The fonts of calligraphy are roughly divided into five types: seal script, official script, cursive script, running script, and regular script. Their respective characteristics are:
Seal script: Seal script is the collective name for large seal script and small seal script. The brushwork is thin, strong and straight, with many straight lines. There are square pens, round pens, and pointed pens, and there are many "hanging needles" in the handwriting. Dazhuan refers to bronze inscriptions, Zhou inscriptions and Six Kingdoms inscriptions, which preserve the obvious characteristics of ancient hieroglyphs. Xiaozhuan, also known as "Qin Zhuan", is the common character of the Qin Dynasty. It is a simplified font of Dazhuan. It is characterized by wide and flat fonts, stretching left and right, balance, symmetry, and neatness.
Official script: Official script developed from seal script. Official script simplifies seal script, turns circles into squares, and arcs into straight lines. Its structural characteristics are that the character shape is flat and square and spreads out left and right, starting the pen with silkworm head and closing the pen with swallow tail, turning circles into squares and arcs into straight lines, changing drawings into dots and connections into breaks, and intensifying changes in the thickness of the stroke
Cursive script: Cursive script was formed in the Han Dynasty and evolved on the basis of official script for the convenience of writing. It is characterized by simple structure and continuous strokes.
Running script: Running script is a font between regular script and cursive script. It was created to make up for the slow writing speed of regular script and the difficulty of legibility of cursive script. It is characterized by being both neat and clear, yet lively and lively.
Regular script: Regular script is also called Zhengkai, Zhenshu, and Zhengshu. It gradually evolved from the official script and became more simplified, horizontal and vertical. The font is square and well-organized.
Extended information:
Chinese calligraphy is an ancient art of writing Chinese characters. It evolved from oracle bone inscriptions, stone drum inscriptions, and bronze inscriptions (Zhongding inscriptions) to large seal script, small seal script, official script, and finally finalized. In cursive script, regular script, running script, etc. of the Eastern Han, Wei, and Jin Dynasties, calligraphy has always exuded the charm of art. Chinese calligraphy is a very unique visual art. Chinese characters are an important factor in Chinese calligraphy because Chinese calligraphy was produced and developed in Chinese culture, and Chinese characters are one of the basic elements of Chinese culture. Relying on Chinese characters is the main symbol that distinguishes Chinese calligraphy from other types of calligraphy.
Reference materials:
Baidu Encyclopedia_Chinese calligraphy