Lishuti 隸書體

Lishuti 隸書體, also called Lishi 隸勢, is a text on calligraphy written during the Jin period 晉 (265-420) by Chenggong Sui 成公綏 (231-273), courtesy name Zi'an 子安, from Baima 白馬 in the commandery of Dongjun 東郡 (today's Huaxian 滑縣, Henan). It is in included in his collected writings, Chenggong Zi'an ji 成公子安集, and fully quoted in Chen Si's 陳思 (1225-1264) Shuyuan jingjua 書苑菁華 from the Song period 宋 (960-1279). Is is also included in the series Lidai shufa lunwen xuan 歷代書法論文選.

The proposition of Chenggong's essay is that only the chancery script (lishu 隸書) had clear and distinct rules (guiju you ze 規矩有則) that balanced out the overall appearance of characters. It was most applicable for all sorts of documents and was easy to use (yong zhi jianyi 用之簡易). It contributed to a regular and lucid appearance of texts (can yi cheng zhang 燦矣成章). Compared to the overburdened seal script and the adulterated grass script, the chancery script was kept to a central, golden mean (zhongyong 中庸). Chenggong compares the appearance of chancery-script texts with joint flowers, stars in the sky, or brocade patterns. He describes the dynamic and expressive nature of various brushstrokes, emphasizing their different movements and emotional depth. The brush was moved with "delicate fingers and gentle wrist", while holding the white silk (used like paper) and dotting the black ink on it. The author holds that the chancery script was able to "embody the grandeur of the Zhou dynasty's 周 (11th cent.-221 BCE) virtues and manifest the brilliance of the era of Tang 唐 and Yu 虞 (Yao 堯 and Shun 舜)."