Yu Shinan 虞世南

China's calligraphy had its heyday during the Wei Kingdom (220-265), Jin (265-420) and Tang (618-907) dynasties when all scripts of Chinese characters - zhuan-shu, li-shu, kai-shu, xing-shu and cao-shu - had appeared and got continuously perfected.

Owing to the government's promotion, calligraphy was all the rage during the Tang Dynasty. Well-known calligraphers in the early years of the Tang Dynasty included Yu Shinan, Ouyang Xun, Chu Suiliang and Xue Ji. They are collectively known as ‘Four Masters of Early Tang Dynasty’.

Yu Shinan was born in Yuezhou (now Yuyao in Zhejiang). He was one year younger than Ouyang Xun, and passed away at age 81, being one of those calligraphers who lived a long life. He came from a noble family and was taught by Gu Yewang and Xuling, both were men of letters. According to historical records, Yu Shinan was by nature a quiet person who kept a pure heart and few desires, studied very hard and single-mindedly devoted to his studies. He was also always in a deep thought. He had rich knowledge in literature.

It was his good fortune that he met Li Shimin, the second emperor of the Tang dynasty. Appeared to be gentle by nature, Yu was actually a pretty strong character who always spoke his mind when giving advice to the emperor. According to historical records, the emperor once wrote a courtly love poem and asked Yu to respond with another poem. Yu Shinan told the emperor, ‘What your honour has written is indeed excellent in form, but its content is not proper. It is naturally that your servants will do and follow what your honour likes to do. But I am concerned that once the poem is published, writing this type of poetry will become a trendy thing among the people. Therefore, I dare not fulfil the wish of your honour.’ The emperor replied, ‘Well said. I actually just want to know what is in your mind.’ He then rewarded Yu with 50 rolls of cloths. Once, the emperor asked Yu to write the ‘Stories of Exemplary Women’ in calligraphic form on folding partitions. As the text was not available at that time, Yu wrote the calligraphy based on his memory, and it was proven to be a perfectly written work without a single mistake. The emperor had commented that ‘Yu Shinan is a man of five absolute merits, namely, good virtue, faithfulness and righteousness, rich in knowledge, good at writing and calligraphy’. When Yu passed away, the emperor was so sad that he cried and said that Yu was like part of his body, and every time he committed a mistake, Yu would fearlessly point it out to him. Where to find someone to replace Yu, now that he had gone?

Another reason that Li Shimin respected Yu was due to his calligraphy. Yu can be said to be Li Shimin’s calligraphy teacher. So when Yu passed away, the emperor lamented that he would not be able to find another person to discuss calligraphy with him. In the history of calligraphy, there is no other person received such special honour from an emperor.

Yu Shinan had learned calligraphy from Zhi Yong and followed Zhi Yong to taken in the essence of Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi’s calligraphic style. Steady and with strength, upright and elegant, some of Yu’s works were really free and rakish. One of the most famous works of Yu is the ‘Confucius Temple Stele’. The character in Confucius Temple Stele tends toward the slender look. The spatial composition follows the rule of ‘compact upper part and looser lower part', creating a neat, forceful look.

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中国书法在魏（220-265）、晋（265-420）与唐（618-907）可说是最辉煌时期，所有字体，篆书、隶书、楷书、行书、及草书都已出现并继续发展得更完美。

由于政府的推广，唐朝的书法风行一时。初唐著名书法家有虞世南、欧阳询、褚遂良与薛稷。他们被合称为‘初唐四大家’。

虞世南，越州（今浙江余姚）人，比欧阳询小一岁，享年81岁，是个高寿书法家。出生于门阀高贵的官宦之家，受学于当时的大文学家顾野王、徐陵。史书上称虞世南‘性沈静寡欲，笃志勤学’，又‘精思不倦’，文学上造诣很深。

改变虞世南人生的机遇是遇上了李世民。虞世南虽然容貌儒雅，但志性抗烈，常常加以规谏。史书记载，帝尝作宫体诗，使虞和。世南曰：‘圣作诚工，然体非雅正。上之所好，下必有甚者，臣恐此诗一传，天下风靡。不敢奉诏。’帝曰：‘朕试卿耳！’赐帛五十匹。尝命写《列女传》于屏风，于时无本，世南暗疏之，无一字谬。帝每称其五绝：一曰德行，二曰忠直，三曰博学，四曰文词，五曰书翰。虞世南逝世时，李世民悲伤痛哭，说虞世南与他犹如一体，我每次有过失，他都会犯颜规谏，以后再也没有像他这样的人了。

所以李世民看重虞世南的另一个原因就是书法，可说是李世民的书法老师。虞世南去世后，李世民又感慨无人可以与他论书法了。在中国书法史上，没有哪一位书法家得到过如此殊荣。

虞世南的老师是智永，跟随智永继承了二王传统。其字外柔内刚，笔致圆融冲和而有遒丽之气。《孔子庙堂碑》是他著名的书法作品。全篇字体秀丽细长，结体‘上密下疏’，体现出灵巧而有力的外观。