Rutie, one of the art treasures of Ruzhou, Henan province, refers to a collection of work by many ancient famous calligraphers. With different types of Chinese calligraphic fonts, such as the inscriptions on ancient bronze objects, seal characters, official script, regular script and cursive style, it was highly praised by many ancient renowned poets.

Initially created 800 years ago by the chief of Ruzhou County, it was carved on 12 stones and later expanded into 20 by officials of the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912).

Unfortunately, the place that stored them was tragically destroyed in 1947 during the war, causing the valuable steles to be scattered around the country.

Zhang Jiuyi, a curator with the county’s Culture Museum, has engaged in the collection since the foundation of the New China in 1949.

However, he only found 18 steles, and had to recopy the rest from the copies stored in the Kaifeng Museum of Henan province. In 1983, The 20 Rutie steles were finally reunited.