Zhang Zhi (? - about 192), courtesy name Boying, was born in Guazhou County, present-day Dunhuang, Gansu Province. He was a famous calligrapher in the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was known as the "Sage of Cursive Script" and the "Ancestor of Cursive Script". His calligraphy was known as "One Stroke Script". ". Zhang Zhi passed away in the third year of Chuping (192) when Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne.
Some people estimate that Zhang Zhi lived to be over 50 years old, or nearly 60 years old. Then, he may have been born in the era of Emperor Huan of Han Dynasty (132-167).
It is a pity that after Zhang Zhi was born, the national fortunes of the Han Dynasty became worse and worse. Zhang Zhi was born in troubled times. He never became an official in his life, but spent an ordinary and great life in the study of calligraphy.
Zhang Zhi had long seen the political chaos in the late Han Dynasty during his lifetime. Therefore, although people in the court repeatedly recommended him to be an official, he politely declined their appreciation. In his hometown of Dunhuang, he has been focusing on academics and art. .
Without any social interaction, of course, he will focus on what he likes. Even Emperor Liang Wu of the Southern Dynasty spoke highly of him, saying that he was simply a person who loved the life of gods. Therefore, his calligraphy was so superb and fascinating.
It is said that Zhang Zhi and his younger brother Zhang Chang practiced calligraphy together and enjoyed it endlessly. Both of them liked cursive writing and their styles were relatively similar.
Although Dunhuang was not a very remote area during the Han Dynasty, it could not be said to be a culturally developed area. Zhang Zhi's calligraphy and reputation can be spread to the Central Plains area, which is enough to show that his calligraphy artistic achievements are very remarkable.
It is said that Wang Xizhi, the great calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, only admired two calligraphers in his life, one was Zhang Zhi and the other was Zhong Yao. So, you can’t help but feel that this is a very shocking thing about this northwest artist whom Wang Xizhi admires very much? Moreover, in the history of Chinese calligraphy, the northwest Gansu region of China has never produced another calligrapher who influenced history. Zhang Zhi is the only one.
Zhang Zhi's most famous calligraphy work is "Champion Tie", also known as "Zhiru Tie". If you don’t know this calligraphy work, you would really think it was the work of Zhang Xu from the Tang Dynasty, or some cursive calligraphy master! In fact, it has always been thought that this is a calligraphy work by Zhang Zhi. Therefore, it has always been highly praised by calligraphers. For example, Fang Yizhi of the Ming Dynasty said that "the strange ones are not bound by the law." It's the majestic and invincible spirit that comes from "Champion Post".
To say that the calligraphy of "Champion Post" is excellent, I cannot overestimate it, because this calligraphy is really amazing.
However, it is a little regrettable that this work is really Zhang Zhi’s calligraphy? Today, we will talk about this topic.
As early as the Song Dynasty, some people suspected that "Champion Post" was not Zhang Zhi's work. Later, it did arouse the suspicion of many people. For example, some people suspected that "Zhi Ru Tie" might be the work of Zhang Xu, some suspected that it was Wang Xun, and still others suspected that it was written by Wang Xianzhi, etc.
So, how should we deal with these doubts? Qianlima's opinion is that from the perspective of calligraphy and writing, "Zhiru Tie" does have many very similar writing styles to Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy.
First of all, whether it is Zhang Zhi’s calligraphy works, we are no strangers to the teacher-instructor relationship. For example, we can tell at a glance who studied Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy. However, no matter how you can see the relationship between master and disciple, you can't see the extreme similarities.
We did find that the way of writing some characters and the routine of a group of characters in "Champion Post" are indeed very similar to Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy. This is a big doubt.
For example, the word "Zhiru" in "Zhiru Tie" is very similar to the word "Zhiru" in Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy. There are also many characters that are extremely similar, which is very rare in the works of two famous masters.
There is a rule in calligraphy famous calligraphy, that is, no two masters have two characters or even one character that are extremely similar. And there are more than ten characters in "Zhiru Tie" that are very similar to Wang Xianzhi's characters, so we have to doubt it.
In addition, judging from the word "champion" in "Zhiru Tie", it is also a problem. From a grammatical point of view, there is no way to explain the word "champion" in "Zhiru Tie".
Because Zhang Zhi has no history or possibility of interacting with high-ranking officials. Zhang Zhi regarded himself as a hermit throughout his life, and it was impossible for him to associate with a "champion" friend. Besides, the champion's explanation in "Zhi Ru Tie" is reasonable, and there is indeed no whereabouts.
Judging from the content of the article in "Zhi Ru Tie", this is a "reply letter", a letter written to one of my very good friends. Because I am ill, it is difficult to get together again. I am sorry, and I hope to tell his other friend. Friend "Zuo Jun", this Zuo Jun should be a senior official with a position. Then, the "champion" mentioned above is an official position.
Since we compared the similarity between "Championship Tie" and Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy, we examined the champion of Wang Xianzhi's generation, Zhang Xuanzhi, whose courtesy name was Zu Xi, who successively served as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the "Champion General". He served as the prefect of Wuxing, and was known as Zhang Wuxing in the world; he was as famous as Xie Xuan, another good friend of Wang Xianzhi, the "champion". Zhang Xuanzhi and Xie Xuan were said to be the "two mysteries of the north and the south", and they were ranked at the bottom of the ten sages from the left of the Yangtze River.
This Zhang Xuanzhi has a very good relationship with Xie An's nephew Xie Xuan. Moreover, his chess skills were very high, and Xie An, who loved playing chess, became Zhang Xuanzhi’s chess friend.
In the eighth year of Taiyuan (383), Fu Jian went south with an army of one million people ten times that of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, shocking the government and the public. Situ Xie'an fought with Xie Xuan as the vanguard commander. Xie Xuan was confused, so he went to ask Xie An for advice before setting off. Xie An said, the court has other arrangements, what are you worried about? Xie Xuan didn't dare to ask more questions, so he asked Zhang Xuanzhi to ask how to resist Fu Jian's soldiers.
Sure enough, Zhang Xuanzhi was still a chess friend. When Zhang Xuanzhi went to see Xie An, Xie An wanted to play chess with him. Originally, Xie An's chess skills were not as good as Zhang Xuanzhi's. But this time, for some reason, Xie An actually won the game. Xie An was very happy. , and then told Xie Xuan how to fight. In this "Battle of Feishui", the Eastern Jin Dynasty won a complete victory.
Wang Xianzhi successively served as Situ Changshi, Wuxing Prefect, Zhongshu Ling, etc. He and Zhang Xuanzhi were important ministers of the same dynasty. Wang Xianzhi's "Weiyi Tie" and "Championship Tie" both have the words "Inherit the Champion". Wang Xianzhi's "Wei Wei" There is also the word "recovering the champion" in "Military Posts".
- Comparing Zhang Zhi and Wang Xianzhi's writing of the word "ear", note that there are still some differences in the closing pause strokes. Zhang Zhi pauses his writing and drags the front edge, while Wang Xianzhi pauses his writing or suspends his writing to close it .
However, in addition to Zhang Xuanzhi being the champion general, another good friend of Wang Xianzhi, Xie Xuan (343-388), led his troops to defeat the attack of the former Qin army in the fourth year of Taiyuan (379), and was promoted to the champion general, and was awarded the title of champion general. Xuzhou governor. He is also a "Champion General".
Moreover, Xie Xuan and Zhang Xuanzhi were both colleagues and friends between Wang Xianzhi, and both of them were champion generals. It is hard to say which champion general the "champion" in Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy was.
Several of Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy have the word "champion" in them. Now it is basically certain that the "champion" in Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy is either Zhang Xuanzhi or Xie Xuan.
However, if "Zhi Ru Tie" is Zhang Zhi's calligraphy work, then "Champion" is difficult to explain. Moreover, Zhang Zhi and Wang Xianzhi were nearly 200 years apart, so it is difficult to say whether the military systems of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the late Han Dynasty were the same.
- There are four copies of Wang Xianzhi's "Cheng Guangjun Tie", and this is one of them.
We have researched the origin of the word champion. It was first said that Xiang Yu had a subordinate of the champion general. Huo Qubing, a military strategist in the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, was named "Champion Marquis" by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty because of his outstanding military exploits. It means to win the title of the whole army. This is the first time that the word "champion" is used as a title.
After Huo Qubing died in the sixth year of Yuanshuo (123 BC), his son Huo She inherited the title of "Champion Marquis". However, Huo Shan died young and had no heir, so he lost this title.
The Emperor of the Later Han Dynasty inherited the marquis name of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. But there are very few people who are named champions.
In history, apart from Huo Qubing, only two people in the Eastern Han Dynasty received the title of "Champion Marquis". One is Nanyang champion Hou Jiafu, one of the twenty-eight Yuntai generals of Emperor Guangwu, and the other is Dou Xian in the first year of Emperor Yongyuan of Han Dynasty (81 AD).
During the period of Wei Zhengshi (240-249) of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Fang, the leader of Wei, took Wen Qin as the champion general and enjoyed a third-grade salary. This is the earliest record of a champion general.
From this we can infer that there were also champion generals in Zhang Zhi’s era. However, Zhang Zhi had little contact with the court or local officials, and a general with such a high rank should be said to be outside Zhang Zhi’s living scope.
If we take a comprehensive look at the content and calligraphy of "Zhiru Calligraphy", it is indeed very doubtful whether this copybook is the work of Zhang Zhi.
Let's go back to the era of "Chunhua Pavilion Fa Tie" which contains "Zhiru Tie". In the third year of Chunhua in Song Dynasty (992), Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi ordered Hanlin Shishu Wang to compile and copy the ink ink of all dynasties collected by the imperial palace. , this is "Chunhua Pavilion Tie".
This post received a lot of criticism due to the rough editing and lack of detailed research by the editor-in-chief at the time, Wang Zhu. During the Huizong era of the Song Dynasty, on the basis of the "Chunhua Pavilion Fa Tie ", it was re-examined and edited into the "Daguan Tie", which made it slightly better. However, "Zhiru Tie" and Zhang Zhi's other works in "Daguan Tie" are still under Zhang Zhi's name.
For example, "August Tie", "February 8th Tie", "Year-End Tie" and "Now I Want to Return Tie", there are five calligraphy Tie by Zhang Zhi, all of which are included in the "Chunhua Pavilion Tie" ". The most famous one is "Zhiru Tie".
Whether Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy has been mistaken for Zhang Zhi's work, we do have some doubts based on the calligraphy and content. If we still think that "Championship Post" is Zhang Zhi's calligraphy work, then the most important content of the calligraphy, the word "Champion", still cannot be found from Zhang Zhi's circle of friends. This is a calligraphy mystery of "Championship Post" .
Appendix: The explanation of Zhang Zhi's "Champion Tie" (a "Zhiru Tie") is as follows: for your reference.
I know you are very sad, and it would be better if you get it back. The champion is temporarily free, but the release should never be traced. I hate that when I get sick, I don't know how to act, and I can't hear it. What's the point of dealing with this problem all year round? Moreover, there are many divisions, and I don't know how to recover for a while. It doesn't matter what you mean, I hate you for returning, you should think about it and make sense. I know who I have traveled with and come back again, and I gather and scatter together. I didn't see the slave, but I read the book roughly. I saw Zuo Jun in the cloud, and I was like listening to the story.
