Abstract: The development of classical Chinese calligraphy in the Ming Dynasty was closelylinked to the development of the art of calligraphy in the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning ofthe Ming Dynasty, the calligraphic style of the palace pavilion was prevalent. Song Ke andother literati’s calligraphy continued the trend of the late Yuan Dynasty, with newdevelopments in the style of Zhang Cao (章草, a cursive script of the Zhang style) script and regular script in small characters. In particular, Song Ke’s revival of Zhang Cao opened up a new trend for people in the Ming Dynasty to explore cursive script. From the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Wu School of Calligraphy, represented by Wen Zhengming, Zhu Zhishan, Chen Chun, and Wang Chong, was formed in Suzhou, breaking through the monopoly position of Zhao Mengfu of the Yuan Dynasty, taking the calligraphy style of the Jin and Song Dynasties and making new developments in the creation of calligraphy. At the same time, the culture of appreciating calligraphy and painting and elegant goods in the south of the Yangtze River was prevalent, and they formed a tradition of appreciating, reading, collecting, writing, and researching, which greatly enriched the content of calligraphy beyond creation. In the theory of calligraphy, in addition to the traditional theory of brushwork since the Wei and JinDynasties, a new theory of literati’s elegant toys and appreciation emerged in this general cultural environment, a theory that was another new development since the literati’s calligraphy trend of the Northern Song Dynasty, constituting an important feature of thecalligraphy theory of the Ming Dynasty.

Key words: Classical Chinese Calligraphy Theory；Appreciation；Description；Ming Dynasty