The Eight Types of Qin Shu
& The Eight Types of Qin Shu refers to the eight types of writing in the Qin Dynasty, which refers to the eight writing fonts. Here are the following descriptions:
1. Large Seal Script: These are fifteen texts written by Taishi Zhou during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou Dynasty. A "Zhenwen" is named after the writer. According to the paragraph annotation, it includes ancient texts (see page 766 of "Shuowen").
2. Small Seal Script: Li Si, Zhao Gao, and Hu Mu of the Qin Dynasty made changes based on the Big Seal Script and wrote "Cangjie", "Yanli", and "Boxue" respectively. The fonts are different from the Big Seal Script. So it is called Xiaozhuan. It is also called "Qin Seal" because these glyphs were created by people in the Qin Dynasty and are popular in contemporary times, so they are called "Qin Seal".
3. Engraved talisman: It is the font engraved on the talisman section.
4. Chongshu: It is the font written on flags or talismans. Because some of these fonts resemble birds and some resemble insects, and birds are also called feather insects, they are called insect books.
5. Copy: It is the font written on the printing material. Printing materials have different sizes, so they must be planned before writing and engraving. This is why it is called "copying". This font is characterized by careful curvature.
6. Signature is the text inscribed on the plaque.
7. Shushu are the words cast on weapons. Shu is a kind of weapon.
8. The official script was written by Cheng Miao, a native of Xiadu (now south of Chang'an County, Shaanxi Province) ordered by Qin Shihuang. This font is convenient for writing and cannot assist seal script.
Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi" summarizes the eight styles of Qin Shu:
The first is Dazhuan: In a broad sense, Dazhuan refers to oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, and historical inscriptions before the Qin Dynasty. And the ancient prose that was popular in the Six Kingdoms except Qin during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in a narrow sense it refers only to Zhenwen.
The second is Xiaozhuan: as mentioned above. Li Sizhen's "Shu Houpin" praised: "The essence of Xiaozhuan is exquisite in ancient and modern times." Qinwangzhu Mountains and the ancient seal of the emperor, as well as the powerful crossbow and the eternal bell, are not only the master craftsmen of scholars, but also the heritage treasures passed down to the country.
The third one is carved talisman: This type of seal script is specially carved on the talisman section. Because it is carved on metal with a knife, it cannot be graceful and smooth, so the strokes are almost straight and the shape is almost square. The existing Yangling That's the text on the tiger charm.
The fourth is Chongshu: also known as Birds and Chongshu, it is a floral style in seal script. This kind of font existed before the Qin Dynasty, and most of it was cast or engraved on weapons and bells. The strokes are often composed of animal prototypes, which are like calligraphy and painting, and are full of interest. They were also written on flags and talisman letters, and there were many examples of birds and insects being printed in the Han Dynasty.
Five-Yue Copy Seal: Also known as Miao Seal. In fact, it is a seal script style used to imitate seals in the Han Dynasty. The shape is square and even, full of official meaning, while the writing style has evolved from the round and rounded shape of Xiaozhuan to curved and winding. It has the meaning of preparation, hence the name.
Six-day signature: also called list book. Duan Yucai's "Shuowen Jie Zi Annotation" of the Qing Dynasty records: The examiner is also the bookstore. All the inscriptions on the seals and inspections are called "bookstore", and the title list is called "bookstore".
Qiyue Zuoshu: also known as history book and assistant book. That is, Qin Guli. It is called Zuoshu. Duan Yucai believes that its method is convenient and can be used in a way that Sasuke's seal cannot. Recently, some scholars first believe that the name of official script originated from the script written by Tu Li; its name was derived from the script written by zuoshu zhizuo, or it originated from the script written by Shuzuo (a low-level official in charge of drafting and copying in the Han Dynasty).
The eighth day is official script. It is an important milestone in the transformation of Chinese characters from ancient style to modern style.
Further subdivided into small seals, there are also jade seals, jade seals, iron wire seals, grass seals, etc.
Since the Zhou Dynasty moved east to Luoyi, there have been more than 500 years of annexation by princes and seven kingdoms competing for hegemony. By the time of the unification of Qin, in the ideological field, as Xu Shen, the author of "Shuowen Jiezi" said, countries had "different fields, different tracks, different laws, different clothes, different sounds, and different shapes of characters" ."
Especially text.
It is said that at that time, there were 149 ways of writing the character "宝"; there were also more than 100 ways of writing the character "MEI" and "Shou".
In terms of the structure of the characters, some are soft and flowing, some are dense and exaggerated, some are long and long, and some have crazy structures.
From the perspective of the development of Chinese calligraphy art, it undoubtedly provides it with rich forms of expression and content; but for a unified China, it has brought about social, ideological, political, economic and cultural exchanges. difficulties and confusion.
Qin Shihuang carried out a comprehensive reform and implemented the "script with the same script" and "let go of those who do not conform to the Qin script". He ordered Prime Minister Li Si to unify all fonts at that time into one writing script, which was Qin Zhuan. .
That is to say, the original large seal script of Shi Zhou was simplified into small seal script, so it is also called small seal script. The order is used nationwide.
From the perspective of the Qin Xiaozhuan font, on the one hand, it retains the structure of the Dazhuan font and the basic characteristics of hieroglyphs; on the other hand, the structure of the font is greatly organized and processed to make it relatively unified and standardized. . The main one is that the various radicals are unified in shape, and the radicals used in each character are basically fixed to one type, and other types are not used instead; the second is that the positions of the radicals are relatively fixed and cannot be moved at will. The third is to roughly determine the number and stroke order of each character.
The unification of characters is essentially a change in social life customs and people's behavior. There is a process of recognition, acceptance and adaptation; in addition, at the beginning of the promotion, people were not very familiar with the structure of Xiaozhuan, so it was difficult to It was easy to write in one go. Therefore, Li Si wrote the "Cangjie Pian", Zhao Gao wrote the "Yan Li Pian", and Hu Wujing wrote the "Bo Xue Pian"; these three books served as literacy textbooks for schoolchildren and as templates for the promotion of Xiaozhuan for Chinese people to learn and copy.
This calligraphy style, which was purely practical at the time and supplemented by beauty, eventually developed into one of the ancient oriental calligraphy arts.
It can be said that the emergence of Xiaozhuan is not only a great progress in the history of the development of Chinese characters, but also an unexpected brilliance in the history of Chinese calligraphy.
In 219 BC, the First Emperor of Qin visited Fengshan in present-day Yixian County, Shandong Province, and engraved the Stone Carvings on Mount Yi. Later, he went to Mount Tai and engraved the Stone Carvings on Mount Tai.
In 218 BC, the First Emperor of Qin went to Langye Mountain in present-day Jiaonan, Shandong, and established the "Langye Terrace Carved Stone"; he also went to Mount Fu in the northwest of present-day Yantai, Shandong, and established the "Zhifu Carved Stone".
In 215 BC, the First Emperor of Qin visited Jieshi in present-day Changli County, Hebei Province, and engraved the "Ode to Jieshi on Stone".
In 210 BC, Qin Shihuang climbed Mount Kuaiji for the fifth time during his southern tour and carved the "Kuaiji Stone Carvings" in what is now southeast of Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province.
The words written on these stones are all in standard small seal script, all written by Li Si.
The oracle bone inscriptions of the Yin and Shang Dynasties were an attempt by early humans to communicate with the gods of nature, and were a record and expression of understanding the unknown world in the ignorant era.
During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, inscriptions, namely gold inscriptions or bell and tripod inscriptions, were cast on bronze vessels to worship gods, record events, show wealth and power.
Qin Shihuang carved stones to sing his praises and engraved the great achievements of the founding emperor on huge rocks and set them on famous mountains, coexisting with the heaven and earth, as eternal as the sun and the moon.
In the process of realizing this obvious political goal, stone carvings unexpectedly became a carrier and form that can preserve calligraphy for a long time. Qin Shihuang spent almost his entire life searching for a way to live forever, but he eventually died, and only those stone carvings remain to this day. It can be regarded as eternal and immortal in a sense.
Chinese calligraphy art is divided into two systems: stele and calligraphy. Qin stone carvings are the pioneering work of the stele system based on the previous Qin stone drum inscriptions. It has a huge and profound impact on later generations.
"Yishan Stone Carving" should be the early representative work of Qin Zhuan. The dots and dashes of the characters are all lines, with the same thickness and roundness, showing a round and smooth style. The font is dignified and rigorous, with both reality and emptiness, proper spacing, calmness, peace and strength. Some people commented that "the painting is like iron and stone, and it is like a powerful crossbow." Its structure is tight at the top and loose at the bottom, and the hanging legs are elongated. It has a condescending attitude, which must be looked up to observe. In terms of rules and regulations, the ranks are neat and the rules are harmonious. Some people analyze that this neat and unified style is consistent with the political ideals of the Qin Dynasty. The overall calm, calm, strong and powerful artistic style expresses the spiritual connotation and direction of the unification era of the Qin Dynasty to a considerable extent.
The original stone of "Yishan Carving Stone" was later destroyed by Cao Cao when he climbed the mountain, but the inscription was left behind. What you see today is based on the copy of Xu Xuan of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the Five Dynasties, which was carved by someone in the Song Dynasty and is now hidden in the Forest of Steles in Xi'an.
The "Langye Terrace Carved Stone" is now in the Poseidon Temple in various cities in Shandong. The first emperor's ode and the names of his ministers have been peeled off, but the official names of the second generation and thirteen lines of the imperial edict are still preserved. The calligraphy style is a typical small seal script, which is mainly curved. The fonts are all rectangular and the strokes are of uniform thickness, showing a graceful and elegant style.
"Taishan Carved Stones" directly inherits the essential characteristics of "Shiguwen", which is more simplified and square, and is rectangular, with smooth lines, even density, hardness and softness, roundness and strength, giving it a People feel dignified and steady. It has the most unique characteristics and style of Qin Xiaozhuan. Therefore, Zhang Huaijin of the Tang Dynasty praised him greatly, saying that his paintings are like iron and stone, his characters are like flying, his bones are plump and even, and his squares and circles are wonderful.
Xiaozhuan was generally used for official documents, decrees, edicts, etc. issued by the Qin Dynasty government at that time. Among the people, because it has a complex structure and is difficult to write, it is even more difficult to sketch. Therefore, a font that can be used to write seal characters in cursive script was born. This is official script.
It is said that at that time, a county official named Cheng Miao offended the First Emperor and was imprisoned in prison. He saw that it was very troublesome for the prison officer to write the Yaotai in small seal script. After ten years of careful study, he simplified the complex writing. Turning the circle into a square created this new font. Qin Shihuang admired it greatly and not only pardoned his crime, but also made him a censor, and widely used this font in official and prison writing. Because Cheng Miao was a disciple and the script was specially used by officials, this script was called official script. By the Han and Wei dynasties, it had been perfected, and it had become a calligraphy style completely different from Qin Zhuan in terms of strokes and structure, laying the foundation for the subsequent emergence of regular script.
The professional terminology of calligraphy calls Qin Li "ancient Li" and Han Li "Jin Li". .Big Seal Script: These are fifteen pieces of text written by Taishi Zhou during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou Dynasty. A "Zhenwen" is named after the writer. According to the paragraph annotation, it includes ancient texts (see page 766 of "Shuowen").
2. Small Seal Script: Li Si, Zhao Gao, and Hu Mu of the Qin Dynasty made changes based on the Big Seal Script and wrote "Cangjie", "Yanli", and "Boxue" respectively. The fonts are different from the Big Seal Script. So it is called Xiaozhuan. It is also called "Qin Seal" because these glyphs were created by people in the Qin Dynasty and are popular in contemporary times, so they are called "Qin Seal".
3. Engraved talisman: It is the font engraved on the talisman section.
4. Chongshu: It is the font written on flags or talismans. Because some of these fonts resemble birds and some resemble insects, and birds are also called feather insects, they are called insect books.
5. Copy: It is the font written on the printing material. Printing materials have different sizes, so they must be planned before writing and engraving. This is why it is called "copying". This font is characterized by careful curvature.
6. Signature is the text inscribed on the plaque.
7. Shushu are the words cast on weapons. Shu is a kind of weapon.
8. The official script was written by Cheng Miao, a native of Xiadu (now south of Chang'an County, Shaanxi Province) ordered by Qin Shihuang. This font is convenient for writing and cannot assist seal script. Qin Shu Ba Ti refers to the eight fonts of the Qin Dynasty, which refers to the eight writing fonts. Here are the following descriptions:
1. Large Seal Script: These are fifteen texts written by Taishi Zhou during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou Dynasty. A "Zhenwen" is named after the writer. According to the paragraph annotation, it includes ancient texts (see page 766 of "Shuowen").
2. Small Seal Script: Li Si, Zhao Gao, and Hu Mu of the Qin Dynasty made changes based on the Big Seal Script and wrote "Cangjie", "Yanli", and "Boxue" respectively. The fonts are different from the Big Seal Script. So it is called Xiaozhuan. It is also called "Qin Seal" because these glyphs were created by people in the Qin Dynasty and are popular in contemporary times, so they are called "Qin Seal".
3. Engraved talisman: It is the font engraved on the talisman section.
4. Chongshu: It is the font written on flags or talismans. Because some of these fonts resemble birds and some resemble insects, and birds are also called feather insects, they are called insect books.
5. Copy: It is the font written on the printing material. Printing materials have different sizes, so they must be planned before writing and engraving. This is why it is called "copying". This font is characterized by careful curvature.
6. Signature is the text inscribed on the plaque.
7. Shushu are the words cast on weapons. Shu is a kind of weapon.
8. The official script was written by Cheng Miao, a native of Xiadu (now south of Chang'an County, Shaanxi Province) ordered by Qin Shihuang. This font is convenient for writing and cannot assist seal script.
During the more than 500 years of wars and wars between different feudal lords during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the development of Chinese characters was also affected by the turmoil. The situation of odd-shaped characters and diverse calligraphy became increasingly common. The diversification of the development of calligraphy is not without its advantages. But after all, language is a tool for people to exchange ideas and conduct social communication. "Speech with different sounds" and "characters with different shapes" are inconvenient for people's exchange of ideas and social communication. Therefore, when Qin Shihuang unified China and established the Qin Dynasty, he adopted Prime Minister Li Si's suggestion and unified the national script on the basis of the Qin script that followed the Western Zhou script. Xiaozhuan is used as an enlightenment literacy textbook for schoolchildren and serves as a model for popularization and application. From then on, Xiaozhuan, which was the opposite of Dazhuan, became the popular calligraphy style in the Qin Dynasty. Compared with the previous generation of writing, this kind of calligraphy has the characteristics of rounded writing lines, uniform and stereotyped structure, and vertical and rectangular fonts. In terms of the development of Chinese characters, this is undoubtedly a great progress. But Qin Dynasty calligraphy is not the only one.
Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty said: "The eight styles of Qin Shu: the first is called large seal script, the second is called small seal script, the third is called engraved symbols, the fourth is called insect script, the fifth is called copy seal, the sixth is called signed script, the seventh is called script, and the eighth is called official script." This shows that at that time, in parallel with the small seal script, there were the large seal script and official script (called ancient official script or Qin official script). "Insect script" is also called bird insect script or bird seal script. It is an artistic calligraphy in seal script that starts with the head of a bird and insect and uses the curve of the insect's body as a line. It is the continuation of calligraphy styles such as the inscriptions of Gou Jian, King of Yue in the State of Zhao; the "engraved symbol" is a small seal script; the "copy seal" is a small seal script with a square structure, which is the first seal script of the Han Dynasty; and the "signature script" is used for inscriptions on door lists and seal slips. , the "#书" engraved on weapons are just changes in the scope of application of large seal script, small seal script or official script. The "eight styles of Qin script" mentioned by Xu Shen, based on the shape of Chinese characters, include the three styles of large seal script, small seal script and official script.
Guo Moruo said when talking about Qin Shihuang's unification of characters; "Qin Shihuang's unification of characters was a conscious further artificial unification. The unification of Chinese characters did not actually begin with Qin Shihuang. Since the Yin Dynasty, As writing became more and more complete, it also gradually spread, spreading from the Yellow River Basin to the Yangtze River Basin and the Pearl River Basin. The bronze inscriptions left over from the Western Zhou Dynasty were official writing, regardless of north, south, or east, but were generally consistent in the late Zhou Dynasty. Weapon engravings, pottery inscriptions, seals, silk scripts, bamboo slips and other folk writings have great regional differences. China has a vast territory and the writing has spread to various places. In the long run, regional differences have occurred. "Shu Tongwen" "abolished a large number of regional variant characters, making the writing more neat and simplified, which was a great achievement in culture" (Guo Moruo, "The Dialectical Development of Ancient Writing", see "Slavery". )
According to the "Biography of Jinwen", before the Qin Dynasty unified writing, there were 194 forms of the character "宝", 104 forms of the character "eyebrow", and 104 forms of the character "shou". There are more than 100 kinds of Xiaozhuan characters represented by only one character each. This is undoubtedly a great progress in the history of Chinese character development.
The unification of characters in the Qin Dynasty not only refers to the unified seal script as Xiaozhuan, but also refers to the unified official script. Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jie Zi Xiu", "Hanshu Yiwenzhi", Wei Heng's "Four Body Scripts" of the Jin Dynasty, and Zhang Huaiguan's "Shu Duan" of the Tang Dynasty all pointed out this point. However, there is a statement that Qin "began to create official script", which is inappropriate. "Li has been around since ancient times, not from the Qin Dynasty." Mr. Tang Lan also said: "Official script is simpler than seal script because part of it is inherited from the ancient writings of the Six Kingdoms." (Tang Lan's "Chinese Philology") It is true that Qin Dynasty used official script extensively. It is even more inappropriate to say that Cheng Miao "increased or reduced the style of the seal script, and removed its complexity, and called it official script". Any form of Chinese character development can never be created by one person. It should be gradually formed through the writing practice of millions of people. It is believable to say that Cheng Miao collected, organized and promoted scattered official script among the people and made it a supplementary script for Xiaozhuan. This kind of font with square strokes and simple structure can be said to have sprouted in the same period as Chinese characters (such as oracle bone inscriptions), and became more common in the Qin Dynasty.
The bamboo slips from the period of Qin Shihuang were unearthed in Shuihudi Cemetery in the west of Chengguan, Yunmeng County, Hubei Province in December 1975. The calligraphy style can be said to be typical of Qin Li. Although traces of seal script still remain in the ink of these Qin people, they are basically official script.
From the perspective of the evolution of Chinese character forms, the Qin Dynasty was an extremely important generation. From the perspective of the development of calligraphy, Xiaozhuan in the Qin Dynasty shines in the annals of history.
The calligraphy of the Qin Dynasty that we can see now includes: inscriptions on gold and stone, bamboo slips written in ink, imperial edicts, inscribed talismans, etc.
Qin stone carvings, according to the "Historical Records? The First Emperor's Book" records, there are seven stone carvings in six places, including Mount Tai, Langye Terrace, and Jieshi. The "Historical Records" records five texts. These carved stones were carved by Qin Shihuang to show off his civil and military skills when he traveled eastward to the counties. According to legend, it was written by Prime Minister Li Si, a great calligrapher at that time, and it was the standard calligraphy style at that time. Zhang Huaiguan of the Tang Dynasty praised Li Si's Xiaozhuan script in his "Book Break" as "the painting is like iron and stone, and the characters are like flying". "Book Review of the Tang Dynasty" said: "The bones of this book are rich and well-proportioned, and the square and round are wonderful." We carefully analyze the pen used in these stone carvings, and it is just as Wei Xu said: "First return in a hurry, then descend quickly. The eagle watches the passing of the peng, and believes in it." It is natural and cannot be modified again; moving the feet is like a fish swimming in the water, and the dancing brush is like the clouds floating in the landscape, sometimes curling or relaxing, sometimes light and sometimes heavy. "The structure is stable and solemn at the end, dense and even, and meticulous. Some characters have long vertical strokes and no horizontal strokes underneath them. They are densely spaced at the top and sparse at the bottom. They are stable but also elegant and stretched. This method of tying characters is still used by people for writing and carving seals. This is also the case with the carved stones of Mount Tai and Langye.
Two talismans carved from the Qin Dynasty exist in the world. The calligraphy style is all in small seal script. Among them, the Yangling Tiger Talisman was originally collected by Luo Zhenyu's family and is now collected by the China History Museum. If the wording is wrong, it will be written in gold, and the ink copy cannot be copied.
The calligraphy relics of the Qin Dynasty include a large number of edicts, edicts, and edicts, most of which are inscribed in bronze. During the time of the First Emperor, seal script was basically used, but the structure gradually became square. Judging from the people who handed down these edicts, they were probably written by lower-level officials. Therefore, the calligraphy style is much more sloppy than the Taishan carved stone Yangling Tiger Talisman, and it is not up to the standard style of Qin Zhuan. The second version of the imperial edict is more sloppy and contains more official script writing styles. Some people call it ancient official script. From the perspective of the development of Chinese characters, these hasty works by folk calligraphers played a great role in promoting the evolution of Chinese character forms. In terms of calligraphy, it is not as good as the Taishan stones and the Yangling tiger talisman. Among the imperial edicts, the most commendable one is Tao edicts. These edicts were stamped on unfired pottery and then fired. In 1973, a pottery seal was discovered at the ruins of Xianyang, the capital of Qin, which was used to make stamps for pottery products. However, Tao Zhaoliang's text is much more beautiful than ordinary Qin Tao inscriptions. This kind of pottery inscription has less meaning in the depiction, but the writing style is thicker, the strokes are smooth and flowing, and the changes are natural. It is even better than the calligraphy of the bronze edict. It is comparable to Li Si's calligraphy on various stones and tiger symbols.
There are also Wadang inscriptions such as "Wei Tian descends the spirit and the world is in peace for ten thousand years" and currency inscriptions, and their calligraphy has its own characteristics.
The most precious calligraphy relics of the Qin Dynasty are the more than 1,100 bamboo slips unearthed in December 1975 from the Qin Tomb in Shuihudi, Yunmeng, Hubei. These bamboo slips are written in calligraphy and Qin Li, and are relics from the first five or six years after Qin Shihuang unified the country. Zhang Huaiguan of the Tang Dynasty praised Cheng Miao in his book "Shujuan": "Cheng Jun was the first to combine the official system and the literary quality. He is elegant and elegant, like listening to an orchestra. He has strong autumn energy, and his body is frosted. The sharp edge of the sword is broken, and the stars fall. Hanging. A sudden burst of red flames, swirling purple smoke, golden zhiqiongcao, will be passed down forever." This sentence of praising Cheng Miao's calligraphy cannot be overstated. These Qin people's ink marks are immature official scripts. They can integrate seal and official script into one. They show skill in clumsiness and newness in ancient times. They provide us with a good example of calligraphy inheritance and innovation.
Although the Qin Dynasty only existed for a short fifteen years in Chinese history, it left an extremely glorious page in the history of the development of Chinese calligraphy. Together with the Qin Terracotta Warriors in the history of Chinese sculpture, the Great Wall and Epang Palace in the history of architecture, it is a pearl in the cultural history of the Chinese nation.