In recent years, Xuchang has made more and more fruitful achievements in the research of printing, which has aroused widespread concern in the field of calligraphy. This is the inevitable result of his decades of silent cultivation and accumulation. The author understands that Xuchang's name begins with 1992. At that time, he was invited by Wu Jinquan, president of Taiwan Province Lin Yin magazine. As the editor-in-chief, he asked my tutor Professor Xu for a manuscript of the special issue. The teacher asked me to help sort out his printing and write an introduction article. Of course, I was flattered and overjoyed. Therefore, I wrote to Xuchang and got a preliminary understanding of his earnest attitude. 1September, 1995, the "First National Symposium on Seal Cutting Theory" sponsored by China Book Association was held in Suzhou. Xuchang's paper "The Examination of the Official Seal of the Spring and Autumn Period" won the "Excellent Paper Award", and the author also had some essays in the excellent papers, so he attended the meeting and took this opportunity to get to know Xuchang. The first impression he gave me was that he was tall, with a loud voice and firm eyes, which seemed to show his persistent spirit of learning. During the conversation, I learned that he 194 1 was born in Chengdu and 1946 moved to Nanjing. He was trained by the imperial court and had a good understanding of calligraphy and seal cutting. 196 1 took Tan Yuese, a famous painter, as a teacher and embarked on the road of art from then on. Although it was the first time we met, in this short conversation, he didn't show people in the way of elders, but treated people with sincerity, gentleness and simplicity. Talk about the past and the present, get it off your chest, never be mysterious, just be a scholar.

From 65438 to 0999, Xuchang began to write "China Calligraphy 92 Complete Works of Pre-Qin Yin Xi", which was very kind of him. He asked me to help him sort out the Summary of Major Events in Yin Xi in the Pre-Qin Period, and form the end of the complete works. As a graduate student, I know this is my opportunity to learn, because he has an outline of "major events" in the process of collecting information! About the autumn of 2000, when I went to his house to further discuss the details of "selected events", what I saw really surprised me! I saw file (data) bags everywhere on the dining table, sofa, living room lamp, room bookcase, bed and cupboard. It can be said that it can be placed everywhere, and it is roughly estimated that there are no fewer than one hundred! I was suddenly moved by this rigorous and unremitting learning spirit. Seeing is believing! I know a thing or two about compiling books, but it's the first time for someone as devoted as Xu Chang to meet them. Sure enough, many things happen. When we talked about the details of "selected events", he took out some materials from those collections from time to time to prove that its accuracy and speed were amazing. I remember that he also talked about some interesting problems found in the process of editing. For example, the "fire seal" in the Shanghai Museum is very similar to the bronze Ge seal with three-point vortex pattern in Xunxian New Village, which clearly indicates the burial age of the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, and it is also found in the car kiln from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Warring States Period. If you use "hot stamp" to seal the document, does it mean "express delivery"? Another example is 1957, the rectangular cinnabar imprint on the rectangular tapestry unearthed from the Chu tomb of the Warring States in Zuojiatang, Changsha, and the similar imprint on the Tajin unearthed from the No.1 Chu tomb in Mashan, Jiangling, which reveals that the application of cinnabar inkpad to silk books began in the middle of the Warring States period and should be gradually developed in later generations. Although these questions are inferred from historical facts, they fully reflect Xuchang's profound knowledge. He is good at thinking and can make practical inferences from facts (arguments). It is really "a word with you is better than studying for ten years"! His knowledge is really "smart understanding, quick thinking and hard work" (in Yan Gongda).

Xuchang's academic research is extensive, and the research results of ancient seals in the pre-Qin period are the most abundant and the greatest contribution. I can often listen to Xu Chang's teachings and benefit a lot, especially after reading his works. In my humble opinion, Xuchang has made the following three contributions in the field of ancient seal research:

First, textual research quotient Xi to confirm its source.

In 1930s, Huang Fu (Bochuan), a dealer in the bones of Zungu Zhai in Beiping, compiled 402 rubbings of antiquities unearthed from Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan, into a book Pian Yu in Nakano, with three bronze seals in the first and second episodes. Later, Yu, a famous archaeologist, identified it as a Shang seal according to the land unearthed in Yin Ruins and the ancient Austrian clan emblem, and included it in his 1940 Catalogue of Ancient Objects with Double Sword and Chuo (without explanation), which caused an uproar in the archaeological community at that time, because the identification of three Shang seals broke the old saying that academic circles only knew it was a new thing in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. However, the interpretation of these three commercial seals has always been an unsolved case. 1983, Xuchang spent three years collecting and studying the inscriptions, literature and history materials of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Zhong Ding available for reference in Nanjing University Library, History Department Reference Room and Ancient Books Department of Nanjing Library. 1986 textual research on Shang, and participated in the second national calligraphy seminar sponsored by China Calligraphy Association. This paper quotes a large number of ancient Chinese characters, such as Sun Yirang's Examples, Sun Haibo Oracle Bone Inscriptions Collection, Tanglan Tianrang Pavilion and Oracle Bone Inscriptions Preservation, Hu Houxuan Oracle Bone Inscriptions History Series, Ruan Yuan Zhong Ding Notes, and proves that the first commercial seal is stone and the second commercial seal is Zigenai. It further proves the reliability of the origin of Xi seal in Shang Dynasty from many aspects. Great contribution. /kloc-in the autumn of 0/998, a gluttonous bronze seal was unearthed in the courtyard of the water conservancy bureau in the western suburbs of Anyang city. Its shape and casting process are almost similar to the first three commercial seals, which supplements the ironclad evidence for Xuchang's textual research. On the textual research and interpretation of other ancient seal characters, Xuchang also has new opinions from time to time, such as the published Five Questions on the Textual Research and Interpretation of Ancient Seal Characters (see Collection of Essays on Ancient Chinese Characters II), and Seal Characters and Seal Cutting-From the Seal Cutting of Seal Characters to the Seal Cutting of Famous Images (see

Second, ancient seals are divided into fields and eras.

The ancient seal was the official seal and private seal before the reunification of Qin. The study of ancient seals was gradually formed from the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China. In the fifty-second year of Qianlong (A.D. 1787), Anhui Rencheng wrote Preface to Zhuan Zhuan Fu, which only recognized the word "private seal" in ancient seal, but failed to specify its age. Later published prints began to list the first category of "ancient seals" (for example, 1828 "On the occasion of ancient seals in Qingyige"). As for the division of ancient seals, it rose in the 1970s and 1980s. This research stems from the textual research of ancient seals and other warring States scripts. It began in the 9th year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (AD 1883) when Suzhou Wu Dacheng collected the ancient seal characters in Shuowen Gushu Supplement, followed by Luo Zhenyu, Wang Guowei, Luo and Huang. After liberation, especially after the "Cultural Revolution", the study of ancient seal characters reached a climax, with famous scholars including Li Xueqin, Ye Qifeng, Qiu Xigui, Wu Zhenwu, Lin He I, Cao and Tang. Among them, Qiu Xigui's The City in the Warring States Characters and Ye Qifeng's The Country of the Official Seal of the Warring States and Related Issues have opened up a new field for the study of ancient seals. However, Li Xueqin's Warring States script "Five Series" (Sanjin, Qin, Yan, Qi and Chu) is mostly used for reference by ancient Indian researchers. Of course, the division of ancient seal characters depends not only on the characteristics of local characters in the Warring States period, but also on the characteristics of ancient seal characters themselves, such as changes in size, production technology, composition design and font methods. Xuchang adopted the materialist dialectics of concrete analysis of specific problems, referred to the research results of many scholars, and with his profound academic support and rigorous academic attitude, brought his thoughts to the extreme, borrowed the word "public seal" from Sleeping Tiger Land Qin Bamboo Slips, and classified the ancient seals of the Warring States period unearthed or left over from the years into five series of "Chu, Qi, Yan, Sanjin and Qin". In addition, all kinds of marks that have been developed for many years are arranged in turn and reasoned and demonstrated, thus successfully linking the study of seal dating in Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States, enabling people to clearly distinguish the development and evolution of ancient seals and pushing the vertical study of ancient seals to another peak.

Third, ancient Indian graph theory, India and mutual proof of history

With the in-depth study of ancient seals, the academic value of ancient seals has been gradually excavated from multiple levels and angles. In its initial stage, scholars mostly used the names of people, places and officials in the unearthed ancient seals to study the identity, social status and surname pedigree of the tomb owner, and then expanded to study the evolution and relationship of official positions and official systems in pre-Qin countries and the exploration of ancient historical geography, which solved some historical problems, some of which were mutually confirmed with historical materials, and some supplemented the shortcomings of literature records. In the 1970s and 1980s, the study of ancient seal script entered an in-depth stage, and the focus basically fell on the study of ancient Chinese characters. Some ancient philologists combined with other ancient Chinese characters to study and interpret many difficult-to-read characters in ancient seal characters, thus sorting out the sources and characteristics of some ancient seal characters and laying the foundation for the division of ancient seal characters. In recent years, the above research on ancient seals is still continuing and developing. However, Mr. Xuchang was ingenious and found a new way. He used the legend of the ancient seal to inspect the music, textile, medical care and other aspects in the pre-Qin period, so that the seal and history could confirm each other. It opens another window for studying ancient seals. Four papers were published in the journal Seal Carving, and a systematic and in-depth analysis was made on the silk weaving and official position of Chu State, the guidance of Qigong in the pre-Qin period, the impressions on pottery, and the music officials in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. It shows the practical function of the ancient seal from many aspects, reproduces some historical features that have not been clarified (such as the division of labor and management of the weaving industry in Chu State), and leaves some foreshadowing for the author himself or others to further study in the future. For example, "the Qin figurines unearthed in the northern suburbs of Xi in recent years provided rich information for the establishment of music officials in the pre-Qin period." Chu, which pays more attention to rites and music than Qin, must have a more perfect system of music officials. It's a pity that people know very little about it, so they can only wait for time, in order to find more information without cherishing the treasure "(see" Four Pictures of Western Sounds in Pre-Qin Dynasty-Yue Guan in Eastern Zhou Dynasty ").

Xuchang is gentle and sincere, with high feelings. He is simple and quiet, thoughtful and persistent in his research, and will certainly make more and greater breakthroughs in the research fields such as ancient seals.