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Museums in many European countries have collections of Chinese cultural relics, some of which were donated by ethnic Chinese, some were purchased at high prices, and of course many were "plundered". Since the Second Opium War, millions of treasures have flowed abroad, many of which are "unique".

In the British Museum, the Louvre Museum in France, and the National Library of Paris, there is a group of cultural relics that have attracted experts from all over the world to study. There are more than 10,000 of them, with all-encompassing contents, collectively known as the "Dunhuang Manuscripts". In 1900, Taoist Wang Yuanlu accidentally discovered the Sutra Cave while clearing the sand in Mogao Grottoes, and dug out more than 50,000 cultural relics of various types.

The Qing government at the time was unable to protect these cultural relics, so European and American powers took advantage of the situation. British and French "archaeologists" bought the best-preserved and most valuable parts of them at extremely low prices, including the earliest known full-volume handwritten copy of the "Tao Te Ching".

It is known as the "King of All Scriptures". It contains 5,000 words of wisdom from our ancestors. The Tao Te Ching is not only highly respected in China, but also well-known abroad. German philosopher Nietzsche praised it: "The Tao Te Ching is like an inexhaustible wellspring, full of treasures..."

The Li Tang royal family claimed to be the descendants of Laozi. From the palace to the people, copying the Tao Te Ching was a popular custom. The "scripture copyists" at that time copied the Buddhist scriptures and this classic the most. There are two ways to select scripture copyists: "official" and "private". The calligraphy level of private scripture copyists varies, while official scripture copyists need to go through many selections and receive professional training.

The most skilled of these "official copyists" could copy scriptures directly for the emperor and leave their names behind. Liu Honggui and Cheng Daibin were representatives of them. They were highly appreciated by Emperor Gaozong of Tang Li Zhi and Empress Wu Zetian. The "Tao Te Ching" copied by Liu Honggui himself was also ordered to be sent to the secret storage of Mogao Grottoes.

This work is 26.5 cm long and 547 cm wide, with nearly 300 lines and more than 5,200 characters, and the character size is about 1.3 cm. It is written in small regular script. Liu Honggui learned from famous calligraphers such as Wang Xizhi, Chu Suiliang, and Zhong Shaojing, and was influenced by the "scripture writing style" of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. He is well versed in rules and has skillful writing skills.

Qi Gong praised this work: "The handwritings of masters are all precise in structure, with flying strokes, flesh and blood, and shining from every turn. When compared with the famous Tang dynasty inscriptions by Yu, Ou, Zhu, Xue, and even Wang Zhijing and Jingke, this work is not inferior. The only thing is his official position." In his opinion, Liu Honggui was a top master who was not inferior to the "Four Masters of the Early Tang Dynasty" and his work "Tao Te Ching" was also impeccable. He was only despised because of his low official position.

The sharp tip of the "Tao Te Ching" enters the paper, and after the pen is put down, the pen tip is adjusted. The strokes are smooth and varied, with sharp points at the beginning and blunt at the end, and sharp edges and corners at the turning points. The characters are dignified without losing their changes, with a mixture of oblique and straight, and obvious contrasts between contraction and expansion, looseness and tightness, and high and low. It has a solemn atmosphere, but it does not fall into the monotony of "looking like an abacus". It can be said that the charm and rules are complete. This character really amazed the whole world.

The strokes, character formation, composition and ink method of this work are impeccable. It is an excellent copybook for us to learn Tang Dynasty small regular script, and every character is worth copying carefully.

Now, we have reproduced the Dunhuang Daodejing in small regular script in ultra-high definition and 12 colors. Seeing this is like seeing the original, which is very convenient for you to copy and appreciate. If you are interested, please click the link below to take a look!