Huang Daozhou (1585-1646) had the courtesy name Youping, or Youxuan, the courtesy name Chiruo, and his nickname Shizhai. A native of Zhangpu (now Zhangpu County, Fujian Province). In the second year of Tianqi (1622), he became a Jinshi. He served as Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of War in the Southern Ming Dynasty. He actively recruited volunteers to resist the Qing army's southward advance. Unfortunately, he was defeated and captured, and died in Nanjing. Before his death, he left behind a suicide note: "My principles will last forever, my integrity will last forever, heaven and earth will know me, and my family will have no worries." Huang Daozhou is knowledgeable, proficient in astronomy and calculus, and is good at calligraphy and painting. His style of writing is the highest in the world, but his personality is cold and rigid, and he is not in harmony with popular customs. He is the author of "Yi Xiangzheng", "Sanyi Dongji", "Taihan Jing", "Xu Li Sao", "Shi Zhai Ji", etc.
Huang Dao, Zhou Zhen, Cao, and Li are in a family of their own, and their writing style is strict and square, and does not go with the popular customs, just like the other people. His regular script can be traced back to Zhong Yao, and his writing style is strong and vigorous, with an inviolable momentum. He advocates charm and depth. Therefore, although his regular script is as strong and firm as iron, the plump parts still reveal his elegance and charm. The regular scripts of the Zodiac Zhou Dynasty are mostly in small regular script. His running and cursive calligraphy are far inherited from Zhong Yao, and he also referred to Suo Jing's cursive calligraphy. Although he pursued the calligraphy of Jin people such as Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi, he reversed the shortcomings of weak and beautiful calligraphy since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. To express the charm of Jin people. His cursive writing has more ripples and less subtlety, more square pens and fewer round pens, showing a majestic and unrestrained beauty. Huang Daozhou's representative calligraphy works handed down from generation to generation include "The Book of Filial Piety" and "Shi Zhai Yi Shi" in regular script, and "Miscellaneous Odes in the Mountains" and "Xinxin Poems" in cursive script.
His wife Cai Yuqing's calligraphy is similar to that of Zodiac Zhou, and her representative work is Xiao Jing in small regular script.
"Poetry Scroll of Happy Rain" is 173.8 cm high and 49.8 cm wide. It is collected by the Palace Museum in Beijing.
