeds into surrounding paper. In
others, where the ink is faint, the strokes appear aged but strong-like old
vines, in traditional parlance. And in still others, the strokes are roughly exe-
cuted, with trembling effects and small frequent changes of stroke direction
that add visual variety. Dominating the inscription are the exaggerated, sweep-
ing curves that receive their energy from the cursive swiftness of Shitao' s brush.
In particular, sickle-like pie strokes swinging out upward to the left are distinc-
tive for their arcing curves and for ranging well beyond the normal space allot-
ted clerical script characters.
Fig. 3-23 Shitao (1642-
1707), Lake Chao. Dated
1695. Portion. Hanging
scroll, ink and color on
paper, 96.5 x 41.5 em.
Tianjin Municipal Art
Museum. After Siseng
huaji: Jianjiang, Kuncan,
Shitao, Bada Shanren,
P· 165.
There was increasing appreciation for the aesthetic value of spontaneity and
for chance accidents of the brush, and materials that encouraged spontaneous
effects were favored. Calligraphers moved away from using stiff-bristled
brushes made of weasel or rabbit fur; these tended to spring back to their origi-
nal shape and thus to produce precisely executed character forms. Instead they
preferred soft-tufted brushes usually made from sheep hair. In an inscription on
a landscape painting, Shitao once wrote that it was a great pleasure to write cal-
186
ligraphy with a sheep-hair brush. Soft-haired brushes, whose pointed tips
were more easily distorted, produced new, unexpected shapes when used to
187
write characters.
Changes were seen also in the kinds of paper chosen for calligraphy and
painting. The overwhelming majority of works by Shirao are executed on ab-
sorbent paper, which had a pronounced effect on his art. One of the four
poems on Shitao' s hanging scroll in Tianjin begins with a heavily ink-
saturated stroke. In another age, such a strokes would likely have been viewed
as a mistake. The increasing use, however, of untreated mulberry paper (xuan-
zhi) in the early Qjng confirms that such effects were considered desirable,
since untreated mulberry paper's greater absorbency was more likely to create
diffuse effects than the treated paper or satin more commonly used in the past.
With untreated mulberry paper, the diffusion of ink was more irregular; since
the softer sheep-hair brush could absorb more ink and was more difficult to
control, unexpected results occurred more often. A calligrapher using a soft
brush and an absorbent paper was more likely to attain jinshiqi (the flavor of
worn and damaged inscriptions on metal and stone objects) and hence rid his
188
clerical script of the predictable neatness of the Tang style.
The liking for distorted character shapes produced by the bleeding of ex-
cess ink may well have resulted in part from the late Ming interest in Han
seals. Many Han seals extant in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had
suffered a millennium and a half of use and damage. As we saw in Chapter r,
the taste for the strange and the bizarre that gripped the literati toward the
end of the Ming found expression in seal carving that attempted to reproduce
the damage on such seals. The unpredictable brittleness of stone led to spon-
taneous, unexpected effects when the stone was worked. Seal carvers in the
late Ming purposely cracked, chipped, dropped, and knocked together new
seals as they carved them, in an attempt to replicated in a few moments effects
that had once been the work of centuries (see Fig. 1.49. p.69). The unusual
shapes of chiseled characters in seal carving may have been one factor that
prepared calligraphers to accept the strange effects produced by new materials
such as soft brushes and absorbent paper. In common with other early Qjng
calligraphers, almost all of whom had a deep interest in seal carving, Shitao
was influenced by this legacy from the late Ming. In a poem on seal carving by
Shitao begin:
Calligraphy, painting, and seal carving are an integral whole;
[Setting store on) the energetic and vigorous, the old and ugly,
. . .. 189
they pnze expressmg spmt.
Feng Xingxian also used the phrase "old and ugly" in his "Secrets of Clerical
Script"; "oldness" and "ugliness" were qualities that could be found and appre-
ciated in three related literati arts, calligraphy, painting, and seal carving.
The belief that "calligraphy, painting, and seal carving are an integral whole"
was one reason why Shitao, probably more than any other artist in the early
Qing, strove to achieve a broken effect in his calligraphy by purposely allowing
his brush to tremble while writing. This effect can be seen in an album of
landscape paintings executed by Shitao in the fall of r68o (Fig. 3.24), now in
the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing. Not only are the character
!"t- ~
..
1,·..,
-..r:
·~:
t.l
Fig. 3-24 Shitao

(1642-1707), inscrip-
tion on a landscape
painting. Dated 168o
(paintings were
executed in 1667 ).
Album leaf, ink on
paper, 24.8 x 17.2
em. After Shitao
shuhua quanji, vol. 1,
pl. IJ.
structures frequently very unbalanced, but also a considerable number of

strokes are written with a deliberately shaking hand, resulting in stroke edges
that are uneven and at times erratic. Deformation and fragmentation are the
result ofShitao's attempt to imbue his inscription with an air of antiquity.
In a discussion of seventeenth-century painting in Nanjing, Shih Shou-
ch'ien points to the shift in taste from qi-the marvelous, novel, or strange-
to gu-the archaic-as nostalgia for the past grew in Nanjing after the Man-
190
chu conquest. A similar transition took place in the art of calligraphy:
stimulated by the new emphasis on evidential research in the study of epigra-
phy, calligraphers attempted to capture the archaic flavor of ancient inscrip-
tions. In the early days of this transition, however, qi and gu were not seen as
mutually exclusive or contradictory qualities. As the second line of the poem
Fu Shan attached to his Admonition to My Son reminds us, "When a man is
exceptional (qi), his calligraphy is naturally archaic (gu)." Gu, then, was an as-
pect of qi, as qi was also an aspect of gu: Feng Xingxian wrote in his treatise on
clerical script, "The marvelous (qi) is [found] in the archaic (gu)." Fu Shan,
Shitao, and other early Qing artists often discuss qi, as well as gu, in their writ-
191
mgs, and gu does not acquire scholastic, conservative overtones until it
comes to overshadow qi in the mid~Qing. By the second half of the seven~
teenth century, however, leading calligraphers were modeling their calligraphy
on ancient epigraphical inscriptions, and emphasis was increasingly placed on
gu, not qi.
Zheng Fu, at the invitation of a senior official, went to the capital in 1676
and enjoyed tremendous populariry. His fame among the political and cul~
192
tural elite in Beijing should not be seen simply as a personal achievement. It

was also a sign of the increasingly vital role played by clerical script in early
Qing intellectual and artistic life. It is not surprising, then, although it was
unprecedented, that when Yan Ruoqu listed fourteen people as contemporary
sages, he included Zheng Fu, a calligrapher specializing in clerical~ script callig~
raphy. The epigraphical approach to ancient scripts had become an indis~
193
pensable element of early Qing intellectual life.

Fu Shan, the central figure of this study, was not on Yan Ruoqu' s list. In all
likelihood, he was omitted either because Fu Shan, with his Daoist back~
ground, did not suit Yen's image of a sage or simply because Yan did not think
Fu Shan's scholarship and calligraphy were as good as those of the others on
his list. But this omission has not hurt Fu Shan's reputation as one of the pio~
neers of the epigraphical approach to calligraphy. In comparison to the others,
Fu Shan's advocacy of the new trends was the most straightforward, eloquent,
and powerful expression of the period eye.
Calligraph~
and the
Chapter+ • Changing
J ntellectual
Landscape
The preceding chapters discuss Fu Shan' s interest in Yan Zhenqing, strange

character forms, and epigraphical calligraphy in the social and cultural context
of his time. Posterity, however, was to remember Fu Shan best for his cursive~
script calligraphy, especially his wild cursive calligraphy. To discuss Fu Shan's
cursive works only in the final chapter of this study is by no means to imply
that they are the least important of his oeuvre. Rather, because Fu Shan is
considered the last great master of wild cursive script, 1 a study of his cursive
works will elucidate the transformation taking place in Qing calligraphy. The
decline of wild cursive script after Fu Shan reflects a significant shift in aes~
thetic values because of a change in the intellectual landscape. The event that
marked the beginning of this shift came late in Fu Shan's life-in 1678-79-
the Boxue hongci examination.
LATER YEARS
By the r67os, the Manchus had ruled China for thirty years. Nevertheless,
the anti~Qing struggle had not entirely ceased: in 1674, for instance, Wu
Sangui, who had served the Manchus for nearly thirty years, and several
other former Ming officials rebelled. 2 By this time, however, even many Ming
loyalists believed that a Ming restoration was impossible. The Manchu rulers
had gradually re~established an imperial structure in China, and as their
power was consolidated, the attitude of the Chinese elite toward the govern~
ment slowly changed. Tensions had cooled with time, and the number of
confrontations had declined. The yimin-those "leftover" from the previous
dynasty-who had attained maturity in the Ming and continued to remain
209
loyal to the Ming house, refused to participate in the new government. They
were, however, decreasing in number as time passed. As Fu Shan's contem~
3
4
porary Xu Jie (r627-98) put it, being left over is not inheritable. The sons of
loyalists, who grew up under Manchu rule, lacked the feeling of moral obliga~
tion that had impelled their fathers to remain loyal to the Ming, and the pas~
sage of time and their acculturation to a new way of life made the question of
Ming loyalty foreign to them. By the Kangxi reign, there was a pronounced
increase in the number of sons of yimin participating in the civil service ex~
aminations, even while their fathers were still alive. As the early Qing histo~
5
rian Dai Mingshi (r653-r7r3) observed: "After the Ming's fall, most of its old
subjects in the southeast showed their loyalty by refusing to serve the (new]
government. But when their sons studied for the examinations and sought
degrees, they were not criticized for this." Some of these sons became sti~
6
pend students sponsored by the government; others accepted high~ranking

government positions after obtaining their jinshi degrees. In one striking case,
five of Gu Yanwu's seven nephews obtained the jinshi degree (three subse~
quently became senior officials), and the other two were students who re~
. d government sttpen
cetve . ds.7
Over time, the number of Ming loyalists declined as they either died or
decided to change allegiance and cooperate with the new regime. Defections
created anxiety among those stubbornly determined to remain loyal. A colo~
phon to Dai Tingshi's "Biography of Shidaoren [Fu Shan]," written by Gu
Yanwu about r673, raises again the weighty question of whether to serve or
to retreat (xingcang), the central issue forMing loyalists in the Confucian
code of conduct and the moral foundation on which they acted. Gu wrote:
"The choice between the two paths, serving (xing) and retreating (cang), is a
crucial issue in life, and all the ancient sages and worthies give their attention
to it. If one stumbles over this problem, then everything falls apart. Be careful,
8
be careful.''
The following year, GuYanwu sent Fu Shan a poem, which reads in part:
To the west of Mount Taihang is an ancient leftover,
Like the two Gongs ofChu or Four White~ Haired
9
Ancients ofQin.
0
Peach trees blossom by the cave each spring/
11
Perhaps we may yet pick the fungus of immortality.
Passages such as these reveal Ming loyalists stiffening their moral resolve
through mutual support. Firm moral principles are a fine thing, but frail~
minded humans are often swayed by those with whom they came in contact.
Even though defections from their ranks caused uncertainty and wavering, the
loyalists drew strength from mutual association and encouragement. Such en~
couragement included references to those who had remained loyal in the past,
2ro • Calligraphy and the Changing Intellectual Landscape
references that renewed the conviction of men like GuY anwu that their
course was worthy of honor and respect.
Fu Shan's nephew Fu Ren died in the summer of 1674 at the age of 36. His
· death shocked his aging uncle. The only surviving son of Fu Shan's elder
brother, Fu Geng, Fu Ren had been orphaned at the age of four. Fu Shan had
assumed the role of guardian and raised him in his own household. Fu Ren
was always close to Fu Shan; by the 1670s, Fu Mei had had several children
and was running the family pharmacy, and when Fu Shan traveled, Ren was
often his companion. Talented in calligraphy, Ren was for many years one of
Fu Shan's principal ghost~calligraphers (Fu Mei being the other). In a note
dated the summer of 1675, Fu Shan wrote:
Some people pretend to be connoisseurs, claiming they can distinguish my calligraphy
from my son's. How amusing! They argue that works with ink~saturated, bold, and
spontaneous strokes are made by the father, while those with less ink and with clearly
defined strokes are made by the son. Listening to arguments of this kind is like listen~
ing to a lunatic's ravings. In the last two or three years, most of my ghostwritten
works have been written by my nephew Ren, yet people have always treated them as
mine. They know that my son is my ghost~calligrapher but are unaware that it was
my nephew who often relieved my burden. How sad: Ren has been gone from me a
year already. When I am asked to write calligra~hy, I touch the brush and my heart
1
fills. How can I bring my young nephew backr
Calligraphy was not only a matter of artistic expression; it was also practiced on
social occasions and fulfilled other everyday roles. 13 In his old age, Fu Shan en~
joyed an extraordinarily high reputation as a calligrapher and cultural celebrity,
but his increasing reputation brought him with it a dilemma: although fame
procured a? ever greater number of commissions, Fu had less energy for filling
them. Numerous requests from all over the province and even from the rest of
the country became a crushing burden, and Fu relied heavily on his ghost~
calligraphers to produce calligraphy to fulfill his social responsibilities. Not only
was Fu Ren' s death an emotional blow, but the sudden loss of his help left Fu
Shan unable to discharge his commissions efficiently. In a plaintive letter to Dai
Tingshi, Fu Shan asked his friend to raise money for him by selling his calligra~
phies and paintings so that he might build a shelter in the mountains. 14
Fu Shan apparently remained depressed for some time. In 1675, Fan Hao~
ding (jinshi 1667), a scholar~official in the Neo~Confucian tradition, visited Fu
Shan in T aiyuan. Recalling the visit, he wrote:
In the fall of the year of yimao [r675], I visited [Fu Shan] in a mountain temple in Tai~
yuan. [He] wore a yellow hat and a worn-out robe. Outside the door, weeds grew like
trees. When [I] mentioned writing, he said he had not written for a while; he had
produced some writings in the past, but they had all been consigned to cliffs and deep
15
valleys [i.e., stored away and hidden from view].
Calligraphy and the Changing Intellectual Landscape • zn
Fan Haoding's son Fan Yi wrote in a poem that Fu Shan lived deep in the
mountains and declined to see most visitors; one arresting line reads: "He is as
..
scared o f VISitors .
as I'f t hey were tigers. ,16
Fu Shan's claim that he "had not written for a while" was simply an excuse
to conceal his work from inquisitive visitors; in fact, he continued to devote
himself to the study of ancient Chinese culture. His researches in philosophy,
historiography, and paleography are preserved mainly in his numerous notes
and comments on such early texts as the Xunzi and Huainanzi. Of particular
note is Fu Shan' s growing interest in The Analysis of Characters as an Explanation
of Writing, the Han dynasty dictionary that was of key importance for the
study of paleography and etymology. In many of his late writings, Fu Shan
cites The Analysis of Characters when analyzing the etymological roots of words
in ancient texts. He also devoted considerable time to paleography. As we saw
in Chapter 3, Fu realized that there were problems with the authenticity of
some of the sources he had used for his early calligraphy in seal script, and in~
creasingly he turned his attention to achieving a more precise understanding of
ancient texts. Fu' s interest in The Analysis of Characters as an Explanation ofWrit-
ing was a harbinger of an academic trend that developed several decades later,
when the study of this text became an important field in Qing scholarship. A
few ofFu' s scholarly works were kept at his home, but the aging Fu was unwill~
ing to let others see them, in part, no doubt, because he was cautious about ex~
posing his work to scrutiny, and in part because he wished to avoid the annoy~
ance of having to deal with the outside world.
In addition to pursuing his researches, Fu Shan devoted much attention to
the education of his two grandsons, Fu Liansu and Fu Lianbao, then in their
teens, training them in the Classics, history, literature, and calligraphy, and,
more important, in ethical conduct. With few resources of his own in the way
of wealth or income, Fu Shan encouraged his two grandsons to be satisfied
with the simple life of the scholar in retired circumstances rather than strive to
17
accumulate houses or land. But if he had hoped to spend the rest of his life in
peace, writing books and preserving his moral integrity, events were to con~
spire against him.
THE BOXUE HONGCI EXAMINATION
In the first month of r678, the Kangxi emperor issued an imperial edict to
high~ranking officials both inside and outside the capital ordering them to
recommend eminent scholars of extraordinary talent so that the emperor
18
"might personally submit them to an examination for appointment." The
examination was called the Boxue hongci ke, or the "special imperial examination
for erudite scholars and those with literary talent." More than r8o scholars
were recommended, among them several who figure in the discussion of
2I2 • Calligraphy and the Changing Intellectual Landscape
Shanxi's intellectual community in the previous chapter: Fu Shan, Zhu Yizun,
Yan Ruoqu, Li Yindu, Wang Hongzhuan, and Pan Lei. 19
The recommendees differed widely in their reaction to the edict. Of the
recommended scholars, 76 had a jinshi degree and eighteen a juren degree con~
ferred by the Qing government. Two others had obtained a jinshi degree dur~
ing the Ming but were serving the new regime. Thus roughly 40 percent were
already members of the new political elite. Others, like Fu Shan' s friend Chen
Xi (fl. 164os-168os) from Zhili, had participated in the civil service examina~
2
°
tions, although without success. For these men, participation in the special
examination meant no modification in their political views.
To those who remained loyal to the former dynasty, however, especially
those who had reached adulthood before the Manchu conquest, the special
examination presented a serious challenge. To first~generation loyalists such as
these, merely taking the examination, regardless of the outcome, was tanta~
mount to recognizing the legitimacy of the alien regime. They had no choice
but to decline. Gu Yanwu, for instance, sent letters to would~ be recommend~
ers threatening suicide if the government forced him to take the examina~
21
tion. Through his connections, Gu managed to avoid being put on the list of
recommended scholars and thus averted the need for more radical action. 22 Li
Yong (1627-1705), a die~ hard Ming loyalist in Shaanxi province, was forced to
go to greater extremes than his friend Gu Yanwu. Li was recommended but
claimed that he was too sick to go to Beijing. When the local government con~
tinued to press him, Li went on a five~day hunger strike. Only then did the
. . 23
government g1ve m.
The responses of younger scholars were more varied. Those who had
grown up under Qing rule were less fervent in their loyalty to the Ming than
their fathers. Even some first~ generation loyalists, like Yan Xiuling, did not
demand that their descendants follow the track they had chosen and tolerated
the younger generation's participation in the civil service examinations. Yan
Xiuling was an yimin with extensive contacts among loyalists, including Fu
Shan, and after the fall of the Ming he chose to live in retirement. But his son
Yan Ruoqu took the examinations several times without success.24 When Yan
Ruoqu heard that he was on the list of candidates for the special examination,
he was extremely excited and wrote enthusiastically to his friend Liu Cheng
(Chaozong):
On the list of recommendations, I saw the name ofWu Zhiyi [Wu Renchen, 1628-
89] from Renhe. I was so happy. I wrote to Jizhen [Qiu Xiangsui] to say that the
court should invite the following scholars: Du Yuhuang [Du Jun, 16n-87 ], Yan Gugu
[Yan Ermei], Zhou Maosan [Zhou Rong, 1619-79], Qu Wengshan [Qu Dajun],
Jiang Ximing Qiang Chenying, 1628-99], Peng Gongan [Peng Shiwang, 1610-83], Qiu
Bangshi [Qiu Weiping, 1614-79], GuJingfan [Gu Zuyu, 1631-92], you-Liu Chao~
Calligraphy and the Changing Intellectual Landscape • 213
zong, Gu Ningren [Gu Yanwu], Yan Sunyou [Yan Shengsun, 1623-1702], and Gu
Liangfen [Gu Zhenguan, 1637-1714]. Were it to do so, several dozen scholars would
gather at the Gate of the Golden Horse, and one could truly say that there were no
25
men of wisdom remain outside the court.
Having failed to gain a degree in the normal way, Yan Ruoqu saw the special
examination as an opportunity for advancement.
Yan Ruoqu' s excitement was not shared by all young scholars. His friend
Pan Lei was more ambivalent about the event. Resisting the alien dynasty that
had killed his brother, he had hitherto refused to participate in the civil service
examinations. When told by well-informed friends that he was on the list of
recommended scholars, he could hardly believe it. When the local government
asked him go to the capital for the examination, he declined, claiming that his
mother needed care and that he was in poor health. In a poem composed for
Cao Rong, Pan Lei wrote that he wanted to spend the rest of his life in peace,
26
in the fashion of the ancient recluses.
The local government, however, ignored Pan's refusal and urged him to go
to Beijing. Pan worried that repeated refusal might so offend the government
that he would be in danger: the recent literary persecution and the death of his
brother were not easily erased from memory. Lines from several of his poems
from this period reveal his ambivalence:
I wish only for kind release, like a rabbit;
Surrounded by woods and streams, I drag out
this unworthy life.
In the past, virtuous men went to court or retreated
to the forest at will;
27
I sigh that my generation cannot do so.
There was another reason for Pan's ambivalence. He was only 32 years old,
and if he chose retreat like his mentor Gu Yanwu, he could look forward to
nothing more than long years of plain living as a scholar in retirement. But
government service had always attracted Confucian scholars, both because of
the creature comforts attached to it and because serving the government was a
Confucian duty ingrained in their class. Too young to resist the opportunity
offered him, he opted for Beijing.
Whether the recommended scholars undertook the journey to the capital
under duress, with reluctance, or with excitement, persistent efforts at all lev-
els of the government succeeded in inducing some 150 scholars to travel to Bei-
jing for the examination. Fu Shan was recommended by Li Zongkong (1618-
1701) and Liu Peixian, two officials at court. Initially he declined to participate,
proffering illness as an excuse. In a poem dated the sixth month of 1678, Fu
Shan made his decision clear:
214 • Calligraphy and the Changing Intellectual Landscape
One must not only be sincere and honest,
But even when dying preserve one's integrity.
I swear to strive toward that aspiration

So as not to do damage to my principles.28
Several times Fu Shan declined the invitation to attend the examination,

but the local government continued to exert pressure on him to accept. In the
seventh month, Dai Mengxiong (d. r68o ), the magistrate ofYangqu county,
traveled by a donkey~drawn carriage to Fu Shan's home to ask him to go to
29
Beijing. Dai was a friend ofFu Shan's and must have provided him with local
political and economic help; to turn down Dai's request would have been em~
barrassing. Reluctantly, Fu accepted Dai' s offer of the carriage and set off for
Beijing in the company of his son, Fu Mei, and his two grandsons. 30 But as the
carriage neared Beijing, Fu Shan claimed to be too sick to continue and
stopped at an abandoned temple outside the capital. In a long letter to Dai
Mengxiong written during the journey or shortly after his arrival, Fu told his
friend that he was afraid he was too old and weak to take the examination. 31
Clearly Fu was reluctant to embarrass his friend but had nonetheless deter~
mined against taking the examination even before his departure. During the
same period, Fu Shan wrote a number of poems on the theme of death. 32
Death here had a double significance. In speaking of death (or of being near
death), Fu was making an excuse to avoid the examination; at the same time
he was expressing his readiness to die to preserve his moral integrity should
the Qing government try to force him to take the examination.
Fu Shan's arrival in Beijing was important news. Because of his reputation,
word spread rapidly among the recommended scholars and Chinese officials in
33
the capital, and many came to visit him. Among the visitors were Yan Ruoqu
and Li Yindu, two old friends, but most were new acquaintances. The temple
in which Fu Shan lodged quickly became a focal point for literary gatherings. 34
Studies of the special examination of 1679 have focused primarily on the
political environment that gave rise to the examination; its importance for
scholarship and art has largely been overlooked. Such studies neglect to point
out that the special examination differed from ordinary metropolitan examina~
tions for the jinshi degree in two important respects. First, whereas candidates
for the jinshi degree were generally younger and lesser~ known scholars, those
recommended to take the special examination had already reached positions of
eminence in a variety of fields. Second, candidates taking the jinshi examina~
tion typically studied for it assiduously up until the last moment, even after
arriving in the capital. But no one could prepare for the special examination
because it was to follow a unique procedure. 35 The recommended scholars
were older men already famous for their accomplishments, and the examina~
tion was designed more as an excuse to draft them into government service
than as a serious test of their knowledge. Moreover, those not wishing to serve
in the government might best serve their own interests by failing the examina~
tion. There was thus little incentive to prepare for it, and the participants had
plenty of time on their hands.
Most of the recommendees had arrived by the fall of 1678 for an examina~
tion that was not to be held until the third month of the following year. Free
of any need to study, scholars had six months in which to meet and exchange
ideas; for many, it was their first meeting face to face. As a result, the examina~
tion became something akin to a modern academic conference-of six
month's duration. To a degree there was also interaction between the recom~
mended scholars and a number of famous cultural figures serving the Qing
government in Beijing during the examination period, among them Wang
6 7 38
Shizhen (r634-I7rr)/ Gao Shiqi (1645-1704)/ and Song Luo (r634-1713).
The gathering of so many prominent cultural figures brought national at~
tention to the event. During the period leading up to the examination, a wide~
ranging group of scholars, artists, and collectors gathered around the examina~
tion participants and the eminent court officials with whom the scholars were
in contact. This group brought with them their own works or works in their
collections to request colophons from these famous scholars, with the idea of
making their collections or themselves better known in literati circles. Fu
Shan' s friend Dai Tingshi was one of these; not only did he bring works from
his collection with him, but he also seems to have purchased artworks in Bei~
jing. At Dai Tingshi's request, Fu Shan inscribed poems on leaves opposite
twelve landscape paintings by Dai Benxiao, a famous painter from Anhui; it
seems likely that Dai Tingshi obtained the album in Beijing, since Fu Shan's
inscription, written in 1679, suggests that he inscribed the album there. An~
39
other example is Tong Changling (fl. late seventeenth century), a young seal
carver from Yangzhou. Tong traveled to Beijing to publicize his seals and sue~
cessfully persuaded a couple dozen scholars, including Zhu Yizun, Liang
Qingbiao (1620-91), Chen Xi, and Wang Hongzhuan, to write colophons for
40
his newly compiled book of seals.
Members of the Shanxi intellectual community played a key role in various
gatherings. Yan Ruoqu frequently debated other scholars on the meaning of
words and passages in ancient classics, winning a high reputation for his re~
search based on evidential methods. Fu Shan, having claimed illness, re~
41
mained in the temple in which he was lodging, but he was able to participate
in the scholarly exchange taking place because other scholars visited him and
met at his residence. Yan Ruoqu, for example, spent considerable time at the
temple, discussing scholarly matters with those who arrived to call on Fu
42
Shan. Fu Mei represented his father by presenting his views to scholars who
were similarly confined to their lodgings by their own "illnesses," and Fu Shan
corresponded with Wang Hongzhuan on the subject of the Book of Changes
43
through letters delivered by Wang's son.
The study ofbronze and stone objects was an important topic. at these lit,
erary and scholarly gatherings. Ye Yibao, a recommended scholar from Jiang,
44
nan who visited Fu Shan in Beijing, completed a book on bronze and stone
inscriptions entitled Supplement to the Record of Inscriptions on Bronze and Stone
after he failed the special examination and returned home. His discussions on
the subject with Zhu Yizun, Yan Ruoqu, and Wang Hongzhuan, with whom
he became acquainted in Beijing, are well documented in his book. Judging
from his citations, Ye was well acquainted with contemporary research on an,
cient inscriptions, for which the Boxue hongci examination was almost cer,
tainly in part responsible, although the promotion of scholarship was by no
means its goal. Evidential research was also given new impetus. Yan Ruoqu' s
works, for instance, record much of the discussion and correspondence in this
period between Yan and other scholars conducting textual research on the
45
ancient classics.
Epigraphical calligraphy, which was inextricably linked to the study of an,
cient bronze and stone objects, must also have been furthered by the
exchanges between scholars from different parts of the country. Although the
emperor and many court officials remained preoccupied with the more con,
ventional calligraphy of Dong Qichang, after the 168os the taste for epigraphi,
46
cal calligraphy was beginning to prevail among Chinese artists.
The special examination was also an opportunity for broad contact be,
tween recommended scholars and Chinese officials in the Qing government.
Many of the latter-some are as well known for their scholarship as the rec,
ommended scholars themselves-visited Fu Shan at his temple outside the
city. Chinese officials acted as mediators between the recommended scholars
and the government: by attesting that some Ming loyalists were indeed too
old or too ill to take the examination, they helped resolute loyalists preserve
47
their moral integrity and thereby averted tensions that might have arisen if
such loyalist scholars had been driven to suicide. After the examination was
over, they assisted the government in incorporating Chinese scholars within
governmental ranks.
Even those who intended to be uncooperative with the government, such as
Fu Shan and Wang Hongzhuan, were friendly with some Qing officials. Fu
Shan became friends with several, among them the Grand Secretary Feng Pu
(1609-92), Vice Minister of the Ministry ofJustice Gao Heng (1612-97), and
Wang Shizhen, who was serving in the Ministry of Revenue. Feng Pu quickly
48
won a reputation for associating with the scholars in Beijing. When his
seventieth birthday fell on the fifth day of the twelfth month (January 16, 1679 ),
many recommended scholars, including Fu Shan and Wang Hongzhuan,
composed poems or essays or executed paintings and calligraphies to celebrate
49
the occasion. Contact between scholars and Chinese officials did not cease
with the examination: several scholars later participated in scholarly projects
organized by _officials whom they had met in Beijing.
The examination was held on the first day of the third month, 1679. Of the
152 who participated, 50 passed, including Zhu Yizun, Li Yindu, and Pan Lei.
Fu Shan and several others did not take the examination. Fu's old friend Wei
Xiangshu (1617-1687), a senior official, reported to the emperor that Fu Shan
50
was too ill to sit the examination. Although Fu's illness was feigned (as in all
likelihood were the illnesses of several others), the emperor was magnanimous
and refrained from investigating the facts and excused those who pleaded ill~
ness. On Fu Shan and four other scholars he bestowed the honorary title
"court secretary general" (zhongshuling), although Fu Shan refused even to
51
thank the emperor for this special favor. When Fu Shan left for home, many
scholars and officials came to see him off; to Sun Chuan, the son of Sun
Maolan, he remarked, "After leaving here, I will have nothing more to worry
52
about." Fu knew that because of his age, the government would not bother
him again. In the eighth month of 1679, five months after the examination, Fu
made the journey home to Shaanxi, ill no longer.
Many students of Qing history have viewed the special examination as a
turning point in Manchu policy. The examination was an effort to bring the
Chinese elite, especially those from the south, into the government. 53 Of the
50 scholars who passed, 26 were from Jiangnan, 14 from Zhejiang, and 3 from
Jiangxi. Resistance to the Manchus during the early years of the Shunzhi reign
occurred mainly in the south, and the bloody sacking of such southern cities as
Jiangyin, Jiading, and Yangzhou was still fresh in Chinese scholars' collective
memory. Although some former Ming officials from southern provinces
served the Shunzhi court, Chinese officials from the North occupied the more
critical positions in the Qing government, in part because northerners had
been the first to submit to the Manchus, in part because the overwhelming
majority of those who obtained their jinshi degree in the first metropolitan ex~
amination held under the new dynasty, in 1646, came from the northern prov~
inces, since at that time the south was still actively resisting conquest.
During the Oboi regency (1661-69), moreover, southern literati had been
severely attacked by the government in two famous cases: the "Lament in the
Temple" case ("Kumiao'an") and the "Jiangnan Tax~ Arrears Case" ("Zouxiao~
4
an"). 5 These arose during a pivotal period in which, as Lawrence Kessler has
written, "imperial attention shifted from basically military to basically political
concerns. Rebels along the southeastern coast still created trouble for the Qing
rulers, but the political and social relationships between the ruling Manchus
and the native Chinese elite presented far greater and more urgent problems."
Oboi's policy favoring Manchus over Chinese placed "short~range Manchu
interests over long~range imperial goals." The special examination held by
55
the Kangxi emperor marked a new departure in state policy, aimed at recruit~
ing a great number of talented Chinese to serve in the government and at less~
ening antagonism between the government and Chinese elite.
The new state policy had a marked effect on government institutions such
as the imperial Hanlin Academy. Every scholar who passed the special exami~
nation received an appointment to the Hanlin Academy as a compiler of the
official Ming History. Xu Yuanwen, a nephew of GuYanwu, who had already
served as chancellor of the academy, was in charge of this project, and all the
chief compilers were Chinese officials. A few former Ming officials and emi~
nent scholars outside the academy were invited to participate in the project,
and even some who had succeeded in evading the special examination, such as
H uang Z ongx1,. were mvo. 1ved"m 1t.. 56
Many Ming loyalists, as noted in Chapter 2, had written histories of the
dynasty after its fall. These nonofficial histories were politically and ideologi~
cally offensive to the Qing government. During the Oboi regency, in what be~
came known as the "Ming History Case," everyone involved in a privately
sponsored Briif History of the Ming was executed; the case amounted to an offi~
cial prohibition of such privately sponsored histories of the Ming. The official
Ming History, however, was a project that married the interests both of the
government and of the Chinese scholars who compiled it. To the government,
it was a political and ideological vehicle; to the compilers, bent on glorifYing
their dynasty, it was a mission they felt duty~bound to accomplish and a pana~
7
cea for a deep inner restlessness. 5 The Ming History project epitomized a new
stage in Manchu state policy, with the Kangxi emperor playing a significant
role in shaping the political and cultural environment.
Other governmental measures affected the cultural environment as well. In
the ninth year of the Shunzhi reign (1652), the government banned the circula~
tion of vernacular fiction. The Kangxi reign instituted even wider and harsher
prohibitions: not only the works themselves but also their printing blocks
58
were burned. As the governor ofJiangsu, which in the late Ming had been a
center for the publishing of popular literature, the Confucian scholar Tang
9
Bin ruthlessly punished publishers of vernacular fiction. 5 The vibrant urban
culture of the late Ming, which once had nurtured subversive parodies of an~
cient canonical texts and eccentric mannerism in cursive~ script calligraphy,
was under attack from both orthodox Confucian scholars and the Manchu
state. If the late Ming was a period of decadence and irreverence, it was also a
period of unparalleled originality in literature and the twin arts of calligraphy
and painting. Moral laxity and inventiveness went hand in hand; although re~
spect for ancient cultural icons declined, cleverness in ridiculing them rose to
new heights. The growing cohesion of the population, encouraged by a profu~
sion of printed materials and a growing freedom from censure and censorship,
increased the pace of communication and interaction, speeding the effect of
new developments and ideas. Although the late Ming succumbed at times to
silliness, pointless novelty, and extravagance, it also reveled in creativity and
intellectual productivity, liberating mind and spirit alike.
The political, ideological, and cultural climate changed gradually in the
Kangxi reign. But the impact of this change on the art of calligraphy would
not be seen clearly until several decades later.
I
FU SHAN S RUNNING~CURSIVE AND
CURSIVE~SCRIPT CALLIGRAPHY
The Ideal and the Real in Late Ming-

Early Qing Cursive Calligraphy
Fu Shan is remembered today as much for his works in cursive script as for his
epigraphical calligraphy. Cursive writing was a lifelong interest, and he left
many works in this script, a great number of them hanging scrolls. Huge in
size, bold in brushwork, striking in their images, they must easily have cap~
tured the attention of viewers. If we analyze not the style but the function of
Fu Shan's cursive works, however, we encounter a cultural issue: many ofFu
Shan's hanging scrolls in cursive script are so~called yingchou works, that is to
say, works made to "secure a favor, fulfill an obligation, or oil the wheels of
60
social intercourse." The word yingchou can be used as a verb, a noun, or an
adjective. Literally, ying means a "response" or "to respond" to a request, to an
expectation, or to an action; chou means "to reward" or "to requite." The term
yingchou betokens a reciprocal relationship among all the parties involved.61
Yingchou works as such-in particular yingchou works in cursive script-are a
subject that has received little critical attention, even though the execution of
such works loomed large in the daily life of almost every Chinese calligrapher.
Part of the difficulty the art historian encounters in any discussion of yingchou
calligraphy is that calligraphy has long been viewed as an art that both ex~
presses and reflects the sel£ Since the Tang dynasty there have been constant
efforts to mystify the art of cursive calligraphy, removing it from "the dusty
world" even as it continued to play a practical role in daily transactions.
In the formal scripts-regular, clerical, and seal-characters are usually
fitted into an equal amount of space, and the lengths and shapes of specific
strokes are bound by long~established conventions. These restrictions leave
calligraphers less room for variation than does the more abbreviated cursive
script, which often becomes a form of shorthand for personal notes and letters
and is usually executed at a higher speed. Being informal, cursive script enjoys
greater freedom in its character structures and in overall composition. Charac~
ters, for instance, instead of occupying the same amount of space, often vary
radically in size, with the largest characters sometimes as much as ten times
the size of the smallest. Occasionally, in handscrolls or albums, a single charac~
ter may occupy an entire column, while in neighboring columns there are two
characters or even three, as, for instance, in Dong Qichang's cursive~ script in-
scription dated 1603 discussed in Chapter I (see Fig. 1.7, p. 24). Calligraphers
often take liberties with a character's form, shortening or elongating strokes
for artistic purposes, or, slanting vertical strokes either to the left or to the
right. Because it lends itself to swift execution, cursive~script calligraphy is be-
lieved by many critics to be an art of extreme spontaneity that reveals the inner
world more directly and unreservedly than does calligraphy in any of the more
deliberately executed scripts.
It was not always the belief, however, that cursive script is more expressive
than other scripts. In a famous treatise on calligraphy, Shu pu, the early Tang
calligraphy critic Sun Guoting (Qianli, ca. 648-d. between 687 and 702) de~
scribed, in a well~known passage, how each ofWang Xizhi's calligraphies re-
vealed the emotion Wang experienced when writing it:
When Wang Xizhi wrote out the Eulogy on Y ue Yi, his feelings were largely melan-
choly; when he wrote out the Poem Praising Dongfang Shuo's Portrait, his mind was
dwelling on unusual matters. In the Yellow Court Classic, he reveled in vacuity; in Ex-
hortations of the Imperial Tutor, he twisted and turned in response to conflicting views.
In writing about the happy gathering at the Orchid Pavilion, his thoughts roamed
and his spirit soared; in the Formal Notification, his feelings were predominantly sad.
This is what is meant by the saying "When dealing with pleasure one laughs; when
. . of sorrow one s1g
wntmg . hs.,62 .
Sun lists six works by Wang Xizhi in this passage. Four are in regular script;
the Preface to Orchid Pavilion Gathering is in running script; the Exhortations of
the Imperial Tutor was lost long ago, and we do not know the type of script
used. Sun's comments make it clear that he considered no script better than
the others at reflecting the artist's inner feelings; in his view, regular script
was as capable as any other of expressing the artist's inner self, although su-
periority in this regard was soon to be ascribed to the two informal scripts,
running and cursive.
In the eighth century-the High Tang-that view changed, quickly and
drastically, with the advent of wild cursive, which originated with the master
calligrapher Zhang Xu. The writing of cursive script was seen as a mysterious
process, as a passage by Zhang Huaiguan (fl. 714-60) reveals:
Cursive script and regular script are different: when one is finished writing regular
script, one's idea stops; but when one writes cursive script, even after the lines are
completed, their dynamic force does not cease.... One may use cursive calligraphy to
express lofty aspirations or release emotions pent-up in one's chest.... [Cursive-
script calligraphy is an art] that can be understood by one's heart but cannot be ex-
63
plained by words.
By the time that the great Tang essayist Han Yu (768-824) commented on
Zhang Xu's calligraphy, cursive calligraphy had become an art that could imi~
tate natural phenomena and display human emotions:
In the past there was Zhang Xu, who so excelled in cursive calligraphy that he prac-
ticed no other skill. Whether happy, angry, suffering, or worried, whether sad, cheer-
ful, hating, or admiring, whether drunk or listless or discontented, whenever his spirit
moved him, he expressed himself in cursive calligraphy. He observed the things [of
the world]-mountains and rivers, cliffs and valleys; birds and animals, insects and
fish, grass in flower and trees in fruit; sun, moon, and star upon star; wind, rain, water
and fire, thunder and lightning; singing, dancing, struggling-transformed by the
things of the universe, joyous or surprised, he imbued his calligraphy with feeling.
Thus it is that, metamorphosing like spirits or gods, Zhang Xu's calligraphy is so
64
unpredictable.
This panegyric may well have inspired Wang Duo to write his "Ode to
Cursive-Script Calligraphy," in which he sung its praises: "Metamorphosis
effaces clues to its source. Its excellence lies in the unpredictable•... Its secret
65
[is] truly difficult to apprehend." Ever since the Tang, writers have credited
cursive script with magic powers, a wondrous appearance, and mysterious ori~
gins. Cursive script had become a cultural myth.
Its mythic nature, however, did not guarantee its practitioners freedom
from criticism: spontaneity does not ensure artistic superiority. Evaluating
Tang cursive calligraphy, the Northern Song critic Mi Fu commented: "Crazy
Zhang, that vulgar fellow, altered and confused the ancient methods, startling
66
the hoi polloi [to rise up and follow his lead]." Five hundred years later,
Wang Duo and Dong Qichang had quite different opinions of cursive callig~
raphy; Wang Duo praised it with boundless enthusiasm, whereas his older
friend Dong frankly confessed that many of his running and cursive script cal~
ligraphies were merely undisciplined yingchou works:
Calligraphy is not something to be done indifferently. Even when writing playfully, at
leisure, [calligraphy] should involve the spirit. But people are always carelessly execut-
ingyingchou works just to meet others' requests. This is [calligraphy's] worst fault.
From now on, whenever I encounter brush and inkstone, I will be dignified and sol-
emn. The ancients worried that every stroke [they wrote] might be criticized by oth-
ers a thousand years later. It was because of this that they succeeded in becoming
67
famous.
In another note he wrote:
I have copied all kinds of masterworks. The best are [my copies] in small regular
script. I am lazy, however, about picking up the brush, and [most of my works] are in
running or cursive script. But these are not serious works because they were made
68
carelessly to fulfill social obligations.
These passages tell us two things. First, there was an important difference be-
tween serious works and yingchou works, which calligraphers tended to execute
rather casually and carelessly. Second, yingchou works were often executed in
running or cursive script. The scripts were particularly popular in Dong's day,
and because they allowed a calligrapher to work relatively swiftly, he was able
to dash off yingchou works in minimal time.
The history of yingchou calligraphy began long before the late Ming, but
the late Ming period saw an increasing number of discussions of and com-
69
plaints about yingchou activities. This was no accident. The expansion of
education and commercial publishing gave the general public a new knowl-
edge of the life-style of the elite, and the expansion of the economy allowed
more people than ever before to afford nonessentials and imitate their social
70
superiors by purchasing calligraphy. It was during this period that publish-
ers first made widely available a primer of cursive writing entitled Secrets of
Cursive Writing in One Hundred Rhymed Lines (Caojue baiyun ge),71 a testament
to the increasing demand for cursive calligraphy. Dong Qichang's comments
on yingchou calligraphy suggest that during this period of fluctuating bounda-
ries between the upper and lower classes, calligraphers faced a growing de-
mand for yingchou calligraphy.
This new development forced calligraphers to confront new issues. There
was, first of all, the problem discussed above: the conflict between the tradi-
tional view of cursive script as an art revealing the calligrapher's inner self and
the role it played in mundane transactions between the calligrapher and his
clients. But there were other, more complicated issues. One involved the
changing sociocultural environment in which calligraphy was produced. Cal-
ligraphy had once been the province of the elite, and exchanges of yingchou
artworks had taken place between relative equals who shared common cul-
tural assumptions and values. Although works were produced to fulfill social
obligations, the volume of such production remained relatively low and the
social status of those involved was relatively high. The decline of barriers be-
tween the upper and lower levels of society, however, and the increased
wealth of many who had been traditionally excluded from the elite led to an
expanding demand for calligraphy, a development that threatened the elite
status both of calligraphy and of its makers, even as-or because-its popu-
larity was increasing.
A second issue was even more fundamental than social distinction and
status, important as these were to the literati class. The pressure to produce,
especially when aggravated by financial necessity (as in Fu Shan's case), com-
pelled the calligrapher to compromise on basic matters like quality and au-
thenticity. Not only were literati calligraphers sometimes turned virtually into
calligraphic slaves by demand for their works, of itself demeaning enough, but
this burden led to the temptation to do careless, hasty work or to contract
work out to ghost~calligraphers. Neither alternative, the slavery of hard work
or the compromising of one's integrity, was countenanced in the traditional
literati view of calligraphy as a noble art. The literati, especially those forced
to produce large numbers of works not only from social obligation but from
lack of means, were faced with Hobson's choice. Many responded by capital~
izing on the popularity of running and cursive~script calligraphy, which could
be speedily produced, and by farming out some of their production to rela~
tives or assistants.
In some respects, Fu Shan's case is typical. When the dynastic transition
left him in economic difficulty, he was forced to produce calligraphy to help
solve everyday financial problems. He undoubtedly produced more yingchou
calligraphy than Dong Qichang, who in his later years was a high government
official and personally wealthy. Fu Shan wrote that he was often asked to
write calligraphy by "vulgar people" who took advantage of his need for
72
money. At times, he was forced even to execute calligraphy in front of these
73
people, who insisted on seeing Fu Shan write in person because they wanted
to ensure that the works they bought were not made by his ghost~calligraphers.
For the most part, these "vulgar people" were probably Shanxi merchants or
minor gentry who could afford Fu Shan's calligraphy but who had little
knowledge of literature and art. In the Ming~Qing period, merchants from
Shanxi gained a national reputation for their business acumen and wealth. But,
compared with their southern counterparts, Shanxi merchants were notorious
for their stinginess in sponsoring cultural activities. They were probably un~
74
willing to pay what the calligrapher expected, even although they could well
afford it.
Such clients, lacking erudition and elegance, were an annoyance for Fu
Shan. Many were culturally unsophisticated, even although calligraphy meant
much to them. The deep~rooted belief in traditional China that calligraphy
reflected the mind of its creator meant that acquiring a calligraphy by a famous
artist brought the artist's presence into the owner's home. From this stand~
point, the man who created a calligraphy was more important than its text or
even its quality, and Fu Shan knew that many who sought his calligraphy were
concerned less with the quality of their acquisition than with his reputation.
Because quality mattered little to such clients, the calligraphies Fu produced
for them were often mediocre. Many large hanging scrolls with bold cursive
characters are presumably the outcome of disagreeable sessions with importu~
nate clients. Fu Shan described calligraphy made under such circumstances as
"dead ca11'tgraphy."75
Cursive script was well suited to situations in which Fu Shan was forced to
produce calligraphy in front of the vulgar. Executing cursive calligraphy be~
came a dramatic performance that, in Mi Fu's words, "startled the hoi pol~
76
loi." In the early Qing, Fu Shan was lauded as a qishi (marvelous, extraordi-
77
nary, or eccentric scholar) or gaoshi (lofty scholar or hermit), and to some
degree, he may have produced odd and bold calligraphies with an eye to living
up to this reputation. A dramatic performance, moreover, served several pur-
poses at once. The bold execution oflarge characters on huge bolts of satin
must have been an exciting display that amazed his viewers; the wildness of
cursive script could more easily cover up sloppiness; and its speed shortened
the unpleasant time it took to produce genuine but "dead" calligraphy for par-
venu clients. In reflecting on this kind of performance, Fu Shan was cynical:
In West Village there is a useless old man. People come to him one after another,
asking either for prescriptions or calligraphy. This old man does not know how many
people died because of his medicine or how many brocades, satins, and fans were
smeared by him [with poor writing]. All one can say is that such people neither value
78
their lives nor treasure their money. Such foolishness!
But it would be a mistake to suppose that Fu Shan's somewhat unscrupulous

use of cursive-script calligraphy to satisfY demand meant that he had a low
opinion of it; it was also because he loved it and had a talent for it that Fu
Shan used cursive script as much as he did.
Fu Shan conceded that many of his cursive works were poorly executed.
But how do we identifY works of poor quality in our effort to assess his
achievement in this script? Admittedly, training in connoisseurship is still the
79
key to distinguishing poor works from good. By analyzing Fu Shan's tech-
nique, we can determine if deviations from long-established rules of calligra-
phy appear in a number of works and should therefore be considered inten-
tional aesthetic innovations or whether a particular deviation is sporadic and
therefore probably a technical error. We know, for instance, that before the
late Ming, bleeding strokes were accidents: since they occur only occasionally,
they were clearly unintentional. In the late Ming, however, bleeding appears
frequently in calligraphy, and we can thus be quite sure that it is indicative of a
new aesthetic standard.
But, in addition, a careful study ofFu Shan's audience and the way his
works are inscribed may help us identifY careless works. Fu Shan was inclined
to treat unsophisticated clients rather cavalierly, especially when they took
advantage of his financial difficulties and tried to bargain for lower prices. We
can assume that many ofFu's calligraphies without dedications were made for
80
just such people. Dedicated works, especially those intended for members of
the elite whose identity is known, were probably executed with more serious
artistic intent. Many works of Chinese calligraphy and painting have dedica-
tory inscriptions, and we are often able to identifY the recipients and gain an
idea of the circumstances under which works were made. It is certainly not the
case that all ofFu Shan's yingchou works are poor; many are of excellent quality.
ttO But as a working hypothesis, we can say that, by and large, the intended re-
cipient determined whether Fu Shan chose to exert himself when producing a
yingchou work.
'~
Many ofFu Shan's carelessly executed works are large hanging scrolls that
seem to have been written for clients capable of appreciating size more than
calligraphic excellence. One rather mediocre work of this kind, on a roll of
t1
,~ ~~ (A1
satin 178 centimeters long (Fig. 4.1), is spontaneous and rapidly brushed, but
written in so great a hurry and in such an offhand manner that the calligraphy
appears sloppy: at times the rapid sweep of the brush, ignoring pauses and
emphases within the lines, fails to articulate the joints between strokes. This
manner of execution lends the work an air of speed and bravado, but the loss
of these linear articulations leads to a generalization of form and simplification
of structure within individual characters that weakens the calligraphy's indi-
~~{
viduality and distinctiveness as a whole.
Where details are present in the work they are poorly executed. For exam-
ple, in the first character of the first line, on the far right, the long vertical
stroke on the right side of the character is created with a series of downward
i A_' pressings or emphases of the brush that are excessive in number as well as un-
naturally lumpy in shape. A few variations like these in the shape of a stroke
add interest; too many are a mannerism. The fifth character of the first line is
too fluid, dashed off in rather weak fashion with too casual a brush. In the
second column, the bends in the na strokes of the eighth and ninth characters,
tianren *..A. (man of heaven), have an awkward, slipshod look: instead of be-
ing firmly realized with a sharp down-up movement of the brush to create an
(a]
[a] shape, they are lazily executed with rounded humps like the letter [b ].
The pie stroke on the left side of ren has the defect known as "mouse tail," an
ending that is too weak, narrow, and pointed. Fu's signature, "Fu Shan shu" "--
(b]
Fig. 4 .1 Fu Shan, (Fu Shan writes), appears genuine, but it is a sign of authenticity, not quality.
Poem in running- Why were certain scripts selected for yingchou works? Generally speaking,
cursive script. Un- yingchou works employed the scripts most popular with calligraphers of the pe-
dated. Hanging scroll,
riod, for instance, cursive and running-cursive scripts in the late Ming.
ink on satin, 178 x so
em. Shanxi Provincial Convincing evidence that the late Ming preference for yingchou works in cursive
Museum. After Fu script was more a matter of period taste than calligraphic convenience is that,
Shan shuhua xuan, p. 10. after the early Qing, the bulk ofyingchou calligraphy changed dramatically. Cal-
ligraphers forsook single hanging scrolls in cursive script inscribed with texts
(often extensive) of poetry or prose and turned to writing scrolls in pairs in-
scribed only with short poetic couplets written in regular, clerical, or seal script.
Although working in cursive script was faster and more efficient, wild cursive
was in large part abandoned for yingchou. In the early Qing, the new intellectual
interest in reconstructing the past based on evidential research sparked the de-
velopment ofjinshixue, and antiquarian scripts took center stage not only in in-
tellectual and artistic circles but in popular perception as well. The result was
that the two ancient scripts, clerical and seal, superseded cursive in the produc~
tion ofyingchou calligraphy. In other words, the cultural environment appar~
ently influenced the selection of and preference for scripts types and styles.
Ironically, many of the best and the worst works of a period are written in the
same scripts-cursive and running~ cursive in the Ming, seal and clerical in the
Qing-because these were the scripts that were valued and thus popular.
In the seventeenth century, with the popularization of calligraphy and its
increased role in social transactions, the conflict between the ideal of cursive
script as a vehicle of personal expression and reality-the need to produce
yingzhou calligraphies-became particularly acute. How could cursive calligra~
phy be at the same time a personal, intimate expression of self and yet be pro~
duced in quantity for avid clients who often had no personal relationship with
the calligrapher? The enormous popular interest in calligraphy in the late
Ming significantly boosted the demand for yingchou works, forcing calligra~
phers to strike an ever more difficult balance between trying to live up to a
literati ideal and producing calligraphy to meet this demand. In a colophon to
a calligraphy in running~cursive script written for the German Jesuit Johann
Adam Schall von Bell (Tang Ruowang), Wang Duo wrote:
As I was writing this calligraphy, my two young boys were playing, chatting, and cry~
ing. It was noisy, and I accidentally omitted several words, such as long, xing, wan, and
he. How amusing! Calligraphy and painting should be attempted [only] deep in the
mountains. How happy I would be ifi could wield my brush among the waving
81
branches of a pine forest and under the shadow of clouds! But how is it possible?
It was not always possible to write calligraphy in an ideal setting.

To point to the calligrapher's need to produce yingchou works, however, and
to the theoretical issues that arose from this necessity is not to assume that
when the literati eulogized cursive script, they were simply indulging in empty
rhetoric. Many cherished self~expression as an ideal and, when conditions al~
82
lowed, strove to attain it. It is the art historian's task to recognize the ideal,
explain how it conflicted with reality, and observe when and to what extent it
was compromised. To suggest that the Chinese literati extolling self~
expression in calligraphy are simply paying lip service to an empty ideal is as ·
wrong as to deny that calligraphy, even by the most accomplished masters,
sometimes has mundane aspects.
The yingchou function of much cursive calligraphy did not necessarily negate
the expressive capacity of its cursive writing. At times, writing calligraphy to
fulfill social obligations did not conflict with self~expression. A work could
encompass both goals in a single creative process, not least when a yingchou
work was written for a friend or colleague whom the artist respected, admired,
or loved. An artist could express himself freely and fully, communicating with
a fellow spirit, even while fulfilling a social obligation.
Awareness of the yingchou function of many works should make us selective
in choosing examples ofFu Shan's cursive calligraphy for analysis. The cursive
works in the following discussion are chosen from among the hundreds ofFu
Shan' s calligraphies that survive, as dated or dateable works dedicated to re-
cipients whom we can identifY as belonging to the elite sector ofFu's audience.
Presumably, they did not result from those unpleasant sessions in which Fu' s
less cultivated clients forced him to produce cursive works in. bold calligraphic
performances as they watched. In addition to inscribed works, I include a few
undated works without dedications to illustrate additional aspects ofFu
Shan's cursive calligraphy.
Fu Shan's Achievement in Cursive-Script Calligraphy

As a calligrapher who made cursive script one of his specialties, Fu Shan mas-
tered several varieties of it, including lesser cursive (xiaocao ), draft cursive
(zhangcao ), and wild cursive (kuangcao ). His earliest known cursive work, dated
1641, is a hanging scroll preserved only as a rubbing (see Fig. 1.52, p. 76). But
the work that best reflects Fu Shan's early training in cursive script is an al-
bum of 38leaves (28 by Fu Shan) for his close friend Chen Mi (Fig. 4.2), who
had followed his lead and studied Taoism and medicine after the fall of the
Ming. The poems that Fu Shan transcribed in the album were his own, copied
in 1647 at Chen's request; most were written after 1644 in sorrow for the dy-
nasty's fall. The album demonstrates his consummate skill in cursive writing,
skill being particularly required for cursive script, since the calligrapher is
forced to keep his brush moving, rapidly and without hesitation, to produce an
appearance of fluidity. To write cursive script correctly, the calligrapher must
also memorize character structures quite different from those of regular script;
the cursive-script form of the character li ,1. (beauty), for instance, is so unlike
the regular script form that the two seem to be different characters (for Dong
Qichang's cursive rendering of!i, see the second character in column fifteen in
the final section of his handscroll dated 1603; Fig. 1.7, p. 24). In the album, Fu
Shan's brush moved with perfect fluency: his skill in the turns, pauses, and
stroke connections demonstrates his command of a full range of cursive tech-
niques. In the poem entitled "Garden," on leaf thirteen, composition and
brushwork are especially beautiful. In the third column, the brush flows grace-
fully, leaving an exquisite trail of ink behind it. Take, for example, the two
characters that head this column, yuanwai !E Y'r (outside the garden). Having
completed the outer, box-like portion of the character yuan (garden), Fu Shan
renders its inner strokes with extreme thinness, and then extends the charac-
ter's last stroke so that it connects naturally with the following character, wai
(outside). The precision and skill shown in this work remind us that early in
Fig. 4.2 Fu Shan, Poems Copied in Cur-
sive Script for Chen Mi. Dared 1647. Al-
bum of 38 leaves, including ten leaves of
colophons, ink on paper, each 28 x 15
em. Ho Ch'uang-shih Calligraphy
Foundation.
his life Fu Shan studied the calligraphy of Zhao Mengfu, who was famous for
his artistry.
The album for Chen Mi displays Fu Shan's talent and training in cursive
writing and his ability to write cursive calligraphy in an elegant and conven-
tionally disciplined way, bur it is Fu Shan's wild cursive that more closely
reflects the aesthetics of the period. Most of Fu's wild cursive works are
hanging scrolls, imposing images that sometimes exceed eight feet in height.
No wild cursive works by Fu dared before 1657 have come to light, although
it is reasonable to suppose that he wrote some. His earliest extant work in
wild cursive is a set of twelve hanging scrolls he wrote as a farewell gift for
his friend Wei Yi'ao in 1657 (Fig. 4.3), whose text is discussed in derail in
Chapter 2 (see pp. 93-94). Bizarre as their calligraphy is, Fu Shan no
doubt hoped that his scrolls would prove legible, at least to Wei and his
friends; hence, for the most part he eschewed the use of unusual character
forms. Properly speaking, since the scrolls mingle running script with
cursive, their calligraphy falls into the category of running-cursive (xing-
cao ). Nevertheless, the extreme awkwardness and eccentricity of their
character structures, brushwork, and composition give the scrolls the
appearance of wild cursive.
(text continues on p. 234)
No.6 No.5 No.4
Fig. 4·3 Fu Shan, Frank Words as Farewell Gift for Wei Yi'ao. Dared 1657. Twelve hanging scrolls,
ink on silk, each 167.6 x 50.8 em. H. Christopher Luce collection, New York.
No.3 No. 2 No.1
No.12 No. 11 No. 10
Fig. 4·3 Fu Shan, Frank Words as Farewell Gift for Wei Yi'ao, cont.
i~i~ ~~/-· ~f ft1--..
"f. ~ #c""·rl ~ '
~~ l/Q~1~ ~ ~ ~
'6.t g ~ 1J(a> ,fJ ~ ~#
ae- 1j fl. ~ ~ ~~ ,{ { '
No.9 No.8 No.7
Fig. 4·4 Character
comparisons: (left
colutnn) characters in
Frar1k Words as
Farewell Gift for Wei
Yi'ao (see Fig. 4.3);
(right column) Mi
Fu's characters.
Because the text of these twelve scrolls was an essay needing careful compo-
sition, Fu Shan must have drafted it first and then copied it on satin. The es-
say's theme is the spirit of wine, wine being here a metaphor for political resis-
tance or for a sincere, untrammeled spirit. Since Fu Shan liked to drink, it is
83
possible that he wrote this work after drinking wine. Works are perhaps
more likely to exhibit unexpected effects if created when rhe artist's skill is re-
leased by the exhilarating effect of alcohol. In fact, the appearance of this work
mimics wine's effect on rhe drinker. The first scroll starts in a moderately re-
served manner with the ride "As Brother Lianlao Set Off for the North, Frank
Words Are Prepared in Farewell." Bur soon the explosive force of the "wine"
(real or imaginary) is at work. The bold and vigorous strokes of the large char-
acters in the third column from the right, which catch the eye, show the influ-
ence ofYan Zhenqing (see Figs. 2.18, 2.20, pp. II5, u6), and Mi Fu's influence
makes itself felt in the vivid, dancing brushwork of the thinner strokes, in par-
ticular the concave line of the vertical hooks (Fig. 4.4). As Fu wrote, character
structures were subject to unforeseen changes. In the first hanging scroll in the
lines that read "a wine lover from Shanggu came to Shanxi as an official with-
out specific administrative duties; he was interested not in his post bur in wine,
and even brought 'the spirit of wine' with him into his office," three charac-
rers-jiu ~~ (wine), guan ~ (official), and qi ~ (used here as a preposition)-
are each repeated three times, and each time they are written considerably dif-
ferently.
/
Fig. 4·5 Character com-

parisons: (left column)
character jia ~ and meng
'ft. in Frank Words as
Farewell Gift for Wei Yi'ao
(see Fig. 4.3); (right col-
umn) character jia ~ in
the album of poems in
cursive script Fu Shan
wrote for Chen Mi in
!647·
Many late Ming calligraphers, as noted in Chapter I, wrote strokes that coil
and twine around each other in visually complex structures. So did Fu Shan,
as we see, in the last column of the first scroll and in many characters in the
scrolls that follow. For instance, writing the lower part ofjia ~(home), and
meng ~ (implication), Fu Shan made a circle of the two small strokes on the
right, which by most calligraphers are written quite differently. Fu Shan wrote
jia in much the usual manner in his album of I647 for Chen Mi, but ten years
later, in his scrolls for Wei Yi'ao, he broke with convention (Fig. 4.5). Such
renderings endow his calligraphy with that most desirable of qualities, qi (the
unexpected.and surprising), which, as we have seen, was a subject of much
discussion among late Ming artists. A further arresting feature of this set of
scrolls is the striking contrast between its characters. In the third column of
the fifth scroll, for example, the character mu $. (admire), is at least twenty
times larger than zhiz (of) in the same column. Whereas some characters are
ink-saturated, heavy, and imposing, for example, those in the seventh scroll,
others are light and thin, such as several in the eleventh scroll.
In addition to Yan Zhenqing and Mi Fu, Fu Shan's scrolls for Wei Yi' ao
are indebted to late Ming individualist calligraphers, from whom he borrowed
some of his compositional features. In these scrolls, characters in a column
constantly shift positions, so that almost no column has a consistent vertical
axis, a key feature of Wang Duo's cursive-script calligraphy, discussed in
Chapter I (see Fig. I.I2, p. 3I). Spatial composition varies from scroll to scroll.
In some, like scroll seven, the characters are quite sparsely placed; in others
they are dense, as they are in scroll eleven, which is reminiscent of the hanging
scroll Watching the Tide (Fig. 4.6) by the eccentric Ming calligrapher Xu Wei,
who was renown for wildness, in cursive script, painting, and life. In this scroll,
as Shen C. Y. Fu describes, "random changes of size, loose individual struc-
tures, and right columnar spacing create an impression of compositional disar-
ray."84 Xu Wei's brush moved as iffreed from all restraint: the last vertical
stroke of the character gui ~ (return) stretches all the way to the bottom of
rhe scroll, alongside seven characters that follow in gui' s wake. A careful look,
however, reveals that in Xu's work, each individual character is well balanced:
one may draw a straight, vertical axis through each column, something quite
impossible in Fu's scrolls for Wei Yi'ao.
Like Xu Wei's characters, the characters in Fu Shan's twelve scrolls are of-
ten deformed. In column four of the second scroll, the character li ~_t (rites), is
dramatically distorted: what is usually a vertical stroke in the component on
the left is skewed diagonally toward the right. The lower part of the compo-
nent on the right is not centered on its axis to make a balanced structure, as
most calligraphers would have written it; instead, Fu shifted it as far left as he
could and executed it on a diagonal, parallel to the diagonally written vertical
on its left, so that it seems ready to topple over. By violating, in daring fashion,
commonly accepted conventions in character structures, he succeeded in im-
buing his work with qi.
Fu Shan had a solid training that enabled him to write graceful calligraphy
according to the conventional standards. Why, then, did he often break with
convention and write wild cursive in so eccentric a manner? Although we find
little mention of cursive script in his notes or writings, his discussions of cleri-
cal script may help us understand why he wrote cursive script as he did. He
once noted:
What is remarkable about Han clerical-script calligraphy is irs vigor and awkward-
ness.85 In the first place, it makes no pretense at arranging structures in a balanced
and appropriate manner. Whether the radical is on the left side or the right, whether
the character is wide or narrow, or (irs strokes] sparse or dense, the brush moves ran-
86
domly, full of rhe spirit of nature.
Fu Shan believed that awkwardness (or the absence of skill) revealed the
more natural or original state of the human mind. For this reason, he tried to
Fig. 4.6 Xu Wei (1521-93),
embrace stylistic elements he considered awkward, raw, and original in his
Watching the Tide. Undated. running-cursive and cursive calligraphy. Tianji, the phrase translated here as
Hanging scroll, ink on pa-
the "spirit of nature," can also be translated as the "workings of heaven" or
per, 131.1 x 31.6 em. Freer "heavenly secret." Tian, "heaven" or "nature," was used to denote the highest
Gallery of Art. Purchase-
level of calligraphic achievement and was a critical term in Fu Shan's theoriz-
Regents' Collections Ac-
ing on calligraphy. In another note, he spoke of zi zhang zhi tian, "heaven [or
quisition Program. F8o.12.
nature J in calligraphy":
In the past I saw a proclamation by a courageous general who wrote rhe date chuliu
(sixth day of the month] in a manner so indescribably unusual and marvelous that I
thought that the characters looked almost as they must have looked at their most
87
primitive stage. I have also seen that when children start learning to write and copy,
their characters are not well written: But something of the marvelous and antique
may suddenly emerge from [such characters], whose structures [seem so fortuitous
88
that they] cannot be taken apart and put together -here, upside down, there sparse
or dense, they are truly astonishing. I then realized that when we calligraphers write,
we are shallow and restrained. What can we say of the tian [nature] in calligraphy?
Tian cannot be intentionally pursued. It might, for instance, be achieved when one is
deeply drunk and without brush or paper, and the characters [simply spring up in
one's mind]. It is told in an anecdote passed down through the centuries that when
Wang Xizhi saw one of his works copied out by his son Wang Xianzhi, he said:
"Surely I must have been quite drunk [when I wrote this]." He said this to upset
Wang Xianzhi. Yet good calligraphy written while drunk is [nevertheless] written by
someone expert at calligraphy. If someone is not good at calligraphy, drunkenness will
not help him capture the spirit of Zhong You or Wang Xizhi. If someone is a callig-
rapher already, why become drunk [to write good calligraphy]? [The reason for
drinking) lies in this: that without wine, one would think mostly about forming the
89
characters as one writes them, and the result would lack profundity.
The first half of this passage is about the natural beauty of untrained callig-
raphy. The proclamation written by the military officer was apparently not
brushed by a well-trained hand. But a few characters-certainly not all of
them-Fu Shan found marvelous, as one might delight in a child's writing.
Children are not well trained, but something original, unpretentious, genuine,
and even marvelous (qi) may be found at times in their writing. What the pas-
sage tells us, then, is that Fu Shan was attracted by the naturalness of
untutored calligraphy. Again, the attraction to characters "at their most
primitive stage" owes much to late Ming culture. The association in Fu's mind
between childish writing and tian-the nature of man or the essence of
nature-is undoubtedly derived from the philosophy ofLi Zhi, which held
that man is innately pure, with a childlike mind (tongxin) that perceives the
way to moral behavior with natural clarity. In the late Ming, moreover, culture
that was not the province of the elite received unprecedented attention and
was even valued and admired. This intellectual legacy may have bred in Fu
Shan a sensitivity to beauty in the writing of such people as an uneducated
general or young children, an attitude consistent with his appreciation of
ancient, anonymous epigraphical inscriptions.
Another issue in this passage is the role of alcohol in calligraphy. For
trained calligraphers, Fu Shan recommended drinking as an effective way to
banish the restraints imposed on the calligrapher by established methods and
conventions. Calling on the spirit of wine when writing cursive-script calligra-
phy is, like the mystique of cursive script itsel£ an ancient tradition. But when
the story ofWang Xianzhi's copying his father's "drunken" calligraphy was
recorded in Sun Guoting's Shu pu in the early Tang, drunkenness was
regarded not as a divine state in which one's creativity surged but as a cause of
mediocre calligraphy. Sun had written:
Wang Xizhi once went to the capital, and as he was about to leave he wrote an in-
scription on a wall. Wang Xianzhi secretly erased it, then rewrote it in the same place
and thought to himself that he had not done badly. When Wang Xizhi came back
and saw it, he sighed and said: "Surely I must have been very drunk when I left."
. . 90 .-
Wang X1anzh1 felt ashamed. -
Slightly later, however, during the High Tang, the heyday of wild cursive, al-
cohol came to be associated with calligraphy in a positive way. In his famous
"Song of the Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup"("Yinzhong baxian ge"), Du
Fu, the greatest poet of the High Tang, wrote:
Zhang Xu: three cups, and the art of the sage of cursive
calligraphy is passed on-
Hat off, head revealed before the princes and dukes,
Wielding a brush that descends to paper like clouds
91
and mist.
Zhang Xu, the sage of cursive calligraphy, was often described as performing
when drunk:
Xu would drink wine and then write cursive script, wielding the brush and shouting,
or dipping his head in ink and writing with it, so that the whole world referred to him
as Crazy Zhang. When he was sober, he would look at what he had done. He pro-
92
nounced it divine and marvelous, and he was never able to reproduce it.
This depiction of Zhang established an association between wine and cursive

calligraphy that was to prove remarkably long lasting.
The great Song calligraphers had different attitudes toward wine, as Reter
Sturman describes in his study of the relationship between wine and cursive
calligraphy in the Northern Song. Mi Fu wrote that the cursive calligraphy of
Gaoxian and other less talented calligraphers deserved only to be hung in
93
wineshops. SuShi, a light drinker, took a positive view of wine when writing
but wrote little himself in cursive script. Huang Tingjian, a Northern Song
master of cursive calligraphy, followed in the footsteps of Zhang Xu and
Huaisu but thought little of wine as an enhancer of artistic creativity. Instead,
ironically, he transformed "a tradition of writing that had become synonymous
with drunken, unfettered ease and public exhibitionism into an intensely
. . practice.
me d1tat1ve s
. "94 turman cone1u des:
In medieval China drunkenness symbolized naturalness, the cleansing that allows the
freedom to express and interpret the exterior world. The self-conscious efforts of the
late Northern Song individualist calligraphers to explore naturalness demanded a
reassessment of wine's relationship to creativity. Their practice may not have de-
bunked entirely the value of wine in art, but it did highlight the fact that as long as
naturalness was a consciously determined goal in art, more often than not creativity's
95
sources would be found within rather than from without.
Nevertheless, there were those who continued to praise wine's effect on

calligraphy. SuShi claimed, for instance, "After getting drunk, I immediately
write dozens oflines of cursive calligraphy, feeling that the essence of the wine
96
erupts through my ten fingers." We find a similar passage in the writing of
the late Ming calligrapher Wang Duo; in a letter to Zhou Lianggong, Wang
Duo wrote: "Drinking wine, my fingers become sprightly at calligraphy. Just as
when I make landscapes in ink, my brush moves like the wind." 97
If there were outward (Tang, exhibitionist) and inward (Song, meditative)
sources of inspiration for cursive calligraphy, as Sturman maintains, then Fu
Shan derived inspiration from both. A quatrain in cursive scrip, written by Fu
Shan on a hanging scroll, reads:
Wang Xizhi, thoroughly drunk, wielding a huge brush,
Blue hat aslant, in drooping robe of white brocade,
Sees only Shi Yiguan, his arrogant senior.
So vast the universe in which he dwelt, body light
98
as swansdown.
Shi Yiguan (fl. 168-88) was a calligrapher of the late Eastern Han dynasty,
known for his clerical script. Confident of his reputation, he often visited
wineshops without money, writing calligraphy on the walls and soliciting cash
from viewers. Money for his wine collected, he would efface his calligraphy.99
The poem's last line alludes to Wang Xizhi, whose body when drunk felt light
as swansdown; it was perhaps intended to suggest at the same time that
Wang's drunken calligraphy was as light as a bird in flight. 100
Fu Shan's portrait ofWang Xizhi is an invention. But it is significant none,
theless, because previously no one had ever associated Wang Xizhi' s calligra,
phy with wine. Fu Shan, then, created a new persona for Wang Xizhi, one
that justified (in his own mind, at least) the use of wine to aid the creative
process.
To praise wine as a positive force in the writing of good calligraphy was to
advocate the importance of irrationality in art. The belief that art benefited
from irrationality went hand in hand with two other philosophic principles of
calligraphy: first, that man's nature (and the calligrapher's in particular) was
best revealed when free of reason's control, and second, that cursive script, es,
pecially wild cursive, best reflected the calligrapher's inner nature because it
was the most expressive script, one that flowed spontaneously from the heart.
As the Qing critic Liu Xizai (1813-8!) put it:
To view a person through his calligraphy, it is best to look at his running-cursive or
cursive script. When Su Shi was discussing how to achieve a vivid portrait, he wrote:
"When [a man] sits formally dresl}ed, holding in his feelings, we cannot discern his
true nature (tian)." [A passage) in the "Lei Yukou" chapter of the Zhuangzi reads: "Get
101
him drunk with wine, then observe him from the side." Both mean the same thing.
The long passage in which Fu Shan discussed wine and calligraphy shows
that he believed that the best calligraphy is imbued with tian, "heaven" or "na-
ture." Children's writing possesses this heavenly nature because it shows
characters "at their most primitive stage"; wine may assist the adult to return
to this "primitive stage." In his essay for Wei Yi'ao, he praised wine as "the
liquid of genuineness and purity." Was Fu drunk when he executed the
scrolls for Wei Yi'ao? We do not know. But it scarcely matters: the "spirit of
wine" that Fu Shan promoted in his scroll was more a concept than a literal
reality. Since writing while drinking or drunk was already a long-established
convention in calligraphy, what was important was whether a calligraphy
looked "drunken," that is to say, uninhibited, not whether its creator was
really drunk when he wrote it. In Fu's calligraphy for Wei Yi'ao, we can
sense the spirit of wine. The long association of wine with calligraphy al-
lowed a calligrapher of wild cursive to justifY his eccentric writing and per-
suaded his audience to tolerate that eccentricity.
If wine mattered only in the abstract, we should not be surprised to learn
102
that Fu's Stele of Cursive Calligraphy at Mount Wujeng (Wujengshan caoshu bei),
one of his most spontaneous and eccentric works, was written by the artist
when he seems to have been quite sober (Fig. 4·7 ). In his calligraphy, Fu Shan
copied out a poem of his own that tells of writing wild cursive after falling off a
donkey and hurting his back. The poem describes his calligraphy:
Fig. 4·7 Fu Shan, Stele of

Cursive Calligraphy on Mount Look again: characters flee like running animals;
103
Wufeng. Undated. Rubbing. Terrifying, [the brush) spins, [like) a bamboo dragon.
Ink on paper, 178 x 61 em.
Collection unknown. After Used as a [magic)ju for divine protection,
Fu Shan shu{a, p. 173·
[My calligraphy) can ward off ghosts.
A short inscription attached to the poem reads: "Old and sick, I try to avoid
writing calligraphy, like a child trying to escape school. My brother in
literature, Jianpan, took out this satin and asked me to write calligraphy on it.
I tried, but the result scarcely looks like characters. Please just take it as fun." Fu
Shan' s calligraphy is just like that the poem describes. Once again, his brush
spins tirelessly, strokes twining around each other, tangling, penetrating, and
overlapping. The eccentricity of his cursive calligraphy, Fu claimed, not only
surprises human beings but can terrifY ghosts: in his poem, Fu Shan-a Daoist
priest-compared his calligraphy to a Daoist talismans (ju ), a magical diagram
used to ward off sinister forces. The idea that an eccentric calligraphy could
frighten ghosts reflects a long-held belief that writing has a divine force which
104
allows human beings to match the power of cosmic creation. Thus Fu Shan's
(left) Fig. 4.8 Wang Xizhi
(ca. 303-ca. 361), Fuxiang
qinghe tie. Undated. Rub-
bing mounted as an album,
ink on paper, measurements
unavailable. After Chun-
huage tie, pp. 358-59.
(right) Fig. 4·9 Fu Shan,
Copy of Wang Xizhi's "Fu-
xiang qinghe tie" (see Fig.
4.8). Dated 1661. Hanging
scroll. Ink on satin, 180 x 47
em. Shanxi Provincial Mu-
seum. After Fu Shan shufa,
p.105.
claim that his cursive script "wards off ghosts" is really a proclamation of the
marvels of his own calligraphy.
As wild and eccentric as the hanging scroll for Jianpan is, Fu Shan seems, as
the inscription tells us, to have produced it without resorting to wine. The
quest for eccentricity in cursive calligraphy was the logical outcome of the
search for qi, which calligraphers had pursued since the late Ming. Paradoxi-
cally, things that are originally qi cease to be so after a time, as people become
used to them, and escalation is inevitable. Fu Shan, a calligrapher who enjoyed
105
challenging both the ancients and his contemporaries, revitalized the wild
cursive tradition by introducing extravagantly deformed and awkward ele-
ments into his cursive script. Pursuing qi, Fu Shan went as far as anyone could
within the framework of traditional Chinese calligraphy and achieved a degree
106
of radicalism not exceeded until modern times.
A considerable number ofFu Shan's extant hanging scrolls in bold cursive
107
script (most of which appear to have been executed from the 166os on) are
copies of ancient masterpieces, especially of works by Wang Xizhi and Wang
Xianzhi preserved in such model-books as the Calligraphy Model-Book from the
Chunhua Archives and the Calligraphy Model-Book from Jiangzhou (Jiang tie ). 108 Fu
Shan's idea of lin, "free copying," was certainly inspired by Dong Qichang and
the late Ming individualist calligraphers, especially Wang Duo: a comparison
ofWang Xizhi's Fuxiang qinghe tie (Fig. 4.8) with Fu Shan's copy of 1661 (Fig.
09
4·9 / reveals that the copy is very different from the model. In Wang Xizhi' s
work connections between characters are not a dominant feature. Many
characters are not linked, as is typically the case in lesser cursive. In Fu's copy,
on the other hand, the spacing between characters is reduced and character
connections are more frequent. Whereas Wang Xizhi's strokes and character
structures are carefully executed, with admirable delicacy and elegance, Fu
Shan executed his free copy in a casual manner, mixing bold strokes with light
and taking great liberties in brushwork. These liberties are even more obvious
in a second copy of the Fuxiang qinghe tie (Fig. 4 .10 ). Swinging to and fro, the
brush moves vigorously, without hesitation. The spacing between characters is
even narrower than in Fu's first version, and strokes are seldom broken, mak-
ing this work almost an example of one-stroke writing (yibishu). Even although
both ofFu's scrolls copy the same model, they show few similarities.
A still more striking instance ofFu Shan's lack of interest in formal resem-
blance is to be seen in his Copy of Wang Xizhi's "Anxi tie" (Figs. 4.II, 4.12). In
Fu's copy, for example, the lower element of the character chang 't
is different
from the element Wang used in the Anxi tie (Fig. 4.13). Small though this de-
parture is, it confirms that when Fu Shan executed his copy, he was not look-
ing at the model (at least, not carefully), even although he claimed to have cop-
ied it, a not uncommon practice among calligraphers of the time. Such
casualness did not mean that calligraphers never studied and copied old mod-
els carefully; rather, it is simply that when copying freehand, they allowed
themselves liberties with a model's style and on occasion even with its text.
Often, rather than place the models in front of them and copy them stroke for
stroke and character for character, they wrote out the texts of ancient models
from memory. In the copy here, moreover, although half the characters (end-
ing with the first character in column two) are copied from the Anxi tie, the
remainder of the work is an excerpt from Wang Xizhi's Ershu tie (Fig. 4.14).
Fig. 4 .10 Fu Shan, Copy
This combination of excerpts from two of Wang Xizhi's letters is reminiscent
of Wang Xizhi's "Fuxiang
qinghe tie" (see Fig. 4.8). of Wang Duo's collage calligraphy. Although none of these three copies is
Undated. Hanging faithful to its model, Fu Shan in every case placed the word "copied" (lin) di-
scroll. Ink on satin, 180 x rectly after his signature ("Fu Shan lin"). Despite the new academic interest in
47 em. TaiyuanJinci the reliability of early sources that developed after the fall of the Ming, it is
Museum. After Fu Shan
obvious that in the area of creative copying, at least, Fu Shan continued late
shufa, p. 104.
Ming practice into the early Qing.
Elements from Fu Shan's cursive script carry over into his other scripts. A
case in point is a hanging scroll of seal script now in the collection of the
Shanxi Museum, in which Fu Shan applied cursive script techniques to seal
110
script (Fig. 4.15) . Modern cursive-seal script was invented by the late Ming
calligrapher Zhao Yiguang (see Fig. 1.27, p. so), but Fu's calligraphy differs
from Zhao's in two important respects. First, whereas Zhao Yiguang em-
ployed cursive techniques only in writing lesser seal script (xiaozhuan), Fu
(left) Fig. 4.11 Fu Shan, Copy of
Wang Xizhi's "Anxi tie" (see Fig.
4.12). Undated. Hanging scroll. Ink
on satin, 225 x 40 em. Shanxi Pro-
vincial Museum. After Fu Shan
shufa, p. 107. (right) Fig. 4.12 Wang
Xizhi (ca. 303-ca. 361), Anxi tie.
Undated. Rubbing mounted as an
album, ink on paper, measurements
unavailable. After Chunhuage tie,
1991, p. 372.
Fig. 4.13 Character comparisons:

(left) chang 'f in Wang Xizhi's
Anxi tie (see Fig. 4.12); (right) chang
'f in Fu Shan's copy.
@%
~m
: '
')0
(left) Fig. 4.14 Wang Xizhi (ca. 303-ca. 361), Ershu tie. Undated. Rubbing mounted as anal-
bum, ink on paper, measurements unavailable. After Chunhuage tie, p. 322. (right) Fig. 4.15 Fu
Shan, Night Discussion in Cursive-Seal Script. Undated. Hanging scroll. Shanxi Provincial Mu-
seum. After Fu Shan shuhua xuan.
Shan applied them to a more archaic subtype of the script: quite a few charac-
ters in the Shanxi scroll are written in so-called guwen, which at the time was
thought to be earlier than lesser seal script. Second, Fu's work is more cursive.
Zhao connected strokes within a character but kept individual characters
separate. In Fu's scroll, not only is each character written in cursive, but also
the third, fourth, and fifth characters in column one are connected by ligatures,
which normally appear only in running-cursive and cursive scripts. In addition,
Fu's rapidly moving brush created many flying white (jeibai) strokes, a feature
not found in classic seal script. To varying degrees, other early Qing calligra-
phers also introduced cursive elements into the writing of other scripts, 111 and
in this respect, cursive wntinued to have a profound impact on calligraphy in
the early Qing.
Although he lived into the Qing, Fu Shan can still be viewed as embodying
the genius oflate Ming cursive calligraphy. But this does not mean that the
newly emerging aesthetic of the early Qing left no impact on his cursive writ-
ing. On the contrary, his late cursive calligraphy exhibits an increasingly epi-
graphical flavor.
,
FU SHAN S LAST WORKS IN CURSIVE SCRIPT
Scholars studying Fu Shan's cursive calligraphy often compare his works with
112
Wang Duo's. Sherr C. Y. Fu argues, for example, that Wang Duo's ener-
getic running and cursive scripts had a significant impact on Fu Shan's cursive
calligraphy. Culturally, both were northerners in a period dominated by
southern calligraphers, and stylistically the cursive works of both are examples
of"continuous, unbroken cursive." But scholars also recognize significant dis-
. .
tmctwns between t h eir . sty1es. 113 M any ofW ang D uo 's cursiVe
. cursive . wor ks
make full use of the press-and-lift (ti'an) technique-used chiefly in the writ-
ing of regular script-so that Wang's cursive strokes exhibit angular begin-
nings and turns (see Fig. 1.14, p. 33) that are reminiscent ofhis regular-script
114
calligraphy in the manner ofLiu Gongquan. In contrast, changes in direc-
tion in Fu Shan's cursive calligraphy, especially in his late works, are rounder,
executed with a brush that is more evenly pressed. Fu Shan's distinctive brush
method is not simply the product of his own individual taste; it is a conscious
innovation, reflecting a changing aesthetic in early Qing calligraphy.
Already in the late Ming, as we have seen, the increasing interest in ancient
scripts such as clerical and seal, was stimulated by the emergence ofliterati seal
carving and the pursuit of antiquity. At the time, however, there was no seri-
ous effort to introduce the brush methods of seal and clerical scripts into texts
written primarily in other scripts. Wang Duo, for instance, practiced clerical
script, but he made little or no attempt to incorporate its flavor in his running-
. an d cursive
cursive . call'Igraph y. 115
Seal and clerical scripts carried more weight with Fu Shan, who claimed
that "to talk of calligraphy without knowing the origins of seal and zhou scripts
116
is like living in a dream"; or, in another passage, "unless one practices seal-
and clerical-script calligraphy, even if one has studied calligraphy for 36,ooo
days, in the end, one is still unable to comprehend the key source of this
117
art." One of the principal reasons Fu practiced seal and clerical scripts was
in order to incorporate the brush methods of these two earlier scripts into his
.
,
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, ~
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Xizhi (ca. 303-ca. 361),
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urements unavailable. .;;j...,
A fte r Chtmhuage tie, '
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p. 373· (right) Fig. 4.17 ,.... ~ 9
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Z hang Z hi (d. ca. 192),
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writing of other, later scripts, in order to make the latter more archaic-looking
and original. But in addition to practicing seal and clerical scripts, he paid con-
siderable attention to draft cursive. In a note that probably postdates 1674, he
commented on his family's calligraphic accomplishments:
All three generations of my family (Fu Shan, his son, and his grandson], have stud-
ied calligraphy. Besides calligraphy in regular and running scripts, both my calligra-
phy in draft cursive and Fu Mei's in lesser seal are unique achievements. Already Fu
Liansu carries on the family tradition. He is elegant and more gifted than the two of
us and began to study Wang Xizhi's calligraphy at an even younger age than Fu
M e1. or myse lf.ll8
.
In his later life, Fu Shan regarded draft cursive as his showcase script, an
opinion that is worth pondering. The essential features of draft-cursive writ-
ing have been summarized by many scholars, including Shen C. Y. Fu: "Draft-
cursive was widely practiced by the Eastern Han period (A.D. 25-220) and an-
swered the need for a quicker, simplified form of the then-current clerical
(lishu) script. Although the basic brushwork was derived from clerical, draft-
cursive stressed the action of the brush tip, abbreviating or linking several
119
strokes into one or two movements." Coming as it did at a critical juncture
in the history of Chinese scripts, draft cursive provided a link between the an-
cient scripts, seal and clerical, and the later scripts, running, modern cursive,
and regular. Fu Shan devoted great attention to draft cursive because he be-
lieved that the achievements of Zhong You and Wang Xizhi sprang from the
draft-cursive tradition. His view is supported by a comparison of a number of
(left) Fig. 4.18 Fu Shan,
Drafr-cursive-scripr callig-
raphy. Rubbing mounred as
an album, ink on paper,
measuremenrs unavailable.
Afrer Fu Shan shufa, p. 169.
(right) Fig. 4.19 Fu Shan,
Poems of Congratulation on
Xuweng's Birthday. Undared.
Hanging scroll, ink on pa-
per, 122-4 x 51.4 em. Shang-
hai Museum. Afrer Shanghai
Museum Chinese Painting and
Calligraphy Exhibition, p. 41.
Wang Xizhi's cursive works recorded in the Calligraphy Model-Book from the
Chunhua Archives (Fig. 4.16) with a work in draft cursive by the late Han
master Zhang Zhi (d. ca. 192; Fig. 4.17): Wang's calligraphy, like Zhang's,
has a strong seal and clerical script flavor, with squat character structures and
round strokes.
Fu Shan left a number of works in draft-cursive modeled on Zhang Zhi
and Suo Jing, two early masters of draft-cursive calligraphy whom he much
admired. Qne of Fu Shan' s draft-cursive works, preserved as a rubbing, shows
his training in draft cursive (Fig. 4.18). Character structures are stout, strokes
are round and solid, and most of principal rightward horizontal strokes finish
with a flicked-up ending, a feature of draft cursive that differentiates it from
modern cursive script.
In a hanging scroll in the collection of Shanghai Museum, we see one result
ofFu Shan's effort to integrate archaic elements into his cursive calligraphy.
From his inscription, we know this work was written in Fu Shan's old age to
celebrate his friend Xuweng's birthday (Fig. 4.19). The calligraphy can be
called modern cursive in terms of its general character structure, but it is cur-
sive script with draft-cursive characteristics. If we compare it with the twelve
hanging scrolls that Fu wrote for Wei Yi'ao in 1657 (Fig. 4.3, p. 230) some
twenty years earlier, we see immediately that characters in the later work are
relatively squat-wider, shorter characters being one of the hallmarks of
clerical and draft-cursive calligraphy, proportions that Wang Xizhi's cursive
calligraphy inherits. Here and there in the Shanghai scroll we find short
strokes shaped like a crescent moon, another feature Fu borrowed from draft
cursive.
A set of four hanging scrolls now in the Jinci Museum in T aiyuan is a good
example ofFu's late cursive calligraphy (Fig. 4.20 ). The signature, "Fu Zhen~
shan, an old man of seventy~eight" (Zhenshan is Fu's Daoist name), dates this
work to the last year of his life. The text is of interest. It is a short but beauti~
ful essay written for a Mr. Qianqi, whom Fu praised for having an aloof per~
sonality and a harmonious relationship with his brothers. At the end of his
essay, Fu wrote, "I got up early this morning to write this work in front of the
Small Pavilion of Apricots as a substitute for a letter [to Qianqi]." Written
when Fu was fresh and in a pleasant setting, without the recipient present, the
scrolls are original and innovative, both in their text and style. There are many
great calligraphies written in epistle format, among them the works of Wang
Xizhi. Most, of course, were smalL But here Fu has written a letter in the form
of four huge hanging scrolls, each over six feet high. Like the set of twelve
hanging scrolls for Wei Yi'ao, these scrolls were written for a close friend, and
Fu seems to have taken pains with the writing. But the effort he expended did
not restrain his creativity. Instead, it prevented sloppiness.
Neither the character structure nor the overall composition ofFu's work
for Qianqi is dramatic. Each column, for instance, is aligned on a vertical axis,
and there is sufficient space between the columns to keep them distinct. No
characters are structurally deformed. What is imposing about this work-
apart from its size-is its vigorous brushwork. Viewers encounter four heavily
pressed, ink~ saturated characters at the very beginning, and their tonality be~
comes the theme of the work. Many characters are written with round and
quite evenly pressed strokes reminiscent of seal script. Compared with Fu
Shan's earlier works, this work is solid and imbued with strength.
Something of the same quality is to be found in Fu Shan's last works, written
in mourning for his only son, Fu Mei, who died at the age of fifty~seven sui on
the ninth day of the second month, r684. Fu Shan' s wife had died when he was
only 26 sui, and he never remarried. Father and son lived together for several
decades and together survived the difficult times of dynastic change. Fu Shan
liked to travel, and much of the family's business was conducted by Fu Mei, who
ran their small pharmacy in T aiyuan. In Fu Mei' s youth, Fu Shan had paid
great attention to his son's education, teaching Fu Mei the Classics and sternly
12
°
testing him on his comprehension. Fu Mei was the intellectual, literary, and
artistic companion of his father. Many books from Fu Shan's collection are em~
bellished with Fu Mei' s reading notes and seals as well as those ofFu Shan, and
121
a number of works jointly produced by father and son are extant. In literati
circles, Fu Mei was well known for his literary talents. But his father watched
carefully over his literary activities to ensure that his son remained loyal to the
122
fallen dynasty and free of dangerous political entanglements.
Fig. 4.20 Fu Shan,
Jingong qiangu yikuai.
1684. Four hanging
scrolls, ink on satin,
each 110.1 x 51.7 em.
TaiyuanJinci Mu-
seum. After Fu Shan
shuhua xuan, pp. 7-8.
Fu Shan found the pain of losing his son unbearable. Grieving deeply, he
composed a group of poems entitled Weeping for My Son (Kuzi shi) to mourn
Fu Mei's death. That textually different versions of these poems are extant
tells us that Fu recopied them a number of times, venting his sorrow by writ-
ing calligraphy. Complete versions of the set have fourteen poems and a
biography of Fu Mei, but there are other versions with fewer poems, as well
123
as variations in a few lines or words. The different versions of Weeping for
My Son are Fu Shan's last dateable works, his final efforts in cursive-script
calligraphy.
A magnificent version of Weeping for My Son-a handscroll in running-
cursive and cursive scripts-survives in a private collection in Taiwan (Fig.
124
4.21 ). The work has only nine of the fourteen poems: r. "Weeping over Your
Loyalty"; 2. "Weeping over Your Filial Piety"; 3· "Weeping over Your Fu
Prose"; 4· "Weeping over Your Poetry"; 5· "Weeping over Your Essays"; 6.
"Weeping over Your Ambition"; 7· "Weeping over Your Books"; 8. "Weeping
125
over Your Calligraphy"; and 9· "Weeping over Your Paintings." The first
poem, "Weeping over Your Loyalty," begins with the lines:
In wuchen [1628), the first year [of the Chongzhen reign],
you were born;
In jiashen [1644, when the dynasty fell), you were seventeen sui.
You kept your loyalty for forty years
Fig. 4.21 Fu Shan, Weepingfor My Son. Dared 1684. Handscroll, ink on paper, 27.6 x 559·5 em.
Private collection, Taipei. (Note: The panels of rhe illustration overlap slightly. Continues on
facing page.)
And swore that you would continue as a subject of the
Chongzhen emperor.
It was not easy in this world

For a wilderness person to remain loyal to his
126
fallen dynasty.
For forty years, Fu Mei, like his father, refused to cooperate with the alien
government, maintaining his moral integrity until death. In the second poem,
"Weeping over Your Filial Piety," Fu Shan recalled how Fu Mei, a filial son,
supported the family by hard work during difficult times. "To be loyal to one's
monarch" and "to be filial to one's parents" are the two cardinal tenets of Con~
fucianism. No matter how greatly Fu and his family were influenced by Dao~
ism and Buddhism, Confucianism was rooted deepest in their hearts. By prais~
ing Fu Mei's virtue, Fu Shan was laying the moral ground for praising his
talent in literature and the arts in the poems that follow.
Fu Mei learned calligraphy under his father's guidance, and Fu Shan's poem
on his son's calligraphy reflects his own aesthetic values. In "Weeping over
Your Calligraphy," Fu Shan wrote:
[Your calligraphy] resembles mine, and yet is different,
Like our reunions and separations over the past thirty years.
[My calligraphy is] like wild geese flying through clear skies
stretching thousands of miles,
And only you inherited it from mind to hand.
Your draft cursive springs from clerical,
But also flows from Zhang Zhi and Suo Jing.
27
You adopted bafen script in seal carving/
And also studied Han steles.
Your lesser seal calligraphy was at first flowery
and beautiful,
Yet you thought it too skillful.
Then you studied the Stone Drum Inscriptions and
the Yishan Stele [Yishan bei],
Finding beauty in their ugliness.
I recall that in your youth
Already you had studied the Goulou Stele [Goulou bei].
Harnessing the dynamic force of brush movement, gradually
128
You became accomplished in this art.
In this poem, probably Fu Shan' s last comment on calligraphy, all the calli~
graphic models he mentions are pre~Jin works in seal, clerical, and draft~cursive
scripts. Fu Mei must have copied many models in both the model~ book and the
epigraphical tradition, but Fu Shan's emphasis here on pre~Jin steles
is entirely consistent with his theory that good calligraphy necessitated a
mastering of seal and clerical scripts and an understanding of how they were
subsequently transformed into later script types.
The calligraphy of this handscroll provides the best illustration of Fu
Shan' s late efforts to incorporate seal and clerical script elements into his cur-
sive script. The scroll starts with semi-cursive script that is relatively reserved,
although several long vertical strokes protruding into the characters beneath
anticipate the more untrammeled style that will presently unfold. Soon the
brush moves faster. Increasingly, cursive elements are brought into the writing,
and there is a passage of wet brushwork, with ink-saturated characters pro-
duced by dipping the entire brush into the ink and then pressing it down
heavily on the paper. Gradually, the swiftly moving brush leaves increasing
numbers of dry, jeihai strokes as its store of ink is depleted, only to have heavy,
wet characters resume after the brush is dipped once more into the ink. Thus,
as the brush moves, the ink tonality is constantly subtly shifting.
Both the strokes and the character structures here are rounded, more strik- Fig. 4 .22 Fu Shan, char-
ingly in this work than in the four hanging scrolls for Qianqi discussed above. acters shu ~-!': and ye Jf
from Weepingfor My Son
Purposely, Fu Shan employed the brush technique used in writing seal script
(see Fig. 4.21).
to create an impression of archaic simplicity and plainness. But this simplicity
is mingled with visual complexity. In the characters shu ~~ (skillful) and ye Jlf
;f:~
(wild), for example, the brush is evenly pressed, the strokes are rounded, and
there are no press-and-lift pauses or angular turns (Fig. 4.22). But combining
with this simplicity of brush technique is the structural complexity of many of
the characters arising from overlapping strokes and multiple loops that make
this handscroll vibrate with visual richness.
~~
Although the rounded forms and brushwork of this scroll derived from seal
script, there are touches of clerical script brushwork throughout, especially in
Fu's rendering of the horizontal strokes and level na strokes (Fig. 4.23). The
swift brush movement, rounded turns, and flicked-up endings of the horizon-
tal and na strokes here are reminiscent of the clerical script found on some
lt ~~
129
Han dynasty bamboo and wood slips (Fig. 4.24). Moreover, the sickle-
moon-shaped stroke in the character qian m (before) is remarkably similar to
the vertical stroke of the character nian -f (year) on a wooden slip that dates
to the Eastern Han period (Fig. 4.25).
It is unlikely that Fu Shan ever saw the clerical script on Han wooden slips.
ilti.t
But it is entirely possible that he was inspired by Han stone carvings like the
Wujeng Stone Inscription (see Fig. 3.8, p. 184) and the Han cliff engraving Hymn
to Stone Gate (Shimen song), which exhibit characters with long, slightly curved
vertical strokes (Fig. 4.26). Fu Shan had seen the WujengStone Inscription dur-
ing his visit to Qufu in the early 1670s and owned a rubbing of the inscrip-
Fig. 4 .23 Fu Shan, char-
tion.130 Remarkably, Fu Shan's reconstruction of the early development of
acters from Weepingfor
Chinese calligraphy has been verified by the archaeological discoveries of the
twentieth century. My Son (see Fig. 4.21).
Fig. 4 .24 Han clerical script on
three wood slips excavated in
Juyan, Gansu. Dated A.D . 27. The
Gansu Provincial Institute of Ar-
chaeology. Ink on wood, 22. 3 to
22.7 x 1.2 to 1.3 em. After Qi Gong,
Zhongguo meishu quanji, p. 84, pl. 54·
It is apparent from the traces of his brush that Fu Shan wrote this hand-
scroll with great speed. Without training in wild cursive calligraphy, Fu Shan
could not have written so rapidly and so confidently. In writing the two char-
acters rufeng -!t11:J,i (appears insane or mad), for example, Fu Shan gave spon-
taneity full rein (Fig. 4.27). After executing the first character, ru, the brush
moves down swiftly to write the character Jeng. It races down to make a short
curved dot, jumps to the horizontal stroke, and finishes the radical on the
character's left-hand side. Then, something dramatic happens as Fu writes the
right-hand half ofJeng: his brush turns suddenly upward, leaving behind it an
excessively long, curved stroke that in its very uninhibitedness echoes the
meaning of the character for "madness." The shape of this curved stroke is in-
Fig. 4.25 Character
comparison: (left) Fu fluenced by draft cursive, but its spontaneity belongs to the late Ming.
Shan's characters in Fu Shan's early training in calligraphy was significant because it became a
Weepingjor My Son (see schematic map that guided his search into, and interpretation of, the past. His
Fig. 4 .21); (right) the writings show that what he was looking for in ancient calligraphy was the
character -+ on a Han
rough, the spontaneous, the primitive, the original, and, last but not least, the
wood slip excavated in
marvelous and surprising. His search for these qualities began only in the early
J uyan, Gansu. The
Gansu Provincial Insti- Qing, but many of the ideas that propelled it were rooted in the aesthetics of
tute of Archaeology. Ink late Ming culture.
on wood, 22. 5 x 1.3 em. Early Qing scholars in many fields-calligraphy being one-espoused the
After Qi Gong, Zhongguo idea of returning to origins, but only in calligraphy did that idea translate into
meishu quanji, p. 83, pl. 54· a renewed taste for the spontaneous and eccentric, echoing the taste of the late
Ming. Returning to origins in calligraphy meant returning to ancient scripts to
Fig. 4.26 Hymn to Stone Gate.
Dated A.D. 148. The Palace Mu-
seum, Beijing. Rubbing mounted as
an album, ink on paper, measure-
ments unavailable. After Qi Gong,
Zhongguo meishu quanji,
p.115, pl. 73-
mine them for their primitive, awkward, and random qualities. But these were
precisely the qualities that Fu Shan and others were seeking in order to pro-
duce calligraphy that was surprising and unusual. For calligraphy, returning to
origins and searching for the novel and surprising became the same thing.
Thus the change in intellectual discourse from the Ming period to the Qing
had little' effect on the general appearance of cursive calligraphy or on the taste
of those writing and buying it. What did change was the standard of research
into ancient sources, to which scholars now turned in search for the aesthetic
Fig. 4.27 Fu Shan, two characters

rufeng -!/uti, (seems mad) from
Weepingfor My Son (see Fig. 4.21).
qualities they had begun to appreciate in the Ming. That calligraphy differed
from other intellectual fields is borne out by the number of early Qing scholars
who were harshly critical oflate Ming intellectual trends and scholarship, yet
found little to criticize in late Ming calligraphy. As a result, early Qing cal~
131
ligraphy, to a considerable degree, continued late Ming styles. Art and the in~
tellectual trends of a period unquestionably interact, but changes in those
trends do not necessarily go hand in hand with changes in art. Whether a
change in the intellectual climate instantly alters an artistic style depends on
complicated interactions between an individual artist and the particular his~
torical environment in which he finds himsel£ Living under two dynasties, Fu
Shan inherited from the late Ming a cultural and artistic legacy that he per~
petuated even while embracing these trends for new creative process. Indeed,
it was his very embracing of these trends that allowed him to continue to pur~
sue late Ming artistic goals in a new social, political, and intellectual setting. As
an artist more than usually creative, his response to his sociocultural environ~
ment helped shape the calligraphy of his time.
In many ways, then, Fu Shan' s late work is the result of an intertwining of
late Ming and early Qing cultures. It synthesizes two currents, the expressive
cursive calligraphy of the individualist calligraphers in the late Ming and the
plain, epigraphical taste emerging in the early Qing. This synthesis took place
in a specific historical context: although the intellectual climate underwent a
significant transformation after the collapse of the Ming, late Ming cultural
patterns lingered for a time; and in the early Qing, empirical scholarship,
which was in general less concerned with the metaphysical thinking and criti~
cal social issues that had absorbed scholars in the late Ming had not yet tri~
umphed as it would in the eighteenth century. Thus the sociocultural en vi~
132
ronment in the second half of the seventeenth century still tolerated the
eccentric expressiveness of wild cursive calligraphy, even if it was not entirely
at home with it.
Fu Shan once wrote: "The older I become, the wilder I am." 133 The word he
uses here for "wild" is kuang, the same word that appears in the term kuangcao
(wild cursive), and a word that Fu Shan and many late Ming literati, including
Li Zhi, liked to use in their writings. 134 Fu Shan also wrote in another note:
"Those who have read the story of the great bird Peng in the chapter "Free and
Easy Wandering" [in the Zhuangzi] would, of course, strive to be the great Peng
135
themselves." Apparently, aspects of his personality that took shape in the late
Ming persisted despite the new political and cultural environment in which he
found himsel£ Describing his own calligraphy as being like "wild geese flying
136
through clear skies stretching thousands of miles," Fu Shan is remembered in
the history of Chinese calligraphy as the last great master of wild cursive~script
calligraphy.
• Epilogue
Knowing he had only a short time to live, Fu Shan wrote out instructions for
the compilation of his writings. In a note dated the summer of 1684, he asked
his two grandsons to collect his poems and other writings, whether long essays
or short notes, together with those ofFu Mei, and compile them in a single
volume to be entitled Writings of the Fu Family from Shanxi. "It is only good
writing," he claimed, "that becomes immortal in this world, spreads the spirit
of the Universe, and manifests the Essence of the Five Virtues." 1 In "A Note
on Departing from the World" ("Cishi tie"), a jotting that seems to have been
2
his last work, written probably in early 1685, Fu Shan pondered the burden of
life. About to be released from its thrall and to return to nature, he asked his
grandsons to forgo all memorial services and to dispense with obituary notices
and a funeral. "This is the teaching of the Zhuangzi and the Liezi, which our
family has always followed." 3
Many of the leading loyalist scholars who had reached maturity in the late
Ming died in the 168os and 1690s, among them GuYanwu, in 1682; the phi~
losopher Wang Fuzhi (b. 1619 ), in 1692; and the historian Huang Zongxi, in
1695. Gone with this first generation ofMing loyalists was the late Ming men~
tal outlook born of its diverse cultural life and firsthand memory of the turbu~
lent dynastic transition. Although fragmentary memories of this period might
survive in oral histories and secret writings that were eventually subsumed into
the historical records, written reminiscences would never equal in vivacity and
detail the memories of those who had experienced the events directly. As with
every generation, the pulse of experience was replaced by the drier representa~
tion and interpretation of history.
257
Dynastic loyalism, too, was affected by the passage of time. 4 Even if some~
one ofFu Mei's generation remained loyal to the fallen Ming by refusing to
serve the government, loyalism was more an abstract principle than a matter of
emotional conviction. The death of the first generation ofMing loyalists fur~
ther diminished tensions between the Manchus and Chinese; ironically, it also
brought relief to the loyalists' descendants and friends, who now had less rea~
son to be committed to the loyalist cause. As the loyalists died of£ their
friends and descendants began accepting government posts, and little by little
the literati resumed the interaction with the government that had long been
norm in Chinese society. After Fu Shan's death, for example, his younger
friend Dai Tingshi became the head of the government~ sponsored Confucian
school in Wenxi county; and about 1720, Fu Liansu, Fu Shan's older grandson,
assumed a similar position in Lingshi county.
Changes in the intellectual landscape continued in the direction opened up
by the special examination of 1679. In addition to the Ming History, the Kangxi
emperor supervised several large projects, including the compilation of the
454~juan Classified Repository of Profound Appraisals (Yuanjian leihan), a reference
work on composing essays, and the 444-juan Treasury [of Phrases] Arranged by
Rhyme (Peiwen yunfu ), a comprehensive index of compound words and phrases
5
in ancient works. Many talented Chinese scholars turned their minds to
forms of scholarship that were politically inoffensive and avoided voicing criti-
cisms that might offend the government. The very nature of the projects spon~
sored by the government signaled what opinions scholars were permitted to
hold and what attitudes they were required to adopt. Such projects, coupled
with strict censorship and persecution of historical writings, shaped the intel~
lectual climate of eighteenth~century China.
Also notable in this period were projects wholly or partially sponsored pri~
vately by Han Chinese officials. Xu Qianxue, a senior official who was the
nephew of GuYanwu, was impeached in 1690 and returned to his hometown
ofKunshan, where he organized a group of distinguished scholars, including
Yan Ruoqu and Hu Wei (1633-1714 ), to continue compilation of the Geogra-
phy of the Great Qing Realm (Da Qing yitongzhi), which had been started under
his direction while he was serving in Beijing. The Geography was one of the
earliest examples of a large~ scale scholarly project carried on outside govern~
ment. Following this precedent, scholarly projects sponsored by senior Han
6
Chinese officials became fairly common in the eighteenth century.
Kaozheng, "textual analysis," as much a philosophy as a research methodol~
ogy, played a key role in eighteenth~century intellectual life. Finding consola-
tion in the past, scholars accumulated a mass of detail on ancient culture. Fo~
cusing narrowly on such things as the etymologies of words in ancient texts,
however, led scholars to overlook critical issues of the time that might have
merited discussion had they occupied themselves more generally with broad
258 • Epilogue
social concerns. As Benjamin Elman takes note in the title of his book, from
the early Qing to the eighteenth century there was a shift "from philosophy to
philology." Qing scholarship was admirable, and there were large numbers of
erudite scholars in the humanities. But none of these scholars was a "Mr.
Who," none resembled the scholars born of the diverse and heterogeneous
culture of the late Ming.
With kaozheng now the watchword of eighteenth-century scholarship, pa-
leography entered its heyday. There was meticulous study, for instance, of
The Analysis of Characters as an Explanation of Writing, with the quintessential
work in this field being Duan Yucai's (r735-r8rs) Notes to "The Analysis of
Characters as an Explanation of Writing" (Shuowen jiezi zhu), published between
r8r3 and r8r5. Armed with new knowledge of lesser seal script gained from
works such as Duan Yucai's, calligraphers now ventured to write seal script
confidently.
]inshixue also triumphantly joined mainstream scholarship in the eighteenth
century, and steles began to be studied more systematically. In r8o2, two
scholars serving in minor government posts, Sun Xingyan (r753-r8r8), and
Xing Shu (jinshi I790 ), compiled their comprehensive Record of Visiting Steles
Around the World (Huanyu fangbeilu). As this ambitious title suggests, Chinese
scholars were conducting an ever-widening search for steles? Visiting steles
was an enjoyable occupation no longer marked by hardships. In his inscription
on a handscroll entitled Visiting Mount Ziyun to Search for Steles (Ziyunshan tanbei
tu) painted as a record of his trip, Huang Yi (r744-r8o2), another famous jin-
shixue scholar, spoke of his pleasure in visiting steles: "On the sixth day of the
third month of the xinhai year [I79I ], I visited the pictorial stones of the Wu
family shrine. During this trip, since I obtained more rubbings of the steles
8
than ever before, I painted this picture to express my happiness.'' The melan-
choly and sorrow that visits to ancient, broken steles had once inspired in the
hearts of the early Qjng literati, mourning their fallen dynasty, had completely
disappeared.
In calligraphy, the zashu juan/ ce continued to be a favorite format with cal-
ligraphers, since it permitted those who had mastered a variety of scripts to
display their erudition. Seal carving remained an important literati art form
throughout the Qjng: expertise in seal carving was increasingly expected of
leading calligraphers, and the serious study of seal carving advanced in tandem
with the study of bronze and stone objects. As in the late Ming, calligraphers
with an antiquarian bent took pleasure in employing unusual character forms.
But with paleographical correctness now a prime consideration, playing with
such forms became more a scholastic exercise than a means of amusement.
Compared with the unusual character forms we find in Fu Shan's works,
those in works by calligraphers of the middle and late Qing are far less bizarre
and surprising.
Epilogue • 259
Fig. 5.1 D eng Shiru
(1743- 18os), Calligra-
phy in seal script.
Dared 1792. Album,
ink on paper, each 29.7
x 44.2 em. After Shodo
zenshii, vol. 24, pl. 4·
Clerical and seal scripts became increasingly popular with calligraphers

who were born in the mid-Kangxi period and lived into the Yongzheng and
early Qianlong reigns. Among the most noteworthy of these calligraphers
were the so-called Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, several of whom took great
interest in epigraphical calligraphy. Jin Nong (1687-1764), for instance, devel-
oped a clerical script style that was both original and inventive.9 Zheng Xie
(1693-1765) mixed seal, clerical, running, and cursive scripts to create an idio-
syncratic style that exhibited elements derived from both seal and clerical
script. Gao Fenghan (1683-1749) wrote clerical-script calligraphy modeled on
Zheng Fu's. So eccentric (guai) do these artists seem that their works, like
those of the early Qing, might be interpreted as expressing frustration and
discontent. But compared with Fu Shan's marvelous eccentric (qi), theirs was
milder, more restrained, and lacking in wildness (kuang). Thus many calli-
graphic trends of the late Ming and early Qing continued but in a modified
form.
Epigraphical calligraphy, or what became known as the stele school, entered
its golden age in the second half of the eighteenth century, with seal and clerical
becoming the showcase scripts of many leading calligraphers (see Figs. 5.1 and
10
5.2). Solid in brushwork and archaic in flavor, correct by paleographical stan-
dards, stele-school calligraphy now competed with the model-book tradition.
Discoveries in archaeology furthered its development: ancient inscriptions by
unknown and unsung artisans, on bricks, cliffs, and stone and metal objects-
previously excluded from the realm of calligraphy by the canons of the Wang
Xizhi tradition-were now subsumed in a new calligraphic orthodoxy.
260 • Epilogue
Fig. 5.2 Yi Bingshou (I7S4-
I8Is). Calligraphy in clerical
script. Undated. Couplet.
Collection unknown, meas-
urements unavailable. After
Yi Bingshou lishu moji xuan
(p. 4) .
Despite wild cursive's long and illustrious history, there was a drastic de-
11
cline in this form of calligraphy in the eighteenth century. Ironically, early
Qing calligraphers like Fu Shan had originally incorporated seal- and clerical-
script elements into their other scripts in order to make their calligraphy-
including their cursive calligraphy-seem more innovative and original. For
these artists, cursive writing was a critical component of the art of calligraphy,
and they could not have foreseen that the revival of clerical and seal script
writing would come at cursive calligraphy's expense. Clerical and seal scripts,
used for inscriptions on ritual bronze vessels and memorial steles, have a
12
formal and ritualistic dimension, and Qing execution of these scripts em-
phasized their balanced structure, sturdy brushwork, and solemn flavor.
Brush movement slowed, and calligraphers became less accustomed to writ-
ing as swiftly as cursive calligraphy required. Not surprisingly, the couplet
format-a pair of scrolls each inscribed with one line of a couplet, the most
formal of the Chinese calligraphy formats-became popular with the practi-
13
tioners of seal- and clerical-script calligraphy. It can hardly be accidental
that the popularity of epigraphical calligraphy corresponded with the rise of
14
Confucian ritualism in the period from the Kangxi reign to the mid-Qing.
But the decline of wild cursive calligraphy was attributable above all to a
changing intellectual climate. In an age increasingly intolerant of introspective
Epilogue • 261
and imaginative thinking, wildness and eccentricity became less aesthetically
appealing-almost distasteful-to calligraphers. With the rise to prominence
of the stele school in the second half of the eighteenth century, spontaneous
wild cursive calligraphy completely disappeared. Well over two hundred
years would elapsed before it was revived in the late twentieth century.
262 • Epilogue
• f\.eterence Matter
• Notes
For a list of abbreviations and complete author names, titles, and publication data for works cited here in short
forms, see theWorks Cited, pp. 295-3I2.
INTRODUCTION 4· See, e.g., Hua Rende, "Qingdai de beixue";

Wang Nanming, "Qingdai beixue xingqi shiqi de
I. For a discussion of the classical tradition of Chi-
Hanbei lishu chuangzuo jiqi meixue yiyi"; and Chen
nese calligraphy, see Ledderose, Mi Fu and the Classical Zhenlian, ed., Shuja xue, vol. I, pp. 552-60.
Tradition of Chinese Calligraphy; for a recent scholarly 5· For a short biography ofFu Shan in English, see
essay on Wang Xizhi, see Harrist, "A Letter from Hummel, Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, pp. 260-
Wang Hsi-chih and the Culture of Chinese Calligra- 62. For recent studies ofFu Shan's life and art, see
phy." Hao Shude, Fu Shan zhuan; Wei Zongyu, Fu Shan
2. The term beixue was a fairly late invention. Al-
pingzhuan; Lin Peng, Danya shulun; Min-Shin bunjin
though it was called the stele school, this school did kenkyukai, ed., Ftt Zen; Uchiyama Kan, ed., Fu Zen no
not treat all inscriptions on ancient steles as suitable shoho; and Lin Peng and Yao Guojin, Zhongguo shuja
calligraphic models. The members of the school quanji, vol. 63, Qingdai: Fu Shan.
prized the anonymous inscriptions of pre-Tang steles 6. See Ledderose, "Chinese Calligraphy: Art of the
but rejected Tang and post-Tang inscriptions by fa- Elite," pp. 29I-96.
mous masters in the Wang Xizhi tradition. Inscrip-
tions on steles, moreover, were by no means the only CHAPTER I
writings to inspire them: they were equally interested,
for instance, in ancient inscriptions on cliffs and on r. Xu's comment was made in a letter to a friend,
bronze vessels of the Shang and Zhou periods. For a included by Zhou Lianggong (I6I2-72), a well-
definition of the stele school, see Hua Rende's excel- connected late Ming-early Qing literary figure, art
lent discussion in "Ping tiexue yu beixue." collector, and critic, in his Chidu xinchao, vol. I, p. 42.
3· A recent exhibition catalogue, Brushing the Past, by
Xu's letter is undated, but in all likelihood it was writ-
Joseph Chang, Thomas Lawton, and Stephen Allee of ten at the very end of the Ming dynasty or in the early
the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Mu- years of the Qing. The translation here is adapted
seum, devotes considerable space to a discussion of a from the translation by Jason Chi-sheng Kuo in Chu-
dozen or so Qing calligraphers of the stele school. tsing Li et al., Artists and Patrons, p. I84.
2. Zhou Lianggong seems to have been fond of 15. For discussions of the printing industry in the
Xu's summary: not only did he include it in the Chidu late Ming and of the impact of the onset oflarge-scale
xinchao, his anthology ofletters by contemporaries, printing on late imperial China and the commercial
bur he also quoted it in another of his books, Yinshuwu publishing industry, see Ko, Teachers of the Inner
shuying (1.5a-b). Chambers, pp. 34-41; Rawski, "Economic and Social
3· For a detailed discussion ofHai Rui's life and Foundations ofLare Imperial Culture," pp. 17-28;
political career, see Ray Huang, 1587, pp. 130-55. relevant articles in the June 1996 (17, no. r) issue of Late
4· For biographies of Zhao Nanxing, Gu Imperial China; Widmer, "The Huanzhuzhai ofHang-
Xiancheng, and Zou Yuanbiao, see Goodrich and zhou and Suzhou"; Chia, "Commercial Publishing in
Fang, Dictionary ofMing Biography, vol. 1, pp. 128-32, Ming China"; idem, "Of Three Mountains Street:
736-44, and vol. 2, pp. 1312-14. The Commercial Publishers ofMing Nanjing"; and
5· For a discussion of the Donglin movement, see idem, Printingfor Profit.
Hucker, "The Tung-lin Movement of the Late Ming 16. Household encyclopedias almost always con-
Period." tained a section on calligraphy. Although the calligra-
6. For Yuan's biography, see Goodrich and Fang, phy was generally mediocre or even poor, the inclusion
Dictionary of Ming Biography, vol. 2, pp. 1632-35. For a of calligraphy in these everyday how-to publications
recent study ofYuan Huang, see Brokaw, "Yiian attests to an increasing awareness of it among the
Huang (1533-1606) and rhe Ledgers of Merit and public at large.
Demerit." 17. Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers, p. 43·
7· See Yuan Huang, Xun zi yan. 18. Nelson I. Wu, "Tung Ch'i-ch'ang," p. 262.
8. See Ch'ien, "Chiao Hung and rhe Revolt 19. For a discussion of the intellectual dilemmas
Against Ch'eng-Chu Orthodoxy." For a discussion of confronting Li Zhi and his nonconformist behavior
Jiao Hong's scholarly achievements, see Lin and final tragedy, see Ray Huang, 1587, pp. 189-221.
Qingzhang, Mingdai kaojuxue yanjiu, pp. 314-90. 20. For a discussion ofLi Zhi's philosophy, see de
9· In a thought-provoking essay, John Hay argues Bary, Learningfor One's Self, pp. 203-70.
char "the issue of subjectivity became central in the late 21. For a discussion of the relationships of Yuan
Ming. Wang was a symptom, not a cause" ("Subject, Hongdao, Tang Xianzu, and Dong Qichang with Li
Nature, and Representation in Early Seventeenth- Zhi, see Pei-kai Cheng, 'Tang Hsien-tsu, Tung Ch'i-
Century China," p. 4: 13). Ch'ang and the Search for Cultural Aesthetics in the
ro. Huang Zongxi, Mingru xue'an, p. 371; trans. by Late Ming"; and Nelson I. Wu, "Tung Ch'i-ch'ang,"
Julia Ching from Huang Zongxi, The Records of Ming pp. 280-81. In addition to his philosophical writings,
Scholars, p. 188. Li Zhi left writings on vernacular literature.
n. See Goodrich and Fang, Dictionary of Ming Biog- 22. Tang Xianzu, Tang Xianzu ji, vol. 2, p. 1078.
raphy, vol. 2, p. 1313. 23. Ibid., p. ro8o.
12. For a scholarly discussion of the interaction 24. Burnett, "The Landscapes ofWu Bin," p. 127.
between Christianity and Confucianism in the A number of scholars have discussed the concept of qi
late Ming, see Sun Shangyang,]idujiao yu Mingmo in late Ming and early Qing art and literature. For an
ruxue. excellent discussion in English, see Burnett, "A Dis-
13. See Watt, "The Literati Environment," p. 9· course of Originality." I thank Professor Barnett for
14. I have benefited considerably from the follow- bringing this article to my attention when I wrote this
ing discussions of the socioeconomic changes in the chapter. See also chaps. 3 and 4 of Burnett's disserta-
late Ming period and the consequences of rhese tion ("The Landscapes ofWu Bin), which is the most
changes: Evelyn S. Rawski, "Economic and Social thorough research on the discourse of qi in late Ming
Foundations of Late Imperial Culture"; Brook, The criticism. Dora Ching in "The Aesthetics of the Un-
Confusions of Pleasure, pp. 86-237; Ko, Teachers of the usual and the Strange in Seventeenth-Century Callig-
Inner Chambers, pp. 1-67; and Chun-shu Chang and raphy" discusses the concept of qi in the history of
Shelley Hsueh-lun Chang, Crisis and Transformation in Chinese criticism and the use of this term in the late
Seventeenth-Century China, pp. 146-76, 267-304. Ming-early Qing calligraphy. There is also a brief
266 • Notes to Pages 6-12
discussion of the concept of qi and its intellectual con- 34· Shih Shou-ch'ien, "You qiqu dao fugu," pp. 42-
text in Wart, "The Literati Environment," p. 3· For a 43· See also Burnett, "The Landscap.es ofWu Bin,"
discussion of qi in late Ming literature and painting, pp. 28-29. For a book-length treatment ofWu Bin's
see Plaks, "The Aesthetics ofirony in Late Ming Lit- life and art, see Burnett, "The Landscapes ofWu Bin."
erature and Painting." Scholarship in Chinese on qi James Cahill was the first to elaborate on Western
and its relation to the late Ming intellectual climate is influence in Wu Bin's landscape and figure paintings;
also fruitful. See, e.g., Cao Shujuan, Wan Ming see The Compelling Image, pp. 70-105. In a recent article,
xingling xiaopin yanjiu, pp. 164-76, for a detailed discus- "Dong Qichang and Western Learning," Richard
sion ofLi Zhi's thought and the literary theory of the Barnhart suggests that Dong Qichang's innovative
Gongan school in relation to the formation of the painting style was in part inspired by Western prints
discourse of qi. and paintings, illustrating the role of Western culture
25. For a discussion of the term qi in late Ming in shaping late Ming aesthetics.
dictionaries, see Burnett, "A Discourse of Originality," 35· The Shanhai jing is an ancient book of geogra-
PP· 533-35. phy and also, as modern scholars point out, a book of
26. Ibid., p. 532. Chinese mythology. See Yuan Ke, Shanhai jingjiaozhu.
27. See Clunas, Superfluous Things, pp. 85-86, for a 36. Smith, "Mapping China's World," p. 69.
brief discussion of the concept of qi, which Clunas 37· See Shih Shou-ch'ien, "You qiqu dao fugu,"
translates as "rarity," in Ming material culture. See PP· 43-44·
also Zeitlin, Historian of the Strange, pp. 5-7, 16-42. 38. Gombrich, "The Logic of Vanity Fair,"
28. He Tang, Gaoqi wangshi. Qi in this passage has pp. 62-63.
multiple connotations. For convenience, I have trans- 39· Gu Qiyuan, "]inling she cao xu," in idem, Lanzhen
lated it throughout as "eccentric." caotangji, 14.41a. Interestingly, Gu Qiyuan was a friend
29. For a recent scholarly discussion of jesuit car- ofWu Bin, who liked to paint many marvelous scenes
tography and mapmaking in late imperial China, see and images. See Burnett, "The Landscapes ofWu
Smith, "Mapping China's World," pp. 71-77- Bin," pp. 41-42.
30. Ricci and Trigault, China in the Sixteenth Century, 40. Zeitlin, Historian of the Strange, p. 6.
pp. 167-68, 331, 374-75. 41. The study of Dong Qichang has been promi-
31. For instance, Wang Duo (1593-1652), a senior nent on the scholarly agenda in recent decades in both
official and calligrapher discussed in greater detail in East and West. In 1992, a joint outcome of this schol-
the next section, composed a poem for the German arly attention was the two-volume exhibition cata-
Jesuit Johann Adam Schall von Bell (Tang Ruowang, logue The Century of Tung Ch'i-ch'ang, 1555-1636, edited
1592-1666) in which he expressed his admiration of by W ai-kam Ho and Judith Smith, and the Proceedings
the astronomical devices, medicines, and musical in- of the T'ung Ch'i-ch'ang International Symposium, edited
struments he saw at the Jesuit's residence. There were by Wai-ching Ho, that accompanied the exhibition.
also a number of officials in the early Qing, among For an excellent biographical study of Dong, see Riely,
them Ding Yao-kang (1599-1669), Hu Shi'an (1593- "Tung Ch'i-chang's Life" in the exhibition catalogue.
r663), and Xue Suoyun (d. r667), who visited Schall Articles on Dong Qichang's calligraphy by Xu Bangda,
von Bell's church and wrote poems that mentioned Xue Yongnian, Yang Xin, and Shen Fu, from which
how much they were impressed by the celestial the present study have greatly benefited, can be found
spheres, telescopes, chiming clocks, fountains, and either in the exhibition catalogue or in the Proceedings.
other things they saw there, all novel to Chinese. See 42. Wai-kam Ho and Dawn Ho Delbanco, 'Tung
Huang I-nung, "Wang Duo shu zeng Tang Ruowang Ch'i-ch'ang's Transcendence of History and Art,"
shihan yanjiu," pp. 13-17. pp. ro-rs; Pei-kai Cheng, "Tang Hsien-tsu, Tung
32. Because of its contents, some scholars translate Ch'i-ch'ang and the Search for Cultural Aesthetics in
the title as Records Beyond Ancient Maps. the Late Ming."
33· See Wang Cheng's preface in Deng Yuhan 43· For a detailed discussion of Dong's concept of
Qoannes Terrenz), Yuanxi qiqi tushuo luzui, vol. r, "rawness" in calligraphy, see Yang X in, "On 'Calligra-
PP· 5-14. phy Has to be Skillful, then Raw."'
Notes to Pages 13-20 • 267
44· Dong Qichang, Rongtai bieji, 6.2b. The transla- grain" refers to an ancient script believed to have been
tion here is adapted from the translation by Heping invented by Shen Nong, another legendary emperor
Liu et al., in Yang Xin, "On 'Calligraphy Has to be said to have been the inventor of agriculture.
Skillful, then Raw,"' p. 19:2. 6o. Wang's poem uses here the term wubei (five
45· See Shih Shou-ch'ien, "You qiqu dao fugu," sorrows), an allusion to the poem "Five Sorrows" by
PP· 43-44· the Tang poet Lu Zhaolin (ca. 635-ca. 689), who
46. Yang Xin, "On 'Calligraphy Has to be Skillful, composed his poem to express his disappointment
then Raw,"' p. 19:8. with his times.
47· Dong Qichang, Huachanshi sui hi, p. rooo. The 6r. This is a literal translation. The exact connota-
translation here is adapted from the translation by tions of this line are unclear.
Chu Hui-liang, Hans Frankel, and Chang Ch'ung-ho, 62. Wang Duo, Nishangyuan xuanji, r6.ra-b. For
in W ai-kam Ho and Judith Smith, The Century of Chinese annotations to this ode, see Liu Zhengcheng
Tung Ch'i-ch'ang, vol. r, p. II$. and Gao W enlong, Zhongguo shufa quanji, vol. 62, Qjng-
48. Li Rihua, Weishuixuan riji,juan 4· Translation dai: Wang Duo, pp. 652-53.
by Chu Hui-liang, Hans Frankel, and Chang Ch'ung- 63. It is almost certain that one line is missing,
ho, in Wai-kam Ho and Judith Smith, The Century of most likely after line 44·
Tung Ch'i-ch'ang, vol. r, p. II$. 64. Wang Duo, Nishanyuan xuanji, 82.4a-b.
49· Translation by Marilyn W. Gleysteen in her 65. Ibid.
catalogue entry of this handscroll in W ai-kam Ho and 66. Shen C. Y. Fu, 'Huang T'ing-chien's Calligra-
Judith Smith, The Century of Tung Ch'i-ch'ang, vol. 2, phy and His Scroll for Chang T a-t'ung," pp. 127-32.
p. 10. Readers may find a more detailed discussion 67. Qiu Zhenzhong, "Zhangfa de goucheng,"
of this scroll in Marilyn W. Gleysteen' s entry. pp. sr-83.
50. Emphasis on ink tonality was one of Dong 68. In fact, Huang Daozhou and Wang Duo dis-
Qichang's important contributions to Chinese callig- cussed calligraphy with Dong Qichang when they
raphy. See Shen C. Y. Fu, "Tung Ch'i-ch'ang and were his subordinates and Dong was serving as minis-
Ming Dynasty Calligraphy," p. 20:5. ter of rites in Beijing in the 1630s. Several letters by
51. Translation from Nelson Wu, "Tung Ch'i- Wang Duo to Dong Qichang discussing calligraphy
ch' ang," p. 290. are included in Wang Duo's Nishanyuan xuanji,juan 50.
52. Wai-kam Ho and Dawn Ho Delbanco, See also Liu Zhengcheng and Gao W enlong, Zhang-
"Tung Ch'i-ch'ang's Transcendence of History and guo shufa quanji, vol. 62, Qingdai: Wang Duo, pp. 651-52.
Art," p. 3'5. 69. Throughout this discussion, "free copy" or "free
53· Shen C. Y. Fu, "Tung Ch'i-ch'ang and Ming copying' as a verb is a translation of the Chinese verb
Dynasty Calligraphy," p. 20:14. lin, and "free-copy" as a noun is a translation of the
54· Dong Qichang, Huachanshi suibi, r.r. Chinese noun linben.
55· For a study of Zhang's life and art, see Liu 70. Ledderose, Mi Fu and the Classical Tradition of
Heng, Zhongguo shufa quanji, vol. 55, Mingdai: Zhang Chinese Calligraphy, p. 33· Ledderose also discusses in
Ruitu. detail the various modes of copying in early Chinese
56. For a study ofNi's life and art, see Liu Heng, calligraphy; see esp. pp. 33-44.
Zhongguo shufa quanji, vol. 57, Mingdai: Ni Yuanlu. 71. Ibid., p. 34·
57· For a study of Huang Daozhou's life and art, 72. Chu Hui-liang, "Lingu zhi xinlu," pp. 51-94.
see Liu Zhengcheng, Zhongguo shufa quanji, vol. 56, For another discussion of Dong Qichangs interes-
Mingdai: Huang Daozhou. ting ideas on how to copy ancient masterpieces, see
58. For a study of Wang Duo's life and art, see Xu Bangda, "Tung Ch'i-ch'ang's Calligraphy,"
Alan Gordon Atkinson's dissertation, 'New Songs for PP· II7-I8.
Old Tunes: The Life and Art of Wang Duo." 73- Dong Qichang, Rongtai bieji, 2.23b.
59· It is said that Fu Xi, a legendary emperor who 74· For other discussions of Dong Qichangs the-
observed natural phenomena, studied the tracks of ory and practice of creatively imitating (fang) the mas-
birds and as a result invented writing. "Images of eared terworks of ancient painters, see Cahill, The Compelling
Image, pp. 36-69; and Chou Ju-hsi, "The Cycle of Zhengcheng and Gao W enlong, Zhongguo shuja quanji,
Fang." vol. 62, Qingdai: Wang Duo, pp. 51-53.
75· Huaisu's Autobiography is written in cursive Sr. The names of many works in model-books are
script. Dong's comment in his colophon-"The not translated here because they were named after a
method of regular script [in these works] is precise phrase in the work selected by later calligraphy critics,
and thorough"-is in fact a quotation of a passage and that usually says nothing about the content of the
from Huaisu's Autobiography in which he character- work. The Chunhuage tie used here for comparison is a
ized the precise execution of Zhang Xu's cursive rubbing reproduction commissioned by the Qianlong
works as being just like the method used to write emperor (r. 1736-95), based on a rubbing taken from
regular-script calligraphy. Dong changed Huaisu's the original engraving made in 992.
wording slightly, but why he attributed it to Yan is S2. Dora Ching, "The Aesthetics of the Unusual
unclear. and the Strange in Seventeenth-Century Calligraphy,"
76. Huang Dun, "Dong Qichang weiben shutie P· 353·
kaobian." Attached to this handscroll are colophons S3. See Liu Zhengcheng and Gao W enlong,
by Gao Shiqi (1645-1704) and Zhang Zhao (1691- Zhongguo shufa quanji, vol. 61, Qingdai: Wang Duo, pp.
1745). Gao's colophon reads: "Dong Huating's [Qi- 51-55, 136-40, 162-75; vol. 62, Wang Duo, pp. 409-ro,
chang] copy (lin) of Zhang Changshi's calligraphy is 431-32. Interested readers may also read Gao
rich in spirit and truly resembles [the original). As Wenlong's catalogue entries for these works.
soon as you start looking at it, you know immediately S4. These hanging scrolls are typically over 1.4
it is Dong Qichang's work. His method of [writing] meters in height; some exceed 2.5 or even 3 meters,
regular script in the three-line inscription is wonderful excluding the mounting.
and shows his distinctive character." Like Gao Shiqi, S5. Gao W enlong has thoroughly studied Wang
Zhang Zhao also mentioned in his colophon Zhang Duo's inventive copies of ancient masterpieces; see Liu
Xu's excellent regular-script calligraphy. The fact that Zhengcheng and Gao W enlong, Zhongguo shuja quanji,
Gao mentions only Dong's regular script has led some vol. 62, Qingdai: Wang Duo, pp. 5S3, 5S4, 629, 637. An-
scholars suspect the authenticity of this work. But the other example of Wang's calligraphy that combines
"method of regular-script calligraphy" should be un- fragments of earlier works in a hanging scroll in cur-
derstood more flexibly. sive script is one that Wang executed one spring night
77· I first learned of this information in conversa- in 1627 for his friend Siyuan. The 37-character text is a
tions with Celia Riely on Sept. 17, 1994, and later on mixture of excerpts from three short letters by Wang
May 15, 199S. For an excellent study of Dong's seals, Xizhi. The first twelve characters of the work are
see Riely's article "Tung Ch'i-ch'ang's Seals on Works from Wang Xizhi's Canchao tie in juan 7 of Calligraphy
in The Century of Tung Ch'i-ch'ang." Model-Book from the Chunhua Archives. The next eleven
7S. For an illustration of Dong Qichang's tran- characters are taken from a second letter by Wang
scription ofYan's work, see Hui Lai Ping, ed., Dong Xizhi entitled Zhanjin tie. The final fourteen charac-
Qichang. ters are an excerpt from a short letter also in juan 7 of
79· Through Wang Duo's writings, we know that the Calligraphy Model-Book from the Chunhua Archives.
he owned or saw different versions of this model-book. Interestingly, Wang Duo attaches the two characters
See Liu Zhengcheng and Gao W enlong, Zhongguo "Xizhi" to the text, suggesting that this work was a
shufa quanji, vol. 62, Qingdai: Wang Duo, pp. 657-5S. copy after a single text by Wang Xizhi, even though
Three volumes of Chunhuage tie with Wang Duo's Wang never composed such a text as an entity. For a
labels can be found in the collection of Robert Hat- reproduction and brief discussion of this work, see Liu
field Ellsworth in New York. These volumes were Zhengcheng and Gao W enlong, Zhongguo shufa quanji,
once owned by Sun Chengze (1592-1676), a friend of vol. 61, Qingdai: Wang Duo, pp. 67; vol. 62, Qingdai:
Wang Duo. Wang Duo, p. 5S4.
So. For instance, Wang Duo copied Wang Xizhi's S6. See ibid., vol. 62, pp. 516, 637.
Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, and the style S7. For a more extensive discussion of the practice
shows considerable similarities to the model. See Liu of"inventive copying'' in the late Ming and early Qing,
see Bai Qianshen, "Cong Bada Shanren lin Lanting xu I02. This sense of anxiety and rebellion is echoed
lunji Mingmo Qingchu shufa zhong de linshu guan- in a number of Wang Duo's writings; see, e.g., ibid.,
nian." pp. 649, 6so.
88. Zheng Zhenduo (Xidi shuhua, p. 2I7), an expert 103. In a poem praising Wang Xizhi' s portrait,
in the history of the Chinese book, points out, in a Wang Duo wrote that from his youth he had greatly
discussion oflate Ming print culture, that a common admired Wang Xizhi and his calligraphy (Wang Duo,
strategy used by many lace Ming publishers was to "Wei T aifeng ti Xizhi xiang," Nishanyuan xuanji
claim they were publishing a rare edition of an ancient (Taipei, I970), "Wugu" 6.4b-sa). See also Liu Zheng-
work; often, however, these works never existed. cheng and Gao W enlong, Zhongguo shufa quanji, vol. 62,
89. Huanxi yuanjia, pp. 378-86. Qingdai: Wang Duo, p. 650.
go. Compiled in the sixth century, the Thousand 104. For a beautiful description of Zhao Yiguang's
Character Classic was a favorite practice text for callig- garden by the late Ming literatus Hu Yingjia (jinshi
raphers; it was subsequently copied by innumerable I6I3), in "Hanshan ji" (Record of Cold Mountain), see
calligraphers, including Emperor Huizong (r. IIOI-25) Liu Dajie, Mingren xiaopin ji, pp. 129-30.
of theN orthern Song, Zhao Mengfu in the Yuan, 105. For a discussion of Zhao Yiguang's calligraphy,
and Wen Zhengming (I470-1559) in the Ming, to list see Shen C. Y. Fu et al., Traces of the Brush, pp. 5I-52,
only a few. 248-49·
91. For a discussion of this text and its impact on 106. For brief information about Zhao Yiguang
Ming-Qing education and culture, see Rawski, "Eco- and ZhuJian's seal carving, see Fang Quji, Ming-Qing
nomic and Social Foundations of Late Imperial Cul- zhuanke liupai yinpu, pp. I8, 23-25.
ture," pp. 29-3I. 107. Sha Menghai, Sha Menghai lunshu conggao, p.
92. Feng Menglong,Jingshi tongyan,juan 2. I88.
93· For examples of how quotations from ancient 108. Ibid., p. I89. See also Huang Dun, Zhongguo
Classics were turned into lewd jokes or phrases for gudai yinlun shi, pp. 28-32.
drinking games, see the following collections of plays 109. Sun Weizu, Sun Weizu lunyin wen'gao, pp. I83-
published in the late Ming: Darning chun, Yaotian yue, 87.
and Y ugu xinhuang, in Wang Qiugui, Shan ben xiqu IIO. Watt, "The Literati Environment," p. II.
congkan, pt. I. For a discussion of chis phenomenon, m. Shen Y e, "Yintan," in Han Tianheng, Lidai
see Shang Wei, "]in Ping Mei Cihua and Late-Ming yinxue lunwen xuan, vol. r, p. 64.
Print Culture." II2. Ibid.; and Wang Shizhen, Xiangzu biji, p. 230.
94· Ling Mengchu, Pai'an jingqi, p. I. II3. For a discussion of the rock in Chinese art and
95· See Johnson et al., Popular Culture in Late Impe- literature, see John Hay, Kernels of Energy, Bones of
rial China, pp. 28-33, 46-48. Earth; and Zeitlin, Historian of the Strange, pp. 74-88.
g6. For a discussion of the elite nature of Chinese II4· In discussing seals, late Ming literati liked to
calligraphy, see Ledderose, "Chinese Calligraphy: Art use the term wan (to amuse oneself with, to play with
of the Elite." for amusement). See Shen Ye, "Yintan," in Han
97· Wai-kam Ho and Dawn Ho Delbanco, "Tung Tianheng, Lidai yinxue lunwen xuan, vol. I, pp. 64, 65;
Ch'i-ch'ang's Transcendence of History and Art," vol. and Clunas, Superfluous Things, pp. 84-85.
I, P· I4. II$. See Li Liufang' s preface to the Wang Gao shu
g8. Bloom, Anxiety of Influence. yinpu, in Han Tianheng, Lidai yinxue lunwen xuan, vol.
99· Plaks, The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel, 2, p. 464.
PP· so-si. II6. Shen Y e, "Yintan," in Han Tianheng, Lidai
100. Translation from Wicks, "Wang Shimin's yinxue lunwen xuan, vol. I, p. 63.
Orthodoxy," p. 265. II7. Zhang Dai, Tao' an mengyi, p. 37·
IOI. This handscroll is now in the collection of the II8. Late Ming literati liked discussing obsessions.
Shanghai Museum. The Chinese text of the colophon The obsession with strange and unusual things in the
can be found in Liu Zhengcheng and Gao W enlong, lace Ming and early Qing has been carefully studied by
Zhongguo shufa quanji, vol. 62, Qingdai: Wang Duo, p. 649. Judith Zeitlin as a historical phenomenon. She points
out that during that period "obsession had become a seals that were Yuan in date; to judge from their leg-
sine qua non, something the gentleman could not ends, some of these seals must have been used as seals
afford to do without" (Historian of the Strange, p. 69). on rhe covers ofletters.
II9. Wang Hongzhuan, Shanzhi, p. 81. 131. This group ofletters have been thoroughly
120. Clunas, Superfluous Things, p. roB. studied by Chen Zhichao. His research on these let-
121. For a discussion of He Zhen's seal carving, see ters is published in his Meiguo Hafou daxue Hafou-
Watt, "The Literati Environment," pp. 12-13. Yanjing tushuguan cang Mingdai Huizhou Fangshi qinyou
122. For a short history of the seal book, see Huang shouzha qibaitong kaoshi.
Dun, Zhongguo gudai yinlun shi, pp. 3-n; and Han 132. Ricci and T rigault, China in the Sixteenth Cen-
Tianheng, 'Jiubainian yinpu kaoliie," in idem, Tian- tury, p. 24.
heng yintan, pp. 80-98. 133. In Han Tianheng, Lidai yinxue lunwen xuan, vol.
123. For a derailed discussion of the involvement of 2, p. 46o.
leading literati in the late Ming, especially in the 134. Zhou Lianggong, Yinren zhuan, 3.7b.
Wanli reign, in seal carving, see Huang Dun, "Ming- 135· Wang Hongzhuan, "Shu Guo Yinbo Huashan
dai yinlun fazhan gaishu," pp. 92-ro8. bei hou," in idem, Dizhai ji, juan 2.
124. Zhang Hac's seal book consists of impressions 136. See Bai, "The Artistic and Intellectual Aspects
of over 2,ooo seals. Zhang selected the texts of these of Chinese Calligraphy Rubbings," pp. 84-85.
seals and commissioned 50 or so seal carvers to carve 137. For a discussion of the literati practice of em-
these texts onto seals. ploying unusual character forms before the beginning
125. Sheng is a Chinese unit of volume measurement of the Ming, see Liu Y eqiu, Zhongguo zidian shilue, p. 83.
(especially for grain). 138. Yan Zhitui, Yanshi jiaxun, pp. 574-75·
126. Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers, p. 65. 139. This anecdote was probably written by a Ming
127. Many late Ming artisans signed their works. literatus; it was copied by Jin Nang in an album sold
For instance, Shi Dabin always carved his name on at Sotheby's New York (Nov. 28, 1994, lot 38).
the bottom of his ceramics. Many printmakers en- 140. The Analysis ofCharacters as an Explanation of
graved their names, and sometimes personal seals, on Writing (Shuowen jiezi) is an important dictionary of
their woodblocks so that they were identified in their Chinese characters by Xu Shen (ca. 58-ca. 147). Zhao's
prints. Long Annotation was finished in the Wanli reign and
128. One of the major functions of early Chinese published by his son in the Chongzhen reign.
seals was to authenticate documents. 141. It is possible that Zhao's manuscript was not
129. For a discussion of how economic activity written in this way. It may have been the publishers
increased epistolary communication in Ming times, who were responsible for the layout. In either case,
see Brook, The Confusions of Pleasure, pp. 173-90. however, this book reflects the late Ming obsession
130. In 1969, six seals were excavated from a six- with unusual character forms.
teenth-century tomb, belonging to Zhu Chaqing, in 142. For a comprehensive discussion of the concept
Shanghai. One of the seals read: "Ping' an jiaxin" ofguwen and related issues in Chinese intellectual
(Family letter reporting peace). Since letters to family history, see Nylan, "The Chin Wen/Ku Wen Contro-
members were at time written to announce bad news, versy in Han Times."
this seal was impressed on the covers of a letter whose 143. Judging from the style of this work, it is quite
content was innocuous so that the recipient need feel certainly a copy of a work by Wang Duo. My own
no anxiety about opening the letter. For an illustration opinion on this point is confirmed by two connois-
of this seal, see Chu-tsing Li and James Wart, The seurs of Chinese calligraphy, Fu Shen and Hua Rende.
Chi11ese Scholar's Studio, pl. 7ob; for the entry on this The work is dated 1646, two years after the Manchu
seal, see ibid., p. 182. For a discussion of the writing of conquest. But we may still treat it (that is to say, treat
family letters, see Qianshen Bai, "Chinese Letters," the original of which it is a reflection) as a work of the
pp. 389-93. The practice of impressing seals on family late Ming because Wang Duo's life falls mainly in the
letters began before the Ming. In 1999, a Chinese art Ming, and we can assume that he must have executed
dealer in New Y ark showed me two sets of ceramic similar works before the fall of the dynasty.
144· See note 38 to this chapter. Shan's system of calligraphic aesthetics are discussed
145. Wang Duo, Nishanyuan xuanJ.i (wenji), 82.2b. in the next chapter.
The translation here is adapted from Ching, "The 161. FSQS, vol. I, pp. 519-20. Trans, adapted from
Aesthetics of the Unusual and the Strange in Seven- Shen C. Y. Fu, Traces of the Brush, p. 96.
teenth-Century Calligraphy," p. 351. 162. Lin Peng, Danya sht~lun, p. 51.
146. Some late Ming household encyclopedias also 163. Fu Shan mentions Zhao Mengfu's influence
include a section that juxtaposes unusual character on his early calligraphy in a work that is discussed in
forms with the common forms of those characters. the next chapter.
147. See note I to this chapter. 164. FSQS, vol. I, p. 865.
148. Shi Qing, "Yunchuangyashi," in Tanji congshu. 165. Ibid., p. 316.
I49· For a discussion of the problem of social dis- r66. For a discussion of collectors in early Qing
tinctions in Ming China, see Clunas, Superfluous Things, northern China, see Fu Shen, "Wang Duo ji Qingchu
P· 73· beifangjiancangjia." For a discussion of a number of
150. Shen Ye, "Yintan," in Han Tianheng, Lidai extant works from the former collection ofZhu Gang,
yinxue lunwen xuan, vo!. r, p. 64. see Barnhart, "Streams and Hills Under Fresh Snow At-
151. Watt, "The Literati Environment," p. n. tributed to Kao K'o-ming," pp. 228-30.
152. For a discussion of Huang's calligraphy and 167. FSQS, vol. r, p. 406.
the Inscription for Burying a Crane, see Pong, Images of 168. Han Lin wrote in a preface to a seal book that
the Mind, pp. 82-84. he had studied seal carving for twenty years and had
I53· See Bai Qianshen, "Qingchu jinshixue de fux- seen the work of almost one thousand seal carvers.
ing dui Bada Shanren wannian shufeng de yingxiang," About one hundred of these carvers were his friends.
p. ro3. See Han Tianheng, Lidai yinxue lunwen xuan, vo!. 2,
I54· On the influx of foreign silver and the results P· 494·
of this influx, see Atwell, ''International Bullion Flows 169. Shen C. Y. Fu, Traces of the Brush, p. 52.
and the Chinese Economy Circa 1530-I65o." 170. See Huang I-nung, "Ming-Qing Tianzhujiao
I55· For a brief discussion of the problems of the zai Shanxi Jiangzhou de fazhan jiqi fantan."
Ming military system, see Struve, The Southern Ming, 171. Many of the religious works written and pub-
PP· 2-6. lished by the Han brothers did not survive the Ming-
156. Lu Shiyi, Fu She jilue, juan x; trans. adapted Qing dynastic transition. But a few are preserved in
from Atwell, "From Education to Politics," the papal library in the Vatican.
PP· 345-46. 172. For a reproduction of this painting, see Osaka
157. For more information on Fu Shan's family shiritsu bijutsukan, Osaka shiritsu bijutsukan kanzo,
background, see Yin Xieli, "Xinbian Fu Shannianpu," Shanhai hakubutsukan kanzo, Chugoku shoga meihin
pp. 5205-21. zuroku, pl. 8, pp. 22-23.
158. Wang Shangyi and Xu Hongping, "Song- 173· In reading Fu Shan's references to Han Lin,
Yuan-Ming-Qing shiqi Shanxi wenren de dili fenbu ji one senses the competition between these two emi-
wenhua fazhuan tedian," p. 49· nent cultural figures of Shanxi; see, e.g., FSQS. vol. I,
159· Fu Shan's wife, ZhangJingjun, passed away in p. 529. On Fu Shan's attitude toward Christianity, see
1632 and was survived by Fu Shan and their only son, ibid., pp. 375-77·
Fu Mei (1628-84). Fu Shan never married again. After 174. For a detailed discussion of Han Lin's family
the death of his wife, Fu Shan maintained close ties and political background, see Shi Daogang, "Mingmo
with the members of his wife's family, including his Han Lin shiji gouchen"; see also Huang I-nung,
brother-in-law, a Ming military officer who died in "Ming-Qing Tianzhujiao zai Shanxi Jiangzhou de
!644· fazhan jiqi fantan." For his artistic activities and rela-
r6o. Fu Shan uses the term zhili to denote the sty- tionship with Fu Shan, see also Bai Qianshen, "Fu
listic features of the Yan Family Temple Stele Inscription. Shan de youren Han Lin shiji buyi."
Here, the term is tentatively translated as "unusual 175· Huang I-nung, "Ming-Qing Tianzhujiao zai
features." Its complicated connotations within Fu Shanxi Jiangzhou de fazhan jiqi fantan."
I76. FSQS, vol. I, pp. 426, 350-5I. 9· FSQS, vol. I, p. 83.
I77· In the early Qing, many scholars were harshly 10. Accounts differ about precisely when Fu Shan
critical oflate Ming Neo-Confucianism, but Fu Shan became a Daoist priest. According to Fu Shan's close
nevertheless admired several Ming Neo-Confucian friend Dai Tingshi, Fu Shan had a dream before
scholars. For a discussion ofLi Zhi's influence in sitting for an examination in which he met a god
Shanxi and on Fu Shan, see Wang Shouyi, "Fu Shan who gave him a Daoist hat and robe. Fu Shan thus
he Li Zhi," pp. I58-7o; and Li Mingyou, "Fu Shan yu knew that he was going to fail the examination even
LiZhi." before the results were released. After he failed the
I78. FSQS, vol. I, pp. 778-79. examination in I642, he became a Daoist priest. But
I79· Ibid., pp. 362-63. There is an album of run- other accounts, including Fu Shan's (on which I rely
ning-script calligraphy with the text of"The Biogra- here), record that Fu Shan became a Daoist priest in
phy of Mr. Who" in the collection of the Palace Mu- the year jiashen (I644), after the fall of the dynasty.
seum in Beijing, dated to I659· Judging from the See Yin Xieli, "Xinbian Fu Shan nianpu," pp. 5255,
album's style, however, it seems to be a copy of an 5266.
original by Fu Shan. Although the date of the "Biog- n. Spence, The Search for Modern China, p. 45·
raphy" is uncertain, the ideas expressed in it were de- I2. FSQS, vol. I, p. 227.
veloped before the fall of the Ming. I3. The letter is now in the collection of the Palace
I8o. Fu Shan may also have been influenced by a Museum, Beijing. Fu Shan also noted that he was
work written by Dongfang Shuo (I54-93 B.c.), a trying to obtain government permission for the shop
courtier of Emperor Wu of the Han (r. I40-87 B.c.). through Wei Yi'ao, a government official with whom
In an essay entitled "Discussion of Mr. Nobody," he was friendly (see below in the text).
Dongfang Shuo used Mr. Nobody as his persona. I4. Fu never mentioned the alcohol business again.
This essay is recorded in Ban Gu's "The Biography of For the Manchu prohibition on alcohol production in
Dongfang Shuo"; see Watson, Courtier and Commoner certain sections of the country, see Fan Jinmin, "Qing-
in Ancient China, pp. 100-105. According to Fu Shan, dai jinjiu jinqu de chubu yanjiu." Although Fan's arti-
he had liked 'The Biography of Dongfang Shuo" ever cle deals only with the Kangxi reign (I662-I722), it is
since his youth (FSQS, vol. I, p. 399). likely that the Manchu prohibition policy began in the
I8I. FSQS, vol. I, pp. 601-3. Shunzhi reign (I644-6I), because north China,
I82. For a detailed account of this event, see ibid., including Shanxi province, suffered severe famines in
pp. 57I-8o. this period, forcing the government to grant frequent
tax exemptions to affected areas.
CHAPTER2 I5. Struve, Voices from the Ming-Qing Cataclysm, p. 3·
I6. Qjngshi gao, vol. I, pp. I30-3I.
I. For a detailed account of the Manchu conquest I7. Fu Shan wrote several works on women's medi-
ofBeijing, see Wakeman, The Great Enterprise, esp. vol. cine; see FSQS, vol. 7·
I, PP· 225-3I8. I8. Dai Benxiao (I621-93), a painter from Anhui,
2. For a thorough discussion of the history of the tried to visit Fu Shan in I668 on his way to Mount
Southern Ming, see Struve, The Southern Ming. Hua. He recorded in two poems that he had been
3· FSQS, vol. 7, P· 4989. unable to see Fu Shan but had met Fu Mei at Fu's
4· Ibid. pharmacy in T aiyuan; see Dai Benxiao, Yusheng shigao,
5· Li Yuandu, "Fu Qingzhu xiansheng shiliie," in juan 3·
FSQS, vol. 7, p. 5048. I9. For a discussion of how Fu Shan made use of
6. FSQS, vol. I, p. 10. his calligraphy in seeking to solve everyday problems,
7· Ibid., vol. I, p. 83. see Bai, "Calligraphy for Negotiating Everyday Life."
8. For an excellent study of how Chinese literati 20. FSQS, vol. I, p. 864.
living in this difficult period dealt with the problems 2I. For a short biographical study ofDai Tingshi
that arose when loyalty and filial piety were in conflict, and his relationship with Fu Shan, see Bai Qianshen,
see He Guanbiao, "Mingji shidafu dui zhong yu xiao "Cong Fu Shan he Dai Tingshi de jiaowang lunji
zhijueze."
Zhongguo shufa zhong de yingchou he xiuci wenti," in an album now in the collection of the Suzhou Mu-
· pt. I, pp. 95-108. seum.
22. Most ofFu Shan's surviving letters to Dai 3I. Beattie, "The Alternative to Resistance," pp. 260,
Tingshi have been brought together in FSQS, vol. I, 269.
pp. 469-84. There are, in addition, a few unpublished 32. Guan You'an (Guan Ning, A.D. I58-24I) lived
letters from Fu to Dai in the collection of the Palace in the late Eastern Han and early Three Kingdoms
Museum, Beijing. From these letters we can gain a period. After the fall of the Eastern Han in A.D. 220,
picture ofFu Shan's everyday life. Guan Ning retreated to the mountains and declined a
23. See Wang Yuyou, "Wei Haiweng zhuanliie," in summons from the new regime.
Wei Yi' ao, Xueting shiwen gao. Several biographies of 33· FSQS, vol. I, pp. 348-49.
Wei Yi'ao and members of his family, written by his 34· See the letters Fu Shan wrote to Dai Tingshi in
friends, are included in Wei Yi' ao' s Xueting shiwen gao. FSQS, vol. I, pp. 457, 499·
For a more detailed account of his relationship with 35· For a reproduction of the painting and colo-
Fu Shan, see Bai Qianshen, "Fu Shan yu Wei Yi'ao." phon, see Chapter I, note I72.
24. Bai Qianshen, "Fu Shan yu Wei Yi'ao," p. 98. 36. Wei Yijie,]ianjitangji, I2.4a-b.
25. For a briefbiographical study of Sun Qifeng, 37· Much later in his life, in I678, when Fu Shan
see Zhang Xiaohu, "Sun Qifeng," in Wang Sizhi, ed., was ordered to travel to the capital for the Boxue
Qingdai renwu zhuan'gao, vol. I, pp. I73-8o. hongci examination, he again met Sun Chuan in Bei-
26. Shanxi tongzhi, juan 109. jing. When Fu was about to depart the following
27. Almost certainly the eighteen letters were spring, Sun wrote him a farewell poem in which he
mounted as a handscroll during Wei Yi' ao' s lifetime. mentioned that Fu was an old friend of his family and
The frontispiece, which reads "Danya mohan" ("Cal- that they had kept in touch for many years (FSQS, vol.
ligraphy of Mr. Danya (Fu Shan's sobriquet]") was 7, pp. 50I3-I4)· Before he died, in I684, Fu wrote to
written by Wei Yijie (I6I6-86), a senior government Sun, asking him to protect his two grandsons, Fu
official during the early Qing and a close friend of Wei Liansu (I657-after I725) and Fu Lianbao, from power-
Yi'ao, who died eight years after Wei Yijie, in I694· ful local people.
The handscroll is now in the collection of Dr. Yip 38. Zhao Gang, "Kangxi Boxue hongci ke yu Qing-
Shing Yiu, Hong Kong. For the complete text of the chu zhengzhi bianqian."
eighteen letters and a detailed discussion ofFu Shan's 39· See Spence, The Search for Modern China, p. 4I;
relationship with Wei Yiao and other Chinese offi- and Wakeman, The Great Enterprise, vol. 2, pp. IOI6-36.
cials in the Qing government, see Bai Qianshen, "Fu Sun Maolan was an example of a Chinese bannerman
Shan yu Wei Yi'ao." employed by the Manchus. In the Shanxi tongzhi
28. The letter is undated, but, because Fu says that (Shanxi provincial gazetteer), Sun's biography appears
he has been "wandering for three years," we can date it under the heading "Famous Officials." According to
tentatively to late I647 or early I648, since by then Fu the gazetteer, in the early years of the Shunzhi reign
Shan had been leading an itinerant life for about three (I644-6I), the Qing government stationed Manchu
years. troops in T aiyuan because of its geographical impor-
29. Like the other letters in this handscroll, this tance. The land belonging to former Ming princes was
one is undated. According to the Qingshi gao, the Qing given to Manchu soldiers to farm, but most of them
government waived the tax on crops due to famine in refused to pay taxes. Sun Maolan punished them se-
I652 (see note I6 to this chapter). I thus tentatively verely. When there were conflicts between Manchu
date this letter to I652. soldiers and the Chinese populace, government offi-
30. Fu Shan had close relationships with several cials were often divided into two camps, the Chinese
local officials before the fall of the Ming. In a poem he officials favoring the Chinese and their Manchu coun-
mentioned that several local officials came to his vil- terparts protecting the soldiers. Since Sun resolved
lage to celebrate his birthday in I642. This poem is such cases fairly, both the soldiers and the local popu-
one of a group that Fu Shan transcribed in early I645 lace accepted his decisions. When he left for the
governorship of Ningxia, many among those who saw 51. The Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove
him off wept. See Shanxi tongzhi, juan 86. were seven scholars who lived during the Western Jin
40. For these reports, see FSQS, vol. 7, pp. 5159-97. period (265-316); they drank heavily to console them-
41. Fu's testimony is recorded in a report prepared selves for the grim political times in which they lived.
jointly by the Ministry ofJustice, Censorate, and 52. Liu Yin served the Yuan government briefly
Court of Judicial Review, in the tenth month of the and then retired. Here, Fu Shan suggests that Wei
year jiawu. It reads: "In the ninth year [of the Shunzhi Yi'ao, in serving the Manchu government, is following
reign (i.e., 1654)], a person named Song came to Fen- Liu Yin's example. The implication is that circum-
zhou from Ningxia. He tried to visit and talk to me stances forced both men to take the same route.
several times. Since I had heard that he frightened 53· Xi Kang (zi Shuye) and RuanJi (zi Sizong)
people in Fenzhou and was not a good person, Ire- were two of the Seven Worthies of Bamboo Grove
pulsed him, and we never met. On the third day of the and famous literary figures of their time.
tenth month of the tenth year, he came again with a 54· Yan Yanzhi, a poet of the Liu Song dynasty
letter and presents, saying that Sun Maolan's son was (420-79), wrote a poem entitled "Five Gentlemen,"
sick and asking me to see the patient. I said, "When from which Fu Shan took the lines quoted in his essay.
Governor Sun was serving in Shanxi, I treated him 55· Bolun was the zi of Liu Ling of the Western Jin.
when he was sick. Since he has family members [who He not only loved wine but also composed a famous
could more properly ask me], why has he sent you to prose-poem entitled "Ode on the Virtue of Wine."
ask for. help?" I did not open the letter or the presents 56. Wei Yi' ao took the civil examination at the
and repulsed him again. He cursed and left. Since provincial level in 1642. What Fu Shan is s,aying here
Registrar Wei [i.e. Wei Yi'ao] of the Administrative is that Wei, as a Confucian scholar, was interested in
Commission had come to ask me to write out a pre- helping the world, but that the Manchu conquest in
scription [for his father], he was there and witnessed 1644 made the world difficult to help.
this event in person" (ibid., pp. 5175-76). 57· Hiding one's spirit here means hiding one's true
42. See WangYuyou, "Wei Haiwengzhuanliie," political leaning.
in Wei Yi' ao, Xueting shiwen gao. 58. For this prose-poem, see Liu Yin, Liu Jingxiu
43· Sun Chuan played quite an important role in xianshengji, juan 5·
rescuing Fu Shan; see Wang Youpu, Shilitang zazuan, 59· In translating this essay, I adapted parts of
1.42a. Emily Hoover's translation in her thesis entitled, "A
44· Gong was a censor-in-chief and Cao a vice New Look at Fu Shan," pp. 11-13.
censor-in-chief; see FSQS, vol. 7, p. 5197. 6o. The Provincial Administration Commission in
45· These scrolls are now in the collection of H. which Wei Yi' ao worked during his period of service
Christopher Luce, New York. in Shanxi was an agency with great administrative
46. Shanggu was a prefecture in ancient Hebei. Its responsibility in the Qing dynasty. Fu Shan purposely
geographical location was roughly the same as Bao- plays down its importance. Similarly, although his
ding prefecture; thus Shanggu was an ancient name friend Bi Zhenji (16!2-8!)-who had received his juren
for Baoding. degree in 1642, two years before the fall of the Ming-
47· Jiaoshan was the hao ofYangJisheng, a famous obtained his jinshi degree in 1646, Fu Shan addressed
scholar ofNeo-Confucianism in the Ming period. him in his writings only as Bi Jieyuan Qieyuan is a ref-
48. Xu Heng was a native of Henan and a famous erence to the juren who placed first in the provincial
N eo-Confucian scholar of the Cheng-Zhu school, examination) and made no mention ofBi's jinshi de-
which took its name from Cheng Hao (1032-85), gree, which he earned in the Qing; see FSQS, vol. 1,
Cheng Yi (1033-1107), and Zhu Xi (1130-!200). pp. 368-70.
49· Jingxiu was the zi ofLiu Yin, a native of 61. Liu Yin, Liu Jingxiu xianshengji, 5·15a.
Shanggu and another famous Nee-Confucian scholar. 62. See Huang Zongxi, Song-Yuan xue'an,
50. Zong Huang was a native ofTaiyuan and a pp. 3019-26.
close friend of both Fu Shan and Wei Yi'ao. 63. FSQS, vol. 1, p. 778.
64. Fu Shan's letter to Wei Yi'ao in which he rian) refers to the father, to the son, or to both; see Ci
speaks of the scrolls was fortunately preserved as the yuan, vol. I, p. 706.
lase letter in the handscroll of eighteen letters dis- 77- FSQS, vol. I, p. 48I.
cussed above in the text and is now in the collection of 78. The extant biographies by Fu Shan that survive
Dr. Yip Shing Yiu. can be found in FSQS, vol. I, pp. 333-63.
65. Wei Yi'ao, "Kaoman beishangxie Yefan 79· For the background to this insurrection, see
xiongdi you Jingyeisi," Xueting shiwen gao. Wakeman, The Great Enterprise, vol. 2, pp. 8o5-I9.
66. See Wei Yi'ao, "Yiweichun ye Han sanyici," in So. FSQS, vol. I, p. 355·
Pingdingzhouzhi,juan I3 (Yiwen), I3a-b. 8I. I.e., Zhu Yuanzhang. the first emperor of the
67. One such official was Gong Dingzi, who sur- Ming.
rendered to the Manchus after I644 and served in the 82. Wei Su was a Ming official who had earlier
Censorate, the central judicial institution in both che served the Yuan dynasty.
Ming and Qing periods. Gong assisted many Chinese 83. FSQS, vol. I, p. 354·
loyalists, including Fu Shan in the Case of Red-Robed 84. Ibid., p. 345·
Daoist. Later, he was even impeached on the charge of 85. Ibid., p. 354·
favoritism to Chinese in legal cases. See He Lingxiu 86. In his "Li yushi zhuan" (Biography of Censor
and ZhangJiefu, Qingdai renwu zhuan'gao, vol. 4, p. 24I. Li; ibid., pp. 339-42), for instance, Fu Shan offers
See also Tu Lien-che's biography of Gong in Hummel, little information about Li's life and instead focuses
Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, p. 43I. on Li' s martyrdom, adding a long coda in which
68. On che complicated relationship between loyal- he reviews the many deaths ofMing officials in the
ists and collaborators, see Hongnam Kim, The Life of a wars.
Patron. She points out chat "collaborators and loyalists 87. Ibid., p. 347·
had an acute appreciation of each ocher's role and the 88. Ibid., p. 362.
peculiar dilemma each had to face. In fact, loyalists 89. Zhang Xiaohu, "Sun Qifeng." in Wang Sizhi,
frequently depended on collaborators for support and Qingdai renwu zhuan'gao, vol. I, p. I77·
protection, while collaborators depended on loyalists 90. The tide of che work Fu Shan acquired, Xiang-
to express their heartfelt ideals" (ibid., p. I43). shan shi, can be interpreted two ways. It can mean
69. Wei Yi'ao, "Ti Fu Qingzhu hua," Xueting shiwen "poems on Mount Fragrance," or it can mean "poems
gao. by BaiJuyi [772-846]" (since BaiJuyi's hao was "Devo-
70. Fu Shan, "Shansi bingzhong wang cunqiao tee at Xiangshan" and he was often known as Bai
zuo," FSQS, vol. I, p. I46. The same feeling of shame is Xiangshan).
expressed in another poem entitled "Shishuai shi [Fu] 9I. Xu Y anwang was an early Western Zhou duke
Mei, [Fu] Ren" (ibid., p. 43). who controlled a fairly large territory. When the state
7I. FSQS, vol. I, p. 54· of Chu invaded, he put up no resistance and was de-
72. Huang Zongxi, Nanlei wending, juan 6, p. IOI. feated. For this reason, he is the proverbial person
73· This volume, with comments by Fu Shan and with no backbone.
Fu Mei in red ink, still survives. See Zhongguo Jiade's 92. The word Fu Shan uses to describe his wrist
auction catalogue of rare books, Falli997, no. 542. (i.e., habit of writing) is za, which means "mixed, min-
74· FSQS, vol. I, p. 508. gled, impure, or unadulterated." Here he means that
75· If we compare the seal-its style of carving and his writing has already been contaminated by exposure
the color of the paste-with ochers in che same album, to bad influences. Za reappears as the key word in the
we can be sure chat chis seal was impressed by Fu term zashu juan/ ce, meaning "hands croll or album in
Shan rather chan by a later collector. The style of the diverse scripts," discussed below.
calligraphy indicates that the album was probably 93· Fu Shan's line abbreviates Liu Gongquan's
executed in the I64os or I65os. argument that "the use of the brush lies in the heart; if
76. See Xiao Tong. Wen xuan, pp. I854-68. There your heart is upright, then your brush will be upright"
is some controversy whether the phrase Taishigong (trans. from McNair, The Upright Brush, p. 2).
(which appears frequently in Records of the Grand Risto- 94· FSQS, vol. I, p. 50.
276 • Notes to Pages 95-ro2
95· For a discussion ofYan Zhenqing's political ro6. Shen C. Y. Fu et al., Traces of the Brush, p. 205.
career and calligraphy, see McNair, The Upright Brush. For a thorough discussion ofZhu Yunming's calligra-
96. Yang Xiong, Fayan, juan 5· Originally, shu was phy, see ibid., pp. 203-36 .
taken to mean "writing'' in general. But later, critics . 107. Adapted from the translation in ibid., p. 205.
citing this dictum always construe shu as "calligraphy." ro8. For discussions of Dong Qichang's calligraphy,
97· For an excellent discussion of this theory of see Wai-kam Ho and Judith G. Smith, The Century of
Chinese calligraphy, see McNair, The Upright Brush, Tung Ch'i-ch'ang. For Wang Duo's calligraphy, see
esp. pp. xiii-xvii, r-15. Wang Duo, Nishanyuan tie; and Wang Duo shufa xuan,
98. McNair, The Upright Brush. especially pp. n9-24.
99· Shen C. Y. Fu ("Periodization of Yen Chen- 109. This letter can be dated approximately be-
ch'ing's Calligraphic Influence," pp. 103-48) has cause in it Fu Shan mentioned that Sun Maolan had
pointed out the considerable influence ofYan Zhen- already left Shanxi for Ningxia, and Sun was ap-
qing' s calligraphy from the Tang dynasty on. He ar- pointed governor of Ningxia in r652.
gues that there was a revival of interest in Yan's callig- no. The album is undated, but judging from its
raphy in the late Ming and early Qing, citing Dong style, it probably dates from the late r64os or 1650s.
Qichang, Wang Duo, and Fu Shan as three masters III. For a discussion ofYan's Record of the Altar of the
who were influenced by Y an during that period, but Immortal of Mount Magu, see McNair, The Upright
he makes no further comment. A revival of interest of Brush, pp. 83-95.
Y an's style, however, does not preclude the possibility n2. The text of this album is a late essay by Fu
that Yan's calligraphy was being viewed anew in a Shan entitled Selections from Zuo's Commentary (Zuo jin).
political light. For a discussion of the symbolic mean- n3. Zhu Guantian, T angdai shuja kaoping, pp. 129,
ing ofYan's calligraphy, see McNair, The Upright Brush. 134; see also idem, ed., Zhongguo shufa quanji, vol. 25,
roo. Several versions of this essay have been re- Sui-Tang-W udai: Yan Zhenqing, pp. 20-21. Amy
corded in various anthologies, at times under a differ- McNair (The Upright Brush, p. 31) disagrees with Zhu:
ent tide. It is entirely likely that Fu Shan copied it "We have absolutely no evidence that Yan ever visited
several times: there survives, for instance, another Sutra Valley or saw ink rubbings taken from the in-
version of this essay and its attached poem entitled scriptions. The connection cannot be substantiated
Demonstrating Calligraphy toMy Son and Grandsons. Fu's through documentary evidence, nor is the visual evi-
son Fu Mei was born in r628. Because the tide of the dence compelling. The critical practice oflocating the
essay cited here in the text, Admonition to My Son, stylistic sources for the writing of well-known callig-
mentions only his son, it was probably written in the raphers in certain exceptional anonymous engraved
late r64os or r65os, when his son was old enough to stele inscriptions from the Northern Dynasties period
understand it, but before or shortly after the birth of (386-581) arose during the resurgence of epigraphic
his first grandson, Fu Liansu, in 1657. Demonstrating study that began during the reign of the Qianlong
Calligraphy to My Son and Grandsons was obviously a emperor (1735-1796)." The influence of the Diamond
later version. Sutra inscription on Yan Zhenqing is debatable, but it
ror. ChenJie, "Shufa ouji," p. na. should be pointed that the Mount Water Buffalo stele,
ro2. Ibid. the other major source ofYan's style cited by Zhu,
103. For a detailed discussion of the dating of these clearly has striking similarities withYan's late calligra-
letters, see Bai Qianshen, "Fu Shan yu Wei Yi'ao," phy. It is entirely possible that Yan Zhenqing never
pp. 125-28. saw the Diamond Sutra in the Sutra Valley or the
104. Both letters report the death ofFu Shan's Mount Water Buffalo stele, but he almost certainly
distant relative Zhu Si, but letter nine was written the encountered many other cliff carvings and steles of the
day after letter ten. When Wei Yi' ao had the letters Northern dynasties spread over the territory of the
mounted, either he or the mounter confused their Northern Qi, especially in the areas of modern Shan-
order. dong and Hebei where Yan Zhenqing and many
105. See Amy McNair, "Texts of Taoism and members of the Yan clan before him lived and worked.
Buddhism and Power of Calligraphic Style," p. 228. Indeed, Yan Zhenqing's great-great-great-grandfather
and most renowned ancestor, Yan Zhitui, was once a with Yang Fangsheng. the son of a former Ming offi-
senior official of theN orthern Qi. This alone would cial and a close friend ever since their days in the Sanli
have ensured a link between Yan Zhenqing's calligra- Academy. The two Yang brothers mentioned by Fu
phy and Northern Qi styles, both because the Yan Shan were Yang Fangsheng's younger· brothers. Since
family's calligraphic tradition played a role in the de- Fu Shan was born in I607, by the early I65os he would
velopment ofYan's style, and because Yan took a per- have been in his mid-forties, thus somewhere between
sonal interest in the scripts employed by his ancestors. the "forty and fifty" that he speaks of in the Selu miao-
For a scholarly discussion of Northern Qi stone en- han scroll.
gravings of sutras in Hebei and Shandong provinces, I22. This album was first discussed in I957 by Nel-
see Tsiang. "Monumentalization of Buddhist Texts in son I. Wu in "The Toleration of Eccentrics." The
the Northern Qi Dynasty." album's present location is unknown.
II4. In the late Qing, about a dozen Northern Qi I23. Hay, Shitao, p. 4I.
stone monuments or steles with inscriptions still sur- I24. Translation adapted from Marilyn Fu and
vived in Shanxi; see Hu Pinzhi, Shanyou shike congbian, Shen C. Y. Fu, Studies in Connoisseurship, p. 299·
pp. I493I, I4966-77. It is reasonable to assume that I25. Wu Hung, "Ruins in Chinese Art: Site, Trace,
during the early Qing. there must have been more. Fu and Fragment."
Shan's visit to see Northern Qi Buddhist steles is I26. For a more detailed discussion of this album,
recorded in Zhu Yizun, Pushutingji, 67.6a. see Marilyn Fu and Shen C. Y. Fu, Studies in Connois-
n5. See, e.g., Niu Guangfu, "Qianshi Fu Shan shu- seurship, pp. 294-30I.
lun zhong de sining siwu"; and Shen C. Y. Fu, Traces I27. For a discussion of this phenomenon, see
of the Brush, p. 96. Qianshen Bai, "Illness, Disability, and Deformity in
n6. Fu Shan mentions the Memorial Stele of the Yan Seventeenth-Century Chinese Art."
Family Temple in a passage translated in Chapter I (see I28. Many paintings by Kuncan bear seals and
Chapter I, note I6o ). His comments on the Memorial signatures claiming the artist was crippled: "Canzhe"
Ode on the Resurgence of the Great Tang that attribute to (Crippled man), "Can daoren" and "Canna" (Crippled
it the quality of zhili form part of the text of a hand- monk), "Cantu" (Crippled and bald), "Tianrang can-
scroll in assorted scripts in a private collection, Taipei. zhe" (A cripple between heaven and earth).
n7. Fu Shan's comment appears as part of the text I29. Trans. adapted from Hongnam Kim, "Chou
of the Taipei handscrollmentioned above. Liang-kung and His 'Tu-hua-lu' (Lives of Painters),"
n8. For a detailed discussion of this work, see vol. 2, p. 83.
McNair, The Upright Brush, pp. 50-53. I30. This painting is reproduced in Siseng huaji,
II9. Fu Shen (Traces of the Brush, p. 96) translates p. I47·
zhili as "deformities" and "unusual features." I3I. On the moral connotations of qiao (clever or
I20. Watson, Chuang Tzu, p. 62. skillful) and zhuo (clumsy or awkward), see McNair,
I2I. "Selu" was one ofFu Shan's studio names. This The Upright Brush, pp. 48-50. McNair focuses on how
scroll is undated, but Fu's notes in the text provide different brush techniques contributed a "clumsy" or
rough clues to its approximate date of execution. In "clever" flavor to a calligraphy. In the case ofFu Shan's
one note, he wrote, "On a rainy day, under the Red Selu miaohan, awkwardness and eccentricity are
Cliff, my mother made wonton to feed me. Although achieved through distorting the structures of charac-
I am already a man between forty and fifty, ... I can- ters and altering the spatial relationship between char-
not get enough coarse grain to subsist, let alone eat my acters and sometimes between columns.
fill of such expensive food [i.e. the wonton)." In an- I32. Trans. adapted from Watson, Courtier and
other note, he wrote, "The fifth and seventh brothers Commoner in Ancient China, p. I06.
of theYang family arrived with this scroll and asked I33· Recently, some scholars have argued that Fu
me to inscribe it. In the village where I live, I have not Shan's four assertions in the form "I would rather be
had good brushes for a long time. I thus use an old X, not Y" are patterned after Chen Shidao (ro53-II02),
brush with a worn-out tip, doing my best to compose a Song literary critic, who claimed: "I would rather
characters." Sometime in the early I65os, Fu lodged read poems and essays that are awkward, not dainty;
278 • Notes to Pages n6-27
plain, not flowery; rough, not weak; nebulous, not I47· Guwen is a form of seal script chat was used in
vulgar" (see Huang Dun, "Fu Qingzhu sining siwu lun the Warring States period.
zhi youlai yu qi benyi"). But Fu Shan's own claim I48. For a detailed scholarly discussion of the shijing
appears in a context that gives it political significance. (classics carved on stone), see Ma Heng, "Shijing," in
I34. Quan Zuwang,]ieqitangji, 26.rob. idem, Fanjiangzhai jinshi conggao, pp. I99-259.
I35· In one of his poems, Fu Shan mentioned that I49· For a discussion of a work of this kind by
many who sought his calligraphy knew little of his the Shen brothers, formally in the collection ofJohn
stylistic range and commissioned his calligraphy sim- B. Elliott, see Harrist et al., The Embodied Image, pp.
ply because of his fame (FSQS, vol. I, p. u9). I48-49·
I36. Ibid., p. 838. I50. For a reproduction of chis hands croll, see
I37· Fu Shan left many notes on Tang history: see, Gugong bowuyuan and Liu Jiu' an, Zhongguo lidai shu-
e.g., ibid., pp. 7II-23. hua jianbie tulu, pp. II2-I9, pl. 36-2.
I38. See Zhou Caiquan, Dushi shulu, p. 53 I. I5I. See Dong Qichang, "Running Script in the
I39· Fu Shan's argument for deformation may be Manner of the Four Song Masters," in Wai-kam Ho
descended from SuShi's theory of calligraphy. Su and Judith G. Smith, The Century of Tung Ch'i-ch'ang,
once argued in a poem: "I heard that in ancient callig- vol. 2, pp. 203-4, pl. ro.
raphy, the refined can do no better than the crippled" I52. For a reproduction of chis work, see Chu Hui-
(see SuShi, Dongpo ji,juan I, p. 5; trans. Hui-liang Chu, liang, Dong Qichangfashu tezhan yanjiu tulu, pp. 88-89,
"The Chung Yu Tradition," p. 40 )~ pl. u. Of course, the practice of copying short notes, or
I40. See Shang Wei, ']in Ping Mei cihua and Late excerpts of works, by several ancient masters in a sin-
Ming Print Culture." gle album or handscroll began much earlier. In the
I4I. On the response of some loyalist painters to collection of the Shanghai Museum, there is an album
the political events of I644, see Hay, "The Suspension by Zhu Yunming with copies of works by ancient
of Dynastic Time." masters. But there is a slight difference between Zhu's
I42. For a detailed discussion of chis album, see Bai work and Dong's: Zhu's colophon tells us chat he
Qianshen, "Fu Shan wei Chen Mi zuo caoshu shice viewed chis work in the main as a practice piece,
yanjiu biji." whereas Dong often viewed his copies more as creative
I43· Even in I669, in a calligraphy album for his works chan as learning exercises. For a reproduction of
friend Gugu, Fu Shan transcribed two poems in the Zhu's work, see Zhongguo gudai shuhua tumu, vol. 2,
style of Zhao Mengfu. He added the comment: pp. 262-63.
"When I was young, I copied Zhao Mengfu's Letters to I53· For a more detailed discussion of this work, see
Zhongfeng, Poems on Mount Fragrance, and ocher works. Qianshen Bai's entry in Barnhart et al., The Jade Studio,
His vulgarity permeates my calligraphy, as chis work PP· II5-I8.
demonstrates. To correct chis vulgarity, I always copy I54· Numerous works by Fu Shan in this cate-
(Y an Zhenqing's] Record of the Altar of the Immortal of gory-handscrolls and albums in assorted scripts-
Mount Magu." For a reproduction of chis work, see are to be found in public and private collections in
Shufa congkan, I997, no. I: 58. Shanxi province; in addition, I myself have seen works
I44· The term zashu juan/ce seems co have IJeen of chis type in the following collections and auction
invented after the seventeenth century. houses: the Tokyo National Museum (album); the ·
I45· For instance, Chu Hui-liang (Yunjian shupai former Dingyuanzhai in Taipei (album); the Shanghai
tezhan tulu, pl. I3) calls a handscroll with poems, letters, Museum (album); Christie's Fine Chinese Classical
and essays in running-cursive script by the early Ming Paintings and Calligraphy, Apr. 30, I995, no. 92 (hand-
calligrapher Zhang Bi, now in the collection of the scroll); the Tianyige Library in Ningbo (album); the
National Palace Museum, Taipei, a zashu juan (hand- Antique Company ofTianjin (two albums); and a
scroll of miscellaneous calligraphy). private collection in Taipei (handscroll). We cannot
I46. Xu Bangda, Gushuhua wei'e kaobian, vol. 3, pp. exclude the possibility chat some works in chis format
45-46. For a discussion ofYu He's life and calligraphy, are the result oflater mounting, when collectors com-
see Wang Lianqi, "Yu He jiqi xingshu Lantingji." bined several works in different scripts into one hand
scroll or album. But having examined these works the brush, and the gracefully thin center portions of
from the standpoint of paper, brush method, ink, seals, these strokes are elegantly curved. Vertical strokes
and text, I am confident that in most cases Fu Shan's usually commence with a pointed end, followed by
zashu juan/ ce (e.g., the Selu miaohan) were intended as delicate adjustments to the curves in their lines. The
single works and mounted this way originally. relationship between strokes is spacious, but character
I55· For an excellent study of suzi, see Zhang structures remain organic and compact. The rhythm
Yongquan, Hanyu suzi yanjiu. of the brush-press, move, lift, turn, pause-makes
I56. One of the earliest discussions of the relation- Chu's calligraphy lively and pleasing. Bada Shanren' s
ship between the eight trigrams and the origin of Chi- "copy" ofChu's calligraphy is entirely different. Nei-
nese writing is Xu Shen's "Postface to the Shuowen ther the horizontal nor the vertical strokes in his leaf
jiezi"; see Thern, Postjace of the "Shuo-wen Chieh-tzu," start with subtly shaped or pointed endings. In
PP· 8-9. executing each stroke, Bada apparently made no use of
I57· Characters are probably missing from this the ti'an (press-and-lift) technique, and, in general, his
sentence, making it difficult to understand. But there strokes lack the sinuous shaping and variable stroke
is no doubt that Fu Shan is discussing the clerical- widths found in Chu's work: Bada's lines are thick,
script calligraphy of the Han, since the Han period even in width, blunt-ended, and saturated with ink. In
was the heyday of this script. many respects, his work is stylistically closer to Yan
I58. See Shufa congkan, I997, no. I: 57· Zhenqing's calligraphy, which had a profound impact
I59· FSQS, vol. I, pp. 404-5. on Bada Shanren's late work. Indeed, this work is
I6o. The question arises whether it is possible that written in Bada's highly individual personal style,
Fu Shan, when he executed the Selu miaohan scroll in which would be hard to confuse with almost any other.
the early I65os, might have believed that the rubbing The text, moreover, is an excerpt from the Memorial
of the Memorial Stele of Guo Youdao was genuine but on Stele ofHuangfu Dan (Huangfu Dan bei), which was
later reconsideration changed his mind. This, however, composed by the early Tang official Yu Zhining (588-
does not seem to have been the case. The most impor- 665) and written out by Ouyang Xun. Thus, neither
tant book on Han clerical-script calligraphy studied the text nor the calligraphic style of the copy has any-
by Fu Shan was Hong Kuo's Interpreting Han Clerical thing to do with Chu Suiliang, yet Bada still wrote
Script Writing, a copy of which, from the Fu family that it was "copied after Chu Suiliang." See Bai Qian-
collection, survived as late as the I930S. From Fu shen, "Cong Bada Shanren lin Lanting xu lun Mingmo
Shan's marginalia and his personal seal "Fu Dingchen Qingchu shufa zhong de linshu guannian."
yin" (Fu Shan changed his given name from Dingchen I62. Fu Shan's mother was a Buddhist. From at
to Shan before the I64os), we know that Fu Shan least the Sui and Tang dynasties, if not before, there
made a serious study of this book in the late Ming. has been a tradition of copying Buddhist sutras to
Since this evidence predates the Selu miaohan scroll, it accumulate virtue.
is unlikely that Fu Shan changed his mind about the I63. Goody, Literacy in Traditional Society, p. I.
authenticity of Guo's memorial inscription. I64. See Zheng Zhenduo, Xidi shuhua, p. 384.
I6I. Such inventive copying continued in the sec- I65. Fu Shan was fond ofbiji. Many of his surviving
ond half of the seventeenth century. In an album of works are in this genre.
paintings and calligraphy executed around I700 by I66. One of the earliest examples of a collection of
Bada Shanren (I626-I705), a descendant of the Ming biji is Assorted Offerings ofYouyang (Youyang zazu) by
imperial house who suffered considerably during the Duan Chengshi (d. 863) of the Tang dynasty.
dynastic transition, Bada wrote on one leaf that he was I67. For a discussion of the writing and publishing
copying the work of the Tang calligrapher Chu Suili- of xiaopin in the late Ming, see Cao Shujuan, Wan
ang. Stylistically speaking, the calligraphy of this leaf Ming xingling xiaopin yanjiu.
has nothing to do with Chu. For instance, rubbings of I68. See ibid., pp. 234-4I.
Chu's Priface to the Buddhist Canon show vivid move- I69. ChenJiru, Taiping qinghua, 2.I3b-I8a.
ments of the brush. Horizontal strokes are character- I70. See, e.g., Hua Shu's use of sui, in the com-
ized by subtle endings shaped by increased pressure of pounds suixing (casually) and suiyi (randomly), in the
preface he wrote to his Random Notes Compiled in a 10. See Zhang Mu, Yan Ruoqu nianpu, pp. 24-48.
Leisurely Mood. Hua's preface, quoted above, itself is a n. See FSQS, vol. 7, pp. 5303-4.
beautifully written xiaopin. I2. Yan Ruoqu, Shangshu guwen shuzheng, 7·4·
I7I. In the handscroll of I603 discussed in Chapter I I3. Qu Dajun traveled widely, and he was a princi-
(see Fig. I.7 ), Dong Qichang, for instance, twice used pal figure in the Shanxi intellectual community in the
the character shi in his final inscription recounting the I66os; see Wang Zongyan, Qu Wengshan xiansheng
day's activities. nianpu, pp. 69-89. For biographical information on
I72. For a thorough discussion of these two late Shen Hanguang, see Shen Hanyu and Shen Han pan,
Ming catalogues of inkstick designs, see Lin Li-chiang, Shen Fumeng nianpu.
"The Proliferation oflmages." I4. Yan Ruoqu, Shangshu guwen shuzheng, 4.54a.
IJ3. Shang Wei, "]in Ping Mei cihua and Late Ming I5. See Fu Shen, "Wang Duo ji Qingchu beifang
Print Culture." jiancangjia," p. 76; and also Willard]. Peterson, "The
I74· Ibid. Life ofKu Yen-wu," pp. 204-5.
I75· For a scholarly discussion of nonlinear reading I6. For biographical information on Wang
in the late Ming, see Shang Wei, "]in Ping Mei cihua Hongzhuan, see "Wang Shanshi nianpu," in Zhao
and Late Ming Print Culture." Lisheng, Gu Tinglin yu Wang Shanshi, pp. n7-222.
I76. In the early Qing, some literati continued to I7. For a short biography of Cao Rong by Tu Lien-
copy out late Ming biji xiaopin, recounting the pleas- che, see Hummel, Eminent Chinese of ihe Ch'ing Period,
ures ofliterati life. For example, in late I693 Bada p. 740.
Shanren copied out, on a folding fan, a short note I8. Yang Qian, Zhu Zhutuo xiansheng nianpu, pp. I5-
describing the day of a literatus in retreat (see Fangyu I7.
Wang and Richard Barnhart, Master of the Lotus Gar- I9. Many of the scholarly gatherings at Chen
den, p. 8I). Huang Miaozi ("Bada Shanren nianbiao Shangnian's residence in Yanmen are mentioned in
(8]," p. 97) suggests that the text of this fan was com- the writings ofFu Shan, Qu Dajun, Gu Yanwu, and
posed not by Bada but by a late Ming literatus. Cao Rong, and especially in the poems ofLi Yindu;
see Wu Huaiqing, Guanzhong san Li nianpu, pp. 3II-5I.
CHAPTER 3 20. Ibid.
2I. For biographies of the Xu brothers, see
I. See FSQS, vol. 7, 5302-5. Hummel, Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, pp. 310-
2. See Hao Shude, Fu Shan zhuan, pp. 34-37. Lin I2, 327.
Peng ("Fu Shan shufa lun," p. I83) is of the opinion 22. For the text of the Xu brothers' letter, see in an
that Fu Shan visited the south several times, but he article by Wang Zongyan, "Gu Tinglin xiansheng
offers no solid evidence to support his view. nianpu shuhou," in Cuncui xueshe, Gu Tinglin xian-
3· Qu Dajun, "Shu 'Xiaoxian huangdi ji' hou," sheng nianpu huibian, pp. 365-66.
Wengshan wenwai,juan 9· 23. See Xu's preface in Liu Tiren's Qisongtang shiji.
4· Elman, From Philosophy to Philology, p. 8. 24. Liu Tiren was not the only one who built a
5· Recent years have witnessed some research on small house near Sun's residence in Sumen. After
early Qing northern scholars: see, e.g., Birdwhistell, Li resigning from his government position in I657, Wei
Yong (r627-1705). . Yi'ao visited his teacher Sun in Sumen four times and,
6. Yu Ying-shih ("Qingdai sixiangshi de yige xin during his third visit, in I67o, built a thatched hut
jieshi," p. I44) takes Gu Yanwu as a "paradigm" for an there, which he named Xueting (Snow Pavilion) be-
understanding of Qing intellectual development. For a cause in winter it was covered by snow. Proud of fol-
biography of Gu Yanwu, see Peterson, 'The Life of lowing his teacher for so long a time, Wei Yi' ao called
Ku Yen-wu." himself Mr. Xueting.
7· Peterson, "The Life ofKu Yen-wu," p. I42. 25. The craze among Chinese officials in the early
8. For a short biography of Pan Lei by Fang Chao- Qing for associating with cultural celebrities is illus-
ying, see Hummel, Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, trated by a story involving Chu Fangqing (I633-83).
pp. 6o6-7. While serving as the magistrate of Qingyuan county
9· Gu Yanwu, Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, pp. 363-64.
Notes to Pages 148-57 • 28r
in Shanxi, Chu sent a student to Fu Shan with a letter on phonology from the Song to the Qing, see Elman,
in which he wrote that he cherished the hope of mak- From Philosophy to Philology, pp. 2I2-2I.
ing Fu Shan's acquaintance but dared not visit Fu 36. Hu Qiguang, Zhongguo xiaoxue shi, p. 23I.
Shan in person because he thought a magistrate too 37· Gu Yanwu, Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, p. n
humble to associate with someone of national reputa- 38. Among those interested in phonology were Gu
tion. He had therefore sent a student to present his Yanwu, Fu Shan, Pan Lei, Li Yindu, Zhu Yizun, and
poems and essays, to let Fu Shan know he was not a Yan Ruoqu. Pan Lei's Classification ofPhonetics (Leiyin)
"vulgar official." See Chu Fangqing, Chu Dun'an wenji, was an influential book on phonetics. Li Yindu also
I.I6a-I7a. published a work on phonology entitled Studies of An-
26. See Peterson, "The Life ofKu Yen-wu," cient and Modern Phonology (Gujin yun kao ). See Wang
pp. 202-6. Li, Hanyu yinyunxue, pp. I46-58, 289. Works by Zhu
27. For a discussion of the effect of this intellectual Yizun andY an Ruoqu also applied a phonological
community on Fu Shan's scholarly activities in his approach to ancient texts. Here, however, I have lim-
later years, see Bai Qianshen, "Shiqi shiji liushi-qishi ited my discussion to Gu Yanwu and Fu Shan.
niandai Shanxi de xueshuquan." 39· The evidence for Chen's sponsorship comes
28. See Chapter I, note I. from a note by Wang Hongzhuan (Shanzhi, erji, juan 4,
29. The great sophistication of elite life in the late p. 272): "Li Zide [Li Yindu] used to own an old edi-
Ming is reflected not only in the many personal notes tion of the Expansion of Rhymes. Gu Tinglin [Gu
published during the period itself but also in the Yanwu] asked Chen Qigong [Chen Shangnian] to
reminiscences of members of the conquest generation. have it reprinted by Zhang Lichen [Zhang Chao] in
One of best of these memoirs of Ming life is the fa- Huaiyin, Jiangnan."
mous Tao' an mengyi by Zhang Dai. 40. Gu Yanwu, Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, pp. 110-11.
30. Elman, From Philosophy to Philology, p. 3· 4I. Fu Shan's notes are to be published as "Col-
3I. Kunshan was also the birthplace of madiao, a card lected Poetic Lines ofTu Fu Cited in Annotating the
game popular in the late Ming used for gambling. It, Expansion of Rhymes" ("An Guangyun huipi Du shiju")
too, was a target ofGu's moralizing: "In the late years of in Fu Shan, Fu Shan quanshu bubian by Shanxi renmin
the Wanli reign, the country enjoyed peace. Scholar- chubanshe. I thank Mr. Wang Shiqing for this infor-
officials were at loose ends, and some played gambling mation.
games. By the Tianqi reign, the game madiao had be- 42. For the text of this work, see Fu Shan quanshu
come popular. Today among government officials, bubian.
from Jiangnan to Shandong, there is no one who does 43· Gu Yanwu, Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, pp. 28-29.
not play the game" (GuY anwu, Rizhi lu jishi, p. IOOI ). 44· ZhuJianxin Uinshixue, p. 35): "In the early
32. Ibid., p. 672. Qing, when Gu Yanwu and Zhu Yizun [began] pay-
33· Some scholars, among them Yu Ying-shih ing great attention to evidential research, [bronze and
("Cong Song-Ming lixue de fazhan lun Qingdai stone inscriptions] were treated as evidence for verify-
sixiangshi"), argue that the seeds of the concept of ing the Classics and checking historical texts. The
"returning to origins" (huixiang yuandian) were sown in trend [they set] was followed by many scholars: when
the middle Ming as a logical outcome of debates over Qing scholars discuss bronze and stone artifacts, al-
the original meaning and authenticity of certain Con- most without exception they use the inscriptions to
fucian texts. See also Lin Qingzhang, Mingdai kaojuxue verify the Classics and check historical texts."
yanjiu, pp. 22-29. But it was under the Qing that "re- 45· Both rubbings bear Wang Hongzhuan's seals.
turning to origins" became a dominant pattern of 46. In a letter to Zhou Lianggong, Wang
thought. Hongzhuan mentions his plan to publish Guo's work;
34· Gu Yanwu, Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, p. 27. The see Wang, Dizhaiji,juan 8b.
word for scholarship, xueshu, means intellectual activ- 47· Yan Ruoqu, Qianqiu zhaji, 1.38b.
ity in a broader sense. 48. Two colophons written by Zhu Yizun, on
35· See Zhang Shilu, Zhongguo yinycmxue shi, pp. rubbings of Han steles, the Memorial Stele of Yin Zhou
26I-30I. For a brief discussion in English of research and the Memorial Stele of Heng Fang, show that Cao
Rong and Zhu Yizun twice viewed Fu Shan's collec- Documents in 1655, when he was a mere twenty sui. His
tion in T aiyuan in the fall of 1655; see Zhu Yizun, ideas on it circulated in the intellectual community
Pushutingji, 47.5b-6a, rzb. For more general discus- long before their publication. In 1672, when Yan met
sions of the significance of calligraphy rubbings, see Gu in T aiyuan, they debated the authenticity of the
Bai, "The Artistic and Intellectual Dimensions of Guwen Documents. Originally Gu had believed it to be
Chinese Calligraphy Rubbings"; see also Wu Hung, authentic, but he later changed his mind (see Shangshu
"On Rubbings." guwen shuzheng, 7.b ). That alone illustrates the influ-
49· Evidence for the date ofFu's interest in bronze ence ofYan Ruoqu's research.
and stone studies is provided by his copy of Interpreting 63. Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, Intellectual Trends in the Ch'ing
Han Clerical-Script Writing. It is an edition published in Period, p. 35·
the sixteenth year of the Wanli reign (r588), and his 64. Li Ling, "Hanjian and Guwen Sishengyun chuban
seal reading "Fu Dingchen yin" (Seal ofFu Dingchen) houji."
tells us that he owned the book before the fall of the 65. A reproduction of this work with the same tide,
Ming, since "Fu Dingchen" is an early name that Fu T aiyuan Duantie, was published by Shanxi renmin
later replaced with "Fu Shan." Like many carelessly chubanshe in 1983.
edited books printed in the late Ming, this one lacked 66. Two letters by Fu Shan to Duan Xin, who had
parts of the original text and had numerous other become Fu's student in 1674, are in the Collection oJFu
mistakes. Checking this version against several others, Shan's Calligraphy Engraved by the Duan Family in Tai-
Fu wrote many corrections in the margins. To judge yuan. In them, Fu instructed Duan how to arrange his
from his calligraphic style, most of these notes were calligraphies as they were being engraved. Duan was
written no earlier than the r66os, even although he expert at producing carvings of calligraphy into stone,
owned the book much earlier. carvings that were then used to make rubbings. See
50. For a reproduction of this work, see Zhongguo also Duan's postscript to the Collection.
gudai shuhua tumu, vol. n, Zhe 35-94, p. 290. 67. The master whom Fu Shan mentions in this
51. Some scholars hold that the Stone Drum Inscrip- work remains unidentified.
tions were works of the Spring and Autumn period 68. The brushwork in some scrolls of this set, for
(770-476 B.c.); others believe they were made in the instance, scrolls ten and eleven, is fairly slick; lacking
Warring States period (475-221 B.c.). is a sense of the brush's resistance as it travels across
52. Yan Ruoqu, Qianqiu zhaji, 5.9ab. the paper, necessary if the calligrapher is to produce
53· Ibid., 2.4ab. powerful, dynamic strokes. Although the last scroll of
54· Gu Yanwu, Rizhilu jishi, 21.755. this set, particularly its inscription, seems to have
55· Ibid. been written by Fu Shan himself, not by his assis-
56. The Tributes oJYu is an ancient work on geog- tants, some strokes are rather shaky and appear more
raphy. careless than natural. In most cases, casualness in
57· Zhang Mu, Yan Ruoqu nianpu, p. 35· writing calligraphy was appreciated, since casualness
58. Yan Ruoqu, "Nanlei Huangshi aici," Qianqiu was thought to reflect the untrammeled personality
zhaji, 4(I).34b. of a master artist. Literati art theory justified this
59· Gu Yanwu, Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, p. 169. approach to producing art. For a discussion of callig-
6o. For instance, letters by Y an Ruoqu collected in raphy produced for various social occasions, see Bai
Qianqiu zhaji record many discussions and disputes Qianshen, "Cong Fu Shan yu Dai Tingshi de
about matters of evidential research. jiaowang lunji Zhongguo shufa zhong de yingchou
6r. On the subject of forgery detection in the early he xiuci wenti."
Qing, see Lin Qingzhang, Qingchu de qunjing bianweixue; 69. I thank Susan Bush, who first mentioned to me
and Elman, From Philosophy to Philology, pp. 68-70. the possible relationship between the Daoist tradition
62. Although the first juan of Evidential Analysis of of writing in a magic script and Fu Shan's enthusiasm
the Guwen Documents was completed in r683 and the for unusual character forms after I presented a paper
complete book published only in 1745 (41 years after entitled "The Obsession with Strange Character
Yan's death), Yan had become skeptical of the Guwen Forms in Late Ming and Early Qing Calligraphy" at
the symposium "Issues in Ming-Qing Painting," at 83. Zhuge Liang (A.D. r8r-234) was the principal
Yale University Art Gallery, Apr. 24, I994· adviser ofLiu Bei of Shu in his struggle against the
70. Tseng, A History of Chinese Calligraphy, p. 8o. states ofWu and Wei.
For further discussion of the Daoist tradition and 84. FSQS, vol. r, p. 51. Fu Shan's poem is undated,
Chinese calligraphy, see Chen Yinque, "Tianshidao yu but given its emotional and political tenor, it is rea-
binhaidiyu zhi guanxi"; and Ledderose, "Some Taoist sonable to date it after the r644 dynastic transition.
Elements in the Calligraphy of the Six Dynasties." For Because it mentions the Kingdom of Shu, regarded by
a discussion of Daoist talismans, see Little et al., Tao- many Chinese as the legitimate successor to the impe-
ism and the Arts of China, pp. 200-207. rial house of Han, the poem may have been written
71. In r68o Fu Shan sent a calligraphy as a gift to before the fall of the Southern Ming (r66z).
the Qing official Gao Heng. and in r684 another cal- 85. Li Yu, "Wang Jiangnan," in Yu Pingbo, Tang-
ligraphy as a gift to the official Wei Xiangshu (r6r7- Song ci xuanshi, p. 59· English translation by Matthew
87). Both gifts were carefully executed albums in small Flannery.
regular script, a script considered formal and hence 86. Li Yu, "Langtaosha," ibid., p. 6r.
appropriate for presents of this kind. For more discus- 87. Li Yu, "Pusaman," ibid., p. 6o. English transla-
sions of the selection of script types for various occa- tion by Matthew Flannery.
sions, see Bai, "Calligraphy for Negotiating Everyday 88. Zhao Ji, "Yanshanting: Beixingjian xinghua," in
Life," pp. 96-99. Hu Yunyi, Song ci xuan, pp. 125-26.
72. Gu Yanwu, Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, p. 242. 89. Evidence of the early use of the shukui as a
73- FSQS, vol. r, p. 413. metaphor for loyalty is to be found in a fan painting
74· See Fu Shan's first letter to Wei Yi'ao in the by the Ming painter Shen Zhou (r427-1509). For a
handscroll now in the collection of Dr. Yip Shing Yiu, detailed discussion of this fan, see Barnhart et al., The
Hong Kong; see Chapter 2, note 27. Jade Studio, pp. 78-79.
75· See Chapter r, note 179. 90. For a discussion of the history of the stele and
76. FSQS, vol. r, p. 63r. other stone artifacts, see Ma Hen g. Fanjiangzhai jinshi
77· In recent years, students of Chinese intellectual conggao, pp. 65-ror.
history have begun to recognize Fu Shan's exceptional 91. See Owen, Remembrances, p. zr; see also Kang-i
broadmindedness in the context of his time. He con- Sun Chang. The Late-Ming Poet Ch'en Tzu-lung,
tributed to the study of a wide variety of schools of PP· roz-4.
thought, even as evidential research and its narrow 92. Peterson, "The Life ofKu Y en-wu," pt. II,
focus on the Confucian classics became the scholarly p. 209.
paradigm of the early Qing. See Hou W ailu, Zhongguo 93· GuY anwu, Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, p. 348. My
sixiang tongshi, vol. 5, pp. 266-88. translation is adapted from Peterson, "The Life ofKu
78. See Shufa congkan, 1997, no. r: 52. Y en-wu," p. 209.
79· Gu Yanwu, Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, p. 134 94· For an excellent discussion of the Xiaoling
Bo. Fu Shan had written strange seal-script callig- Mausoleum and its political significance to Ming loy-
raphy on serious occasions before the r66os. Two such alists in the early Qing, see Hay, "Ming Palace and
works are the frontispiece to a landscape handscroll by Tomb in Early QingJiangning."
Yan Wengui, which he wrote in the r65os (see Chap- 95· Gu Yanwu, Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, p. 306.
ter r, note 172), and a surra he copied for his mother in 96. For the short memorial ode that Gu Yanwu
r655 (see Fig. 2.5r). wrote on this event, see ibid., pp. r2o-2r. The set of
Sr. FSQS, vol. r, p. 226. For a Chinese annotations thirteen poems by Li Yindu, however, seems not to be
to this poem, see Hou W enzheng, Fu Shan lun shuhua, extant. Li wrote that he gave the poems to Fu Shan
p. 26. (Li Yindu, Shouqitang wenji, 3.I3).
82. Shih Shou-ch'ien ("You qiqu dao fugu," 97· Zhang Yan, "Gaoyang tai," Shanzhong baiyun ci,
pp. 44-66) has noticed a similar shift in early Qing P· 55·
painting. 98. Qu Dajun, Wengshan shiwai, 8.r5b.
99· Fang Xuanling et al.,Jin shu, vol. 4, pp. 1020, no. For a detailed discussion of the origin of the
1022. The translation here is adapted from Owen, Five Yue mountain system and the historical impor-
Remembrances, p. 23, with romanization changed from tance of Mount Song, see Wu Hung, "The Compet-
Wade-Giles to pinyin. ingYue."
roo. See Meng Haoran, Meng Haoran shiji jiaozhu, m. See Gu Yanwu, ]inshi wenzi ji, r.Sa-na.
p. 269; translation from Owen, Remembrances, p. 24. n2. Zhao Yanwei, Yunlu manchao, 9.nb-r2a.
For Owens's discussion of Yang's stele and Meng' s n3. For the flowering ofjinshixue in the Northern
poem, see ibid., pp. r6-32. Song, see Xia Chaoxiong, "Songdai jinshixue de
ror. Sturman, "The Donkey Rider as Icon," zhuyao gongxian jiqi xingqi de yuanyin," pp. 66-76.
pp. 86-87. n4. Ouyang Xiu, Ouyang Xiu quanji, vol. 2, p. n26.
102. Gu Yanwu, Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, p. 394· n5. Zhao Mingcheng,]inshi lu, pp. 333, 441, 461.
103. Kang-i Sun Chang, The Late-Ming Poet Ch'en n6. See Quan Hansheng, "Bei Song Bianliang de
Tzu-lung, p. 3· shuchu maoyi."
104. Yan Ruoqu, "Yiyu zaxing zeng Chen Zishou n7. Harrist, "The Artist as Antiquarian," p. 237.
xiansheng wushishou," Qianqiu zhaji, 6.15a. Date and n8. Amy McNair ("The Engraved Model-Letters
pear tree wood was used for carving printing plates in Compendia of the Song Dynasty," p. 218) claims that
ancient China. What Yan means here is that books the study of epigraphy in the Song represents a strug-
printed in the south were better than those from the gle for political and cultural control by the Neo-
north. Confucians because "the mastery of epigraphical
105. W eng Kaiyun, "Lun S~andong Hanbei," p. 12. sources was crucial to the aim of making historiogra-
ro6. For a scholarly discussion of the distribution phy the province of the scholar class." But McNair
and preservation of Han steles in these areas, see does not elaborate further.
Gong Y anxing, Jining quan Hanbei. n9. Ouyang Xiu, Ouyang Xiu quanji, vol. 2, p. 1087.
107. Cao Rong, ''Huai Gu Ningren you Qin er- 120. Scholars interpret this painting differently.
shou," ]ingtitang shiji, 20.6a. Some believe it depicts the scene in which Cao Cao
roB. Cao Rong,]ingtitang shiji, 7.6b-7a. Cao Rong (A.D. 155-220 ), a general of the Eastern Han period,
and Zhu Yizun also frequently visited steles during reads from horseback the stele of Cao E (d. A.D. roB),
their stay in the north. Y e Yibao (ca. 1630-87; ]inshi lu who out of filial piety drowned herself in mourning
bu, p. 9133), a friend ofZhu Yizun, wrote, "When Xi- for her father. As Cao Cao reads, his attendant Yang
chang [Zhu Yizun) and Vice Minister Cao [Cao Xiu stands by. According to A New Account of Tales of
Rong) were traveling in Hebei and Shanxi, they went the World (Shishuo xinyu), the story continues with Cao
looking for ancient steles and did not even mind dig- Cao and Yang Xiu passing behind the stele, where-
ging several feet below ground to unearth them. All upon Yang Xiu instantly decodes a riddle composed
their attendants were good at making rubbings and of eight characters on the stele's reverse side; Cao Cao,
mounting them." however, does not solve the riddle until he has traveled
109. FSQS, vol. r, p. 477· Fu Shan's letter is un- thirty li. Cao Cao concludes that he is thirty li inferior
dated, but in another, similar letter to Dai in which to Yang Xiu (see Yu Jiaxi, Shishuo xinyu jianshu, p. 580 ).
he also mentioned his plan to visit Mount Song and Peter Sturman ("The Donkey Rider as Cultural Icon,"
Mount Shaoshi, Fu Shan (who needed help getting pp. 21-26) is firmly of the view that the Osaka paint-
on his horse) writes that his grandson Fu Liansu was ing depicts the Tang poet Meng Haoran reading Yang
going to accompany him (ibid., p. 480). Whether Fu Hu's Stele for the Shedding of Tears at Mount Xian in
Shan actually made the trip to Henan is unclear, Xiangyang. Wu Hung ("Ruins in Chinese Art"),
since he also mentioned in the same letter that a however, raises the question of whether the artist of
Mr. Li from Shandong province has invited him to the Osaka painting intended to represent an identifi-
visit Shandong. What is certain, however, is that able stele (e.g., the Stele for the Shedding of Tears), an
Fu Shan long cherished a dream of making a pil- identifiable figure (e.g., Meng Haoran), or a particular
grimage to Mounts Song and Shaoshi to see the subject (Meng Haoran reading the stele). Wu believes
steles there. that the painter had intended to depict a "nameless"
stele, and the painting depicts simply an encounter same. Many early Qing scholars tried to shed light on
with the past, where all is unknown and anonymous. this problem. Fu Shan believed that two scripts were
I2I. Xuanhe huapu, p. 76. similar but not the same, and that clerical script de-
I22. Ibid., p. 102. rived from bafen (ibid., p. 854). For a discussion oflishu
I23. Ibid., p. 92. (clerical script), and bafen in English, see Proser,
I24. Zhao Han, Shimo juanhua, p. I8583. Zhao, in "Moral Characters," pp. 228-32.
his behavior, is reminiscent ofLi He (79I-8I7), a fa- I39· Ibid., p. 855.
mous Tang poet, who was always accompanied by a I40. Huang Bosi, Dongguan yulun, p. 884. Transla-
young attendant carrying a brocade bag. When lines tion adapted from Chu Hui-liang, "The Chung Yu
of poetry came into head, Li He jotted them down Tradition," p. 102. Huang Bosi's comment quoted
and stuffed them into in the bag. here was made during a period of burgeoning interest
I25. For a discussion of the literati life and envi- in epigraphical inscriptions among Northern Song
ronment in the late Ming, see the articles by James C. literati, including calligraphers (see Sturman, Mi Fu,
Y. Watt and Chu-tsing Li, in Li and Watt, The Chi- pp. I68-7o ). In the Yuan dynasty, there was also a
nese Scholar's Studio, pp. I-I3, 37-5I. trend toward archaism in calligraphy. Many discus-
I26. Gu Yanwu, Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, p. 29. sions of calligraphy during this period expressed ideas
I27. Zhu Yizun, "Fengyu shike fojingji," Pushuting similar to those of Huang Bosi (see Mo Jialiang,
ji, 67.6a. In the same essay, Zhu Yizun also described "Yuandai zhuanli shufa shilun," pp. 8I-84).
Fu Shan's adventures at a cave on Mount Fengyu, five I4I. Sun Yueban and Wang Yuanqi, Peiwenzhai
li west ofTaiyuan county. Fu went there to look at shuhua pu, vol. 2, p. 4I.
Northern Qi Buddhist steles, which he saw with the 142. For a scholarly discussion of the Han clerical-
help of!ocal inhabitants, who held torches for him. script writing on both steles, including the Memorial
The same story is also told in Ye Yibao' s Jinshi lu bu, Stele of Gao Quan, and on bamboo and wooden slips,
p. 9I36. see Proser, "Moral Characters."
I28. For more on Zhang Feng's life and art, see 143. Much of Guo's collection later came into the
Hongnam Kim, "Chou Liang-kung and His 'Tu- hands of his disciple Wang Hongzhuan.
Hua-Lu' (Lives of Painters)," vol. 2, pp. n6-22. 144. We know that Fu Shan owned these rubbings
I29. Cao Rong, "Song Fu Qingzhu gongye either because he spoke of copying them or because
Konglin," Jingtitangji, 28. Ib. they are recorded as having belonged to Fu in the
I3o. FSQS, vol. I, p. 49· writings of such friends as Zhu Yizun.
I3I. See Wu Hung, "The Competing Yue." 145. See Lin Ming-po, Qingdai xuxue kao.
I32. For an excellent discussion of the engraved 146. Both Fu Shan and his son Fu Mei studied the
texts on Mount T ai, particularly the spectacular Re- lesser seal-script calligraphy of the Memorial Stele of
cord of the Eulogy on Mount Tai by Emperor Xuanzong Mount Yi, but the rubbing they copied was a late one.
of the Tang (r. 7I2-56), see Harrist, "Record of the Judging from his calligraphy, Fu learned seal script
Eulogy on Mt. T ai." more from dictionaries and catalogues than from
133· Ibid. original rubbings. Fu's seal-script calligraphy is imagi-
I34· We know from Fu Shan's writings, in particu- native and indicates a youthful understanding of how
lar his colophon to the Memorial Stele of Kong Zou, that ancient seal script should be written, but, in his old
he owned and copied this rubbing; see FSQS, vol. I, age, he realized that there were problems with his
pp. 411, 862. earlier interpretations of it.
I35· Fu Shan, "Liansu cong deng Daiyue, ye I47· This rubbing is now in the collection of the
Shenglin, gui, xinshou xieci jiaozhi," in ibid., p. 49· Palace Museum, Beijing. Li's colophon is not dated,
I36. Chen Jie, "Shufa ouji," p. 5b. but in it Li tells us that he wrote it in summer in Xi' an,
137· FSQS, vol. I, p. 853. just after returning from T aiyuan, where he had met
I38. Ibid., p. 5I9. Bafen was a script first used in the Fu Shan. This information allows us to date the colo-
Han dynasty. Some scholars hold that it is different phon to 1666. In that year Li was in T aiyuan in the
from clerical script, but others believe that two are the spring, then spent his summer in Xi' an (see Wu
Huaiqing, Guanzhong san Li nianpu, pp. 337-38). Fu r62. Modern cursive may have started in the East-
Shan also discussed clerical-script calligraphy with ern Han period. Traditionally, Zhang Zhi was cred-
Cao Rong and Zhu Yizun: see Zhu Yizun, Pushutingji, ited with creating this script. Bur some scholars argue
juan 47· Zhu Yizun was clearly familiar with Fu that the formation of this script occurred in the Three
Shan's clerical-script calligraphy: in a poem, he praised Kingdoms period and the Jin dynasty at the same time
Fu Shan as one of the few early Qing masters of this as regular script was raking shape (see Qi Gong, Qi
script (ibid., ro.2b ). Gong conggao, p. 27; and Qiu Xigui, Wenzixue gaiyao,
148. Judging from irs brushwork, this hands croll p. 95). Unlike draft cursive, which is characterized
might be a copy ofFu Shan's original copy. with separated characters and upward-flicked hori-
149· FSQS, vol. r, p. 414. According to Yan Ruoqu, zontal strokes, characters in modern cursive script
Fu Shan once told him that he had a rubbing made in tend to be connected.
the W anli period of the Memorial Stele of Cao Quan, 163. Feng Xingxian, Yushi ji (Qing copy, Beijing
but had lost it during the war. It is rhus more likely Library collection), n.p.
that the Cao Quan portion ofFu's handscroll was 164. See note 139 to this chapter.
based on the rubbing he acquired in r665. For Fu's r65. This systematization, Pan Liangzhen ("Xue
conversation with Yan Ruoqu, see Zhang Mu' s colo- Wangguanjian") argues, was nor an isolated phe-
phon to this rubbing in FSQS, vol. 7, p. 5132. nomenon bur merely a small component of the Tang
150. Du Mu, a Ming scholar of bronze and stone rulers' determination to achieve order in the empire
artifacts as well as calligraphy and painting, mentions after centuries of war, an order that include a complex
in his Jinxie linlang that there might be rubbings of a legal system and a highly evolved bureaucracy. For
spurious Memorial Stele of Xia Cheng. We know, for discussions of the sociocultural context of Tang callig-
instance, that in the twenty-fourth year of the Jiajing raphy, also see Goldberg, "Court Calligraphy in the
reign (1545), Tang Yao re-engraved a Memorial Stele of Early Tang Dynasty." For an excellent discussion of
Xi a Cheng (see Gu Yanwu, ]inshi wenzi ji, p. 9201 ). It the evolution of brush methods in the history of Chi-
remains a matter of controversy whether there are nese calligraphy, especially the impact of the develop-
extant Song rubbings of an original Han Memorial ment of the method used to write regular script, see
Stele of Xia Cheng. See Fang Ruo and Wang Zhuang- Qiu Zhenzhong, "Guanyu bifa yanbian de ruogan
hong, Zengbu jiaobei suibi, pp. 95-96. wenti."
151. The Memorial Stele of Chunyuzhang is another r66. On the relationship between Yan's early work
ride for the Memorial Stele ofXia Cheng. The full ride in and calligraphic taste at rhe court of Emperor Xuan-
Chinese is rhe Memorial Stele of Chunyuzhang Xia Cheng. zong, see McNair, The Upright Brush, p. 29.
152. FSQS, vol. r, p. 856. 167. For the tradition in the Yan clan of practicing
I 53· The text cited here is from two leaves of cleri- seal-script calligraphy, see Zhu Guantian, T angdai
cal script in the album, which is written in assorted shufa kaoping, p. 122. For a disc.ussion of the influence
scripts. of seal script on Yan Zhenqing's late works, see
154. Iris unclear to whom "Cai and Li" refer. McNair, The Upright Brush, pp. n8-2o.
155. FSQS, vol. r, p. 862. r68. In the Yuan dynasty, there were a number of
156. Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth- calligraphers who liked to write in seal and clerical
Century Italy, p. 34· scripts. But as Mo Jialiang ("Yuandai zhuanli shufa
157. Zhu Yizun, Pushutingji, 47· 7a-b. shilun," esp. p. 92) point~ out, Yuan dynasty clerical-
158. Wang Hongzhuan, "Shu Xiangyinjiu bei hou," script calligraphy was influenced by regular-script
Dizhai ji, juan 2. calligraphy.
159. FSQS, vol. r, p. 414. 169. Zhou Lianggong, "Yu Ni Shiliu," Laigutangji,
r6o. Zhu Yizun, "Zeng Zheng Fu," Pushutingji, vol. 2, 20.19a. For criticisms of a similar kind, see
I0.2b. Wang Hongzhuan, Dizhai ji, juan 2.
r6r. Dou Ji and Dou Meng, "Shushu fu bing zhu," 170. Yang Shen Uinshi guwen, 7· 8b ), a Ming scholar
in Lidai shufa lunwen xuan, vol. r, p. 255. who, among many other things, wrote on bronze and
stone inscriptions, mentioned that Wen Zhengming Shan and Zheng Fu met, the latter had close relation-
gave him a rubbing of the Memorial Stele of Zhang Qian. ships with several members ofFu Shan's circle.
I7I. Feng Ban, "Dunyin shuyao," in Lidai shufa lun- I82. Zhu Yizun, Pushutingji, 47.roa.
wen xuan, vol. 2, p. 557· Calligraphy's search for origins I83. The Palace Museum, Beijing, houses a rubbing
had parallels in other areas of scholarly endeavor, for of the WufengStone Inscription mounted with a label
instance, in Gu Yanwu's study of the Book of Songs to that reads: "The Wufeng Brick Inscription from the Han
reconstruct a rhyme system in order to advance the dynasty at the Confucian Temple [in Qufu]. Zheng
study of the ancient classics, and in Fu Shan's use of Ruqi [Zheng Fu] made this rubbing and gave it to me
the Tang poet Du Fu's poems to verify a book of pho- as a gift."
nology published in the Song dynasty. I84. Wang Hongzhuan, "Ji Zheng Gukou," Dizhai
I72· Zhu Yizun, "Zeng Zheng Fu," Pushutingji, ji,juan 8b.
I0.2b. I85. For Wang Wan's comment, see Ho Ch'uan-
I73· Shen Hanguang, "Yu Zhou Jianzhai," in Zhou hsin, "Qingchu lishu mingjia Zheng Fu," p. I30. Wang
· Lianggong, Chidu xinchao, vol. 2, p. I7. Wan knew many ofFu Shan's friends, including Gu
I74· Pan Lei, Suichutangji, 8.36b. Y anwu, Zhu Yizun, andY an Ruoqu.
I75· Two albums-an album oflandscape paint- I86. This painting is now in the collection of the
ings in the collection of the Anhui Provincial Museum Sichuan Provincial Museum; see Shitao shuhua quanji,
and an album in the Shexian Museum-contain pl. 58.
inscriptions by Cheng Sui in clerical script that is I87. For the influence of the sheep-hair brush on
similar to Zheng Fu's, although the brushwork Qing calligraphy, see Hua Rende, "Lun changfeng
appears rough and more solid. Few of Cheng Sui's yanghao."
clerical-script calligraphies have survived. For a study I88. Commenting on brushes, Xie Zhaozhe (I567-
of the art of Cheng Sui's paintings, see Li Zhigang, I624) wrote in his collection of notes entitled Five Mis-
"Cheng Sui (I607-I692) huihua yanjiu." cellanies (Wu zazu, p. I30 ): "In recent years, calligraphers
I76. Zhu Yizun, Pushutingji, 47.roa. have preferred a soft brush over a stiff brush. With the
I77· Bada Shanren's early calligraphy was clearly soft brush, it is easier to turn the wrist. The slanted
influenced by Dong Qichang. But by the late I68os, brush is seen more often than the upright brush, for
his calligraphy exhibited features derived from epi- with the slanted brush it is easier to achieve a distinctive
graphical calligraphy. For a discussion ofBada Shan- appearance. However, it is precisely in this matter that
ren's late calligraphic style and its relationship to the ancient and modern times are not alike" (translation
revival ofjinshixue, see Bai Qianshen, "Qingchu jin- from Oerding, Painting and Calligraphy in the "Wu-tsa-
shixue de fuxing dui Bada Shanren wannian shufeng tsu," p. 85). Although Xie's explanation of why the soft
de yingxiang." brush was preferred by his contemporaries is different
I78. Sun Zhiwei, "Qingmingri tong Fang Erzhi, from mine, his comment shows that the use of soft
Chen Qinian yin Cheng Kunlun shuzhong," Gaitangji brushes increased in the late Ming.
[xtdi], I. 2Ia. I89. This poem appears on a leaf in an album of
I79· Feng Xingxian was the oldest son ofF eng Ban, paintings and calligraphy by Shitao dated I693, now in
the calligraphy critic quoted in the preceding section. the collection of the Shanghai Museum. For a repro-
He became Fu Shan's friend in I678 when the two duction of this album, see Shitao shuhua quanji, vol. I,
men met in Beijing. pl. 98.
I8o. Feng Xingxian, "Lizi jue," n.p. I90. Shih Shou-ch'ien, "You qiqu dao fugu."
I8r. With the exception of a single work in seal I9I. See Fu Shan, FSQS, vol. 4, p. 278I; Shitao
script, all ofZheng Fu's numerous extant works are in claimed that he had searched for qi for thirty years or
clerical script. For a discussion of Zheng Fu's clerical so (see Shitao's inscription on Fig. 3-24, p. 207).
script and his trip to see steles, see Ho Ch'uan-hsin, I92. See Zhu Yizun, "Zeng Zheng Fu," Pushutingji,
"Qingchu lishu mingjia Zheng Fu," pp. I32-35. For a 47.roa; and Shi Runzhang, "Jiujian zeng Zheng Gu-
chronological biography ofZheng Fu, see Hu Yi, kou," Shi Y ushan ji, vol. 2, p. 4I8.
"Zheng Fu nianpu." Although it is not certain that Fu I93· Yan Ruoqu, Qjanqiu zhaji, 5·93b.
rr. Gu Yanwu, 'Jiwen Fu Chushi Turangshan
CHAPTER4
zhong," Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, p. 394· For the same poem
I. Fu Shan and Xu You (ca. I620-63), a student of with annotations, see WangJimin, Gu Tinglin shi jian-
Ni Yuanlu, are regarded as the last two masters of shi, vol. 2, pp. 824-25.
wild cursive-script calligraphy. But Xu You died I2. FSQS, vol. I, p.864.
twenty years earlier than Fu Shan and left few exam- I3. See Bai Qianshen, "Cong Fu Shan he Dai Ting-
ples of his work. For discussions of Xu You's life and shi de jiaowang lunji Zhongguo shufa zhong de ying-
calligraphy, see Sugimura Kunihiko, "Kyo Yu no chou he xiuci wend"; and idem, "Calligraphy for Ne-
shogai to shoho"; and ZhangJiajie, "Mingmo Qingchu gotiating Everyday Life."
Fujian diqu shufeng tanjiu." I4. This letter is recorded in Lu Xinyuan's Rang-
2. The rebellion led by Wu Sangui and two others liguan guoyan xulu, p. 329.
is called the "Rebellion of the Three Feudatories." For I5· Fan Haoding, San ]in shixuan, 9.I8b-I9a. To
a discussion, see Wakeman, The Great Enterprise, vol. 2, consign one's writings to cliffs and deep valleys means
pp. 1099-I27. Although initially the rebellion pre- to store them away, safe from the eyes of those whom
sented a real threat to the Qing, it drew little support rhe author does nor know well or does not trust.
from rhe Chinese elite; the staunch Ming loyalist Gu I6. Fan Yi, "Ye Fu Gongra xiansheng gui, fuci jiu-
Yanwu even belittled it (ibid., p. mo ). Two of Fu zheng," ]ingtianzhai shigao.
Shan's friends mentioned in the previous chapter, I7. FSQS, vol. I, p. 522.
however, were caught up in it, although on opposite I8. Wilhelm, "The Po-hsueh Hung-ju Examina-
sides. Qu Dajun took parr in the rebellion in Guang- tion of I679," p. 6I. For a brief discussion of special
dong (see Wang Zongyan, Qu Wengshan xiansheng examinations in general, see Miyazaki, China's Exami-
nianpu, pp. m-I6). Chen Shangnian, on the other nation Hell, chap. 9, "The Special Examinations."
hand, a friend of both Qu Dajun and Fu Shan, was I9. For derailed discussions of this examination, see
serving as a Qing official in Guangxi during the rebel- Wilhelm, "The Po-hsueh Hung-ju Examination of
lion; refusing to serve the new government, he died in I679"; and Kessler, "Chinese Scholars and the Early
one ofWu's jails (see]ifu tongzhi, vol. 6, p. 8093). Manchu State." See also Bai, "Turning Point."
3· On rhis point, see Zhao Yuan, Ming-Qingzhiji 20. Chen Xi admitted failing rhe provincial exami-
shidafu yanjiu, pp. 373-40I. nation many rimes; see Chen Xi, "Jiwei chudu liubie
4· See Quan Zuwang, "Ti XuJuanshi zhuan hou," zhugong," Yanshan caotangji, 5.I4a-b.
Jieqitingji (waibian ), juan 30. 2I. GuY anwu, Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, p. 394·
5· For a discussion of this trend, see He Guanbiao, 22. Peterson, "The Life ofKu Yen-wu," pt. II,
"Lun Ming yimin zidi zhi chushi," in idem, Mingmo pp. 236-37.
Qjngchu xueshu sixiangyanjiu, pp. I25-67. 23. Wu Huaiqing, Guanzhong san Li nianpu,
6. Dai Mingshi, Nanshan wenji, 8.I3b. PP· 79-85.
7· On the subject of the descendants ofMing loyal- 24. See Zhang Mu, Yan Ruoqu nianpu, pp. 24, 27,
ists serving the Manchu government, see He Guan- 34, 37, 48.
biao, Mingmo Qingchu xueshu sixiang yanjiu, pp. I25-68. 25. Yan Ruoqu, "Yu Liu Chaozongzhang," Qjanqiu
8. FSQS, vol. 7, p. 5026. zhaji, 5.88a. The Gate of the Golden Horse was a gate
9· The 'Two Gongs of Chu State" were Gong of the imperial palace during the reign of Emperor
Sheng and Gong She, Han loyalists who refused to Wu of the Western Han. Later it became another
serve Wang Mang's new dynasty (A.D. 9-24). The name for the imperial palace.
"Four White-Haired Ancients of Qin" were four 26. Pan Lei, Suichutang shiji, 2.25.
hermits who lived during the Qin and survived into 27. Ibid., 3.I-2.
rhe early Han. 28. FSQS, vol. I, p. 74·
ro. This line alludes to rhe peach trees of the idyllic 29. Dai Mengxiong, "Fu Zhengjun zhuan," FSQS,
village described by Tao Yuanming in his "Peach vol. 7, p. 5028.
Blossom Spring," his famous essay about living in 30. Chu Fangqing, "Woshi ji yuanxu," FSQS, vol. 7,
reclusion. P· 5II3·
31. See note 29 above. 46. See Chapter 3, note I77·
32. FSQS, vol. r, pp. 74-75, 199, 221. 47· Some recommended scholars asked friends
33· Niu Xiu, "Fu Zhengjun," FSQS, vol. 7, 5034. who were senior officials in Beijing to help them es-
34· See Yan Ruoqu, "Yu Li Tiansheng shu," Qian- cape caking the examination. Gu Yanwu even wrote to
qiu zhaji, 5.8a; Chen Xi, "Yu Fu Qingzhu xiansheng a senior official to ask his help not for himself bur for
shu," Yanshan caotangji, juan r; and Zhang Mu, Yan Li Yindu; see Gu Tinglin shiwen ji, p. 50.
Ruoqu nianpu, pp. 46-48. 48. Feng Pu visited Fu Shan at the temple in which
35· For the differences between the special examina- he was living and composed two poems for him.
tion and ordinary metropolitan examinations in the When Fu Shan left Beijing to return to T aiyuan, Feng
Qing period, see Shang Y anliu, Qingdai keju kaoshi shulu. wrote another two poems in farewell in which he
36. See Wang Shizhen, Wang Shizhen nianpu, praised Fu Shan, calling him as lofty as Tao Yuan-
pp. 37-38. Also see Wang Hongzhuan's letter to ming; see FSQS, vol. 7, pp. 5009-ro. A year later, in
Wang Shizhen in Wang Hongzhuan, Beixing rizha. r68o, Fu Shan copied The Classic of Filial Piety in small
37· Zhang Mu, Yan Ruoqu nianpu, p. 55· regular script in an album for Gao Heng, which is
38. During the period leading to Boxue hongci now in the collection of the Nanjing Museum. It
examination, Song Luo was in Beijing (see Song Luo, seems more than likely that Fu and Gao met during
Xipo leigao, vol. 6, pp. 2361-64). About r686, at the Fu's sojourn in Beijing. In the same year, r68o, Fu sene
request of Chen Xi, a recommended scholar from an ink painting of bamboo and lotuses to Wang Shi-
Hebei and friend ofFu Shan, Song Luo inscribed a zhen, additional evidence chat Fu kept in touch with
poem on a painting chat Fu Shan had painted for friends that he made the year before in Beijing. Wang
Chen Xi (see ibid., vol. 2, p. 474). Probably Chen Xi replied with a poem of thanks; see FSQS, vol. 7, p.
and Song Luo met each other and became friends at 5008.
this rime. 49· Wang Hongzhuan's essay in celebration of
39· The album is now in the collection of the Feng's birthday is recorded in the Beixing rizha. Fu
Shanghai Museum. On its last leaf, Fu Shan wrote Shan executed a handscroll (whether a painting or a
chat he was inscribing the poems for "Dai Jinren" (A calligraphy is unknown) and asked Wang Hongzhuan
man from Shanxi named Dai) and signs himself"The to write the frontispiece. See Wang Hongzhuan's
seventy-three-year-old sick man Fu Shan." Fu Shan letter to Fu Shan in the Beixing rizha.
was seventy-three sui in 1679; since Dai Tingshi went 50. Li Yuandu, Guochao xianzheng shilue, vol. 2,
to Beijing to see Fu Shan during the special examina- p. rr86.
tion period, the "man from Shanxi named Dai" in Fu 51. Ibid.
Shan's inscription must be Dai Tingshi. See also Chu 52. FSQS, vol. 7, p. 5013.
Fangqing's poem in FSQS, vol. 7, p. 5008. 53· See Kessler, "Chinese Scholars and the Early
40. See Han Tianheng, Lidai yinxue lunwen xuan, Manchu State."
vol. 2. pp. 530-31. 54· For a discussion of these two cases and the
41. Zhang Mu, Yan Ruoqu nianpu, p. 49· political consequences, see ibid.
42. Ibid. 55· Ibid., pp. 179-So.
43· See Wang Hongzhuan's letter toFu Shan in 56. Huang Aiping, "Mingshi zuanxiu yu Qingchu
Wang Hongzhuan, Beixing rizha, p. 4· shixue."
44. Y e Yibao and ocher southern scholars like Xu 57· Ibid.; Struve, "Ambivalence and Action."
Jiayan (b. r632) and Feng Xingxian visited Fu Shan at 58. Lai Xinxia et al., Zhongguo gudai tushu shiye shi,
the temple where he stayed; see the poems by Ye Yi- p. 319.
bao and Wu Wen (r644-1704) in FSQS, vol. 7, 59· Tang Bin, Tang Wenzhenggong quanji,juan 9· See
PP· 50IO-I2. also Li Yuandu, Guochao xianzheng shilue, p. 130.
45· Many scholarly exchanges between Yan Ruoqu 6o. Michael Sullivan (Art and Artists of Twentieth-
and other scholars are recorded in Y an's letters to Century China, p. 26) is here describingyingchou paint-
ocher recommended scholars; see Yan Ruoqu, Qianqiu ing, but his description applies equally well to yingchou
zhaji, juan 6. calligraphy. My study of yingchou phenomenon has
been inspired by GongJisui's thought-provoking re- tioned above, presented a poem to Fu Shan praising
search on gift-paintings in the Chinese cultural con- him as a "lofty scholar"; see Deng Zhicheng, Qingshi
text; see Gong's "Yingchouhua: A Study of Gift Paint- jishi chubian, vol. 2, p. 723. In winter of the year jiachen
ing." For stimulating discussions of functional (late I664 or early I665), Ji Yingzhong (fl. second half
paintings for various social occasions, see Cahill, The of the seventeenth century), a well-connected literatus
Painter's Practice. from Nanjing, wrote a letter to Fu Shan beginning: "I
6I. For a theoretical discussion of the importance have heard that on the right side of Mt. T aihang lives
of reciprocity in Chinese society, see Lien-sheng Yang, Mr. Fu Qingzhu, a marvelous scholar. His writings
"The Concept of'Pao' as a Basis for Social Relations are like his personality and the land in which he
in China." lives-candid and lofty" Qi Yingzhong, 'Ji Fu Qing-
62. Adopted from the translation by Chang zhu," in Zhou Lianggong, Chidu xinchao, vol. 3,
Ch'ung-ho and Hans Frankel in Chang and Frankel, PP· I7o-7I).
Two Chinese Treatises on Calligraphy, pp. !0-II. 78. FSQS, vol. I, p. 900.
63. Zhang Huaiguan, "Shu yi," in Lidai shuja lunwen 79· As Lothar Ledderose ("Chinese Calligraphy:
xuan, vol. I, p. I48. Its Aesthetic Dimension and Social Function," p. 43)
64. Han Yu, "Song Gaoxian shangren xu," in Lidai points out, "Every calligrapher knew the canonical
shuja lunwen xuan, vol. I, pp. 29I-92. For a discussion masterworks, studied them and modified them. Every
of two basic transformations in the cursive-script tra- calligrapher could therefore also judge any other cal-
dition, see Sturman, Mi Fu, pp. I29-32. ligrapher according to the same standards that were
65. See Chapter I, note 62. · applied to his own performance. When a canon of
66. Translation adapted from Sturman, "Wine and masterworks embodying stylistic and aesthetic stan-
Cursive," p. 20I. dards was established, a game was set up in which for
67. Dong Qichang, Huachanshi suibi, vol. 3, p. roor. centuries all the participants used the same elements
68. Ibid, p. roo3. and observed the same rules. Every calligrapher could
69. Even Wang Duo, in his inscriptions, some- look at any piece of calligraphy as if he were looking
times mentioned makingyingchou calligraphies; see Liu over the shoulder of the writer while he wrote, even if
Zhengcheng and Gao W enlong, Zhongguo shuja quanji, the two were separated by thousands of miles or by
vol. 62, Qingdai: Wang Duo, pp. 605-7, 640. For a dis- centuries."
cussion of yingchou art in the late Ming, especially with 8o. Kathlyn Liscomb ("Social Status and Art Col-
regard to Fu Shan, see Bai Qianshen, "Cong Fu Shan lecting," p. I33) makes an interesting observation when
he Dai Tingshi de jiaowang lunji Zhongguo shufa she compares the collection of paintings belonging to
zhong de yingchou he xiuci wend." the literati painter Shen Zhou (I427-I5o9) with that
70. SeeKo, Teachers of the Inner Chambers, pp. 45-47. belonging to Wang Zhen (I424-95), a successful fif-
7I. This primer of cursive script originated in the teenth-century merchant: "That none of the paintings
Song dynasty as a handwritten manuscript. Later in Wang Zhen' s collection was dedicated to him and
versions of this book, including the most influential that he clearly formed his collection in large part by
one, were published in the W anli reign; see Liang acquiring many paintings done for another person
Piyun, Zhongguo shuja dacidian, vol. 2, p. I939· Some strongly suggests that he was not part of any elite ar-
late Ming household encyclopedias also included this tistic circles." Merchants obtained Fu Shan's calligra-
primer of cursive script. phies, but it was difficult for them to negotiate with
72. FSQS, p. 864. Fu for personal dedications and inscriptions on these
n Ibid., p. 866. calligraphies.
74· Zhao Ruyong, "Ming-QingShanxijunxiu 8r. Liu Zhengcheng and Gao W enlong, Zhongguo
zhishi heyi 'qishi congshang,"' pp. 45-49· shuja quanji, vol. 6I, Qingdai: Wang Duo, p. 220.
75· FSQS, vol. I, p. 900. 82. For a seventh-century discussion of the ideal
76. See Sturman, "Wine and Cursive," p. 203. conditions for execuring calligraphy, see Ch'ung-ho
77· In the I65os, Zhu Zhijun (ca. I594-after I663; Chang and Hans Frankel's translation of Sun Guo-
jinshi I622), the retired official from Fenzhou men- ring's Shu pu, in Two Chinese Treatises on Calligraphy,
p. 7· For a rhoughr-provoking discussion of rhe theory I03. The handle of a calligraphy brush is usually
of self-expression in Chinese calligraphy and irs im- made from bamboo.
pact on calligraphic creation, see Fong, "Chinese .I04. For a derailed discussion of chis belief as ex-
Calligraphy: Theory and History," pp. 29-37. pressed in rhe ancient classics and in Tang poetry, see
83. One of Wei Yi'ao's poems describes Fu Shan Shang Wei, "Prisoner and Creator," pp. I9-40.
painting while drunk; see "Ti Fu Qingzhu hua," in I05. Fu Shan (FSQS, vol. I, p. 762) once exclaimed:
Wei Yi' ao, Xueting shiwen gao. "Never mind that I look down on my contemporaries!
84. Shen C. Y. Fu er al., Traces of the Brush, p. 95· Even among the ancients, how many do I respect?"
85. Here, "awkward" has overtones of rhe childishly ro6. Influenced by Western modern art and irs
unskillful and innocent. theories, abstract calligraphy (calligraphy char aban-
86. FSQS, vol. I, p. 855. doned Chinese characters) appeared in China from
87. "Primitive stage" here means rhe stage soon rhe I98os on (see Barrass, The Art of Calligraphy in
after rhe invention of writing. Modern China, pp. 56-58, 237-63). Before rhe concepts
88. I.e., such characters achieve a harmonious per- of Western art were introduced into China, Chinese
fection of balance char can be ruined even by a tiny calligraphers never entirely forsook legibility, although
alteration. at rimes rhey came close to it.
89. FSQS, vol. I, p. 862. I07. This conclusion is based on the observation
90. Translation by Ch'ung-ho Chang and Hans that Fu Shan's early running and cursive writing was
Frankel (slightly modified), in Two Chinese Treatises on more refined chan bold, rwo examples being rhe
Calligraphy, p. 3· Suzhou Museum album discussed in Chapter I and
91. Du Fu, "Yinzhong baxian ge," in Qiu Zhao'ao, rhe album for Chen Mi, dared I647, discussed earlier
Dushi xiangzhu, 2.84; translation adapted from Stur- in chis section.
man, "Wine and Cursive," p. 210. ro8. The Jiang tie model-book was compiled by rhe
92. Li Zhao, Tang guoshi bu, p. I7i translation Northern Song Shanxi scholar Pan Shidan between
adapted from McNair, The Upright Brush, p. 22. 1049 and 1064. For more about this work, see Rong
93· See Sturman, "Wine and Cursive," pp. 20I-3. Geng, Congtie mu, vol. I, pp. 49-66. See also McNair,
94· Ibid., p. 225. "The Engraved Model-Letters Compendia of rhe
95· Ibid., p. 226. Song Dynasty," pp. 2I5-I7. Fu Shan owned a Song
96. SuShi, "Ba caoshu hou," SuShi wenji, 69.2I9I; edition of rhe Jiang tie; see FSQS, vol. I, p. 529.
translation adapted from Sturman, "Wine and Cur- 109. Iris possible char rhe dare on chis copy is rhe
sive," p. 221. cyclical dare xinyou (corresponding ro I68I) rather than
97· Zhou Lianggong, Chidu xinchao, vol. 2, p. I40. xinchou (I66I). The second character of rhe cyclical
In another letter ro Zhou Lianggong, Wang Duo calls dare is almost illegible, and in their cursive forms, rhe
himself"a man of wine" (ibid.). rwo characters you and chou are quire similar.
98. The hanging scroll is now in rhe collection of no. The text is one of three poems Fu Shan wrote
rhe Nanjing Museum. in rhe spring of I656 following evening discussions on
99· Wei Heng, "Siti shushi," in Lidai shufa lunwen history and philosophy wirh Fu Mei and Fu Ren.
xuan, vol. I, p. I5. Very likely rhe scroll was executed in rhe !are I65os or
roo. In a discussion of rhe stylistic features ofShi in rhe I66os.
Yiguan' s calligraphy, Emperor Wu of rhe Liang ( 465- m. Cursive script elements can be found in rhe
549; r. 502-49) commented rhar rhe brush movement work of other early Qing calligraphers working in
ofShi's calligraphy, like rhe mythical peng bird, had clerical script, such as Zheng Fu. In Zheng's hanging
vanished without a trace. See Xiao Y an, "Gujin shuren scroll in clerical script discussed in rhe previous chap-
youliie ping," in Lidai shufa lunwen xuan, vol. I, p. 82. ter (see pp. 202-4), the brush moves swiftly, especially
IOI. Liu Xizai, "Yi gai," in Liu Xizai lunyi liuzhong, toward rhe end of the long horizontal and na strokes,
p. I62. where rhe brush flicks up in sharp endings with traces
102. The work was originally written as a hanging ofJeibai. Hence later critics comment char Zheng
scroll and engraved onro a stele by Liu Fei (fl. I854). mixed the techniques of cursive script wirh Han
clerical script. But did Zheng ever practice cursive or 122. In winter of the year jiachen (late r664 or early
wild cursive scripts? His extant works are all in seal or r665), Fu Mei went to Beijing, where he mer a nl.lmber
clerical script, with clerical script works being the of well-known figures and soon won for himself a high
overwhelming majority. He used running-cursive only reputation in literary circles in Beijing. Learning that
for inscriptions on his seal and clerical script calligra- Fu Mei had attracted attention in Beijing, Fu Shan
phies. Zheng seems, therefore, to have devoted him- immediately asked him to return home so as to avoid
self to studying clerical script and to have paid little any trouble, such as a summons from the government
attention to cursive. Even so, his style of clerical script to assume an official post (see Yin Xieli, "Xinbian Fu
closely reflects seventeenth-century trends in calligra- Shan nianpu," in FSQS, vol. 7, p. 5320).
phy. There was no need for him to study cursive script 123. FSQS, vol. r, pp. 302-17.
to improve his clerical script, since he matured in a 124. I was introduced to this handscroll in the early
culture that placed high value on the untrammeled 198os in Shanghai by my calligraphy teacher, Mr. Jin
and the spontaneous in art. Like Fu Shan, he incorpo- Yuanzhang. Mr. Jin thoughtfully had photographs
rated these qualities into his clerical calligraphy in a made of the handscroll during a period in which con-
natural way. ditions in China for making photographs for calli-
n2. See Shen C. Y. Fu et al., Traces of the Brush, p. graphic study were still very poor. These photographs
96; Chen Zhenlian, "Cong bijiaoxue de jiaodu lun Fu have proved invaluable in my study ofFu Shan's late
Shan," pt. I, pp. 45-46; and Lin Peng, Danya shulun, calligraphy.
PP· 53-6r. 125. In the extant versions, parts of both "Weeping
II3. Shen C. Y. Fu er al., Traces of the Brush, p. 96. over Your Ambition" and "Weeping over Your
n4. For Wang Duo's regular-script calligraphy, Books" are missing.
see Nishanyuan tie, a model-book of Wang Duo's 126. FSQS, vol. r, p. 303.
calligraphy. 127. For bafen, see Chapter 3, note 138.
ns. Before Wang Duo, other calligraphers such as 128. FSQS, vol. r, p. 306.
Wen Zh_engming practiced seal- and clerical-script 129. Although some Song literati texts record dis-
calligraphy. Few calligraphers, however, endeavored to coveries of wooden or bamboo slips with Han clerical
utilize the brush methods of these ancient scripts in script writing (Huang Bosi, Dongguan yulun, pp. 857-
their regular-, running-, and cursive-script calligraphy. 58), hardly any Chinese calligrapher treated them as a
n6. See Chapter 3, note 137. stylistic source until the twentieth century. It is
n7. See Chapter 3, note 136. unlikely that Fu Shan ever saw ancient bamboo slips.
n8. FSQS, vol. r, p. 862. Fu Shan's note can be 130. See Chapter 3, note 135·
dared to his later years, for two reasons. First, he 131. Some scholars are of the opinion that Fu Shan
mentioned his grandson Fu Liansu's talent as a was too critical of Dong Qichang: see, e.g., Chen
calligrapher; since Liansu was born in 1657 and did Zhenlian, "Cong bijiaoxue de jiaodu lun Fu Shan,"
nor develop as a calligrapher until he was in his pt. I. But Fu's writings show that while he moderately
teens, the note could not have been written before critical of Dong's calligraphy for being "fastidious and
the early r67os. Second, Fu Shan made no mention pretty," he also admitted that Dong's later calligraphy,
of his nephew Fu Ren, who was raised by Fu and after Dong studied the calligraphy ofMi Fu, was more
lived with him as a family member. Thus, in all successful (see ChenJie, Shufa ouji, pp. 4-5).
likelihood, Fu wrote this note after Fu Ren's death in 132. The thinking of early Qing scholars like Gu
1674· Y anwu was still to a great degree influenced by N eo-
n9. Shen C. Y. Fu et al., Traces of the Brush, p. Sr. Confucian ideas that arose in the Song dynasty and
120. See Ji Yingzhong's letter toFu Shan in Zhou remained strong throughout the Ming; see Yu Ying-
Lianggong, Chidu xinchao, vol. 3, pp. 170-71. shih, "Cong Song-Ming ruxue de fazhan lun Qingdai
121. There is, for example, a beautiful album of sixiangshi," pp. 87-II9.
landscape paintings by Fu Shan and Fu Mei in a pri- 133. This line was recorded in a poem by Fan Yi,
vate collection now on loan to the Museum of Art of after he visited Fu Shan in a mountain temple in the
rhe U niversiry of Michigan. late r67os or early r68os. The poem is undated, but
since Fan's father, Fan Haoding, who initiated the rices, Wang suggests that Fu Shan probably died in
friendship, first met Fu Shan in the fall of I675, Fan the spring of I685.
Yi's visit must have been after that year; see Fan Yi, 3· FSQS, vol. I, p. 506. The Liezi is attributed to Lie
Jingtianzhai shigao. Yukou, a Daoist of the Warring States period. Many
I34· Kuang means "wild," "mad," "unrestrained," stories about him are recorded in the Zhuangzi.
"uninhibited." In addition to using the word in a 4· See Chapter 4, note 3·
number of different ways in his writings, Fu Shan left 5· See Elman, From Philosophy to Philology, p. I57·
an essay entitled "On Kuan{ that discusses various 6. For Xu Qianxue's sponsorship of the Da Qjng
aspects ofkuang as a concept; see FSQS, vol. I, pp. 545- yitongzhi and official and semiofficial patronage in the
47· For a discussion of the relationship between kuang eighteenth century, see ibid., pp. 100-112.
and qi in the cultural context of the seventeenth cen- 7· For a discussion of the practice of visiting sreles
tury, see Burnett, "The Landscapes ofWu Bin," pp. in the late Qing, see Chuang, "Archaeology in Late
I25-26. Qing Dynasty Painting."
I35· FSQS, vol. I, p. 762. 8. See Christies' New York auction catalogue, Dec.
I36. See note I28 of this chapter. In classical Chi- I, I986, p. I28, Lot I37·
nese, the phrase "wild geese" is used metaphorically to 9· For a stimulating discussion ofJin Nong's cleri-
mean "great ambition." cal-script calligraphy, see Hay, "Culture, Erhniciry,
and Empire in the Work of Two Eighteenth-Century
EPILOGUE 'Eccentric' Artists," pp. 204-I4.
10. See Elman, I;rom Philosophy to Philology, pp. I88-
I. FSQS, vol. I, p. 522. For lack of funds, Fu Shan's 97· See also Ledderose, Die Siegelschrijt (chuan-shu) in
grandsons were unable to fulfill his wish. An anthol- der Ch'ing-zeit.
ogy ofFu Shan's writings was first published in the n. Some eccentric artists attempted to integrate
Qianlong reign, a number of decades after his death.
painting and calligraphy; one example is the painter
2. The date ofFu Shan's death is still debated. and calligrapher Gao Fenghan, who produced
Reportedly Fu Shan died on the twelfth day of the interesting innovations in cursive writing. See Shen C.
sixth month of the year jiazi (I684), several months Y. Fu et al., Traces of the Brush, pp. I88 and p. 200, pl.
after his son Fu Mei (see FSQS, vol. 7, p. 5035), and it 74· Bur for wildness, rhe works of these artists do not
is the date that many scholars cite. But there exists a compare with those of the wild cursive calligraphers of
group of poems by Fu Shan entitled An Album of Po- the late Ming and early Qing.
ems Written in Shanggu (Baoding) that is dated early I2. The ceremonial dimension that attaches to seal
I685 (see FSQS, vol. I, pp. 3I7-2I). Luo Zhenyu (I866- and clerical scripts is pointed out in Pong, "Chinese
I940) argued that this work was a forgery, on the Calligraphy: Theory and History," p. 32.
grounds that Fu Shan knew no one in Baoding and I3. In a discussion of calligraphy couplets, Cary Liu
there was no reason for him to go there, least of all in
("Calligraphic Couplets as Manifestations of Deities
his old age (ibid., p. 32I). Many scholars accept Luo's and Markers of Building," p. 36I) writes: "From their
argument. Not until the mid-I990s was it learned that earliest appearance as a calligraphic format, couplers
Wei Yi'ao, one ofFu Shan's closest friends, lived in were linked to ritual and building practice."
Baoding during the final years ofFu's life. Wang I4. See Chow, The Rise of Confucian Ritualism in Late
Shiqing (pers. comm.) uses a dated elegiac essay to Imperial China.
establish when Fu's obituary notice was issued by his
family. From the timing of traditional funeral prac-
294 • Notes to Pages 256-6r
• Works Cited
ABBREVIATIONS
FSQS Fu Shan, Fu Shan quanshu 1f- .l! ± -:f

H]AS Harvard journal of Asiatic Studies
]FCS ]iju congshu ~ $iUt -:f
SKQSZBCS Siku quanshu zhenben congshu T!E1 Jf±-:f Jt -*"1ft -:f
SKSLXB Shike shiliao xinbian .:G .t~ 3t ;fl-it.Jf 1~
ZGSHQS Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 'f ~ -:f "t: ± -:f
CHINESE AND JAPANESE SOURCES
Ai Ruliie (Giulio Aleni) ~ 1;¥1;~. Zhifangwaiji Jf~~ - - - . "Fu Shan de youren Han Lin shiji buyi"
7r
~c,. In Shoushan'ge congshu ~ J-J M1ft -:f. 1f- J-J a~ ~A.#;ft ~ff!Ji;~~H!. Shanxi daxue xue-
- - - . Zhifangwaijijiaoshi li~~7Hc.~~. bao J-J !?!1 :k..~~:¥1i 1995, no. 2: 38-43.
Annot. Xie Fang~~. Beijing: Zhonghua shu- - - - . "Fu Shan nianpu buzheng" 1f- J-J ..f tif
ju, 1996. ~miE.. Shuja yanjiu -:f5!-lff1E 1995, no. 6:
Bai Qianshen (Qianshen Bai) f:J~·r~. "Cong Bada 83-101.
Shanren lin Lanting xu lun Mingmo Qingchu shufa
zhong de linshu guannian" fftA:k.. .l! A.~ { &ij .f
ff ) ~~ a}J ;t ~t ;fJJ -:f 5! 'f a~ ~ -:f -1iJl, ;$:. In H ua
- - - . "Fu Shan wei Chen Mi zuo caoshu shice
*
yanjiu biji" 1f- .l! ~ Mttift1t:!Jt -:f-tt;ll!t-lffj'E
~(.. Gugongwenwu yuekan -f;ft 't 3:.4h fl ftl r6, 1,10.
Rende .:J?: A.f.'t and Bai Qian-shen, eds., Lanting lunji 4 (Tuly 1998): 74-83; reprinted in Shuja yanjiu -:f
F:t5 .f~~#<, pp. 462-72. Suzhou: Suzhou daxue 5!-lffj'E 1999, no. 2: 94-104.
chubanshe, 2000. - - - . "Fu Shan yanjiu zhaji" 1f- J-J ¥f 1E ;.j:L -tC.. 8
- - - . "Cong Fu Shan he Dai Tingshi de jiaowang pts. Shuja daobao -:f 5!~:¥il., June 27; July 4, rr,
lunji Zhongguo shufa zhong de yingchou he xiuci r8, and 25; Aug. r, 15, and 29, 2001.
*s\
wend" fit 1W- J-J ~11 iJ(. ~ a~ 3t {.i ~~ .&. 'f ~ -:f 5! - - - . "Fu Shan yu Wei Yi'ao: Qingchu Ming
'fa~ /.t®tl~11{1}~ p,~ ~. Gugong xueshu jikan -f;ft 't ~ yimin yu shi Qing hanzu guanyuan guanxi de
q,ltj- ~ ftl r6, no. 4 (Summer 1999): 95-133; 17, no. r ge'an yanjiu"1f-J-J ~~t,-"l;: ~f;fJJ aJJ J!~~
(Fall 1999): 137-56. 1::1: ~f 11. $. 't Wn~ 1ff: a~ 11§J #- .lff 1E. Guoli T ai-
295
wan daxue meishushi yanjiu jikan @!.32:.. ~ 14" k *.,1.;.1¥r Chen Zhenlian ~f;},Ri,f. "Cong bijiaoxue de jiaodu
~ #f1E 1f< f~ 3 (I996): 95-I39· lun Fu Shan" {ftJ;t,fft* a!]~ Jt-t~1tf JJ. 2 pts.
- - - . "Mingmo Qingchu shijue yishu zhong linmo Shu pu "$~-if I989, no. 6: 42-46; I990, no. I: 29-3I.
yu fuzhi xianxiang yanjiu" ElfJ *- * :¥11 ~YL f: f.1¥r tF Chen Zhenlian ~$..;}-V-5'*, ed. Shufa xue "$5-i:*· 2
W;~~-'fi'-.JOYL*'-#f1E. Unpublished ms. vols. Nanjing: Jiangsu jiaoyu chubanshe, I992.
- - - . "Minmatsu Shinsho no shoho ni okeru itaiji Chen Zhichao ~$.. lf ;;t!. Meiguo Hafo daxue Hafo-
*-
shiyo no fucho ni tsuite (I)" ElfJ * :¥11 (J) t" A.:
-c.
~::.;Btt .Q ~fit !f:1il!. ffl (J)Ji\. 5$JH::.-? lr>
Qi Xiaochun ;f~ .]- ~. Shoron "$ ~ 32 ( 2001 ):
Trans.
Yanjing tushuguan cang Mingdai Huizhou Fangshi
qinyou shouzha qibaitong kaoshi .,1.;. @!11@--1~ k
-~#~t"-MElfJ~tffl~~a~+~
*
11@--
I8I-87. ~ Ef iiH. ~*f. 3 vols. Hefei: Anhui daxue chu-

- - - . "Qingchu jinshixue de fuxing dui Bada Shanren
..f
'It A k JJ f...~ "$ Ji\. a!] ;fj ~. Gugong xueshu jikan
*
wannian shufeng de yingxiang" ;t ;flJ 1:- ;G a!] 1!1.. ~
banshe, 20oi.
Chen Zuwu ~$.~.EL;i\. Qingchu xueshu sibian lu it ;flJ
*
*
-t!r.. 1:: *1•lif f I2, no. 3 (Spring I995): 89-I24.
1
]
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-f,lif .WAJH.ff<.. Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue
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Ch' eng Hsi ;fi 8&, ed. Mingxian shouji jinghua ElfJ if
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+~~~~+.~+..f~J.J~~*-00#~ I977·
JJ *1·lif~ "$5-i:a!J~~. Guoli Taiwan daxue mei- Chu Fangqing 1~~ /!. Chu Dun'an wenji f~llli
shushi yanjiu jikan @! .32:.. j: 14~ k * .1..1•lif ~ #f 1E 1f< f~ ~ 5t 1f<. Printed in the Kangxi reign (I662-
5 (I998): I83-2I7. I722).
- - - . "Zashu juance he wan Ming wenhua sheng- Chu Hui-liang $;. ,t jjl. Dong Qichangfashu tezhan
huo" $. "$ ~-J!Jt~11~ ElfJ 5t 1t.1.. i""-'5. Shufa congkan "$ yanjiu tulu 'i: .Jt. &, A.:"$ 4"W ~ #f 1E ~ ~.ff<_. Taipei:
A.: 1rt f1J 2000, no. 3: 20-32. Guoli Gugong bowuyuan, I993·
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jiazhi"*1\1:- ;G *.&...Jt. ~ *1:Jt {@_. Zhongguo shehui
kexue tf @! ~±.ifr;ff* I992, no. 5: 209-23.
*
.Jt. £ I'J,1$t t"*1~~#f1E.Z.-. Gugong xueshu
jikan i;Jr.. 't *1•lif f~ ro, no. 3 (Spring I993): 5I-
94·
Cao Rong f 5$.. ]ingtitang shiji ~t·t£ :t"t"W 1f<. I725. - - - . Yunjian shupai tezhan tulu ~ r.., t" ~JMt ~
Cao Shujuan f 1$t -k~. Wan Ming xingling xiaopin yanjiu ~ ~.ff<_. Taipei: Guoli Gugong bowuyuan, I994·
~ElfJ·ti~ ,j,J::.#f1E. Taipei: Wenjin chubanshe, Chunhuage tie 1.f.1tM 1'5. Ed. WangZhu ..f.. ;f.
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ed., Pinglu congke ftf- /I.. :itt t1J. Beijing: Beijingshi I979·
Zhongguo shudian, I985. Cui Erping J. jijij" ..if'-, ed. Lidai shufa lunwen xuan
ChenJiru ~$_,~1'Nt;. Taipingqinghua-*.. ..if'-itt\5-. Shanghai: xubian HI 1\ "$ A.:~ 5t ~ #.}t 1~. Shanghai:
Shangwu yinshuguan, I936. Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, I993·
Chen Pengnian ~$..1!}-f et al. Songben Guangyun **-~ - - - . Ming-Qing shufa lunwen xuan ElfJ itt" A.:~
iiJi.. Beijing: Beijingshi Zhongguo shudian, I982. 5t~. 2 vols. Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, I994·
ren shenghuo ~ ElfJ 'J' ,?,:, ~ ElfJ

Dian chubanshe, I988.
*
Chen Wanyi ~$.. ;\!?; _fui. Wan Ming xiaopin yu Mingji wen-
5t f... .1.. 5*. Taipei:
Cuncui xueshe {f2$. *~±., ed. Gu Tinglin xiansheng
..f
nianpu huibian ~ .:f ~f. ;lc. .1.. ~if 1f-: ~.
Hongkong: Chongwen shudian, I975·
Chen Xif$. 1-i-. Yanshan caotangji ~ JJ $ :t 1f<. I68I. Dai Benxiao ~*-.#'· Yusheng shigao ~.1.. "t"W:ff.i.
Chen Yin que ~$.. 'Ji ·~. "Tianshidao yu binhai diyu zhi Printed in the Kangxi reign (I662-I722).
guanxi".7diji jt_~)~f),iy,JM~.Z.Bru 1.f... Guoli Zhong- Dai Mingshi ~_.t~. Nanshan wenji r¥J JJ 5t1f<.
yang yanjiuyuan, Lishi yuyan yanjiusuo jikan @! .32:.. tf .:#: I900.
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439-66. J1~ in I853·
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I993· Watt, James C. Y. "The Literati Environment." In
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312 • Works Cited
• Character List
The entries are ordered alphabetically by syllable in Chinese as given in the Hanyu pinyin romanization; e.g., entries
beginning with the syllable ji precede entries beginning with the syllable jia. The entries within each syllable grouping
are ordered letter by letter, ignoring word breaks. Courtesy names and sobriquets are listed under the person's formal
name.
A'nan yin f"TI.f£"4- hi 1l. Cao E bei f -!1~-Wf.

Ai Ruliie (Giulio Aleni) biji *~c. Caojue baiyun ge Jf.. ~ 11 iiJi*
:5t 1WI;~ biji xiaopin *~C.·l' ,?., Cao Liangzhi f Ill t1i'.
"An Guangyun huipi Du shiju" bixie ~:3'~ Cao Quan bei f ±.#f.
;}!f;; ;l iiJi IDUtl:.;f:±:tt 5J Bi Zhenji ,f;}~-!1[§. Cao Rong f iZ.
An Lushan ~;f.,~J.t bianwei 1Jt~ Jf.. :f
caoshu
Anxi tie ~ il!i.PJ; Bing'an ;7)<.~ "Caoshu song" Jf.. :f ~Ji
Bingzhou .!IE 1•1'1 Cao Wei f~t
"Ba caoshu hou" lf.&.Jf.. :f 1~ Boxiang tie ti!l ~ .PJ; Jf.. ~
caozhuan
Bada Shanren A :k. .lt J.... Boxue hongci ke f~*;:;.t;iWf;;ft cha~
bafen A7;'- Bo Yi 1f:J~ Changling .Jk. F!
bawan ;}e>.J.it bushan bulu -:f i} -:fAt Changping £ f
Bayue tie A fJ .PJ; "busheng'ai" -:f~.R Changshu 't 1!t;
BaiJuyi f=lfl;~ Busi guo -:f ft. ~ Chaohu tu ~ ;%}] 1m
Xiangshan ~ J.t chen fE
Baishi shenjun bei f=1 ..:b~o/#Wf. Cai Maode ~f"~~~ft Chen Di Ff~
Bai Yuncai f=llJL~} Cai Xiang ~f"~.! Chen Hongshou Ff ~~ ~
Ban Gu J)I@ Cai Yong ~f"~ I! Lianzi i{ .=t
Baoding 18-;t Cai Yuqing ~f"~ ..:& ~llp ChenJiru Ff~1:¥{;
Baonu tie ~-!] :llx. .PJ; can 7~ Chen Mi Ff tit
"Bao Ren An shu" ~It 1:£:~ :f Canchao tie t- .ifJJ'l'J; Chen Shangnian Ff J:. .f
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"Bei meng" .#f.~ canshan shengshui ~ J.t ~M 7]<.. "Chen Sheng" Ff~
beixue .#f.*" Cao Cao f;}* Chen Shidao Ff ~rp J!.
313
Chen T aixue ~.Jlt :1\..
Chen Xi ~.Jlt 1t-
* Dongfang Shu a huazan -*. 7J if:il
1!'t
Feng Menglong /.~/f-Hit
Feng Pu ;,~~~
Chen Zilong ~.Jlt +-Hit Dongguan yulun -*.~-Mt"tilff jengshan :itt~f
cheng ~ Donglin -*.~f. Fengtai ~i-
Cheng Hao :f£ l~ Dong Qichang f: Jt. ~ Feng Xingxian ;,~{t'f
ChengJunfang :f£~.% Huating1jl:.f Fengyu )it.~
Chengshi moyuan :f£ );\, ,_E ?e. Dongzhong tie ~ 'f 1'.5 "Fengyu shike fojingji" )it.~
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Cheng Yi :f£ ll}l Dubei tu #[ 4 iJ ju :[{f
Chengzu ~;f!L Dubei keshi tu ~· 4 J!t ;G iJ "Fu Dingchen yin" 1~-!!mrl- fE ~r
"Chong ye Xiaoling" -:2-i!i Du Conggu ;!:±Aft -;5- Fu Geng 1~ J1t
;#~! Fu Lianbao 1~{! f
Chongzhen
chou -E:
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"Dujiang fu" ~ ~r.. P.~
DuJun;l:±..~f
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Fu Lin 1~1*.
chou~ YuhuangT _t FuMei1~Al
chouzhuo ~J:ll DuMu::if~:f$· FuPei1~!ff
Chu Fangqing 1~7J /! Dushang tie ;j_ f/;1 1'.5 Fuping 1; if
Chu Suiliang ;f-?fl! Ill Du Yu;l:±..ffi "Fu Qingzhu xiansheng shiliie"
chuliu ;fJJ /, Duan Chengshi .f9:.~i\. 1~ -w .i..?t .1. ·~
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~~4 Lao Shi ::t ;G
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Da Tangzhongxing song :k..J! Ershu tie ::::-. "f 1'.5 Selu itt ;j_
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dazhuan :k.. *- Fan Erfu t€.liffi' .:¥- Zhenshan $,. ~
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Dai Mengxiong ~ lf n~ fang1~k. Fu she ~jt;f.l
Dai Mingshi ~ ~ -1!1:- fangbei "i.}j 4 Fuxiang qinghe tie 1k !J!. 5-k ;f11o/.!;
Dai Tingshi ~~~~ Fangshi mopu 7J );\. ._E t#- Fu Zhen 1~ Jlt
Dai Yunchang ~.1! ~ Fang Wen 7J ");__ "Fu Zhengjun" 1~1i9:.~
Daizhou 1\ 1·1·1 Fang Xuanling bei ,% 1;~4 "Fu Zhengjun zhuan" 1~1i9:.~
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Deng Shiru ~ ;G -!111 jeibai ~ E1
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~..I,.J!J Fenzhou ){j- 1•1·1 Gao Heng ~.fit
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Ding Y aokang T >fj£. Jt Feng Cishi bei 1.~ Jjl1]1R. 4 Gao Shiqi ~ ± ~
Dongfang Shuo -*. 7J if:iJ Jengliu )it.)j,f, Gaoxian ~ r*1
3I4 • Character List
"Gaoyangrai" ;1ii f~ :f HaiRuii/ii:~ Huangfu Dan bei .t. m~4
gong .::C. haiwai zhuqi i/ii: 5'~1t-if Huang T ingjian 1t Jti. ~
Han Chi bei .¥USc. 4
Gongan -A'~
Gong Dingzi ~ .JJ!Ift- $
Gong She ~ %-
Hanjian it r.i
Huangtingjing 1t Jti.~&.
Huang Xiaolian 1t :Jj:
Huang Yi 1t fh
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Gong Sheng~~
Goulou bei J1.J J;t4
Han Lin -**1*-
Hanlin~;f;j;.
Hanren )1i,A.
Huang Zongxi 1t ~
Huangzhou 1t 1•1·1
*
gu-i; 'Hanshan ji" ~ J.J "tC. Huixian ~ ~.~
(Master) Gu ,AA 1\ Han shu )1. "$ huixiang yuandian lEli*J
Gu Aiji ,AA -m 15 Han shu pinglin )1, $1'1'-;f;j;. J!j.#f:
Huizhou 1»:9:. 1·1·1
Gugu -i;-i;
gujin -i; 4'-
"Gujin shuren youlie ping''
Han Yu-*t;t
Han Yun -** ';t
Hangzhou ~fi:. ~i'l'l
Huizong 1~i *
-i; 4-- "$A. 11: ~ "tt hao~J}t 'Ji Fu Qingzhu" :if-1W- -t ..i..
GtUin yun kao -i;-4--iiJi:t He Tang {iif 41: ]igu lu :ft< -i; ~!
Gulin jinshi biao -i; ;f;j;.it ..:G ;;fZ He Tong {iif:@. ]ijiuzhang .~. ;t,t :f"
Gu Ling JilJi ;f Heyang -@~ f~ Jining iilf.f
gupu -ii-tl He Zhen {iif Jl{ 'Jiwei chudu liubie zhugong"
Gu Qiyuan JilJi~j(, heng :J* e. *-:±: 11~ 'fiPJ~ 1t -A'
guwen -i; ;t Heng Fang bei ~-}j 4 "Jiwen Fu Chushi Tutangshan
Guwen qizi -i; ;t -if-* hengzhe ~1t ~If zhong" :if M1W- JJt ± .±. 't'
Guwen sisheng yun -i; ;t Hongdu shijing i~.~1f~ ..:G ~&. J.J'f
Tm~iiJi Hongguang 5t.. 7(, Jixu :ft< J.t
Gu Xiancheng JilJi ;t ;1§.. HongKuo );!~<~ Ji Yingzhong ~C.ll#.!:~
Gu Yan wu JilJi ~ it\ Hu Shi'an ;/;JJi:!!:"~ ]iyun :ft< 1\iJi
Tinglin ;f ;f;j;. Hu Ting ;l;jJJti. "Ji Zheng Gukou" :if~~:§- 0
Ningren .fA. Hu Wei ;l;jj)'jiJ ]izhi gao ~-.kf#i
Gu Yewang JilJi Jf .I.. Hu Yingjia ;/;JJ~-!- ]izhuan guwen yunhai :ft< ltt -i;
Gu Zhenguan JilJi ~ -WI, Hu Zhengyan ;/;JJ..if. i ;t 1\ij\;:!ij,
Liangfen $- *" Huzhou Mwoyansi ji ;%}] 1•1·1-!1;!1 Jiading -!- ;t
Gu Zuyu JilJi~ll.~ .&i -t-tc. Jiayue tie ~ fl 1'.5
Jingfan %~ Huashan bei -* J.J 4
guai ·tl-
guaiguai qiqi •tHI- -if -if
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Jiang Chenying /R ~
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guo~ ershou" •l¥tJilJi .f A.J&i~ Jiangxian ,tif:- ~8:
Guo Tai :f~~ ..::.-;t Jiang Xiang ~.r. .:1!
Youdao ;{if J! Huainanzi i'(i JtJ -=f- Jiangzhou Qiangxi) ~.r.1•1·1
Guo Xiangcha :f~ 'if~ Huaisu •IJlt i" Jiangzhou (Shanxi) ,tif:- 1•1'1
Guo Yizhang :f~- :f" Huaiyin i'(i ~ Jiangyin ~.r. ~
Guo Youdao bei :f~ ;{if Huanxi yuanjia :fik-!~ ~
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Guo Zhongshu :f~ ,'t m
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Huang Bosi 1't1EI ,'£,
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Yinbo JijL{Ei
* Huangchu i'tiJJ
HuangDaozhou i'fJ!%]
Jingangjing it !Yltl ~&.
Jingong ~$-[.I..)
Character List • 315
Jingong qiangu yikuai ~ ~ T -5 Kuncan JG~ "Lizi jue" #JJt !f: iA
-·t*
Jin Guangxian it 7G7'c.
Can daoren ~Jt~
Canna ~;;ff!
Li Zongkong :t * .:JL
Lian Po yu Lin Xiangru zhuan
Yifu-m Cantu~~ Jl~]l~ftij fij-ftv1tf
Jinjiang ~ ~:r.. Canzhe ~ ;;M- "Liansu cong deng Daiyue, ye
Jin Nige (Nicolas Trigault) Tianrang canzhe ;k.t_t Shenglin, gui, xinshou xieci
it!t.M ~;;M- jiaozhi" :ilU$.1ft%1lHtk. '
Jin Nong it!_ Kunshan Jb .lt "t~ jlr;t;j\. , J~ , 1t 4- ~ Jl:t.
]in Ping Mei it#Ji.;#g: ~t.:t.
Jin Shengtan it jlr ~*. Laizhai jinshike kaoliie .i.. ~it Liang Han shu xingming yun ffl
]inshi lu it ..t; 5! .,t; .t~*~ i~ "f -M. }!; -Mji
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Liang Qichao ?Jc.~
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Jinshi wenzi ji it ..t; X !f: it.
Langguan shizhu ji ~~ 't ..t; ~.i it.
"Langtaosha'' )R )t.j )jP
Liang Qingbiao
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jinshixue it ..t; ~
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lao~
Laozi ~-=f
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]ingshi tongyan .f- ilt 1@. i Leiyin ~Ji {f Liezi ;91]-J-
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jingxue ~&. * li (distance measure) J[ linben ~;j;;.
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Jingyou 7Jhi; LiCheng :tA Lin Tong ;t;j\.1~
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)illi r~'l v.tt ~Hi· o J1t 1~it .)jilt} 4 ~ ;fk "t.\~ '1'.5 Ling Mengchu ;i( )f :fJJ
juren*~ Li Daoyuan ~Mt.iG Ling Zhilong ;i( ~fiJ!i:
Juyan..%~ Li Dingyuan $-.)Jilt} .ic, LiuBei ~H1ij"
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kaozhengxue *"t'.i* Li the Fifth, Duliang :t 1!_ ( ~~ Liuti Qianziwen /\ 'l\t
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"Kumiao'an" ~ Jffl ~ Li Yu :t~Jl. Liu Xizai ~1 P,:~ ~
Kuzi shi ~-=fit Li Yuandu :t.iGJ.t Liu Yiqing ~1 ~JI:.
kuang ~1. "Li Yushi zhuan" :t~P1t 1t1 Liu Yin~~ ~til
kuangcao ~1. :ijt Li Zhi :t't Jingxiu ~ffi}
lwi-* Li Zicheng *-mA Liu Yuxi ~~~in
3I6 • Character List
Long Huamin (Niccolo Long- P eixian iijl !J.% Quanzhou 7R1·1·l
gobardi) itt-*~ peng.
Longqing '*: J! Peng Shiwang !} ± ~ Renhe 1:::.;fp
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Lutai At:f pidian t~t ,W.J; rang :M,
Lu Zhaolin JlU!~U''tll Pianhai leibian Xi; ).fj:$JU'& Rongcheng :@:JPi.
Lu Zhi f! 5il pianti ~{)(_ "Ruhe xiansheng zhuan" -:kP10f
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luan ~~ Poxie lun -lit~M~ Sizong riU~;f-
Luo Rufang t,l ~
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Luo Zhenyu tfiAR..I.. Pushutingjinshi bawei B$.1r .f Sanli Academy .=... :iL.1r fit
1:-;Glf.tt)t Sanshou guo .=... 1l @
Ma Shiqi -~-tl!:--if puxue~l* Santi shijing .=...1\'t;G~£
madiao -~ fP qi -it Selu miaohan ~ ;£. ~:J; .f-l1
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• Index
Admonition to My Son (Xunzi tie; Fu Shan), IOI-2, Bamboo slips, 253, 293n129
ro3, III, n8, I26, 20I, 207 Ban Gu, History of the Western Han (Han shu), n 79,
Alcohol, 86, 273n14. See also Wine 98-99. I26-27, I73
Aleni, Giulio, Notes on [World] Geography (Zhifang Bannermen, 9I, 92, 274-75n39
waiji), I5 Bao Shiying, preface to Collection of Essays of the Zhou
Analysis of Characters as an Explanation of Writing, The (Zhouwen gui), 62
(Xu Shen), 62, 64, 67-68, I39, I40, I67, I88, 2I2, Baxandall, Michael, I90-9I
259 Beattie, Hilary, 90
Anhui: local elite, 90; seal carvers, 56 Beijing: Fu Shan in, 8I-82, 2I5, 2I6-I7, 2I8, 274n37,
Annotations, see Commentaries (pidian) 290n48; Li Zicheng's army in, 84, 88, roo; Man-
Antagonists in Love (Huanxi yuanjia), 46-47 chu conquest, 84, 88; Ming imperial mausolea,
Antiquities, see Bronze and stone objects; Seals; I74: scholars gathered for examination, 2I5-I8
Steles Beixue, I. See also Epigraphical calligraphy; Stele
Archaic (gu): in calligraphy, 200, 204, 207, 253; Fu school
Shan's interest in, I7I, 207; literati interest in, I8I, Bloom, Harold, 48
207-8; in literature, 200-2oi; relationship to Bo Yi, 97, roo, I26-27
strange (qi), 207-8 Book of Changes, I42-43, I55
Artisans: effects of cultural change, I8; rubbings Book of Songs, I6o, I64, I65, 288nr7I
made by, I79; seal carvers, 56, 57; social status, 8 Book of Rites, II4
Artists: exposure to Western culture, I6; literati, 8. Boxue hongci examination, 209, 2I2-I9 passim, 258
See also Painting Bronze and stone objects, study of (jinshixue), I59;
Awkwardness (zhuo): of clerical script, I90, I92, I93, aesthetic value, I63; catalogues, I45, I62, I67; dic-
236; in Fu Shan's aesthetic, I26, I47, 278nr3I; po- tionaries of inscriptions, 67; in early Qing, I6I-
litical implications, I26-27. See also Deformation 64, I79, 2I7, 226, 259; emotions involved in, I72-
and fragmentation 78; Fu Shan's interest in, I2I, I45, I63-64,
283n49; history of, I6I, I79-8o; impact on callig-
Bada Shanren, 202, 28oni6I raphy, 226; rubbings, I86-87; scholars, I62, 201.
Bafen script, I85, 286nr38 See also Steles
Bai Yuncai, 8I, 86, 88 Bronze script, 59
323
Bronze vessels, pictographs, 145 Catholicism: Chinese believers, 15, 78; in late Ming,
Brushes,205,206,z88nr88 8; missionaries, 8, 14-15, r6, 78, r6o, 267n3r
Brushwork: bleeding strokes, 70, 77, 128, 225; in Chang, Kang-i Sun, 177
clerical script, 195, 197, 203-4, 253; comparison of Chen Di, r6o
script forms, 195, 197, 203-4; at corners, 195, 197, Chen Hongshou, 59; Lianzi seals, 6o
203-4; Fu Shan's techniques, 245, 253; imita- Chen Jiru, 53, 148
tions of ancient inscriptions, 70, 206-7; press- Chen Mi, 130, 228
and-lift (ti'an) technique, 38, 195, 245; in regular Chen Shangnian, 156, 289n2
script, 195, 197; in seal script, 195, 253 Chen Shidao, 278-79n133
Buddhism: Fu Shan's interest in, 79, 170, 171, Chen T aixue, 68
28onr62; in late Ming, 7; monks, 85; sutras, II5- Chen Xi, 213, 216, 290n38
r6, 145, r8r, 28onr62 Chen Zilong, 72
Burnett, Katharine, 12 ChengJunfang, 5, r6, 52; Ink Garden of the Cheng
Family, 149
Cai Maode, 83-84 Cheng Sui, 56, 201, 204, 288nr75
Cai Xiang, 134 Childlike mind (tongxin), ro, n, 12, 23, 66, 237
Cai Y ong, 143 Children, writing o£ 240
Cai Yuqing, Casually Intoning [Poems] at a Mountain Chinese language, transliteration in Western char-
Dwelling,63 acters, 78, r6o
Calendars, 8, 15 Ching, Dora, 42
Calligraphy: abstract, 292nro6; ancient masters, 20, Chongzhen reign, 28, 84
33, 49; as art, 146; copies of ancient works, 21, Chou, see Ugliness
34-35, 38-40, 48-50, 279n152, 28onr6r; couplet Christianity, see Catholicism
format, 26r; demand for, 9, 223-24, 227; effects Chu Fangqing, 28r-82n25
of dynastic transition, 129-30; factors in styles, Chu Hui-liang, 35, 38
130; ghosts frightened by, 240; originality in, 35; Chu Suiliang, no, m, 28onr6r
recreational aspects, 68; as reflection of inner Chunhuage tie, 40-42, 135, 241, 247
world, 102-3, 221, 224, 239-40; relationship be- Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shanhai jing), 15, 17
tween style and textual content, no-n, 129-30; Classics Carved on Stone in Three Scripts (Santi shijing),
search for origins, r85, 192, 198, 254-55; temporal 13!
flow, 151; in twentieth century, 262, 292nro6. See Clerical-script calligraphy: awkwardness, 190, 192,
also Brushwork; Script forms 193, 236; brush techniques, 195, 197, 203-4, 253;
Calligraphy Model-Book from ]iangzhou Uiang tie), conventions, 220; cursive elements in, 242-45,
24! 292-93nm; decline o£ 196; dictionaries, 201; in
Calligraphy Model-Book from the Chunhua Archives early Qing, r86-89, 201, 202-4, 208, 260, 261,
(Chunhuage tie), 40-42,135, 241, 247 292-93nm; elements incorporated into other
Cao Liangzhi, 8r . script forms, 75, 76, 194-95, 253, 261; evolution
Cao Rong: career, 92; 275n44; Catalogue of Bronze o£ 59, 142, r86, 192-93; ofFu Shan, 139-45 pas-
and Stone Artifacts from Gulin (Gulin jinshi biao), sim, 189-91, 199-202 passim, 245-46; Fu Shan on,
r62; Pan Lei and, 214; poetry, 178, 182; relation- 185-90 passim, 236, 245-46; Fu Shan's study o£
ship with Fu Shan, 156, 282-83n48; rubbing col- r88-93 passim, 198, 202, 245-46, 28onr6o; in Han
lection, r62, 187-88; southern origins, 2or; visits period, r86-96 passim, zoo, 203-4, 253; influence
to steles, 285nro8 of regular script on, 195-96, 197, 202-3, 204,
Caojue baiyun ge, 223 287nr68; interest in, 58, 77; Interpreting Han Cleri-
Gao Quan bei, see Memorial Stele of Gao Quan cal Script Writing (Li shi), 144, 163, r88-9o,
Caozhuan, see Cursive-seal script calligraphy 28onr6o, 283n49; printed books, 187; scholarship
"Case of the Red-Robed Daoist," 92, 97-98, 145, 156, on, r88-89, 198, 201-2; stele inscriptions, 58, 143,
276n67 r86, 187-90; stylistic features, 141-42; in Tang
324 • Index
period, 192-97 passim, 203; of Wang Duo, 58, ily, 81, 87, 90-91; friendship with Fu Shan, 87,
187, 201, 202, 245; yingchou works, 226-27; in 100, 155, 178, 211; relations with Chinese officials
Yuan period, 287m68 of Qing government, 91
Collected Records of Antiquities (]igu lu; Ouyang Xiu), Dai Yunchang, 90-91
144, !62, !65, 178, 179 Daoism: Fu Shan as priest, 79, 85, 168-70, 273mo;
Collection ofFu Shan's Calligraphy Engraved by the Duan Fu Shan's study of, 171; magic script (fu), 170,
Family in Taiyuan (Taiyuan Duantie), 167-68, 240; revival in late Ming, 7
283n66 Da Qing yitongzhi, 258
Commentaries (pidian), 147-48 Darwin, Charles, Origin of the Species, 166
Confucian classics: authority of, 159; forgeries, 166; Deformation and fragmentation (zhili): aesthetic in
Fu Shan's study of, 75; interest in, 72-73; printing early Qing, 123-26, 128-29; of ancient inscrip-
of, 47-48; quotations used in popular culture, 47; tions, 69-70, 184, 204; in calligraphy, 206-7; in
scholarship on, 72-73, 159-71 passim, 258-59 Fu Shan's aesthetic, 117, 118-23, 126, 128, 129; in
Confucianism: decline of, 158; filial piety, 85, 252; Fu Fu Shan's calligraphy, 120-22, 147, 236; in Fu
Shan's interest in, 170; history texts, 98; in Qing Shan's paintings, 122; in Zhuangzi, 119; in late
period, 261; relationship to other religions, 7; Ming culture, 128-29; in literature, 128; in paint-
scholars in Shanxi, 79; Thousand Character Classic ing, 122, 124, 125-26; political implications, 119,
(Qianziwen), 46-47, 131, 132, 270n90. See also 124, 126, 127; in Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy, 117,
N eo-Confucianism 196
Confucius, 171, 182-84. See also Qufu Delbanco, Dawn Ho,,48
Copying: exact, 34; inventive, 38, 40, 42, 44, 47, 48. Diamond Sutra (]ingangjing) engraving, 115, 277n113
See also Free copying (lin) Dictionaries of script forms, 59-67 passim, 139, 167;
Craftsmen, see Artisans clerical script, 201; guwen script, 59, 67, 139, 167;
Cursive~script calligraphy: character sizes, 220-21; regular script, 62-63; seal script, 59, 139, 167;
character structures, 228; criticism of, 222; as cul- variant character forms, 168
tural myth, 221-22, 237; demand for, 223; differ- Dictionary of Characters (Zihui; Mei Yingzuo), 66-67
ences from regular script, 221, 228; in early Qing, Dictionary of Seal Script and Guwen Script Compiled in
245, 255-56, 261; elements incorporated into seal Rhyming Order, A (]izhuan guwen yunhai; Du
script, 50, 242-45, 292-93nm; evolution of, 186, Conggu), 59, 139, 167
193; expressiveness, 221, 222, 239-40; ofFu Shan, Ding Du,]iyun, 63
75, 167, 220, 224-25, 228-29, 236-45 passim, 249, Disabilities, 124
252-54; informality, 220-21; in late Ming, 235- Dong Qichang: aesthetics of, 20-25; calligraphic
36; lesser, 75, 228, 242; masters of, 20, 23; mod- styles, m, 128, 134, 221, 222; calligraphy of, 20-25,
ern, 194, 287n162; primer, 223; shifting and tilting 27, 32, 63, 217; compared to individualist calligra-
of characters, 31-32; spontaneous expression in, phers, 33-34; copies of ancient works, 20, 21, 22-
28, 31, 221; in Tang period, 38, 221-22; Wang 23, 35, 38-40, 48-49, 134, 145; cursive-script cal-
Duo's poem on, 28-31, 222; ofWang Duo, 31, ligraphy, 228; free copying, 241; friends, 78; Fu
32-33, 235, 245; yingchou works, 222-27 passim. See Shan's opinion of, 293n131; influence, 25-27, 34;
also Draft cursive-script calligraphy; Wild cur- interest in popular culture, 48; Li Zhi and, 10;
sive-script calligraphy life and career, 20; paintings, 49; prefaces to seal
Cursive-seal script calligraphy (caozhuan), 50, 139, books, 53; students, 78; study of calligraphy, 103;
145,242-45 view of cursive script, 222; Xu's mention of, 5;
yingchou works, 222
Dai Benxiao, 216 -,works: Calligraphy in Running and Cursive Scripts,
Dai Mengxiong, 215 23, 32; Copy of an Imperial Patent, 22-23; Copy of
Dai Mingshi, 210 Yan Zhenqing's "Letter on the Controversy over Seat-
Dai Tingshi: art collection, 78, 216; in Beijing, 216; ing Protocol," 35, 38; Freehand Copy of Zhang Xu's
"Biography of Shidaoren," 210; career, 258; fam- "Record of the Langguan Stone Pillar," 38-40,
Index •
269n76; Model-Book from the Hall of the Playing Clerical-script calligraphy; Seal-script calligra-
Goose (Xihongtangfashu ), 43i Poems Written in phy; Stele school
Running Script, 25 Epigraphical inscription~: influence on Fu Shan's
Dongfang Shuo, 126-27 calligraphy, n6-17. See also Inscriptions; Steles
Donglin movement, 6-7, 20, 28, 72 Etymology, 161, 212, 258
Draft cursive-script calligraphy (zhangcao ): based on Evidential research, 164-66, 171, 172, 207, 217, 226
clerical script, 194; characteristics, 246-47, Exact copying (mo), 34
287nr62; diagonal strokes, 75i elements incorpo- Examination system, 82, 215. See also Boxue hongci
rated into other script forms, 27; by Fu Shan, examination
106, 228, 246, 247-48; history, 246; masters of, Expanded Edition of the Dictionary of Seal Script Ar-
247 ranged by Rhymes (Zengguang zhongding zhuanyun),
Drama collections, 68, 128, 150-51 59
Dreams, 172-73 Expansion ofRhymes (Guangyun), r6o-6r
Du Conggu, A Dictionary of Seal Script and Guwen
Script Compiled in Rhyming Order (]izhuan guwen Fan Haoding. 2II-I2
yunhai), 59, 139, 167 Fan Yi, 212, 293-94n133
Du Fu, 127-28, 160-61, 288n171; "Gazing at Mount Fang Wen, 202
Tai" ("Wangyue"), 183; "Song of the Eight Im- Fang Yizhi, 72
mortals of the Wine Cup" ("Yinzhong baxian Fang Yuansu, 56
ge"), 238 Fang Yulu, 5, 52; Theink Manual of the Fang Family
DuMu,18o (Fangshi mopu), 149
Duan Xin, 167, 283n66 Feng Ban, 198, 288nr79
Duan Yucai, 259 Feng Pu, 217-18, 290n48
Dubei keshi tu, 179, 285-86n120 Feng Xingxian, 194-95, 202, 288n179; "Secrets of
Duolei bei, 175-76 Clerical Script," 206, 207
Dynastic transitions: histories of, 98-99, 155, 173- Fiction, vernacular: ban on, 219; fascination with
74, 219; mourning for previous dynasty, 172-77 strange, 16-17, 19; Golden Vase Plum (]in Ping
passim; steles associated with, 175, 176-77. See also Mei), 149; illustrations, 45-46; reuse of ancient
Ming dynasty texts, 46-47
Filial piety, 85, 252
Early Qing period: calligraphic styles, 185, 198-99, Foreigners: distinction from Chinese, 95i missionar-
200, 205, 259-62; culture, 86-87, 128-29, 151-52, ies, 8, 14-15, r6, 78, r6o, 267n31; Westerners, 8.
256; imperial structure, 209; publishing restric- See also Manchus
tions, 219-20; scholarship, 154, 255-59 passim; Forgeries, r66, 283n62
social changes, 90. See also Ming loyalists; Qing Fragmentation, see Deformation and fragmentation
dynasty Free copying (lin), 34-40 passim, 44-45, 46, 241-42
Eccentricity: Eight Eccentrics of Y angzhou, 26o; in Fu Geng. n 85, 2II
Fu Shan's calligraphy, 200, 240, 26o; tales of, 14. Fu Lianbao, 212, 215, 257, 274n37
See also Qi Fu Liansu: in Beijing. 215; calligraphy of, 190, 193,
Education: in late Ming, 9, 55i Sanli Academy, So- 246; career, 258, 274n37; compilation ofFu
84 passim Shan's writings, 257; education, 161, 212; seal
Eight Eccentrics ofYangzhou, 260 carving, 76; travels with Fu Shan, 182-84,
Elman, Benjamin, 158, 259 285n109
Empirical research, 159 Fu Lin, 73
Epigraphical calligraphy: in early Qing. I, 260; Fu Mei: arrest of, 92; in Beijing. 215, 216, 293n122;
emergence of, 1; Fu Shan as pioneer of, 208, 245, calligraphy of, 77, 190, 246, 248, 252, 286nr46;
256; interest in, 217; popularity, 261; scholarship death, 248; education, 99, 248; as ghost-
on, 191-92, 201-2, 217; sources, n6, n7. See also calligrapher, 2n; literary talents, 248; loyalty to
• Index
Ming, 24S, 252; marriage, S9; medical practice sim, 234; influences on, 7S, 235, 241, 245, 256; in-
and pharmacy, S6, 2n, 24S; relationship with Fu spiration sources, 239; last works, 24S-49, 252-
Shan, 24S-49, 252; seal carving, 76, 77i travels, 54; new characters invented by1 140-41; philoso-
S5; writings, 257 phy, 240; political aspects, 101-2, 103, 104; poor-
Fu Pei, 73 quality works, 225-26; qi (strange) in, 235, 236,
Fu Ren, S5, 99, 2II 254, 260; in regular script, 104, n2-14, II7, 139,
Fu Shan: birth, 73i Boxue hongci examination and, 167; reputation, 20S, 2n, 224, 225; returning to
209, 212-15, 21S; ·:case of the Red-Robed Dao- origins, 1S5; rubbings of, 75-76, 167-6S, 2S3n66;
ist," 92, 97-9S, 145, 156, 276n67; as connoisseur, in running-cursive script, 104-6, 229, 236; in
77, 7S, S7; contradictions in writing and behav- running script, n4-15, 139-40, 167; sales of, S6,
ior, 79-So; as cultural leader, 154; as Daoist S7, 1S5, 224-26; script forms used, 145, 167-6S; in
priest, 79, S5, 16S-7o, 273n10; death, 257, 294n2; seal script, 77, 145, 16S-7o, 171, 242-46, 2S6n146;
diversity of thought, So, 170-71; on Du Fu, 127- spontaneity, 190, 254; study of ancient scripts,
2S; education, 75, So; effects of dynastic transi- 142, 195, 196, 245-46, 254, 2S6nr46; study of
tion, S6; family, 73, 74, S5, S6, 212; friends, 79, So, clerical script, 1SS-93 passim, 19S, 202, 245-46,
S1, S6, S7, 155, 156, 274n37; influence, 2; liquor 2Sonr6o; study ofY an Zhenqing' s calligraphy,
store, S6; loyalty to Ming, S5, 92, 101, 104, 126- 101-4; stylistic evolution, 104-6, no, m-12, 130,
27, 156, 174; medical practice and pharmacy, S6, 167-6S; training, 75, n4, 190, 254i unusual char-
S9, 91; mother, S5, 145, 2Sonr62; paintings, 97, acter forms, 139-40, 167-70, 171; view of regular
122, 290n3S; personality, 2n-12, 256; political in- script, 197-9S; wild cursive, 209, 22S, 229, 234-
volvement, S1-S5 passim, 92; relationship with 36, 240-41, 256; written for social obligations,
son, 24S-49, 252; relationship with Wei Yi' ao, S9, 2n, 220, 2S4n71; zashu juan/ ce, 130, 13S-43, 151,
S7, SS-93 passim, 97, 294n2; relations with Chi- 279-Son154
nese officials of Qing government, 91-97 passim, -,calligraphy of (works): Collection ofFu Shan's
156, 157, 217, 2S1-S2n25, 290n4S; relations with Calligraphy Engraved by the Duan Family in Taiyuan
other scholars, S2, 154, 157, 166, 216-17; rubbing (Taiyuan Duantie), 167-6S, 2S3n66; Copy oj"A'nan
collection, 163, 1SS, 253, 2S2-S3n4S, 2S7n149; yin," n6; Copy oj"Book of Rites," II4i Copy of the
scholarly interests, 7S, S2, 160-65 passim, 171, 212; "Memorial Stele ofCao Quan," 1S9; Copy of Wang
scholarship of, 79, 9S-101, 154, 157, 2SSnr71, Xizhi's "Anxi tie," 242; Copy of Wang Xizhi's
29In77i seal carving, 76-77; seals of, 99i as "Fuxiang qinghe tie," 241-42; Copy of Wang Xizhi's
teacher, S3, 176i travels, S5-S7, 153. 155· IS2-S4, "Poem Praising Dongfang Shuo's Portrait," n2; Copy
2n, 253, 2S5n109; visits to steles and historic sites, ofYan Zhenqing's "Record of the Altar of the Immor-
n6, 175-S4 passim, 2S5n109, 2S6nr27; wife, 74, tal of Mount Magu," II2-14i Frank Words as Fare-
24S, 272nl59 well Gift for Wei Yi'ao, 93-95, n2, 229, 234-36,
-,calligraphy of: aesthetic, nS, 126, 127, 129; brush 240, 247; ]ingong qiangu yikuai, 24S; letters to
techniques, 245, 253; in clerical script, 139, 141- Wei Yi'ao, SS-90, 91, 92,104-6, no, m-12; Lotus
43, 145, 1S9-91, 199-202 passim, 245-46; commis- Sutra in Seal Script, 145; Night Discussion in Cursive-
sions, 2n; copies of ancient works, 75, 1SS-9o, Seal Script, 242-45; Poems Copied in Cursive Script
241-42, 279n143; in cursive script, 75, 167, 220, for Chen Mi, 130, 22S-29, 235; Poems in Small Regu-
224-25, 22S-29, 236-45 passim, 249, 252-54; lar and Running Scripts, 104; Poems of Congratula-
dedications, 225, 22S; deformation and fragmen- tion on Xuweng's Birthday, 247-4S; Record of the
tation in, 120-22, 147, 236; deformation and Garden of Shanglanwulong Shrine, 75-76; replace-
fragmentation in aesthetic, n7-23 passim, 126, ment for Memorial Stele of Guo Youdao, 143-45;
12S, 129; draft-cursive calligraphy, 106, 22S, 246, Roving Immortal Poetry, 16S-7o, 2S3n6S; Selections
247-4S; early, 75-76; eccentricity, 200, 240, 26o; from the "Zuozhuan," II5i Shanghai album, 199-
epigraphical approach, 2oS, 245, 256; free copy- 200; Stele of Cursive Calligraphy at Mount W ufeng
ing, 241-42; ghostwritten, 2n, 224; influence, 1S5; (Wufengshan caoshu bei), 240-41; Weepingfor My
influence ofYan Zhenqing, 104, 106, no-17 pas- Son (Kuzi shi), 249, 252-54; Wonderful Calligraphy
Index • 327
by Fu Shan (Selu miaohan), 120-:22, 127, 128, 138-51 Gu Yanwu, 154, 155, 202; Boxue hongci examination
passim, 278nm, 278nr31; "Zhuangzi" in Small Regu- and, 213; criticism o£ 165-66; death, 257; on Fu
lar Characters, II4 Shan, 171; loyalty to Ming, 174, 210; Neo-
-,writings: Admonition to My Son (Xunzi tie), 101-2, Confucianist influence on, 293n132; nephews,
103, m, II8, 126, 201, 207; biographies, 90-91, 210, 258; poetry, 210; relations with Chinese offi-
roo-ror, 276n86; "The Biographies of Two Men cials of Qing government, 156; research library
from Fenzhou," roo; "The- Biography of Mr. project, 156-57; rubbings made by, 178; scholar-
Who" ("Ruhe xiansheng zhuan"), 79-80, 170; ship of, r6o, 163, 170, 171; southern origins, 201;
compilation of, 257, 294nr; "Dream of a Stele" study of Book of Songs, 28Bn17r; study of clerical
("Bei meng"), 172-77 passim; history, 99-101; A script, 191; view oflate Ming culture, 159; visits to
History of Human Nature (Xing shi), 79; "A Note steles and historic sites, 175, 176-78, 181, 183
on Departing from the World" ("Cishi tie"), 257; -,works: Corrections to the Restoration of Rhymes
People in the "History of the Western Han" and "His- (Yunbu zheng), r6o; Daily Record of Gained Knowl-
tory of the Eastern Han" Arranged by the Rhymes of edge (Rizhilu), 164, 165, r66; Five Books on Phonol-
Their Last Names (Liang Han shu xingming yrm), ogy (Yinxue wushu), 160; Record of Inscriptions on
79, 98; poems, 85, 86, 102, 104, 130, 182-83, 184, Bronze and Stone Artifacts (]inshi wenzi ji), 162,
207, 214-15, 228, 239, 240, 294n2; "Rhapsody of 186-87; "Revisiting Xiaoling" ("Chong ye Xiaol-
the Capital City" ("Yudu fu"), 82; Weepingfor My ing'), 174; "Visiting Northern Qi Steles with the
Son (Kuzi shi), 249, 252-54; "Written in a Hermit Hu" ("Yu Hu Chushi Ting fang Bei Qi
Mountain Temple When Ill," 97-98 bei"), 176-77
Fu, Shen C. Y., 31, 78, 236, 245, 246 GuY ewang, Yupian, 62-63
Fu Zhen, 73 Guangyun, r6o-61
Fu Zhi, 73, 8r, 89, 92 Gugu, 171
Fu Zhimo, 73, 74 Guo Youdao, 143-45
Fu she (Society for Reviving (Ancient Teachings]), Guo Zhongshu, Hanjian, 6o, 64, 121, 139, 140
72,78 Guo Zongchang: clerical-script calligraphy, 187,
202; rubbing collection, 58, 162; seal collection,
Gao Fenghan, 260, 294nii 52, 58; study of steles, 58, r8o
Gao Heng, 217, 284n7r, 290n48 Guo Youdao bei, 143-45
Gao Shiqi, 216 Guwen Documents, 166, 283n62
Gaoxian, 49, 238 Guwen script, 63-64; authenticity of characters, 167;
General Words to Warn the World (]ingshi tongyan), dictionaries, 59, 67, 139, 167; forms used by late
47 Ming calligraphers, 63, 64; unusual character
Geography, 15, 258 forms used by Fu Shan, 142, 167, 244
Geography of the Greater Qing Realm (Da Qing yitong-
zhi), 258 HaiRui, 5, 6
Ghost-calligraphers, 2II, 224 Han Lin, 77-78, 83, 84, 272nr68
Golden Vase Plum (]in Ping Mei), 149 Han Yu, 222
Gombrich, Ernst, 19, 65 Han Yun,78
Gong Dingzi, 92, 275n44, 276n67 Han dynasty: bamboo and wood slips, 253, 293n129;
Goody, Jack, 145-46 calligraphers, 143; clerical-script calligraphy, r86-
Greater seal script (dazhuan), 145 96 passim, 200, 203-4, 253; histories of, 79, 98-
Gu Aiji, Analysis of Clerical Script Writing (Li bian), 99, 173-7 4; inscriptions, 184, 253; loyalists, 173;
201 seals, 68, 122, 206; seal-script calligraphy, 57; ste-
GuLing, 201 les, 143-45, 162, 163, 177, 178, 183, 187-90, 192, 202
Gu, Master, 5, 52 Hanjian (Guo Zhongshu), 6o, 64, 121, 139,140
Gu Qiyuan, 19 Hanlin Academy, 219
Gu Xiancheng, 5, 6 Han people, 173-74
328 • Index
Han shu, 73, 79, 98-99, 126-27, 173 dynasty, 184,253: Northern Qi, n6-17; Tang
Harrist, Robert, 179 dynasty, 38, n8; visits to, 178. See also Bronze and
Hay, Jonathan, 122 stone objects, study of (jinshixue); Rubbings;
He Tang, Lofty and Strange Matters from the Past Steles
(Gaoqi wangshi), 14 Interpreting Han Clerical Script Writing (Li shi; Hong
He Tong, A History Carved on Seals (Yin shi), 54, 69 Kuo), 144, 163,188-90, 28onr6o, 283n49
He Zhen, 5, 50, 52-53, 56, 69
Henan, 92, 177, 178 Jesuits, 8, 14-15, 160, 267n31
Histories of Ming dynasty, 98, 99-100, 155, 219 Jiang Hui, 6o
History of]in (]in shu), 175 Jiang Xiang, roo
History of the Western Han (Han shu), n 79, 98-99, Jiangnan, 55, 153, 154, 155
126-27,173 Jiangzhou, 78, 79, n6
Ho, Wai-kam, 25, 48 Jiao Hong, 5, 7, 8, 10, 20
Hong Kuo, Interpreting Han Clerical Script Writing Jiexiu, n6, 143-45
(Li shi), 144, 163, 188-90, 28onr6o, 283n49 ]igulu (Ouyang Xiu), 144, 162, 165, 178, 179
Household encyclopedias, 17-18, 68, 150, 266nr6, Jin Guangxian, 57
272ni46 Jin Nong, 260
Hu Ting, 176-77 Jin Shengtan, 147
Hu Wei,258 Jin dynasty, 95, 99, 173
Hu Zhengyan, 78; Seal Book from the Ten Bamboo ]ingangjing, n5, 277nn3
Studio (Shizhuzhai yinpu), 6o Jingshi tongyan, 47
Hua Shu, Random Notes Compiled in a Leisurely Mood Jinling, 16, 19
(Xianqing xiaopin), 148 ]in Ping Mei, 149
Huaigu (meditation on the past), 175-76, 180 Jinshixue, see Bronze and stone objects, study of
Huaisu, 20, 38, 49, 134, 269n75 ]in shu, 175
Huang Bosi, Dongguan yulun, 186 ]iyun (Ding Du), 63
Huang Daozhou: calligraphy of, 28, 33, 58-59, 63, ]izhuan guwen yunhai (Du Conggu), 59, 139,
64; friendship with Han Lin, 78; Reply to Sun 167
Boguan's Poem, 28
Huang Tingjian: Biographies of Lian Po and Lin Kang Wanmin, 180-81
Xiangru (Lian Po yu Lin Xiangru zhuan), 31-32; Kangxi emperor, 212, 218, 219, 258
calligraphy of, 33, 134: copies of works, 134; In- Kaozhengxue, see Textual analysis
scription for Burying a Crane (Yihe ming), 69-70; Kessler, Lawrence, 218
view of wine, 238 Ko,Dorothy,9,55
Huang Yi, 259 Kong Zhou bei, 163, 184, 188
Huang Zongxi, 98, 219, 257 Kuangcao, see Wild cursive-script calligraphy
Huanxi yuanjia, 46-47 Kuncan, 124-26
Huashan bei, 162, 189, 192 Kunshan, 159, 201, 258
Huizong, Emperor, 173, 270n9o
Hymn to Stone Gate (Shimen song), 253 Landscape painting, see Painting
Laozi, 126, 127
Individualism, 7, ro, So Late Ming period: aristocracy, 86; attitudes toward
Individualist calligraphers, 25-27, 28, 33-34, 235, ancient canons, 45-48, 159; continuity of culture
241,256 in early Qing, 86-87, 128-29, 151-52, 256; corrup-
Ink Manual of the Fang Family, 187 tion, 6; criticism of scholarship in, 165-66, 256;
Inksticks, 16, 56, 149 cultural achievements, 5-9 passim, 50, 52, 158;
Inscriptions: on bronze and stone artifacts, 67, 145, cultural diversity, 7, So, 158-59, 187; deformation
161; deformation and fragmentation of, 184; Han and fragmentation in aesthetic, 128-29; eco-
Index • 329
nomic prosperity, 54-55, 56; literature, n-12, seal carving, 50, 51-52, 57, 6o-62, 78, 259; seal
149; material culture, 15-16; military, 71-72; collections, 52; self-realization, 25; social status,
moral heroes, 6-7; politics, 6-7, 54, 71, So, 158; 8; southern, 201-2
print culture, 9, 149-51, 219-20; reading habits, Literature: archaic styles, zoo-201; late Ming, 11-12,
149-51; religion in, 7, 8, 170; scholarship, 159-60; 149, 219; miscellanies, 148, 149, 151; narrative frag-
socioeconomic changes, 8-10, 54-55, 71, 223; ur- mentation, 128; qi in, n; spontaneous expression
ban culture, 7, 9, 18-19, 219. See also Ming dy- in, 11-12, 31. See also Fiction, vernacular; Poetry
nasty Liu Bei, 173
Ledderose, Lothar, 1, 34 Liu Cheng, 213
Lesser cursive-script calligraphy (xiaocao ), 75, 228, Liu Gongquan, 35, 102, 103, III, 245
242 Liu Peixian, 214
Lesser seal script (xiaozhuan), 145, 198, 242 Liu Tiren, 157
Letter-writing, seals used, 56, 271n130 Liu Xizai, 239-40
Li Cheng, 179 Liu Yin, 93, 94-95
Li Daoyuan, Annotated Canon of Waterways (Shuijing Liu Yuxi, 96
zhu), 144 Longobardi, Niccol6, 15
Li He, z86m24 Loyalty: conflicts with filial piety, 85; symbols of, 97,
Li Jiantai, 84 102, 173. See also Ming loyalists
Li Ling, 99 LuZhi,196
Li Liufang, 52 Lu Zigang, 5, 8, 52
Li Panlong, 5, n Lu Liuliang, 127
Li Rihua, Calligraphy in Running-Regular Script, 134-35 Luo Rufang, 7-8, 10
Li Shizhen, 5
Li Yindu: Boxue hongci examination and, 213, 218; MaShiqi, 82
collected poems, zoo; criticism of, 166; Fu Shan Manchuria, government of, 72
and, 189, 215; relations with other scholars, 156; Manchus: aggression, 71-72, 82, 83, 88; aristocracy,
visits to imperial mausolea, 174 96; conquest of Beijing, 84, 88; contrasts to Han
Li Yong, 213 Chinese, 173-74. See also Qing dynasty
Li Yu, 172 Manjusri Prajna Sutra Stele at Mount Water Buffalo
Li Zhi, 10-II, 20, 23, 66, 79, !86, 237, 256 (Shuiniushan Wenshu Banruo jing bei), 115-16, 117,
Li Zicheng, 71, 78, 83-84, 88, 100, 101 277n113
Li Zongkong, 214 Maps, 15
Liang Qichao, 166 Material culture, 15-16, 18-19
Liang Qingbiao, 216 McNair, Amy, 103
Liang Tan, 79 Mei Yingzuo, Dictionary of Characters (Zihui), 66-
Liang Hu bei, 188, 189 67
Lin, see Free copying Memorial Stele of Cao Quan (Cao Quan bei): calli-
LinPeng, 75 graphic style, 192; calligraphy modeled after in-
Lin Tong, 201 scription, 58, 187; colophon ofFu Shan, 193; ex-
Ling Mengchu, 17, 47, 48 cavation of, 187; Fu Shan's copy of, 189, 190,
Ling Zhilong, Collected Annotations to the History of 287n149; rubbings of, 162, 188, 287n149
the Western Han (Han shu pinglin), 98-99 Memorial Stele of Guo Youdao (Guo Youdao bei), 143-
Li shi (Hong Kuo ), 144, 163, 188-9o, z8om6o, 45
283n49 Memorial Stele of Kong Zhou (Kong Zhou bei), 163, 184,
Literacy, 9, 55, 68 188
Literati: activities, 68, 148-49, 181; appreciation for Memorial Stele of Liang Hu (Liang Hu bei), 188,189
rocks, 51; artists, 8; interest in object making, 52; Memorial Stele of Mount Hua (Huashan bei), 162, 189,
obsessions, 270-71nii8; rubbing collections, 178; 192
330 • Index
Memorial Stele of Xia Cheng (Xia Cheng bei), ISS, I89, Nanjing: anti-Manchu resistance, I53-54i Fu Shan's
I90, I92, 287ni50 visit, I53i intellectual community, I56, 2oi; Ming
Memorial Stele of Zhang Qian (Zhang Qian bei), 70, imperial mausolea, I74i painting in, 207; seal
I88, I92 carvers, 56
Mencius, I7I, I83 Nee-Confucianism: Fu Shan's criticism of, 94-95,
Meng Haoran, 285n120; "Climbing Mount Xian 273n177; influence in early Qing period, 293n132;
with Others" ("Yu zhuzi deng Xianshan"), I75- scholars, 79, 94-95, I27i Taizhou school, 7-8. See
76 also Sun Qifeng
Mi Fu: calligraphy of, 33, 38; Colophon to Ouyang Ni Yuanlu: archaic character forms, 58-59; calligra-
Xun's "Dushang tie" and "Yu Liang tie," 42-44; phy of, 28, 33i character forms, 63, 64; friendship
copies of works, I34i criticism of Tang cursive with Han Lin, 78; Impromptu Poem While Drink-
calligraphy, 222; influence, 20, 234; influence on ing Wine, 63
Fu Shan's calligraphy, 224-25; landscape paint- Northern China: changes in early Qing, 90, 96;
ing, 45-46; seal carving, 5Ii influence on Song officials from, 2I8; visits to steles, I77i wars in, 86,
calligraphers, 238 88. See also Northern Qi; Shanxi
Mi Y ouren, 45, 46 Northern Dynasties: inscriptions, I83; steles, 115-I7,
Ming dynasty: ambivalence toward, I58, I59i fall of, I77
82, 83-84, IJO, I58-59; histories of, 98, 99-100, Northern Qi: steles, 115-I6, I76-77, I8I, 277-78n113,
I55, 2I9i imperial mausolea, I74-75, I8I; mourn- 286n127; stone inscriptions, n6-I7
ing for, 96; Southern Ming, 84, I53i study of Northern Song: calligtaphers, 33, 40, 103, I34, 238-
bronze and stone objects, I8o. See also Late Ming 39; conquest of, I73i rubbing collections, I78; seal
period carvers, 5Ii seal-script calligraphy, 59· See also
Ming loyalists: acceptance of Qing government, Song dynasty
209-11; Boxue hongci examination, 209, 2I2-I9 Novels, see Fiction, vernacular
passim, 258; Buddhist monks, 85; conflicts be-
tween loyalty and family, 85; deaths, 257-58; Oboi regency, 2I8, 2I9
friends ofFu Shan, 8I; interior states, I22i Origins, returning to: in calligraphy, I85, I92, I98,
mourning, 96, I76-77i poetry, I75i relations with 254-55; in scholarship, I59, I85, 282n33, 288nJ71
Chinese officials of Qing government, 87-97 pas- Ouyang Xiu: Collected Records of Antiquities (]igu lu),
sim, 2I7-I8; relations with Qing government, I44, I62, I65, I78, I79i scholarship of, I79
90-92, 209-10; resistance, 84, 92, wo, I53-54, Ouyang Xun: calligraphic style, I34i Dushang tie, 42-
209, 2I8, 289n2; retirement, 90-9I, I56, 2I3i 44i works copied, 20; Yu Liang tie, 42-44
scholars, I54i scholars supported by, I55-56; sons
of, 210, 2I3-I4, 258; visits to imperial mausolea, Painting: clerical-script inscriptions, 204; compared
I74-75, I8I; visits to steles, ISI-82 to calligraphy, 20; deformation in, I22, I24, I25-
Ming shi jilue, I 55 26; effects of dynastic transition, I29-30; of fig-
Miscellanies (xiaopin biji), I48, I49, I5I. See also ures reading steles, I79-8o, ISI-82; ofFu Shan,
Drama collections 97, I22, 290n38; landscape painting styles, 45-46;
Missionaries, 8, I4-I5, I6, 78, I6o, 267n3I paper used, 205-6
Mo (exact copying), 34 Paleography, 67-68, I65, 212, 259
Model-book school (tiexue), I, 25, 117, I85. See also Pan Chengzhang, I55
Dong Qichang Pan Lei, I54-55; Boxue hongci examination and,
Modern cursive-script calligraphy, I94, 287n162 2I3, 2I4, 2I8; Gu Yanwu and, I66; on literary
Morality: of calligraphers, 102-3; childlike mind, 10, styles, 200-2oi; "Preface to the Collected Poems of
n, I2, 23, 66, 237; heroes, 6-7 Li Tiansheng," 200-2oi
Moslems, 79 Paper, 205-6
Mount Water Buffalo stele, see Manjttsri Prajna Sutra Past: meditation on, I75-76, I8o; mourning for
Stele at Mottnt Water Buffalo fallen dynasties, I72-77 passim
Index • 33I
Phonology (yinyunxue), 78, 159-61, 167, 282n38 Qing dynasty: alcohol restrictions, 86, 273n14; Chi-
Pianhai liebian, r68 nese officials, 87-97 passim, 156-57, 217-18, 258,
Pictographs, 145 274-75n39; discrimination against Chinese, 96;
Pidian (commentaries), 147-48 establishment, 84. See also Early Qing period;
Pingding, 88, n6 Manchus
Plain scholarship (puxue), 159, 201 Qiu Zhaolin, n
Plaks, Andrew, 48 Qiu Zhenzhong, 32
Poetry: in late Ming, 5, 9i qi (strangeness) in, 127; Qu Dajun, 155; loyalty to Ming, 154, 289n2; "Read-
Tang dynasty, 127-28. See also Du Fu ing the Memorial Stele of Zhuge W uhou in Lei-
Poetry of a roving immortal (youxianshi), r68-70 yang" ("Leiyang guan Zhuge Wuhou bei"), 175, 176;
Politics: awkwardness and, 126-27; in Fu Shan's visits to historic sires, 175; visits co imperial mau-
calligraphy, ror-2, 103, 104; Fu Shan's involve- solea, 174
ment, Sr-85 passim; oflate Ming period, 6-7, 54, Quan Zuwang, 127
71, So, 158; reflected in seal carving, 54i relation- Qufu, 177, r82-84, 202, 253
ship to art, 129; zhili concept in, n9, 124, 126, 127
Popular culture: drinking games, 47i fascination Rawness (sheng), 20, 21-23, 128
with strange, r6-r8; influence on calligraphy, 48; Reading: page formats, 149-51. See also Literacy
in late Ming, 9i parodies of ancient texts, 47, 48, Reading a Stele by Pitted Rocks (Dubei keshi tu), 179,
!59 285-86nr2o
Practical learning (shixue), 72-73, 79, 82 Records of the Grand Historian (Sima Qian), 99, roo-
Press-and-lift method (ti'an), 38, 195, 245 ror, 173, 183
Print culture: Confucianism and, 47-48; influence Refinement (ya), r8r
on calligraphy, 46; in late Ming, 9, 149-51, 2!9- Regional cultures, 9-ro, r8
zo; page designs, 149-51; popular entertainment, Regular-script calligraphy: brush techniques, 195,
47, 48, 159. See also Publishing I97i classical conventions, n8; clerical-script ele-
Publishing: censorship in early Qing, 219-20; comments in, 194-95; conventions, 220; dictionaries,
mercial, 9, 56, 149, 223; of Confucian classics, 62-63; differences from cursive script, 221, 228; in
47-48; of dictionaries, 66-67; reprinting of an- early Qing, 198-99; evolution of, 59, r86, 194-95;
cient texts, 46; seals, 56. See also Print culture ofFu Shan, 104, n2-14, n7, 139, 167; influence on
Puxue (plain scholarship), 159, 201 other script forms, 195, 197, 202-3, 204, 287nr68;
masters of, zo; rules in Tang period, 195, 197-98;
Qi (strange, marvelous): in calligraphy, 25, 44, 65- Tang inscriptions, 38, n8; of Wang Duo, m;
66, 241; changing nature of, 19; concept in late yingchou works, 226
Ming criticism, I2-I3i contexts, 13-18; expres- Religion, see Buddhism; Catholicism; Daoism
sions of, 13; foreign objects and peoples, 8, 14-16; Ricci, Matteo, 5, 8, 14-15, r6, 56-57, r6o
in Fu Shan's calligraphy, 235, 236, 254, 260; lite- Riely, Celia Carrington, 38
rati use of term, 14; in literature, n; in material Rongcheng, 88
culture, 15-16, r8-r9; meanings, 13, r8, 19-20; in Ruan Fu, 52
poetry, 127; in popular culture, r6-r8; presence Rubbings: of clerical script, r86-9o; collecting an-
of, I2-I3i pursuit of, r8, 66, 128-29, 206, 241; rela- tique, 58, 178, 179, 197, 202; collections, 70, r62,
tionship co archaic, 207-8 163, 187-88, 201, 253; connoisseurship, 69-70; of
Qian Qianyi, 53 Fu Shan's calligraphy, 75-76, 167-68, 283n66;
Qianziwen (Thousand character classic), 46-47, 131, made by artisans, 179; made by Fu Shan, 184;
132, 270n90 made by scholars, 178, r8r, 202, 259; of seal script,
Qilin zhui, 45-46 r86-87; traces of wear shown in, 69-70, 204
Qin dynasty: script forms, r85, r86; seals, 68; sceles, Running-cursive script calligraphy (xingcao ), 104-6,
r86 229,236
332 • Index
Running-script calligraphy: of Dong Qichang, 25; Seal-script calligraphy (zhuanshu): bru~h techniques,
evolution o£ 186, 193; ofFu Shan, 114-15, 139-40, 195, 253; conventions, 220; cursive elements in,
167; of Wang Duo, 31, 245; ofYan Zhenqing, so; dictionaries, 59, 139, 167; in' early Qing, 259,
106; yingchou works, 223 260, 261; elements incorporated into other script
forms, 63, 253, 261; ofFu Shan, 77, 145, 168-70,
Sanli Academy, 80-84 passim 171, 242-46, 286n146; Fu Shan on, 185, 186;
Santi shijing, see Classics Carved on Stone in Three greater, 145; interest in antique forms, so, 77i
Scripts lesser, 145, 198, 242; neglect o£ in early Qing,
Schall von Bell, Johann Adam, 15, 227, 267n31 186-87, 188; scholarship on, 1; sources, 188; use
Scholars: in Beijing for examination, 215-18; Boxue o£ 57-58, 185-86; varieties, 58; yingchou works,
hongci examination, 209, 212-19 passim, 258; gov- 226-27. See also Guwen script
ernment service, 214, 258; Hanlin Academy, 219; Secrets of Cursive Writing in One Hundred Rhymed
officials in Song period, 179; in Shanxi, 154-66 Lines (Caojue baiyun ge), 223
passim, 175, 183-88 passim, 201, 213, 216, 282n38; in Self-realization, 10-11, 12-13, 25, 35
Suzhou, 201 Selu miaohan, see Wonderful Calligraphy by Fu Shan
Scholarship: in early Qing, 154, 255-59 passim; em- Shaanxi, steles in, 177-78, 180
pirical research, 159; epigraphical studies, 191-92, Shang Wei, 128,149,150
201-2, 217; in late Ming, 72-73; plain (puxue), Shanhai jing (Classic of mountains and seas), 15, 17
159, 201; returning to origins, 159, 185, 282n33, Shanxi: anti-Manchu activities, 92, 100; art collec-
288n171. See also Bronze and stone objects, study tors, 77i Catholicism in, 78; Chinese officials of
of; Confucian classics; Paleography; Phonology; Qinggovernment, 92, 156-57i clients ofFu
Textual analysis Shan, 87, 191; demand for calligraphy, 224; de-
Script forms: authenticity, 167; bafen, 185, 286n138; struction during Manchu conquest, 86; econ-
cursive seal, so, 139, 145, 242, 242-45; dictionar- omy, 73-74; intellectual community, 154-66 pas-
ies, 59-67 passim, 139, 167, 168, 201; evolution of, sim, 175, 183-88 passim, 201, 213, 216, 282n38;
59-60, 63-64, 185-86, 194-95; guwen, 59, 63-64, literati, 82; Li Zicheng's army in, 84; merchants,
67, 142, 167, 244; running cursive, 104-6, 229, 73-74, 224; Ming officials, 8o, 81, 83; religious
236; selection of, no; study of ancient, 67-68, groups, 78, 79i Sanli Academy, 80-81, 82, 83, 84;
145; variant character forms, 58-59, 62-66, 168; steles, 116-17, 176-77; stone inscriptions, 116-17
in yingchou works, 226-27. See also Clerical-script Shaoshi, Mount, 178, 285n109
calligraphy; Cursive-script calligraphy; Regular- Shen Can, 132
script calligraphy; Running-script calligraphy; ShenDu, 132
Seal-script calligraphy; Zashu juan/ ce Shen Hanguang, 155, 200
Seal books, 53-62 passim, 78, 216 Shen Y e, 52, 68
Seal carving: aesthetics o£ 68-69; ancient scripts Sheng, see Rawness
used in, 60-62; anonymity of carvers, 53; criti- Shenzong, Emperor, 5, 158
cism, 53, 55i decay imitated in, 68-69, 128; by Fu Shexian: seal carvers in, 56
Shan, 76-77; impact on calligraphy, 57-59, 68, Shi Dabin, s, 8, 52
77, 78, 139, 145; influence on Fu Shan's calligra- Shi Qing, "Elegant Activities of the Literati" ("Yun-
phy, 122; in late Ming, 50-57, 6o-62, 128, 206; as chuang yashi"), 68
literati art, so, 51-52, 57, 60-62, 78, 259; market, Shi Yiguan, 239, 292n10o
51, 55, 56; process, 51-52; in Qing period, 259i Shih Shou-ch'ien, 16, 207
recognition of artists, 55-56; side inscriptions, Shitao: calligraphy o£ 204, 206-7; Lake Chao
53, 55i social and cultural factors affecting, 54- (Chaohu tu), 204; paper used, 205-6i Plum Blos-
57i soft stones used in, 50-51, 53 soms, 123-24; poem on seal carving, 206; ugliness
Seals: antique, 52, 58, 68, 122, 206; script form, 57- in paintings, 126
58; use in communication, 56-57, 27Ini30i use in Shixue (practical learning), 72-73, 79, 82
publishing, 56 Shu Qi, 97, 100, 126-27
Index • 333
Shuiniushan Wenshu Banruo jing bei (Manjusri Prajna to, 174-82 passim, 259, 285nro8. See also Bronze
Sutra Stele at Mount Water Buffalo), II5-I6, II7, and stone objects, study of (jinshixue); Rubbings
277nii3 Stele school, r, 26o-6r, 262, 265n2. See also Bpi-
Shunzhi emperor, 219 graphical calligraphy
Silver, 71 Stone Drum Inscriptions (Shigu wen), 59, 164, r86
Sima Qian: influence on Fu Shan, 99, roo; Records of Strangeness, see Qi
the Grand Historian, 99, roo-ror, 173, 183 Struve, Lynn, 86
Sima Tan, 99 Sturman, Peter, 176, 238-39
Sima Xiangru, Rhapsody of Sir Vacuous (Zixu fu), r6r SuShi, 33, 134, 238, 239-40, 279n139
Six Dynasties period: script forms, 6o; steles, 177 Summary ofMing History (Ming shi jiliie), 155
Slapping the Table with Amazement (Pai'an jingqi), 47 Sun Chuan, 91-92, 218, 274n37
Smith, Richard, 17 Sun Guoting. Shu pu, 221, 237-38
Social classes, 8, 223 Sun Kehong. Pictures of Leisure Activities (Xiaoxian
Song. Mount, 178, 285nro9 qingke tu), 149
Song Ke, Transcription of Zhao Mengfu's "Thirteen Sun Maolan, 88, 91-92, 274-75n39
Colophons to Preface of the Orchid Pavilion Gather- Sun Qifeng: effects of Manchu conquest, 96, ror;
ing," 132 loyalty to Ming. 156; students, 87, 88, 94, 157,
Song Luo, 216, 290n38 28rn24; view ofLiu Yin, 95
Song Qian, 92 Sun Xingyan, 259
Song dynasty: calligraphers, 20, 33, 134, 238-39; Sun Yinghan, 8r, 86
calligraphic styles, 192; conquest of Southern Sun Zhiwei, 202
Tang. 172; dictionaries of ancient scripts, 139; fall Suo Jing. 247
of, 95, ro2, 173; phonology, r6o; scholar-officials, Suzhou: calligraphers, no-n; scholars, 2or; seal
179. See also Northern Song; Southern Song carvers, 50, 56
Southern Ming. 84, 153
Southern Song, 175 Tai, Mount, II5, 177, 182-84
Southern Tang. 172 T aiyuan: Fu Shan jailed in, 92; Fu Shan's pharmacy,
Spence, Jonathan, 86 86; Li Zicheng's army in, 84, roo; Manchu con-
Spontaneous expression: in calligraphy, 23, 38, 42, quest, 85, 274n39; scholars in, 155
70, 204, 205; in cursive-script calligraphy, 28, 31, Taiyuan Duantie (Collection ofFu Shan's calligra-
221; in Fu Shan's calligraphy, 190, 254; in litera- phy engraved by the Duan family in T aiyuan),
ture, n-12, 31; of qi, 13; in seal carving. 53; theory !67-68, 283n66
of, n-!2 Taizhou school, 7-8
Spring and Autumn period seals, 57-58 Taizu, Emperor, roo, 174
Stele for Shedding Tears (Duolei bei), 175-76 Tan Yuanchun, 5
Steles: associated with dynastic transitions, 175, Tang Bin, 157, 219
176-77; calligraphers' interest in, 182; Classics Tang Ruowang. see Schall von Bell, Johann Adam
Carved on Stone in Three Scripts (Santi shijing), 131; Tang Xianzu, 5, ro, n-12, 14, 20, 31
contemplation of past while reading. 176; dam- Tang dynasty: calligraphers, r, 20, 35, 38, 49, 197;
age to, 184, 204; emotions involved in viewing. calligraphic styles, II5, n8, 192, 193-94, 195; cur-
175-76; Fu Shan's copies of inscriptions, 189; sive-script calligraphy, 38, 221-22; poetry, 127-28;
Han dynasty, 143-45, r62, 163, 177, 178, 183, 187- regular-script calligraphy, 195, 197-98; steles, 177;
90, 192, 202; as historic sites, r82; inscriptions by wild cursive-script calligraphy, 238
Fu Shan, 143-45; as memorials, 174; at Ming Tao Yuanming. So, 129-30
imperial mausolea, 174; paintings of figures read- Taoism, see Daoism
ing, 179-80, r8r-82; regular-script inscriptions, Taste, 190-91
38; scholarship on, 259; in Shanxi, n6-r7, 176-77; Taxes, 71, 86
study of clerical-script calligraphy on, 58; visits T errenz, Johann, 15
334 • Index
Textual analysis (kaozhengxue), 7'2.-73, 159,164-66, Wang Hongzhuan: in Beijing, 216, 217; Boxue
167, 258-59. See also Phonology hongci examination and, 213; Fu Shan and, 216-
Thousand Character Classic (Qianziwen), 46-47, 131, 17, 290n49; on Han calligraphy, 192-93; relations
132, 270n90 with Chinese officials of Qing government, 217;
Three Kingdoms period, 131, 173, 193 relations with other scholars, 58, 155-56; rubbing
Three Teachings in One, 7, 170 collection, 162, 187-88, 189; on seal collecting, 52;
Ti'an (press-and-lift) method, 38, 195, 245 study of clerical script, 191, 194, 196; on Zheng
Tianqi reign, 6, 27 Fu, 202
Tianshou, Mount, 181 Wang Mian, 51
Tiexue (model-book school), r, 25, II7, 185. See also Wang Qiu, Collected Records of Antiquity from Xiao-
Dong Qichang · tang (Xiaotangjigu lu ), 145
Tong Changling, 216 Wang Rujin, 81, 86, roo
Tongxin (childlike mind), ro, n, 12, 23, 66, 237 Wang Shimin, 49
Trigault, Nicolas, 78, r6o Wang Shiqing, r6o
Trigrams, 142-43 Wang Shizhen, 5, n, 216, 217, 290n48
Wang Shouren, see Wang Y angming
Ugliness (chou), 126, 129,206. See also Deformation Wang Wan, 204
and fragmentation (zhili) Wang Xianzhi: aesthetic, n8; Baonu tie, 40-42;
Urban culture, 7, 9, r8-19, 219 drunken calligraphy anecdote, 237-38; influence,
20, 49; script forms used, r86; works copied, 40-
Vanity Fair, logic of, 19, 65 42,241
Vernacular fiction, see Fiction, vernacular Wang Xianzuo, 156
Wang Xizhi: aesthetic, n8; cursive-script calligra-
WanJing, 201-2 phy, 246-47; drunken calligraphy anecdote,
Wang Cheng, 15 237-38, 239; emotions in calligraphy, 221; influ-
Wang Duo: archaic character forms, 58-59; calli- ence, r, 20, 35, 49, II4, 185; regular-script calligra-
graphic styles, m, 128, 135; calligraphy o£ 28, 31, phy, 139, 194-95; script forms used, r86; works
32-33, 42; clerical-script calligraphy, 58, 187, 201, copied, 40-42, 134, 269n8o, 269n85; works cop-
202, 245; collage scrolls, 40-44, 128, 242, 269n85; ied by Fu Shan, n2, n4, 241-42
copies of ancient works, 40-44, 49, 135, 145, -,works: Anxie tie, 242; Dongzhong tie, 247; Ershu
269n8o; cursive-script calligraphy, 31, 32-33, 235, tie, 242; Eulogy of Yue Yi, 134; Fuxiang qinghe tie,
245; distractions while writing calligraphy, 227; 241-42; Jiayue tie, 40-42; Poem Praising Dongfang
free copying, 40, 42, 241; influence on Fu Shan, Shuo's Portrait, n2; Wuwei bianbian tie, 40-42
245; Jesuits and, 267n3r; script forms used, 135; Wang Yangming, 7, ro, 79
seal collection, 70; variant character forms, 64- WangYi, 186
66; view of cursive script, 222; on wine, 239; zashu Wanli reign, 5-6, 14-16, 20, 50
juan/ ce, 135, 138 Warring States period seals, 57-58
-,works: Calligraphy for Shan Danian, 70; Calligra- Watson, Burton, II9
phy in Clerical Script, 187; Copy of Mi Fu's "Colophon Watt, James, 51, 69
to Ouyang Xun's Calligraphy,'' 42-44; Copy of Wei Xiangshu, 218, 284n71
Wang Xizhi's and Wang Xianzhi's Letters, 40-42; Wei Y an, 179
Copy ofYan Zhenqing's "Baguanzhai huiji," 65; Cur- Wei Yi'ao: career, 87-88,92,94, 96, 275n6o; Fu
sive Calligraphy for Zhang Baoyi, 33; Memory of Shan's letters to, 88-90, 91, 92, 104-6, no, m-12;
Traveling on Mount Zhongtiao, 31; "Ode to Cur- hanging scrolls from Fu Shan, 93-95, n2, 229,
sive-Script Calligraphy" ("Caoshu song"), 28-31, 234-36, 240, 247; poetry, 96, 97i relationship
222; Poems Dedicated to Guo Yizhang, 32-33; Poems with Fu Shan, 87-93 passim, 97, 294n2; relations
for Yugu in Assorted Scripts, 135, 138 with Ming loyalists, 97i teacher, 28rn24
Wang Fuzhi, 257 Wei Yijie, 157
Index • 335
Wei Zhongxian, 6-7, 2S, So Xing Shu, 259
Wei dynasty, 131, 192, 193, 194 Xingcao, see Running-cursive script calligraphy
Wen Peng, so, sr, 52, 6S, m Xinzhou, 73, S9, 92
Wen Tiren, So, Sr Xu Bingyi, 156
Wen Xuanxi, 79 Xu Guangqi, 5, S, 7S
Wen Zhengming, 70, no-n, 196, 19S; Essay on Xu Guo, 17S
Streams and Rocks (Xishi ji), 196-97 XuJie, 210
Western culture: artists' exposure to, r6, 17; Chinese Xu Qianxue, rs6, 157, 25S
contacts with, S; strangeness, 14-16; translitera- Xu Shen, The Analysis ofCharacters as an Explanation
tion of Chinese characters, 7S, r6o ofWriting, 62, 64, 67-6S, 139, 140, 167, rSS, 212, 259
Wild cursive-script calligraphy (kuangcao ): emotions Xu Shipu, 5-10 passim, r6, so, 52, 6S, rss
expressed in, 239-40; ofFu Shan, 209, 22S, 229, Xu Wei, s; Watching the Tide, 235-36
234-36, 240-41, 256; masters of, 2S9nr; origins XuXuan, 17S
of, 221; in Qing period, 261-62; in Tang period, Xu You, 2S9nr
23S; yingchou works, 226 Xu Yuanwen, rs6, 219
Wine: association with calligraphy, 237-40; callig- Xuan Rulou, 17S
raphy written after drinking, 234; Fu Shan's es- Xuanzong, Emperor, 195-96; Stele of the Classic of
say for Wei Yi'ao, 93-95, 234, 240 Filial Piety (Shitai Xiaojing), 193
Wonderful Calligraphy by Fu Shan (Selu miaohan), 13S- Xue Shanggong, 164; Inscriptions on Bronze Ritual
43; date of, r2S, 27Snr2r; deformation and frag- Vessels from Successive Dynasties (Lidai zhongding
mentation in, 120-22, 27Sn131; execution of, rsr; yiqi kuanzhi fa tie), 67, 139
format, 14S, 149, rsr; marginalia, 147-4S; order of Xue Zongzhou, Sr, S2, S6, roo
text, 14S, rsr; reading, 145-46, rsr; recipients, 127; Xunzi tie (Admonition to My Son; Fu Shan), 101-2,
script types, 14S 103, III, nS, 126, 201, 207
Wood slips, 253, 293n129
Writing: of children, 240; communicative function, Ya, see Refinement
145-46; divine force, 240; invention of, 26Sn59 Y an Ermei, 153
Wu, Emperor, 126, rS3 Y an Ruoqu: in Beijing, 216, 217; Boxue hongci ex-
Wu Bin, 20; The Sixteen Luohans, r6 amination and, 213-14; criticism of Gu, 165-66;
Wu Hung, 124, rS3 criticism oflate Ming scholarship, 165; Evidential
Wu, Nelson, 10, 25 Analysis of the Guwen Documents, rss, r66, 2S3n62;
WuQi,rss family, rss; Fu Shan and, 163, 215, 216; list of con-
Wu Sangui, 153, 209, 2S9n2 temporary sages, 2oS; Qianqiu's Reading Notes
Wu Sheng, So, Sr (Qianqiu zhaji), 164-65; relationship with Fu
Wu Yu, r6o Shan, rss; rubbing collection, rSS; scholarship of,
WufengStone Inscription, rS4, 253 167, 170, 171, 25S; southern origins, 201; visits to
steles, 177
Xi Kang, 52 Yan W engui, 7S
Xia Song, Dictionary of Ancient Scripts Compiled in Yan Xiuling, 153, 155, 213
Four Rhymes (Guwen sishengyun), 139 Yan Zhenqing: calligraphic style, 127, 195, 277-
Xia Yunyi, Letter in Running Script, 106 7Snn3; copies of works, 134; Fu Shan's study of,
Xia Cheng bei, see Memorial Stele ofXia Cheng 101-4, n4, n6, nS, 127, 12S, 139, 196, 279n143; in-
Xi' an, S3, 177 fluence, 103, m, nS, 2Sonr6r; influence on Fu
Xiao Feng, 9S Shan, 104, 106, no-17 passim, 234; regular-script
Xiaocao, see Lesser cursive-script calligraphy calligraphy, 139; style, m, II4, ns-r7, 196; works
Xiaopin biji, see Miscellanies copied, 20, n2-14, 196
Xie Zhaozhe, 2SSnrSS -,works: Baguanzhai huiji, 65; Eulogy for My Nephew
XinQuan,79 (]izhi gao), ns; Letter on the Controversy over Seating
336 • Index
Protocol, 35, 3S; Memorial Ode on the Resurgence of Zhang Baoyi, 33
the Great Tang (Da Tang zhongxing song), 40, uS- Zhang Chunxiu, 204
19, 12S, 196; Memorial Stele of the Yan Family Tem- Zhang Dai, 52
ple, 75, n5-16, 11S, 196; Prabhutaratna Pagoda Stele Zhang Feng, Reading a Memorial Stele, 1S1-S2
Inscription (Duobaota ganying bei), uS, 196; Record Zhang Hao, Seal Book from the Xueshantang Studio
of the Altar of the Immortal of Mount Magu (Magu (Xueshantang yinpu ), 54, 6o
xiantan ji), n2-14, 279n143 Zhang Huaiguan, 221
Y an Zhitui, 6o, 277-7Sn113 Zhang Huangyan, 153
Yang Fangsheng, S1, Sg-go, 106, 127, 27Sn121 ZhangJuzheng, 6
Yang Hu, 175-76 Zhang Pan, 74
Yang Huifang, 91 ZhangPu,72
Yang Ningshi, 25, 3S, 134 ZhangQi, gS
Yang Shen, 1So Zhang Ruitu, 27-2S, 33; Transcription ofMeng
Yang Sisheng, 91, 92 Haoran's Poems in Cursive Script, 27
Yangqu, n S5-S6, 116 Zhang Sunzhen, S1, S2
Yaotian yue, 150-51 Zhang Xianzhong, 71
Ye Yibao, Supplement to the Record of Inscriptions on Zhang Xu: calligraphy of, 49, 221, 222, 269n75; cal-
Bronze and Stone (]inshi lu bu), 201, 217 ligraphy written after drinking, 23S; Record of the
Yimin, see Ming loyalists Langguan Stone Pillar (L~Jngguan shizhu ji), 3S
Yingchou works, 220, 222-23; in cursive script, 222- Zhang Y an, 175
27 passim; demand for, 227; ofFu Shan, 224-26; Zhang Zhi, 2S7nr62; Bayue tie, 247
script forms used, 226-27 Zhang Zhong, go
Yinyunxue, see Phonology Zhangcao, see Draft cursive-script calligraphy
Yu He, Thousand Character Classic in Six Different Zhang Qian bei, see Memorial Stele of Zhang Qian
Scripts (Liuti Qianziwen), 131, 132 Zhao Han, Excellent Rubbings of Stone Carvings
Yuan Hongdao, 5, 20 (Shimo juanhua), 18o-Sr
Yuan Huang, 5, 7 Zhao Mengfu: calligraphic style, 127, rg6; Dong
YuanJie, 11S Qichang on, 21; Fu Shan's opinion o£ 102, 103,
YuanJixian, So, S1-S2, S4-S5, roo 11S, 127; influence on Fu Shan, 76, III, 229,
Yuan Zhongdao, 20 279n143; service to Yuan dynasty, 102
Yuan Zongdao, 20 -,works: Poems on Mount Fragrance (Xiangshan shi),
Yuan dynasty: calligraphers, 21, 132; calligraphic 101, 279n143; Record of the Miaoyan Monastery in
styles, 192, 2S7nr6S; Chinese officials, 102; legiti- Huzhou (Huzhou Miaoyansi ji), 21-23; Thirteen
macy, 99; seal carvers, 51; seal-script calligraphy, Colophons to the "Preface of the Orchid Pavilion Gath-
59; study of bronze and stone objects, 1So ering," 132; Thousand Character Classic in Six Differ-
Yupian (Gu Yewang), 62-63 ent Scripts (Liuti Qianziwen), 131, 132
Yuxian, gS, roo, 104, 116 Zhao Mingcheng, Record of Inscriptions on Bronze and
Stone (]inshi lu), 144, r62, 17S-79
Zashu juan/ ce, 130; early, 132-34, 151; in early Qing, Zhao Nanxing, 5, 6, 7
259; formats, 149; ofFu Shan, 130, 13S-43, 151, Zhao Y anwei, 17S
279-S0n154; in late Ming, 134-35, 13S; predeces- Zhao Yiguang: Colophon in Cursive Seal Script to
sors, 131-32; production o£ 14S; textual contents, Zhang]izhi's Copy of the "Diamond Sutra," 50; cur-
130-31, I4S sive seal script, 50, 139, 145, 242; influence on, Fu
Zazu xiaopin, see Miscellanies Shan, 7S; life o£ 50; Long Annotation to "The
Zeitlin, Judith, 19 Analysis of Characters as an Explanation ofWriting"
Zengguang zhongding zhuanyun (Expanded edition of (Shuowen changjian), 62, 67-68, r65; prefaces to
the dictionary of seal script arranged by seal books, 53; scholarship o£ 5; seal carving, 50
rhymes), 59 Zheng Chenggong, 153
Index • 337
Zheng Fashi, 179 rubbings, z8z-83n48; Colophons to Bronze and
Zheng Fu: clerical-script calligraphy, zo1, zoz-4, Stone Artifacts from the Pushu Pavilion (Pushuting
Z9Z-93nm; fame, zoB; Poem by Yang]uyuan, zoz-4 jinshi bawei), 16z; on Fu Shan, 181, zoo; list of
Zheng Qiao, 164 clerical-script calligraphers, zo1; scholarship
Zheng Xie, z6o o£ 156, 170, 171; southern origins, zo1; study
Zhili, see Deformation and fragmentation of clerical script, 191-9z, 193-94, 196, zoz;
Zhili Shu, II9 visits to steles and historic sites, 175, 183,
Zhong Hui, 186 z85nro8
Zhong Xing, 5 Zhu Yuanzhang, 77
Zhong You: Memorial on an Announcement to Sun Zhu Yunming, m, 134, Z79n15z
Quan (Xttanshi biao ), 194i regular-script calligra- Zhu Zhenyu, 98
phy, m, II4, 139; script forms used, 186, 194-95, Zhu Zhijun, 291n77
Z46 Zhuang Tinglong, 155
Zhou Lianggong, Z39i on ancient scripts, 58; callig- Zhuangzi, 47
raphy o£ zo1; criticism ofWen Zhengming, 196, Zhuangzi: Fu Shan's study o£ 171; stories, II9, z56;
197; Kuncan' s painting for, 1Z5i on plain literary text copied by Fu Shan, II4, 139, 140, 145, 147,
styles, zoo; rubbing collection, zor; scholarship 151
o£ 16z Zhuanshu, see Seal-script calligraphy
Zhou dynasty: Bo Yi and Shu Qi, 97, roo, 126-z7; Zhuge Liang, 175, 176
maps, 15 Zhu Mouwei, Guwen Script and Strange Characters
Zhu Chaqing, z71n130 (Guwen qizi), 67
ZhuGang,77 Zhuo, see Awkwardness
Zhu Guantian, II5 Zihui (Dictionary of characters; Mei Yingzuo ), 66-
Zhu Jian, 50, 53, 56, 78 67
Zhu Mouyin, 67 Zou Diguang, 57
Zhu Yizun: in Beijing, z16, Z17i Boxue hongci ex- Zou Yuanbiao, 5-8 passim
amination and, z13, 218; career, 156; colophons on Zuozhuan, II$
338 • Index

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fu

HARVARD EAST ASIAN MONOGRAPHS 220

HARVARD UNIVERSITY ASIA CENTER

DISTRIBUTED BY HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS

CAMBRIDGE (MASSACHUSETTS) AND LONDON

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Index by Mary Mortensen

@ Printed on acid-free paper

Last figure below indicates year of this printing

BOTH FORMAL AND INFORMAL,

FOR HELPING ME TO APPRECIATE THE ART

Calligraphy Terms and Chinese Names XlX

Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan' s Early Life 5

2 Fu Shan' s Life and Calligraphy in the Early Years of the

4 Calligraphy and the Changing Intellectual Landscape 209

Works Cited 295

Character List 313

1.1 Map of Shanxi 74

1.1 Illustration in Best Selections from the Illustrated Catalogues

1.2 Wu Bin, The Sixteen Luohans, 1591 17

1.3 Illustrations in Wanli quanbu wenlin renzi kan miaojin wanbao

1.4 Zhao Mengfu, Record of the Miaoyan Monastery in Huzhou,

1.5 Dong Qichang, Copy of an Imperial Patent, 1636 22

1.6 Dong Qichang, characters hi ~ and zhen fa in Copy of an

1.7 Dong Qichang, Calligraphy in Running and Cursive Scripts, 1603 24

1.9 Zhang Ruitu, Transcription of Meng Haoran's Poems in

3·1 Chen Pengnian et al., Guangyun, ron; reprinted by

xxu • Calligraphy Terms and Chinese Names

Chapter 1 • Culture and

6 • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life

Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • 7

8 • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life

Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • 9

An important name is missing from Xu Shipu's list of the cultural accom~

IO • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life

Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • n

12 • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life

Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • 13

eludes many vivid accounts of how people-from theWanli emperor to ordi~

14 • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life

The Italian missionary Giulio Aleni's (Ai Ruliie, I582-I649) Notes on

Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • IS

16 • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life

Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • 17

18 • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life

Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • 19

DONG QICHANG AND

20 • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life

A comparison of Zhao's calligraphy with Dong Qichang's will illuminate

Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • 21

~t if -/if t .~t ·J?_

~ li 1if t!1 ·J1'

seems under the control of an extraordinarily skillful calligrapher. Zhao's solid

22 • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life

Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • 23

Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life • 25

26 • Late Ming Culture and Fu Shan's Early Life