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After Tang dynasty, the calligraphy as an art declined. The worst period is Ming dynasty. From Song dynasty to Qing dynasty, the greatest calligraphy works in paper were kept in house of the emperor family. People rarely have the chance to see them. The only available calligraphy works available to them are the tablets. In Qing dynasty, a lot of tablets were discovered. That's one of the reason why calligraphy is better in Qin dynasty.
The first blooming period of calligraphy as an art should be at Han dynasty. An calligrapher, Liang Hu went to restaurant but didn't bring money. He wrote on the wall. People there liked to pay for him by watching his calligraphy. A lot of great calligraphers appeared in Han dynasty. Unfortunately, they usually didn't sign them name after their calligraphy work. There're some great calligraphy works of Han dynasty of unknown calligraphers. Also most scripts formed at Han dynasty such as Li Shu, Cao Shu, Xing Shu, Kai Shu.
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Tao Hong Jing (456-536). Zi: Tong Ming.
Ruan Yuan. Zi: Wen. Born in Chen Liu (northwest of Kai Feng in He Nan province), his calligraphy is like flying spring.
Jin is the dynasty with great achievement in calligraphy. A lot of great calligraphers appeared at this time, including Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi.
Zhang Rong. Zi: Si Guang. Born in Su Zhou of Jiang Su province, he was good at all scripts, especially good at Cao Shu.
Xiao Sihua. Born in Nan Lan Ling (northwest of Chang Zhou city in Jiang Su province today), he was good at Li Shu. Studied from Yang Xin, some people think he surpassed Yang Xin. His Xing Shu is like birds playing on sand.
Du Du. Zi: Bo Du. Born in Jing Zhao Du Ling (Southeast of Xi An, Shan Xi province), he was good at Zhang Cao (a kind of Cao Shu). Zhang Cao was created by Shi You in "Ji Jiu Zhang". But Zhang Cao was mature at Du Du. People of his time called his calligraphy "calligraphy from heaven".
The South and North dynasty is also a dynasty with great achievement. There're a lot of tablets of North Wei (386-534) with great calligraphy. People called calligraphy works of this period as Wei Bei, which means tablets of North Wei dynasty. Like tablets in Han dynasty, the calligrapher of most of them are unknown.
Tang dynasty is the dynasty that calligraphy is taken most serious. As a result, a lot of great calligraphers appeared, including Yan Zhenqing.
Today, most calligraphy works are stored in museums. A lot of calligraphy books devote to calligraphy appeared in the market. The Capital Teacher's University even has calligraphy department now. China now is much better than the Qing dynasty. Hopefully, there will be a lot of great calligraphers appear.
Xiao Ziyun (487-549). Zi: Jing Qiao. Born in Nan Lan Ling (northwest of Chang Zhou in Jiang Su province today), he was a historian. He was good at Xing Shu, Cao Shu and Xiao Zhuan.