July 26, 2015

The old ways are best

Su Shi ("not to be confused with Sushi" - Wikipedia) said:

The learning of superior men and the skills of a hundred craftsmen, having originated in [antiquity] and developed during the Han and Tang periods, had reached a state of completion.  By the time poetry had produced a Du Fu [717-770], prose writing a Han Yu [768-824], calligraphy a Yan Zhenqing, and painting a Wu Daozi, all possibilities for change in the arts had been exhausted.

- Chinese Calligraphy (The Culture & Civilization of China)


From Yan Zhenqing's "Memorial Stele for Yan Qinli"

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