A Historical Study on Written and Carved Characters on Rocks in Caves in Guilin Area-Works during the Tang and Song Eras

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1.On the characters caved on rocks in the Rudongyan cave (乳洞巖) in Xingan (興安) Prefecture of Guilin (桂林) Area in China : (1)Although the government agency published that there remain 19 pieces of work in total, my latest research has revealed that there are at least 26. Additionally, it is believed that there were 29 pieces before 1970s, but approximately 40 pieces existed according to my estimate. (2)Their chronological authentication contains obvious mistakes. According to the official publication, the 19 pieces consist of 3 from the Tang (唐) era, 15 from the Song (宋) era, and one from the Minguo (民国) era. However, my investigation has discovered that there are at least 4 pieces from the Tang era and 21 from the Song era. Besides, it can be estimated that there were 5 pieces from the Tang era, and 27 from the Song era before 1970s. (3)Among the works carved on rocks in the Rudongyan cave were found 3 poems that are not included in the new editions of All Tang Verse (全唐詩) and All Song Verse (全宋詩). Those works enabled us to make more than a hundred amendments to the poems already recorded as well.2.On written characters remaining inside the Ludiyan (芦笛巖) cave in Guilin : (1)According to the official publication, there is a work written during Yongming (永明) period of Qi (斉) dynasty, which was authenticated as the oldest in the cave. However, judging from the handwriting, it is clearly not the work of Qi dynasty, nor is it the oldest work. (2)In the rock caves in Guilin, there remain a number of works carved directly on the rock surface. Written characters and carved characters of the Tang era clearly differ from each other not only in tools and processes employed but also in style, content, motivation, handwriting, writers' occupations, and dates of production.