The northern Sixteen Kingdoms that existed in confrontation with the Eastern Jin dynasty also left a legacy of fine calligraphic pieces, including Li Bo’s Manuscripts, which are among many writings discovered in the early twentieth century in northwestern China. Unlike the scripted bamboo and wooden slips that were found in large numbers, Li Bo’s Manuscripts were written in ink on paper and were the only ones with the author’s name officially recorded. Li Bo was a senior official serving the state of Former Liang in northwestern China. [1]

       Li Bo’s Manuscripts contain three drafts of a letter to the King of Yanqi (焉耆), a small feudal state in western China. One of them was torn into pieces while discovered. Of the two surviving pieces, the first was rendered carefully and neatly with a lot of ink. The second had a strong cursive-script element and featured lean strokes made with a half-dry brush. Traces of clerical script can be found in some characters, especially in the first surviving piece, which bear some resemblance to the way of writing in Wang Xizhi’s Deploring the Death of My Aunt. This may well have been the form in everyday use at the time. [2]

[1][2] Wang Yuchi, Striving for Perfection amid Social Upheavals, Chapter 3 of Chinese Calligraphy / Ouyang Zhongshi et al., translated and edited by Wang Youfen.