Wei Heng (?-291) was a calligrapher of the Western Jin Dynasty. The son of the famous calligrapher Wei Guan, whose courtesy name was Jushan, he was a native of Anyi, Hedong (now Xia County, Shanxi Province). From official position to Secretary Cheng and Shangshu Lang. During the reign of Emperor Hui, he was killed by Empress Jia and others. He is good at cursive writing, and also learns official script and seal script, so his cursive, Zhangcao, official script and seal script are all excellent. Based on his own practice, he wrote "Four Books of Style", which is an important material for the study of Chinese calligraphy.
Wei Guan worked in cursive script. He learned from Zhang Zhi's "Jincao" in the Han Dynasty, and also consulted the cursive calligraphy of his father Wei Jian. His writing style is vertical and horizontal, elegant and majestic. He was as famous as Suo Jing, another famous calligrapher at that time, and was known as "One Taiwan and Two Wonders" at that time. The so-called "Tai" refers to the fact that both of them were officials in Taiwan Province, with Guan as Shangshu Ling and Jing as Shangshu Lang. The so-called "two wonderful things" mean that both of them have extremely high attainments in cursive calligraphy, and each has his or her own unique style.
Wei Heng's younger sister, Wei Shuo, is the well-known female calligrapher Mrs. Wei. Wei Heng's sons, Wei Hong and Wei Jie, are also famous calligraphers. Hong, whose courtesy name was Zhongyu, inherited the official title of Guan, and was later renamed Jiangxia County Duke. During the reign of Emperor Huai, he was the minister of Sanqi. The character is Shubao. When he was five years old, he had a "splendid appearance" and rode a sheep cart into the market. Everyone who saw him thought he was a "beautiful woman" and the spectators were in a hurry. His uncle, the hussar general Wang Ji, was also very handsome. Every time he saw him, he would often sigh and say, "My appearance is filthy when I am surrounded by pearls and jade." Whenever Jie went out, many people would gather around to see him. Unfortunately, the talented man was short-lived and died at the age of only 20. People at that time lamented "looking at Wei Jie being killed". Wei Hong and Wei Jie inherited the calligraphy skills of their grandfathers and fathers, and they wrote excellent cursive and official scripts. In addition, the Wei family also included Wei Heng's younger brothers Wei Xuan and Wei Ting, and their calligraphy was also famous. Li Sizhen of the Tang Dynasty's "Shuhoupin" said that his calligraphy is light and graceful, flowing and charming, strong and vigorous, yet charming and detailed. The second volume of "Chunhua Pavilion Tie" of the Northern Song Dynasty contains two lines of his cursive script.
"Four Body Calligraphy Movements" is Wei Heng's calligraphy theory work. The original text is included in "Jin Shu Wei Heng Biography". It is one of the earliest and relatively reliable important calligraphy theories in the world and has high historical value. Most of the information about various calligraphy styles at that time, the evolution of calligraphy history, and the situation of some calligrapher representatives depend on this book to be preserved.
Representative work: "Four Body Calligraphy"
