1. Zhong Yao practiced calligraphy diligently in his eighty years

Zhong Yao (151-230), with the character of Yuanchang, was a native of Changsha in Yingchuan (east of present-day Changge, Henan Province), which is also known as Xuchang. He was a minister of Cao Wei of the Three Kingdoms and an outstanding calligrapher. His calligraphy, "with its many differences between dots and paintings" (Tang Zhang Huai's "Book Breaks"), pioneered a new style of writing that moved from clerical to regular script, and contributed so much to the development of Chinese calligraphy that Cao Cao, a famous general of the time, once asked him to teach him calligraphy.

Bright and studious from an early age, Zhong Yao, at the age of eleven or two, took the trouble to follow Liu Desheng (字君嗣), a senior calligrapher, to Mount Huoxi in the southeastern part of the mountain to copy the Qin and Han Dynasty cliff carvings. During the daytime, when he was chatting with people, he also used to draw and practice characters for several zhang; at night, when he slept in bed, he still kept gesturing with his fingers on the quilt, and after three years, he finally made great progress in his calligraphy. After the establishment of the Three Kingdoms, Zhong Cao and other calligraphers such as Wei Tan, Cao Xi and Handan Chun ****ed Cao Cao.

On one occasion, Zhong Cao Cao saw a volume of Cai Yong's theoretical work on calligraphy, "Nine Potentials and Eight Techniques," at Wei Tan's home, and was so enamored of it that he asked Wei Tan to lend it to him to take it home and look at it. However, Wei Tan only agreed to let him read it at home because of the preciousness of the book, and refused to let him go out with it. Later, when Wei Tan died, those who knew about it secretly dug up his grave and got this scroll of "The Nine Momentums and Eight Techniques". Zhong Cao bought it with a large sum of money and held it in his hand all day long, even reading it when he urinated and defecated.

On several occasions, he went to the toilet and, mesmerized by the puzzles, did not come out for half a day, causing people to look everywhere. Zhong Yao lived for seventy-nine years, and before he died, he instructed his son Zhong Hui (字士季), "I have been thinking about this for more than thirty years. I have been thinking for more than thirty years. I have never forgotten this, and I often read other books that I have not been able to finish, but I have learned its words, and every time I see ten thousand types, I write like it. If I stopped to rest in one place, I would draw its ground, a few steps in circumference; if I rested in my bed, I would draw its quilt, and all of them would be worn for it." (Tang Cai Xizang's "Treatise on Legal Books") This passage can be said to be a summary of his life's experience in learning to write.

2. Zhang Zhi practiced calligraphy without choosing pen and paper

Zhang Zhi's water in the pool was as black as possible. -about 192), the word Bo Ying, No. You Dao, the Eastern Han Dynasty Dunhuang sprinkle spring (now Gansu Province). He was a famous calligrapher with profound attainments and outstanding contributions in calligraphy; at the same time, he was also known for his noble character and integrity. Since he was a young man, Zhang was well versed in the classics and history, and studied calligraphy diligently. The government of the Eastern Han Dynasty recruited him to become an official many times, but he did not go out to serve in the government.

Zhang Zhi practiced calligraphy without choosing pen and paper, he sometimes took a rag dipped in water to write on the stone, sometimes chopsticks on the table scratch, and even the family prepared to sewing clothes on the cloth and silk, but also he wrote in color before dyeing the use. But he was very particular about the posture of writing, often waving the brush against a bronze mirror, so that his front and back can be seen clearly through the mirror on the dark reflection.

In order to facilitate the practice of calligraphy, Zhang Zhi dug an ink stone pool in front of his house with a circle of several zhang. After finishing his homework for the day, he would go up to the pond and wash the ink on the ink stone and brush to prolong their service life. He washed and washed and washed, and as the days passed, the water in the pond was blackened. Later, people called the practice of calligraphy "Lin Chi", which evolved from this story of Zhang Zhi's study of calligraphy.

Zhang Zhi was good at Clerical, Running Cursive and Flying White Script, learning from Cui Ziyu and Du Cao's method, but in his later years, he shed his old habits, changed the dotting and painting and tearing of Zhang Cao, and differentiated between the words, creating a "one-stroke script", "present grass", which was a smooth and continuous flow of air and lines. He was called the "Sage of Cursive" by Wei Tan of the Three Kingdoms. Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, on the handwriting of the Han and Wei Dynasties, emphasized Zhong (繇) and Zhang (Zhi), and thought that the rest of them were not good enough to be viewed; and the cursive writing of Wang's father and son (Xizhi and Xianzhi) was quite influenced by them. Zhang Zhi's younger brother, Zhang Wenshu, was second only to his elder brother in terms of calligraphic reputation, and was known as the "Sage of Asia".

3, Wang Xizhi study hard ink as a meal

Wang Xizhi, famous calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, known as the "Sage of Calligraphy".

When Wang Xizhi was about five or six years old, he studied calligraphy with Mrs. Wei as his teacher. His calligraphy progressed quickly, and at the age of 7, he became famous in the area for his writing, and was very much loved and praised by his predecessors. At the age of eleven, Wang Xizhi read "The Sayings of the Brush", which only adults could understand. He followed the methods described in the Pen Sayings, writing and practicing every day in the morning and in the dark, and he was simply obsessed with it. After a while, when he looked at the characters he had written and compared them with the ones he had written before, there was indeed some change.

One day his teacher, Mrs. Wei, was shocked and said, "This child must have seen the secret of calligraphy, and I found that his recent words have reached the level of adults, and according to this development, the child's future achievements in calligraphy will surely drown out my reputation." Wang Xizhi did not become complacent and self-satisfied because of his teacher's praise, and he was more attentive and hardworking in his prose, even to the point of neglecting sleep and food.

One lunch, the boy sent his favorite garlic and bun, several times to urge him to eat quickly, he still did not even lift his head, as if he did not hear, concentrate on reading and writing. Rice is cold, the boy had no choice but to ask Wang Xizhi's mother to persuade him to eat. Mother came to the study, only to see Xizhi's hand is holding a piece of ink stained bun to the mouth, so that the mouth black. It turned out that when Xizhi was eating the bun, his eyes were still looking at the character, and his mind was thinking about how to write the character, and he ate the ink as if it were garlic.

When his mother saw this, she couldn't hold back her laughter. Wang Xizhi did not know what was going on! Hearing his mother's laughter he added: "Today's garlic paste can be really fragrant ah!" Wang Xizhi insisted on decades as one day, diligent study and hard practice, posting ceaselessly, practiced a very solid kung fu, which laid the foundation for his future development, paving the way.

4, Ouyang Tong learned to write and bought his father's words

Ouyang Tong, a minister and calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty. Ouyang Tong was the son of Ouyang Xun.

When Ouyang Tong was very young, Ouyang Xun died. After Ouyang Tong understood, his mother began to teach him to practice his father's calligraphy. When Ouyang Tong was young, he wanted to go out and play after practicing calligraphy for a long time, and his writing was sloppy. His mother said to him, "My son, your father's writing is very good, and many people buy his writing at a very high price.

You have to be like your father and write good characters." Ouyang Tong heard this and said, "I can write good characters like my father, I just don't know how my father's characters that were bought out by people are like." After that, he often saved up the pocket money given by his mother and bought back the characters his father had sold to others. When people refused to sell, he paid a high price.

After learning that his father's calligraphy was really good, he was no longer lazy in practicing. After a few years of hard work, Ouyang Tong was able to write as well as his father, and more people came to buy the characters he wrote.

5. The story of Yan Zhenqing's hard work

Yan Zhenqing was a famous politician and calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty. Yan Zhenqing created the "Yan Style" regular script, which was the first of the four great calligraphers.

In order to learn calligraphy, Yan Zhenqing first learned from Chu Suiliang, and later studied under Zhang Xu. Zhang Xu was one of the leading calligraphers of the Tang Dynasty, who wrote all kinds of fonts and was especially good at cursive script. Yan Zhenqing hoped that under the guidance of this famous teacher, he would soon learn the trick of writing, and thus become famous. However, after worshipping his master, Zhang Xu did not reveal half of his calligraphy secrets.

He only introduced some famous calligraphy posters to Yan Zhenqing, briefly pointed out the characteristics of the posters, and let Yan Zhenqing copy them. Sometimes, he took Yan Zhenqing to climb the mountain, to swim in the water, to go to the market, to watch the opera, and then let Yan Zhenqing practice calligraphy or watch him writing. A few months passed by, Yan Zhenqing couldn't get the secret of calligraphy from his teacher, and he was so anxious that he decided to ask his teacher directly.

One day, Yan Zhenqing boldly, red-faced, said, "The student has a request, please teach the teacher the secret of calligraphy." Zhang Xu replied, "To learn calligraphy, one must 'work', i.e., study hard; two must 'comprehend', i.e., receive inspiration from all natural phenomena. Haven't I told you these many times?"

Yan Zhenqing heard, thought the teacher is not willing to teach the secret, and then step forward, salute and pleaded: "Teacher said 'engineering', 'comprehend', these reasons I know, I now need the most is the Teacher's secret recipe for the mastery of moving the brush and dropping the ink, please teach me." Zhang Xu still patiently enlighten Yan Zhenqing: "I am to see the princess and the tambourine man to fight the road and observe the meaning of the brush, see Gongsun Damiang dancing sword and get the falling brush charm, in addition to practicing hard is to observe nature, nothing else know-how."

Then he gave Yan Zhenqing told the Jin Dynasty calligraphy saint Wang Xizhi taught his son Wang Xianzhi practice story, and finally said seriously: "Learning calligraphy to say that there is what 'secret' words, that is, hard work. Keep in mind that those who do not work hard will not achieve anything."

The teacher's teaching, so that Yan Zhenqing greatly inspired, he really understand the way of learning. From then on, he solid hard work, study, from life to realize the charm of the brush, progress very quickly, and eventually become a great calligrapher, for the first of the four great calligraphers.