In the "Book of Han" and "Book of the Later Han", there is no such name as "Bafen". Gu Nanyuan said, "In the end of the Han Dynasty, there was no other name for Li Li" [10], which is true. "Eight points" was first seen in history books in the "Book of Jin·Biography of Wei Heng", "Now the eight points are all promoted." There are several theories about the name and meaning of "Bafen":
① "Gu and Jin Fa Shu Yuan" quoted Cai Wenji as saying: "My father created Bafen, and Cheng Li took two out of eight points. Li Zhuan is divided into two and eight is divided into two. ② In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Huaiguan quoted Wang Min and said: "Cizhongshi used the ancient calligraphy method Fang Guang and Shao Bo Shi to build the junior high school in official script. The square is divided into eight parts, and the words are modeled. "
③ Guo Zhongshu in the Song Dynasty said: "The book has eight parts, and Cai Yong of the Han Dynasty used it to make the eight parts. After the eight parts were built, this method was born, which is called 'Eight points' is close." [13]
④ Ouyang Xiu's "Collection of Ancient Records" in the Song Dynasty pointed out that eight divisions were "Han Li" [14].
⑤Wu Qiu Yan's "Xuegubian" of the Yuan Dynasty said: "Five said: eight points, eight points, there is no challenge to the Han Li. It is easier to recognize than the Qin Li, and it is easier to recognize than the Han Li. It is slightly similar to seal script. If you make good use of seal script to write Chinese official characters, you can get it. The eight points are indistinguishable from the number of official characters, so I will explain the method." [15]
⑥Volume 20 of Qing Weng Fanggang's "Emperor and Stone Records of the Two Han Dynasties" "Li Ba Fen Kao" quotes Gao Fenghan's "Ba Fen Shuo": "The strokes are straight, the small seal script is still small, and the heavy ones are removed, Li is also . Adding plunder and restraint due to the subordinates is eight points." [16]
⑦Xu Bangda said: "The charter book is the words on the chapter. We can see the following copies: "He Jie Biao" written in the 24th year of Jian'an by Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty (219 AD) and other imitations , it can be seen that the eight-point regular script should undoubtedly be this type of font." [17]
Faced with the many complicated statements mentioned above, it is impossible to sort out the clues without the support of physical data. Judging from the chronological data unearthed from official scripts, the first theory is absurd. The wooden slip of the Han Dynasty Tomb in Yinwan already contains a fairly regular eight-point script, which was written at the end of the Western Han Dynasty. Therefore, the theory that Cai Yong created the eight-point script is inconsistent with historical facts. The third statement is that "Cai Yong used Li to form the eight-part body, and this method was born after the eight-part body." This is obviously an unfounded guess. The fourth statement refers to "Han Li" as "Ba Fen". Mr. Qi Gong and Mr. Qiu Xigui also said the same. As mentioned above, this does not distinguish Han Li from Ba Fen Shu. "Han Li" and "Bafen Shu" The connotation and denotation of the two words "Bafen" are not exactly the same. Han Li can include Bafen, but Bafen cannot include Han Li in the narrow sense. This theory cannot explain the font on the Yinwan Mingye wooden slip from a morphological point of view, so this theory is not accurate enough. The fifth theory seems to be that fonts such as Han Dynasty and Jinwen are eight points, which is wrong. The seventh type is the "eight-point regular script", that is, regular script, which refers to calligraphy styles such as Zhong Yao's "He Jie Biao". Mr. Xu believes that the charter book refers to a font such as "He Jie Biao". Regardless of whether his conclusion is correct or not, we have not seen such fonts in the unearthed official script chronicling materials, so the "eight points are divided into regular scripts" There is no physical evidence. The author believes that only Wang Min's statement and Gao Fenghan's statement are closer to the historical truth of Bafenshu. If analyzed in detail, the two statements are basically consistent. The key is how to interpret "eight points per word". The author believes that the word "square" here is a substantive word, which is the "square" of the "character square eight points" mentioned above. "The character square eight points" should be understood as "the character is square and wide, distributed to the left and right eight characters". This is the most concise and accurate summary of Bafenshu. The same is true for the excavated data. For example, the bamboo slips of the first year of Wufeng are made of horizontal strokes. The word "year" is written in five horizontal strokes, and the character "phoenix" is written in six horizontal strokes. The horizontal strokes are straight and vertical, with only a wave tail at the end of the horizontal strokes. This is exactly what Wang Min said. It is said that "ancient books are wide and powerful, and there are few waves of potential". This is not the case for the Yinwan Mingye wooden slip. For example, the character "Tai" and the character "Shi" weaken the horizontal strokes, exaggerate the protrusions and dandelions, and are symmetrically distributed on the left and right. The whole character is dignified and steady, which can be described as "eight points per square". Accurate. Its evolution process is exactly what Gao Fenghan said: "The strokes are straight, and the small seal script is still small but the heavy ones are removed, which is Li. Because of Li, I added plunder and restraint, which is eight points." Judging from the unearthed data, it is untenable to say that the size of a character is exactly eight-tenths of an ancient ruler [18]. It is impossible to tell which calligraphy style the Yinwan Mingye Wooden Slip is from even if it is said to be 80% of the ancient script. The most conspicuous thing we can see from it is the eight-character distribution of its glyphs. First of all, we should identify the calligraphy significance of Han Li and Bafen.
①Using the pen: the difference between "moving the arms" and "moving the elbows"
The author of the previous article identified Dingxian Han Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo Slips as the mature period of Han Li's fonts, Yinwan The name Ye wooden slip is a relatively mature font of Bafen script, which will be explained from the perspective of the pen used. The author believes that Dingxian Han bamboo slips and Yinwan Mingye wooden slips belong to two writing systems. The former uses the "Li" method and the latter uses the "fen" method.
What is the "Li" law? As mentioned above, the writing style of official script comes from the deed engraving method of ancient official script. Mr. Lu Guoyao once made an exhaustive study of the word "Li" in the works of the Han people, and finally concluded that the real meaning of the word "Li" used by the Han people is not the usual understanding of "scribe", "prisoner" and the like. Rather, it refers to prisoners, that is, criminals. Mr. Lu believes that the name of official script is a nickname adopted by Ban Gu out of hatred for Qin Shihuang, because the Qin Dynasty actually unified the writing system of the country with official script. [22] The author does not agree with Mr. Lu’s conclusion, but the theory that “Li” is a prisoner and a mere official as verified by Mr. Lu has been recognized by the academic circles.
As mentioned above, the official script and its writing techniques originated from the Qin script of the Warring States Period. The author recently sorted out the inscriptions on newly unearthed bronzes and accidentally discovered that the weapons made by Shangjun of the Qin State often had the inscription "Gong Lichen", such as:
(Picture 13) In the 24th year, Zang Zao, the governor of the Shangjun, was appointed as a Gongshi by Gao Nu, and Cheng Shen, Gongli Chenqu.
"Cultural Relics Research" No. 12, Huangshan Publishing House, January 2000.
(Picture 14) In the twenty-fifth year, Zhou Zao, the governor of Shangjun, was appointed by Gao Nu Gongbikou, Cheng Shen, and Gongli Chenkou.
"Chinese Archeology" 1991 Issue 3.
(Picture 15) In the thirty-eighth year, Shangjun governor Qing Zao (lacquer), Cheng Qin, Gong Li minister.
"Cultural Relics" Issue 10, 1998.
There is no doubt that this type of font should have been carved by these "gonglichen". The inscriptions on these weapons are the "Shu" of the eight styles of Qin Shu,[23] The lower copper inscription found in 1995 on the 19th year of Daliang's establishment of a concubine, Changshu, can be confirmed:
(Picture 16) In the 19th year of Daliang, the concubine of Daliang was established, Changshang Yang was built, Zheng.
"Archaeology and Cultural Relics" Issue 5, 1996.
The inscriptions (Shu) on these weapons should be one of the earliest sources of official script. This type of characters is carved on and requires a lot of strength. This has resulted in a completely different method of holding the pen (knife) and moving the pen (knife) than seal script. After repeated research and pondering, the author found that the way to carve this type of fonts is The force-generating point is not on the wrist, nor on the elbow, but on the arm. It is carved from left to right with the arm joint as the fulcrum, so the horizontal drawing often tilts downward to the right. This is the method of engraving the contract of Li Ren. The writing style of official script is derived from this method of holding and moving the sword. Therefore, the horizontal strokes of ancient official script are often tilted to the right and downwards. It was not until the Han official script that they could be straightened. However, no matter how mature the Han official script was, its "writing place" [24 ] is still on the left or upper left side of the character, which is also the basis for the author's writing style to believe that Dingxian Han bamboo slips are Han Li. Although the Han bamboo slips in Dingxian County have slightly raised horizontal strokes, overall they still have horizontal strokes and flat fonts. The Han bamboo slips in Dingxian County also pursue a sense of symmetry, but it is not symmetrical left and right, but symmetrical up and down. For example, in (Figure 17) [25], the upper two characters of "王", "无", "天" and "婷" are The horizontal planes are slightly upward, so that they are symmetrical to the wave tails of the lower horizontal planes. The horizontal drawings on Han bamboo slips in Dingxian County are mostly in a slightly concave shape downwards, such as the horizontal drawings of the characters "王", "无", "之", "马" and "ke" in (Figure 17). This is exactly what The inevitable result of arm movement writing is that calligraphers He Shaoji and Yi Bingshou of the Qing Dynasty were well aware of this method. Therefore, their calligraphy is vast, thick, simple and ancient, which is the inheritance of the ancient Li and Han Li methods.
What is the "division" method? "Divide", "Shuowen" "Bi Ye, Cong Ba Cong Dao, the knife is used to distinguish things". "Eight", "Shuowen" "Bieye, like the shape of separation and mutual opposition". From the words "xiao", "zhan", "gong", and "ban" in "eight" all have the meaning of "differentiation" and "contrary to each other", we know that "eight points" is not about the power of words, but the proof of Yin The name of the bay is consistent with the wooden slip. For example, the words "Tai", "Shi", "Feng", "Bu", "Li" and "Ling" on it are separated to the left and right, and the shapes are opposite to each other. Extremely exaggerated beauty. The writing method of "eight points" is related to but different from Xiaozhuan [26]. This is the "outer rubbing" method and the "inner rubbing" method that are famously known in the history of calligraphy. The eight-point calligraphy is external rubbing and the small seal script is inner rubbing. The thousand-year brushwork method is derived from Therefore, among the later calligraphers, Zhong Yao was good at the external extension method, and Youjun was good at the internal method. [27] However, whether it is the external rubbing method or the internal rubbing method, the "initial stroke" of this writing method is above the character, and the calligrapher completes it by moving the elbow. In the external drawing method, the brush strokes come down from above, with the left and right sides facing each other. In the inner stroke method, the brush strokes come down from the top, with the left and right sides embracing each other. Mr. Shen Yinmo's summary of Youjun's brushwork as "turning from the left to the right" is really untrue.
② On the structure: "Flat-drawn wide knot" and "obliquely drawn tight knot"
Mr. Sha Menghai once concluded: "The structure of the Bei stele can be roughly divided into There are two types of "obliquely drawn tight knots" and "flat drawn wide knots". In the past, few people paid attention to the statues of "Zhang Menglong", "Gen Master" and Longmen. "Jing" and "Tang Yong Shu Jing Ode" are representatives of the latter. The latter inherited the official method and retained the official meaning. The former was naturally formed due to the use of the right hand for writing. This division has continued to influence the Tang and Song Dynasties. , Chu Suiliang and Yan Zhenqing belong to the latter, and Ouyang Xun and Huang Tingjian belong to the former. The Southern and Northern Dynasties are their starting point." [28]
Mr. Sha Menghai’s two-system theory of structure is indeed unprecedented. The two-system theory has been widely accepted by the calligraphy circle. Anyone who discusses calligraphy structure should take this as a guideline. Mr. Sha believes that "flat paintings and wide knots" inherit the official law, which is true. However, the author disagrees with Mr. Sha’s statement about “drawing tight knots at an angle”. I believe that “drawing tight knots at an angle” inherits the “eight points” method, and “flat knots with wide knots” and “drawing tight knots at an angle” are in the use of pens. This is the difference between “arm movement” and “elbow movement”. Therefore, the author believes that the starting point of the combination of the two systems should be the Han Dynasty, not the Northern and Southern Dynasties period as mentioned by Mr. Sha.