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The
Forest of Stele is near the South Gate of Xi'an. It was originally
built in 1090AD in the Northern Song Dynasty. It was officially named
as the Forest of Stone Steles Museum in 1992. At the beginning it was
used to store the valuable steles of Confucian classics carved in the
Tang Dynasty. With the time passing by here collected over 2000 steles
of different times from the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. Now it boasts
the largest collection of its kind in China.
The contents of the Forest Steles can be divided into four groups: works
of literature and philosophy, historical records, calligraphy, and pictorial
stones. The Popular Stele of Daqin Nestorianism, which can be recognizable
by the small cross at the tip and engraved in 781AD, marks the opening
of a Nestorian church. The Monk Bu Kong Stele in Tang Dynasty is noteworthy
for its Buddhist value. Collections here are also of high value for exploring
Chinese calligraphy history. Here stand the many tablets engraved with
works of many outstanding calligraphers through ages. Chinese calligraphy
boasts a long history in five basic script forms, namely: seal script,
clerical script, regular script, running script and cursive script. Through
more than 3,000 years of creative work various forms have constituted
the abundant treasure and unique traditions of Chinese calligraphy. The
typical includes the Cao Quan Stele, written in Han clerical script famous
for its elegant, ingenious inscription; The Tang Dynasty witnessed the
prosperous period with noted distinctive styles of regular script. The
most distinguished Tang stele is "the Preface to the Holy Buddhist
Scriptures" in the handwriting of Wang Xizhi, a famous Jin calligrapher.
Some poems of calligraphy are also collected here. Some steles carved
the portrait of Confucius with great historical Value.
The Forest of stele is the treasure house to study Chinese calligraphy
and history.
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