Studies of the Correspondence of the Literati in Wu Area

Gao Mingyi

                In Tang Dynsaty, correspondence was not as important as Northern Sung like Su Shi's and Huang Tingjian's manuscripts. Ouyang Xiu, a very famous poet and essayist, believes that the social activities and greeting between friends could help people remember and respect the predecessor's life. As such, during the Ming dynasty, the numbers of collection of the correspndence are increasing. Correspondence in Jinmotang Calligraphy Research Foundation's collection mainly focus from Ming to Qing period. We are glad to introduce 6 copies of correspondence dated from Chenghua to Jiajing period from which we could understand more about the social life and obligation among the literati.