Judging from the development history of Chinese characters for thousands of years, if hieroglyphics to Qin Xiaozhuan are classified as ancient characters, then we classify official scripts and regular scripts that have been used to this day as modern characters. Therefore, official script inherits the rules of seal script, opens the foundation of regular script, and occupies a very important position in the development history of Chinese characters and calligraphy. Its appearance is an extremely important turning point in terms of practicality and artistry, and it is a major change in the evolution of Chinese characters. Because the system in the early Western Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system, writing is no exception, so there is not much difference between the official script in the early Western Han Dynasty and the official script in the Qin Dynasty. It not only has the characteristics of calligraphy in the Qin Dynasty, but also laid the factory foundation for the formation of official script in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and played a role in connecting the past with the future. From the analysis of Mawangdui silk script in Changsha (Figure 2) and Juyan bamboo slips in the Western Han Dynasty (Figure 3), the strokes have been simplified, the flavor of seal script has also decreased, and the fonts tend to be balanced, while the strokes are frustrated, the lines are undulating and the structure is more obvious than that of official script in the Qin Dynasty. Relatively speaking, it reveals the innocence and simplicity of the writer, but the calligraphy skills are not mature enough, so it is not a classic official script.
From the mid-Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, the official script gradually improved. Especially in the Eastern Han Dynasty, because the ruling class adopted some wise policies, the whole society and economy prospered, and so did culture and art. A large number of excellent inscriptions with exquisite skills and distinctive styles appeared, and the official script developed into a formal, artistic and highly aesthetic style.
Han Li, as we usually say, mainly refers to the official script on the tablet in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Their characteristics are richer brushwork, echoing the pitch of stippling, ups and downs of brushwork, twists and turns of brushwork, heavy turbidity, light clarity and unevenness of silkworm head and goose tail structure, which is amazing. Various styles, complete statutes, healthy, handsome, chic, elegant, simple, or rigorous, such as bright stars, have reached the peak of art. Inscriptions in the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as Yiying Monument, Ode to Shimen (Figure 4), Book of Rites Monument (Figure 5), Confucius Temple Monument (Figure 6), Huashan Monument (Figure 7), Han Dynasty (Figure 8), Cao Quanbei (Figure 9) and Zhang Qianbei (Figure 9).
After Wei and Jin Dynasties, calligraphy was mainly based on the formation, development and maturity of cursive script, running script and regular script. Many calligraphers mainly spend their energy on regular script, running script and cursive script, but official script has not been abandoned. At this time, official script gradually mixed with regular script, losing the simplicity and exquisiteness of Han Li, tending to be neat, with thousands of strokes. In the Qing Dynasty, the official script was revived and developed in the wave of the revival of stele studies, and many calligraphers appeared with great achievements, forming the second peak of official script art, such as Zheng () (figure 1 1), Jin Nong (figure 12) and Gui Fu (figure 12). Zheng and others, in particular, took the lead in advocating, learning and inheriting Han steles, and made innovations on the basis of inheritance, which became one of the mainstream and hot spots of calligraphy art in Qing Dynasty. Especially in the past hundred years, archaeologists in China have unearthed a large number of original calligraphy works of wooden slips, bamboo slips and silk books from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty, which has enabled us to witness the ancient brushwork and provided first-hand information for studying ancient statutes and learning ancient calligraphy techniques.
We should learn calligraphy from the official script, take the dignified and neat inscriptions in Han Li as a model, lay a solid foundation, and then develop steadily. If you start from elementary school, Han bamboo slips are easy to be slippery, but from the beginning, there is only a shape without a god, not to mention modern copying books as a model, which will only go astray. If you want to find a shortcut to learn official script, this shortcut is to start from the Han tablet. Only by down-to-earth study, writing factory official script, tracing back to Da Xiaozhuan and Oracle Bone Inscriptions, tracing back to Zheng, Xing and cursive script, can we get twice the result with half the effort.