Liang Qichao, Calligraphy in Clerical Script

Dimension: calligraphy 88.5 x 45 cm; mounting 211 x 57 cm.

Calligraphy: 君少履天姿自然之正，帥禮不爽，好惡不愆，孝衷度衷，修身踐言，龍德而學，不至於谷，浮游塵埃之外，嚼焉汜而不俗。

Inscription: 希白大弟口臨。 乙丑上元，啟超。 Translation: Elder brother Xibai asked me to write and copy this. The day of the 15th of the first lunar month, 1925, signed Qichao.

Seal: 新會梁啟超印 Xinhui Liang Qichao yin, 富貴吉祥 Fugui jixiang.

Liang Qichao (1873-1929, alternate names Zhuoru 卓如, Rengong 仁公), was a Chinese scholar and reformist of the late Qing and early Republican China. Hoping to restore the strength and power of the severely weakened Qing government, Liang Qichao organized the Hundred Day's Reform with his mentor Kang Youwei (1858-1927) in June 11, 1989. Their idea of establishing a constitutional monarchy was supported by Guangxu Emperor. However, the Empress Dowager Cixi halted the reform movement on September 21, 1989 with other conservative ruling officials. The Guangxu Emperor was placed under house arrest until his death in 1908. After the failure, Liang Qichao fled to Japan and continued advocating the concept of a constitutional monarchy. In 1911 the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing Dynasty. Liang Qichao returned to China in 1912 and was involved in political campaigns and activities, including organizing resistance to Yuan Shikai's attempt to overturn Republican China. After 1920, Liang Qichao served as professor in Qinghua University and later held the position of head of the Beijing Library. This calligraphy written in clerical script is copied after the Eastern Han (206-220) stele, "Boling taishou Kong Biao bei 博陵太守孔彪碑" (now preserved at the Temple of Confucius, Qufu). The commemorative stele records the merits of Kong Biao throughout his life. He served in the court and was the nineteenth generation of the family of Confucius. The calligraphy on the stele well represents the archaic characteristics of clerical script, including the elaborate spacing of each individual character as well as the entire composition, with wavelike flaring strokes. Compared to the original work that is composed with slender and delicate strokes, Liang Qichao's writing seems full and round.