The History of Chinese Calligraphy Qing Dynasty 1644 - 1911 By taking advantage of the peasant uprising towards the end of the Ming, Manchus took control of Beijing, establishing the Qing in 1644. Ming adherents.   Chinese calligraphy differed little in early Qing, when scholars were as defiant toward entrenched traditions as they were toward the alien rule. Among recalcitrant painter-calligraphers were Fu Shan, Zhu Da and Shi Tao. Fu Shan rejected any offer from the Manchu and spent his life reclusive, following the tradition of Chinese intellectual recluses under the Mongols. Zhu Da and Shi Tao, both of them the descendants of the Ming royal house, entered the monkhood to avoid involvement with the new order. Fu Shan (1606 - 1705) Poem Inscribed on a Rice Paper Fan Zhu Da (1626 - 1705) Study Ink on rice paper. Shi Tao (1640 - 1718) Rain Learning from ancient inscriptions.   Many of Manchu leaders believed that the previous Ming had collapsed because it had allowed society to be too open. Therefore they tried to control the thoughts of Chinese subjects as soon as they entered the Great Wall. A cruel literary inquisition was practiced, when Chinese scholars paid with their lives for as little as one or two lines of poetry that could be interpreted as treasonous. Such terrorism frightened many gifted scholars into unoffensive subject of compiling Confucian classics. Textual research on Confucian scriptures, which were first edited during the Han, brought about popular interest in clerical script, the official style of the Han. When thousands of more ancient stone steles and bronzes were unearthed one by one during the mid Qing, the fad of the Han script spread into others, especially regular styles of Northern Dynasties. After centuries' passing unnoticed, those angular characters began to dominate general practice. This movement revived stagnant scene of Chinese calligraphy and its influences continued through young generations to this day. Jin Nong (1687 - 1763) Prose Zheng Xie (1693 - 1765) Poem Deng Shiru (1743 - 1805) Prose Yin Bingshou (1754 - 1815) Calligraphy after Zhang Qian Stele   Ruan Yuan (1764 - 1849) Couplet Bao Shichen (1775 - 1855) Creed Wu Changshi (1844 - 1927) Copy of Stone Drum Inscription, 1922 Kang Youwei (1858 - 1927) Poem Back to Chinese calligraphy Home | Contact | Rice Paper