毛笔的由来
笔是中国传统用具 “文房四宝 ”之一，其发明与演变有数千年的历史。
殷墟出土的甲骨片上残留着朱书与墨迹。根据这些甲骨文字判断，夏商时期已经产生了笔的雏形。到春秋战国时期，各国都已经制作和使用书写用笔了。
虽然笔的发明很早，但是那时所谓的笔仅仅是用竹签蘸墨，然后再在丝做的绢布上写字，书写速度很慢。使笔真正具有我们今天见到的毛笔形态，人们则普遍认为是秦朝一位大将 ——蒙恬的功劳。
据传，公元前 223年，秦国大将蒙恬率领部下在中山地区与楚国交战，战况激烈。为了使秦王能及时了解战场上的情况，蒙恬需要定期写战况报告递送秦王。然而，蒙恬常常为此困扰：当时的笔质地很硬，墨水蘸少了，写几个字就得停下再蘸，墨水蘸多了，直往下滴，又会把贵重的绢弄脏。蒙恬以前就萌生过改造笔的念头，这次要写大量的战况报告，这个愿望就越发强烈了。
战争的间歇中，蒙恬喜欢去野外打猎。有一次，他打了几只野兔子，拎着它们回到军营。兔子十分肥硕，有一只兔子便拖在地上，兔毛在地上蹭出了一道蜿蜒的血迹。蒙恬见了，一下子联想到困扰他已久的笔的改造上来：“如果在竹签上绑一些兔毛，用兔毛书写，难道不是十分柔软好用了吗？”
回到营房以后，他立刻剪下了一条兔尾，将其绑在笔上，用它蘸墨书写。没想到，兔毛油光光的，无法有效吸收墨水，在绢上写字断断续续、七扭八歪，一点也不成样子，还浪费了一块珍贵的绢布。蒙恬的实验受到挫折。他一气之下将兔毛笔扔在了门前的石坑里。
但是蒙恬并未就此放弃。他仍然试图寻找其他改造笔的方式，只可惜都失败了。几天过后，他无意中又看到了门前石坑中的兔毛笔，抱着最后一丝希望捡了起来。石坑中的积水渗透了兔毛，使其变得更加柔软服帖了，放在墨里一蘸，竟然变得非常吃墨。蒙恬大喜，用兔毛笔在绢上书写，运笔流畅、字体圆润，出乎意料地好用。原来，山石坑里的水含有石灰质，经碱性水的浸泡，兔毛上的油被去除了，变得柔顺起来。
蒙恬对笔进行了关键性的改造，在此后的两千多年里，随着中国文化的进步，士大夫们对笔须臾不离，毛笔的应用更加广泛，制作工艺也日趋完善。
由于笔的不同会影响运笔的方式，士人书风各异，对笔的要求亦不同，故而毛笔种类繁多：从笔毫材质上分，有羊毫、狼毫、胎毛等多种材质；从性能上分，有硬毫、软毫、兼毫；从笔管材质上分，又有竹管、象牙、玳瑁等等。笔的形态不断丰富起来，其制作与装饰也越来越受到重视。笔的多种制作，又促进了书法的发展、改进。可以说，毛笔在中国文明发展的进程中占据着重要地位，它的演变侧面反映了中国历史与文化的变迁，是中华传统文化与传统思想的见证者与承载者。
The Brush Pen
The Origin of the Brush Pen
The brush pen, one of the “Four Treasures of the Study” (traditional Chinese stationery), has evolved continuously since its invention thousands of years ago.
The origin of it can be traced back almost four thousand years to the ancient Xia and Shang dynasties, judging from the red and black ink left on shells and bones unearthed from the Yin Ruins. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), the brush pen had already been produced and put into use.
The original pen, nevertheless, was just a stick or piece of bamboo, which made writing on thin silk very slow. Its present form, as a brush, is generally accredited to Meng Tian (蒙恬 ), a general of the Kingdom of Qin.
Legend has it that Meng was leading an army in a fierce battle against the Kingdom of Chu in the region of Zhongshan in 223 BC. Meng’s frequent updates to his king caused him trouble because his pen was inconveniently hard. Too little ink, and he could barely finish a few characters; too much ink, and the pen smeared the precious silk. Given his number of reports, Meng often thought of ways to make improvements.
Between battles, Meng enjoyed hunting. One day after a hunting trip, Meng made his way back to the barracks with his game – some wild rabbits. Fat and heavy, one of the rabbits dragged on the ground, its tail leaving a winding trail. It suddenly occurred to Meng that he might have found the solution to his problem: “What if I tie rabbit’s hair to a stick? Wouldn’t it be soft enough to write with?”
Upon returning to the barracks, he immediately severed the rabbit’s tail, tied it to a stick and tried writing with it. To his disappointment, the rabbit’s hair was too slick to effectively absorb the ink, leaving only twisted trails and broken strokes, a complete mess. Frustrated that his experiment had done nothing but waste precious silk, Meng tossed his “invention” away.
However, Meng Tian was anything but a quitter. He tried many ways to improve the brush pen, but all ended in failure. A few days later, he stumbled upon his “prototype.” With the last shred of hope he picked it up. To his delight, the soaked rabbit’s hair, now surprisingly soft, absorbed the ink well. The brush worked beautifully on silk, producing fluent and full strokes. It turned out that calcareous water had removed the grease from the hair and softened it.
Meng Tian’s alteration to the brush pen was pivotal. For two thousand years, the brush pen was inseparable from scholars and officialdom, and, with wider and wider applications, its manufacture was gradually perfected.
The types of the brush pen affect the ways they are wielded, and vice versa. Materials for the brush include the hair of goat and wolf, and even fetal hair. In terms of hardness, there are rigid brushes, soft brushes and a combination of the two. The body can be made of bamboo, ivory, hawksbill, etc. As its form evolved, people attached increasing importance to its designs and decoration, which in turn promoted the evolution of calligraphy. It is safe to say that the brush pen played a key role in Chinese civilization, not only as a mirror of China’s historical and cultural changes, but also as a transmitter of traditional Chinese culture and philosophy.
