Li Wenzhao

Li Wenxue, pen name Pianyi Shuqiao or Pianqiao, styled Xuefei, born in 1939, graduated in 1964 from Shandong Normal College (now Shandong Normal University). During his studies, he received correspondence instruction in calligraphy from Mr. Guo Moruo. He initially studied Dong Qichang’s style, later turning to the styles of the Two Wangs, Huaisu, Zhang Xu, and Yue Fei, specializing in seal script, clerical script, and cursive script—particularly cursive script, characterized by flowing strokes like drifting clouds and running water, brimming with passion, continuous and unbroken, imbued with spiritual energy and transcendent rhythm. In 1969, he received personal handwritten praise from Mr. Guo Moruo, who lauded his calligraphy as “characters flying like snow.”
       Mr. Pianqiao was close friends in his early years with the renowned and accomplished calligrapher Mr. Tang Lijin. In the 1980s, together with Mr. Tang, he co-founded the Chinese Calligraphy, Painting and Seal Carving Association. Mr. Tang praised his cursive script as first-rate among contemporary practitioners.
       The renowned calligrapher, professor, and Ph.D. from the United States, Mr. Wang Aiben (who has loved calligraphy since childhood under familial influence, persistently practicing for fifty years without interruption, and after retirement devoted himself fully to the study of calligraphy, achieving remarkable accomplishments in higher education and natural scientific research, and receiving the Special Government Allowance from the State Council) included in his 2014 publication “Selected Ink Traces of Classic Cursive Script Works Through the Ages (Twenty Volumes)” works by modern masters such as Yu Youren, Lin Sanzhi, and ShenPeng, among which is the work of Mr. Pianyi Shuqiao (Volume 20, page 114).