This paper is about the Calligraphy theory and the Liufen Banshu(六分半書) of Banqiao Zheng Xie.
Basically, his Calligraphy theory was influenced by the romantic and artist’s migrants who opposed reactionism or archaism from the last period of the Ming Dynasty to the early period of Qing Dynasty. Thus, he oriented an attitude placing emphasis on individuality based on the old man’s calligraphy techniques. Also, he argued that the concept of calligraphy is identical to that of painting.
In addition, he made creative drawing methods in which he drew orchids with Cursive Script(草书, caoshu) and bamboo leaves with Official Script(隸书, lishu). He reflected a calligraphy theory in the works of calligraphy. The mainstream was calligraphy of government office(馆阁体) in the early period of Qing Dynasty. At that time, he practiced Small Regular Script(小楷) of Dong Qichang(董其昌). Since then, he mastered Tie study(帖学) and Stele Study(碑学), and he began to form his own typefaces around the age of 30. He liked Huai Su, Yan Zhenqing, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Xu Wei, Gao Pei, and others.
Especially, Banqiao Zheng Xie was strongly influenced by the Cursive Script(草书)— unrestrained(奔放) of Huai Su—and free handwriting composition(章法) of Yan Zhenqing(颜眞卿)—unstoppable strokes of Huang Tingjian(黄庭坚).
In addition, his Liufen Banshu(六分半書) was specifically affected by the calligraphy of Fu Shan, Wang Duo, Zheng Bou, Shi Tao from the last period of the Ming Dynasty to the early period of Qing Dynasty.
The characteristics of the Liufen Banshu(六分半書) are as follow: first, changeable handwriting composition(章法); second, the diversity of the scripts; third, the size of the scripts; fourth, the change of the dots and strokes; fifth, the strokes with a brush of the thin or heavy; sixth, the application of official script(隸书, lishu) method; and seventh, irregularity of strokes order.
There are many different opinions for the Banqiao Zheng Xie’s Liufen Banshu(六分半書), but it is the mixture of multiple scripts, involving symbolic meaning.
Such his freewheeling calligraphy has an impact on calligraphy of calligrapher Hao shao jie(何绍基) in the mid and late Qing Dynasty. Through this study, it was not found that Liufen Banshu(六分半書) is not a bizarre and grotesque script against the reactionism in the early period of Qing Dynasty, but it is a script that is transformed individually through studies and practices of old calligrapher’s calligraphy.