Yan Zhenqing - Influence

Influence

Yan Zhenqing’s style assimilated the essence of the past five hundred years, and almost all the calligraphers after him were more or less influenced by him. In his contemporary period, another great master calligrapher, Liu Gongquan, studied under him, and the much-respected Five-Dynasty Period calligrapher, Yang Ningshi (楊凝式) thoroughly inherited Yan Zhenqing’s style and made it bolder.

The trend of imitating Yan Zhenqing peaked during Song Dynasty. The "Four Grand Masters of Song Dynasty" – Su Shi, Huang Tingjian (黃庭堅), Mi Fu (米芾), Cai Xiang – all studied Yan Style; Su Shi even claimed Yan Zhenqing’s calligraphy "peerless" throughout history.

After Song, the popularity of Yan Zhenqing declined slightly, as calligraphers tended to try out more abstract way of expression. However, it still took a very important status, and many renowned calligraphers, such as Zhao Mengfu and Dong Qichang (董其昌) are said to be inspired by Yan Zhenqing.

In contemporary China, the leading calligraphers like Sha Menghai (沙孟海) and Shen Yinmo conducted extended research on Yan style, and since then it regained its popularity. Nowadays almost every Chinese calligraphy learner imitates Yan style when he first picks up the brush, and Yan Zhenqing’s influence has also spread across oceans to Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia.