On the plaque of "No. 1 Pass in the World" in Shanhaiguan, 2 out of 5 characters are misspelled? Who wrote it?

Shanhaiguan has been considered as the starting point of the eastern end of the Ming Great Wall since ancient times. It is known as "Shanhaiguan in the east and Jiayuguan in the west". , the guarantee of the capital", it can be said that it is well-known all over the world.

Shushu has been to Shanhaiguan more than once, and was amazed by this 640-year-old grand pass, especially the memory of climbing the east tower of Shanhaiguan for the first time is still fresh and lingering.

That day I went to the city to look far away, overlooking the horizontal and vertical blocks of the ancient city of Shanhaiguan, orderly, I couldn't help admiring the magnificence of such a city. Then raise your head and look up at the "No. 1 Pass in the World" plaque on the East Tower. The five strong characters have the potential to swallow mountains and rivers, which makes people excited.

The plaque hanging on the east tower of Guancheng is a replica made in 1919. The original plaque is preserved in the east tower of Guancheng, so we have the opportunity to have a close look at it. After looking at it for a long time, Shushu always felt that there were some problems with the two characters. One was that the two horizontal lines of the character "天" were longer and shorter, and the second character "Di" was actually the beginning of the character "草". , Isn't it a typo?

If we want to make this question clear, we must first figure out who wrote these five big characters? When was it written? Why did he write it?

There are legends that these characters were written by He Zizhen, a famous calligrapher from Hunan in the Qing Dynasty; some say that they were written by Wang Erlie from Liaoyang, a calligrapher who was known as "overwhelming the three rivers" in the Qing Dynasty; some say that they were written by Yan Song; Written by Wang Xizhi, the above are just folklore, so who wrote it?

In fact, these five big characters were written by Xiao Xian, a native of Shanhaiguan. Xiao Xian was a well-known calligrapher in the local area at that time. The Ministry of War procured officials from Fujian's procuratorate, and his calligraphy can be said to be excellent in everything, so the chief of the Ministry of War guarding Shanhaiguan asked him to write.

After Xiao Xian received the invitation, he only made one request, that is, "Don't rush, and pick it up when it's written." As a result, I didn't write it for more than a month, until the capital issued an edict, requiring the plaque to be hung on schedule, otherwise the head of the Guancheng Military Department will be severely punished.

Under the order of the head of the Ministry of War, Xiao Xiancai reluctantly swiped his brush and wrote the five characters "No. 1 Pass in the World" on the huge plaque measuring 5.9 meters by 1.55 meters.

The two horizontal lines of the word "Tian" are not as usual up and down, making it look thicker and more powerful. Without frowning, it is applauding.

In particular, the word "第" of "First" was rewritten into "苐" at the beginning of the cursive character, which reduced the strokes and lightened the visual weight, and made the strokes of the traditional Chinese character "Guan" more dignified, thicker and more powerful, which can be called a magical stroke. It turns out that "Heaven" and "Di" are not typos or typos, but Mr. Xiao Xian's wonderful works on purpose.

The reason why the five characters of "No. 1 Pass in the World" was written for more than a month is because Xiao Xian spent time studying ancient calligraphy, conceiving the shape and structure of the five characters, reading ancient poems to broaden his mind, exercising his arm strength, and making giant brushes. It can be seen that These five big characters contain Mr. Xiao Xian's lifelong learning, no wonder it can become a famous work through the ages.