"Visiting the Forbidden City to See Cultural Relics 2: 50 National Treasure-level Paintings in the Forbidden City Collection in the Calligraphy Museum" Publisher: China Women's Publishing House

Introduction
Chinese calligraphy refers specifically to the art of writing Chinese characters with a brush. During the Qin and Han dynasties, brushes appeared, paper and silk gradually became popular, and more and more people could write and were good at writing. The beauty of form in addition to the practicality of words was increasingly accepted by the public, and calligraphy emerged as a result, and calligraphers became famous. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the five styles of seal script, official script, regular script, cursive script, and running script had all appeared. The new style of calligraphy created by the "Saint of Calligraphy" Wang Xizhi in the Wei and Jin Dynasties had a beautiful structure and was fluent and unrestrained, which was greatly different from the regular script and cursive script with a strong official script flavor before, and it quickly became popular. After the two kings of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the era of the development of calligraphy art driven by the change of calligraphy style ended. In addition to inheriting traditions, the more important thing for calligraphers to become famous is innovation. Ouyang Xun, Yan Zhenqing and other calligraphers who were good at writing regular script introduced new ideas, changing the beauty of the two kings into dignity, and pushed the art of regular script to its peak! Later, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, and Mi Fu, among the "Four Masters of Song Dynasty", emphasized the individuality and expressiveness of calligraphy under the influence of the era of seeking innovation and change in the Northern Song Dynasty. Therefore, predecessors have summarized: "The Jin people value rhythm, the Tang people value rules, and the Song people value meaning." After the Song Dynasty, the only great calligraphers who can be regarded as inheritors of the past and usher in the future are Zhao Meng of the Yuan Dynasty and Dong Qichang of the late Ming Dynasty. Zhao Meng held high the banner of retro style and returned the aesthetics of calligraphy to the aesthetic tradition of the Jin people, reversing the decadent atmosphere since the Southern Song Dynasty. Dong Qichang opposed the blind imitation of the Wumen calligraphers. His calligraphy is elegant and has a far-reaching influence. The brilliant history of calligraphy is like the vast night sky. The precious ink marks left by the great calligraphers who pioneered the trend of the times and their followers are even more like the stars in the sky. The Palace Museum shines all over the world with its unparalleled collection. Among them, the royal collection is mostly famous works of famous artists that have been circulated in an orderly manner. This book selects 50 calligraphy works from them, striving to reproduce the brilliant and glorious history of calligraphy development in ancient China. The works collected in this book start from Lu Ji of the Western Jin Dynasty and end with Wu Changshuo of the late Qing Dynasty, spanning a thousand years and with diverse styles. The veins of Chinese calligraphy can be clearly seen here. In addition to the explanation of the works, high-definition pictures are also included, through which readers can understand the essence of Chinese calligraphy.