Tang calligraphy - The art of fine handwriting

Huai Su followed the "mad" Zhang Xu, but ended up with a wild and powerful style of the grass script of his own: wild like a shooting snake, powerful like a raging storm.

Yan Zhengqing took a different direction and founded the Yan style of the regular script with a free feature, serious yet vigorous, grand and graceful.

Liu Zhongyuan of the mid-Tang period followed up with his elegant and powerful style of the regular script. Liu and Yan became the twin stars of the regular script in the history of Chinese calligraphy. After the mid-Tang period, the official scrip and the seal script made new developments. Wang Xizhi was a famous calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dnyasty, whose calligraphy exercised great influence on the later generations. Wang Xizhi's style became the dominant style of calligraphy during the early Tang times because of Emperor Taizong's great love of it. Master Huiren of the Hongfu Temple collected characters from Wang's calligraphically works for the text of "the Preface to the Holy Religion" and perfectly set these characters on a tablet:

The great master of the official script of this period was Li Yangbin.
The great master of the seal script of this period was Han Zemu.

In the Forest of Steles of Xi'an, there are more than 2,300 inscribed stone tablets, the largest collection of its kind in the world. The authentic works of the great masters of Chinese calligraphy are seen in this Forest, of which those of the Tang times are most eminent. The Forest of Steles of Xi'an was first built by the end of the Tang Dynasty to preserve the "Steles of the Book of Piety " and the "Steles of the thirteen classics made in the Kaicheng years". It was repaired, renovated and expanded during the succeeding dynasties. It has become the treasure house of Chinese calligraphy.