By the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, the inscriptions on bronzes of various countries had formed distinct characteristics of the times in form, and the inscriptions on bronzes of different geographical regions and even different countries adjacent to each other had great differences. However, at that time, there were many large and small countries, and today's available bronze inscriptions are not enough to make a detailed and country-specific study one by one. Based on the available data, the inscriptions on bronze at this stage are summarized in four regions, namely Qilu in the East, Jin in the Central Plains and southern countries. Guanzhong (Qin). This area is rich in inscriptions on Qi. From the mid-Spring and Autumn Period, there were two styles in Qi Jinwen. The first style: the shape was slender and neat, the strokes were smooth, and the vertical pen was often long and tortuous, which was solemn and elegant. For example, the inscriptions on the so-called four Qi and Hou wares (Ding, Dun, Pan and moo) unearthed in Yixian County. However, the inscription of Qi Hou Yu, the font of this inscription is very similar to the inscription of Qi Hou Qi in Yixian County.
At the same time, there is another style in Qi's inscriptions on bronze. The font is square, the strokes are relaxed, and the style is bold. For example, the inscription of Guo Biao and the inscription of Meng Jianghu, the son handed down from ancient times, can also belong to this form, but the layout is sloppy. Although the calligraphy of these two forms of inscriptions in the Spring and Autumn Period is different, the glyph structure is the same, which can be known by comparing the inscriptions on Qi Hou Yu and Jin Yu with the inscriptions on Guo Cha. Of the two forms, the former is an artistic font that is deliberately processed, while the latter is close to the usual popular handwriting, or vulgar style.
Lu is adjacent to Qi, but in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, the inscriptions of Lu are rare, which are slender, neat and with many pendulous fonts. Most of the inscriptions of Qi still retain the style of inscriptions of the late Western Zhou Dynasty, which is stable and sincere, which may be related to the fact that Lu has preserved the most Zhou rites. However, at this stage, the size of the inscriptions on bronzes is different. Compared with the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the strokes of individual fonts are also tortuous, and the layout is more relaxed. It embodies the style of the times. Typical fonts, such as Lu Da Situ Hou's Yuan Pu inscription and Lu Da Situ Zi's Zhong Bai Mao inscription.
At this stage, Qi Jinwen and Lu Jinwen are not only different in the style of writing, but also in the structure of the font they are used to. Of course, some words have the same and special writing methods, such as the upper stroke of the word "Shou" (the prefix of "Lao"), which has been noticed by scholars. However, the differences in the font structure of Qilu inscriptions are even more striking. For example, if we compare the inscriptions of Bai Mao in Lu Da Situ with those of Qi Hou Yu, we can see the differences in the font structure from the writing methods of the words "Qi", "Shou", "Wan" and "Bao". The differences between the above-mentioned inscriptions on Qilu indicate that the strengthening of political independence of various countries and the state of regional separatism have deepened cultural barriers, even if they are close to each other. In the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, the political center of the State of Jin was still in southern Shanxi, and the land belonged to the Central Plains. There are not many bronzes belonging to the state of Jin at this stage. Luan Shu Fu, which belongs to the Chinese Museum of History, was originally written by Luan Shu because the inscription "Luan Shu" appeared in Zuo Zhuan, and it was from Duke Jing of Jin and Duke Li of Jin. In recent years, some scholars have suggested that this device is Chu, and the characters belong to Chu system. Those who hold this view have two theories about the age of the device: the Warring States period and the late Spring and Autumn period.
The inscription on the abdomen of this device is wrong. When the cover is remembered, the eight characters are in verse.
at present, we can see that there are some sayings in this stage, such as the inscription of Jin vessels, the dedication of the Duke of Jin to the late Spring and Autumn Period, the inscription of the vessels as the Duke of Jin, and the inscription of the vessels as the Duke of Ping (557-532) and the Duke of Ding (511-477). The layout of the inscription is scattered, the horizontal lines are not arranged, and the word sizes are different, but the strokes are thin and multi-folded, and its style is close to that of Hou Ma Meng's book, so it should belong to the popular handwriting at that time without deliberate processing. The cymbal bell, which belongs to the late spring and autumn period, is the weapon of Wei's family. Its inscription style is close to that of the Duke of Jin, but there are many round pens. In addition, there is the eldest son's official hairpin ("Cultural Relics", No.7, 1964). The eldest son belonged to the State of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period, and his layout was loose. The font still bears the legacy of the late Western Zhou Dynasty, but it is also round and has a weak style. Another well-known inscription in the late Spring and Autumn Period in the State of Jin is the Zhao Meng Hu pot unearthed in Huixian County, Henan Province, which is now in the British Museum. Its inscription records the meeting between Jin Dinggong and Fu Cha, the king of Wu, in Huangchi in 482 BC, and it was made in the late Spring and Autumn Period. The inscription is obviously different from the Duke of Jin, with slender shape and neat and smooth strokes, which is obviously a solemn artistic font.
From the above-mentioned inscriptions, we can know that the inscriptions on bronze inscriptions in the Jin State in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period are quite complicated, but they can be roughly classified into two types: handwritten (or vulgar) and artistic fonts, and the former can be divided into square folding pens and round pens.
The so-called southern countries here mainly refer to the countries in or near the Jianghuai Valley at that time, including Cai, Xu, Xu, Chu, Wu and Yue. Song kingdom is relatively far north, but from its inscriptions, it can also be included in this introduction. There are roughly three forms of inscriptions on bronze in this area:
First, a more casual font, which can also be called handwriting or vulgar style. It is characterized by long or thin glyphs, more round pens, a little rough, more elongated strokes and curved ends. This style of calligraphy is based on the inscriptions of Chen Boyuan and Chu Yingming in the early Spring and Autumn Period. The size of this form of inscriptions is not uniform, and the layout is not very regular, such as the following inscriptions: Xu Wangyi Chu Yan, Song Gong Luan Yan, Chu Prince Shen Zhan.
secondly, a neat artistic font. Its shape is long, the strokes are thin, the vertical strokes are straight, the strokes are tortuous, and the parallel strokes like to be parallel and winding, which is very decorative. Such as the following inscriptions: Wu Wangsun Wu Rending, Cai Gongzi volunteer hairpin, Xu Zi makeup hairpin. The inscription of Zhong Ming, the grandson of the King of Chu, is a little sloppy, but it can also be roughly attributed to this form.
Third, the special patterned fonts, the so-called bird and insect books, often appear in the form of wrong gold, noble and gorgeous, rich in decorative effect, popular from the late Spring and Autumn Period to the early Warring States Period. This kind of calligraphy can be subdivided into insect calligraphy and bird calligraphy, but sometimes they are used in the same inscription. Bird calligraphy is also called bird seal, and the strokes are bird-shaped, that is, the characters are integrated with the bird-shaped, or the bird-shaped characters are attached to the top and bottom of the characters for decoration, such as the inscription of Gou Jian in the state of Yue, and Gou Jianming in the state of Yue. More common in weapons, a few in containers, seals, to the Han Dynasty ritual vessels, seals, and even the Tang Dynasty tablets are still visible. Worm book strokes pretend to be winding, bulging in the middle, pointed at the end and pointed at the end, and drooping long feet, just like the bending of insect bodies, hence the name. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, the inscription of Prince Wu Ding of Chu, except for a few words that are close to bird books, belongs to insect books. Prince Wu Yu Geming is also a bird book and an insect book. Insect calligraphy is not only found in containers and weapons, but also in ancient seals of the Warring States and bronzes, seals and tiles of the Han Dynasty. Its name is also listed as one of the "Qin Shu Eight Styles" in Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi Xu, which shows that it was also used in the Qin Dynasty. For the development and changes of Bird and Insect Books, please refer to Rong Geng's Textual Research on Bird and Insect Books (Journal of Sun Yat-sen University, No.1, 1964) and Ma Chengyuan's On Bird and Insect Books (No.1 Series of Studies on Ancient Chinese Characters). There are few inscriptions on the Qin Dynasty in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period. According to the existing data, it is obviously different from the inscriptions on the Eastern and Southern countries at that time in font structure and writing style. The inscription of Qin Gonggui unearthed in Tianshui, Gansu Province in 1919, which was earlier in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, is the representative of Qin Jinwen at this stage. Comparing this inscription with Qin Gong's inscriptions in the early Spring and Autumn Period, we can see that Qin inscriptions at this time inherited the characteristics of Qin inscriptions in the early Spring and Autumn Period, that is, they still had the legacy of inscriptions in the late Western Zhou Dynasty. Qin Gong Qi, Qin Gonggui and Shi Guwen Wu Lun are similar in font structure and writing style. For the Shi Guwen era; Scholars have different opinions, but most scholars still think that the time range is about in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period. Qin Gongkun's writing structure and writing style are closer to Shi Guwen than Qin Gong's.
Qin Gong's characters are more stretched and rounded, while Qin Gonggui's characters, like Shi Guwen's, are more cautious and square in structure, more regular in font style, and the brushwork is changed from round to round, which shows that Qin Jinwen's font began to be further transformed in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, thus becoming more standardized and closer to Xiao Zhuan. After the turmoil and differentiation in time in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, by the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the evolution of social politics and economic forms had made a leap, the traditional aristocratic politics had changed into a new centralized politics, and the emerging landlord class had entered the political arena, and all aspects of the social structure had taken on a new look. This situation is reflected in the bronze wares. Not only has the ritual system changed to some extent, but the connotation of bronze inscriptions has also undergone great reforms compared with the Spring and Autumn Period.
in terms of the content of inscriptions, there are still many cliches on copper containers in the Spring and Autumn Period, such as praising ancestors and wishing family unity and prosperity, which have been much less since the early Warring States period. Now, this kind of inscription has only lasted for a long time in Tianqi bronze wares, and it can still be seen in the middle of the Warring States period. There are not many other artifacts found in other countries. Generally, the reason and owner of the caster are simply recorded on copper containers. After the mid-Warring States period, with the further development of centralized politics, the government strengthened its control over handicrafts related to weapons and weights and measures, which greatly expanded the carrier of inscriptions. At the same time, the content of "Wu Le Gong Ming" (Reading Notes and Moon Order) appeared in the inscriptions, which recorded the official name of the person in charge of supervising the production of bronzes, the name of the foreman and the name of the craftsman who directly cast artifacts, which were more common in weapons and measures. There are also wine vessels and food vessels, where they are used and the official position of the person in charge are recorded. The measuring instrument shall record the capacity, weight and place of use.
The inscriptions on wine and food containers in the copper containers in the Warring States period cannot be systematically explained because of the lack of information. Only a few countries (or regions) can make a general introduction to the characteristics of bronze inscriptions.
The inscriptions on bronze inscriptions of Qi in the early Warring States Period have some features of the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, but they have been modified. For example, the inscriptions on Chen Man's hairpin have preserved the slender and neat form of Qi's inscriptions in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, but the strokes that are deliberately prolonged and tortuous are rare, and the strokes are folded in many ways. By the mid-Warring States period, Qi Jinwen had greatly improved his calligraphy style compared with the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period. Although the inscriptions on bronze wine and utensils are arranged in a regular way, the font is rectangular, but the handwriting is close to handwriting (a popular vulgar style), and the strokes are thick and simple, and many characters have already had a strong local color in this period. In the fourteenth year, the inscription of Houwu Dun in Chen was a typical font on the bronze vessels of Qi State in the middle and late Warring States period. Like Chen Chun kettle and Zi He Zi kettle, the inscriptions are similar to this inscription.