Jicun inkstone is an inkstone made of Lingyan in Shanxi and Jicun stone carving in Suzhou. Sucun inkstone is moist in texture, soft in color, moist than water, beneficial to ink-free, waxy in stone, strong in front, and both rigid and soft. There are many nicknames in its spread, such as Wuxian Chengni inkstone, Taihu inkstone, Lingyan inkstone, Shujiang inkstone and library inkstone. In fact, it is against historical facts to call "Xiangcun inkstone" "Chengni stone carving". The name of Changcun was first seen in Zhao Ye's Wu Yue Chun Qiu. According to historical records, Wu Men Biao Yin, written by Gu in Qing Dynasty, explains the reason for its name: "Changcun is located in the west of Lingyan Mountain, namely Yanshi Mountain, also known as Shicheng Mountain (Spring and Autumn Annals), with Shicheng (Yuejueshu) on it, where Henkel lived and died (Note to Prince Zhang Huai). Shicheng people remember, and they will be heirs together. The real name came from the village, but it was later misrepresented (see Chen's Wuzhong Xiaozhi Series), and "Zhongcun" was pronounced as "digging" by the locals. (See Chen's Wuzhong Xiaozhi Series). In addition, Wang Ziruo's Notes on the History of Inkstone wrote a cloud on the 10th day of Xinzheng in Yihai Year, "... Wuzhong has been producing materials for a long time, and people in the city call it digging ..." According to historical records, the inkstone in Jicun first appeared in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhu's "Continuing the Painting of Wu Jun" and Fan Chengda's "Wu Jun Zhi" in the Southern Song Dynasty both quoted the cloud in Yue Jue Shu: "Wu people set up a pavilion and a baby palace in Yanshan Mountain". After the Han Dynasty, it was also found in Notes on the Chronicle of the Kings of the Eastern Jin Dynasty: "There is an inkstone mountain in Wuxian". Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and Tang Dynasty have not been recorded. It can be seen that Yoshimura stone has been used to make inkstones in the Han Dynasty. (Press: There is a word "inkstone" in Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi in the Eastern Han Dynasty: inkstone is slippery. Liu Xi's explanation: inkstone,,, stone,. ) In the Song Dynasty, the production of Sucun inkstone developed greatly, and the name of Sucun inkstone was frequently recorded in the works of Song people. It is recorded in Mi Fei's History of Ink in Song Dynasty. Although there was no record of Xiangcun inkstone in Yuan Dynasty, there were many physical objects, such as Lv Shuang inkstone and Ruyi Chi inkstone, which indicated that Xiangcun inkstone had a certain output at that time. A large number of Yoshimura inkstones have been circulated in the Ming Dynasty, which shows that their exploitation is very large. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, due to a large number of mining, the excellent materials of Yoshimura inkstone began to be exhausted. By the middle of Qing Dynasty, Shi Caijia in Jicun began to be scarce. By the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the ancient stone pits in the village had dried up, so Jo Yeo-jeong's antique guide said, "The best in Lingyan Village in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province are light green and eel yellow. Today, the stone has been exhausted and there is no new output. People nearby are still using other stones as inkstones to confuse the world, but the forgers are rough and don't print ink to distinguish authenticity. During the Republic of China, due to the impact of western culture, China's political, economic, cultural and other fields were greatly influenced, and its writing tools were gradually updated. Affected by the new culture, citizens and students began to use a lot of new stationery such as pens. However, the sales of Xiangcun inkstone rose instead of falling. This phenomenon seems abnormal, but there are reasonable reasons. First, new writing tools were expensive at that time, but stone was very cheap at that time. Second, Suzhou has a special geographical position. Its waterway is close to the Grand Canal and the sea, and its land is close to the metropolis Shanghai, with convenient land and water transportation. Thirdly, the art of inkstone carving in Wu Pai has been developed by Gu in the early Qing Dynasty and Chen Duanyou in the Republic of China, and enjoys a good reputation at home and abroad. According to the geological survey, Jicun stone is a kind of mudstone peculiar to Taihu Lake area, and the inkstone made of it has the advantages of fast inking, no water seepage and long storage time. The geological report said: "As early as 1700 years ago, mudstone was found in the marine section of Longtan Formation in Shanrenqiao area, so the inkstone was made of stone. "(1/50,000 regional geological and mineral survey report compiled by the fourth geological team of Jiangsu Province). Mudstone is a sedimentary rock solidified by mud and clay, and its mineral composition is complex, mainly composed of clay minerals (such as hydromica, kaolinite, montmorillonite, etc.). ), followed by clastic minerals (quartz, feldspar, mica, etc. ), which may contain fossils. It has the properties of water absorption, adhesion and fire resistance, and can be used in brick making, pottery making and other industries. Its mineral composition is similar to the raw material of mud inkstone, so there are many similarities between Sucun stone and artificial mud stone in terms of texture, performance and appearance. Judging from the color of stones, there are basically four kinds of stones: blue, yellow, red and gray. People named the first three kinds as crab shell green, eel yellow and shrimp head red respectively, and the outer layer of Yellowstone turned purple after "simmering". Perhaps because of the coverage of ink rust, or perhaps because of the simmering process, in the surviving Song and Ming dynasties, the inkstones in the village were usually brown, which made the inkstones in the village colorful. But from the hue, the purity of the stone is not clear enough, and sometimes there is a cross between colors, but it also gives people a soft feeling. The high-quality Xiangcun inkstone is soft and delicate, waxy but not soft, rigid but not brittle, and has strong plasticity. Although it has a long history of making inkstones, only Song inkstones exist at present. In the early days, it was mainly based on the style of the times, including copying hands, seeking official knowledge, only shoes and double shoes. Since the Ming Dynasty, the number of inkstones has gradually increased, and there are also a certain number of imitation Song-style inkstones. At the beginning of Qing Dynasty, Gu Erniang created the exquisite, meaningful, elegant and mellow "Su School inkstone carving" style. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Ruoli vividly copied the Stone Tablet of Han Dynasty and Gao's History of Inks with the stone of Yoshimura, which developed the carving skills and expressive themes of Yoshimura's inkstones. In the Republic of China, Chen Duanyou, a Wu native, rewrote the real style with meticulous carving and bionic pen and flute, which not only directly influenced the art of inkstone carving in Jicun in later generations, but also indirectly influenced the art of inkstone carving in modern times. Sucun inkstone is similar to artificial Gu Ni in color and stone quality, and it is easy to be confused with artificial mud, so it is very difficult to distinguish it. But careful comparison can still reveal some clues. Xiangcun inkstone has been praised by scholars since the Song Dynasty, but there was no Xiangcun inkstone before the Song Dynasty. Therefore, the confusion between Yoshimura inkstone and Cheng Ni inkstone mainly occurred after the Tang Dynasty, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. From the perspective of manufacturing technology, there are great differences between the two: First, the artificial inkstone is made of wet clay blank by molding, splicing and kneading, supplemented by bamboo knife cutting, which generally has the phenomenon of "mud swelling" and bamboo knife marks, while the inkstone in Sucun does not; Secondly, judging from the artificial mud inkstone in Ming and Qing Dynasties, the surface was mostly treated by "calendering" process in the later stage of production, so there was a matte appearance similar to plastic film (Yan Tao did not have it), while Li Cunyan had an obvious sense of gravel; Thirdly, the ingredients of artificial inkstone are generally mixed with mica powder, which is generally uneven in distribution, while ink inkstone is mostly fine and uniform; Fourthly, there are often spots of different colors on the inkstone in Yoshimura. There are interlayers of different colors on the side of the inkstone, which are generally linear. Stone knots are also common in new pits, which are rare in artificial mud. Fifth, compared with artificial mud, Sucun inkstone feels relatively heavy; Sixth, the inkstone is always kept, like the Yungu method of Mi Fei, which "burns a sokcho, simmers it with slow grey fire, and then turns purple", so the surface of Gu Yan often has a layer of "skin shell", which is easy to fall off over the years, and the edge of the falling off place is small and irregular. Clay inkstones are mainly produced in Jiangzhou (Xinjiang, Shanxi), Zezhou (Jincheng, Shanxi), Zhouguo (Lingbao, Henan) and Zhegou (Sishui, Shandong). Due to the decline of Cheng Ni after the Song Dynasty, people know less about this kind of inkstone, so Cheng Ni inkstone is full of mystery and misunderstanding. Since the early Qing Dynasty, people have often described Suzhou Sucun inkstone as mud inkstone, and put its delicate, inky and exquisite craftsmanship on it. For example, the colors of eel yellow, shrimp head red and crab shell green are the characteristics of stones in the village, and they are also the typical colors of mud inkstones, which is a great fallacy-the colors of mud inkstones are mostly gray red, but they are not typical. Sucun stone is more beautiful than most mud inkstones in terms of craftsmanship (Su carving skills) and materials, but it is regarded as mud inkstones because of its mud-like characteristics. Based on the above, the author thinks that Xiangcun inkstone is a unique inkstone in Suzhou, not a mud inkstone, and Xiangcun stone can not be called mud stone, so it should be renamed. (The author is the artistic director of Hayes artist sculpture studio, a Suzhou folk craftsman and a national arts and crafts artist. )