Oracle bone inscriptions → Bronze script → Xiaozhuan → Official script → Regular script → Running script
(Shang) (Zhou) (Qin) (Han) (Wei and Jin) Cursive script
The above seven fonts of "Jiajin Seal, Li, Cao Kaixing" are called "Seven Chinese Characters"
(Table 1: The evolution of Chinese character calligraphy)
1 Oracle Bone Script
Before the Qin Dynasty unified the writing system, China’s Chinese characters were still confusing in terms of fonts and applications. In a broad sense, ancient Chinese writing refers to the writing before the small seal script including the big seal script; in a narrow sense, it refers to the writing before the big seal script in the history of Chinese writing. The concept of classical Chinese in a narrow sense is adopted here. Ancient writing includes oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions; among them, the former is regarded as the earliest stereotyped writing in China.
Oracle bone writing: written or carved in the late Shang Dynasty. The writings left on tortoise shells and animal bones are mostly "divination words" and a few are "notes of events". Most of the oracle bone inscriptions conform to the principles of pictographic and meaning-making characters, with picophonetic characters accounting for only 20%. Some of the characters are carved with knives, some are filled with cinnabar, and some are written directly with vermilion and ink. Because the characters are mostly evolved from pictorial characters, they are highly pictographic, with multiple characters per character and uncertain strokes. This shows that Chinese characters were not yet unified during the Yin and Shang Dynasties.
Image bronze inscriptions of the Yin Dynasty: In the pre-Qin Dynasty, copper was called gold, so the characters engraved on bronze vessels were called bronze inscriptions, also called bells and tripods, and Yi ware inscriptions. Compared with oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions are more pictographic and show an older writing style. The written method of filling in the gold inscriptions makes the image vivid, lifelike, rich and natural.
Oracle bone inscriptions were written in the secular style of the Shang Dynasty, while bronze inscriptions were the formal style, which shows the imprint of the complexity of the formal style and the simplicity of the popular style (see Table 2).
(Table 2: Comparison table of oracle bones and bronze inscriptions)
Oracle bone inscriptions are mostly carved on tortoise shells and animal bones with knives, so the characters have hard brushwork (Figure 3) . This kind of knife-carving brushwork is also used in modern graphic design (Figure 4).
(Picture 3) (Picture 4)
2 Large Seal Script
In the history of Chinese writing, the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, in terms of their contribution to philology In general, Shi Zhen is the most important. Shi Zhou was the historian of King Xuan of Zhou Dynasty. He created new styles in order to simplify it. Dazhuan is also known as Zhouwen, Zhouzhuan, Zhoushu and history books. Because it was written by Shi Zhou, it was later called "Zhou Wen". The large seal script can be found scattered in "Shuowen Jiezi" and various bells, tripods and Yi vessels collected by later generations. Among them, the stone drum inscriptions written during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou Dynasty are the most famous.
3 Xiaozhuan
Xiaozhuan, also known as Qinzhuan, is the standard font compiled by the Prime Minister Li Si and others of the Qin Dynasty. It is simplified from the big seal script. It is also known as jade tendon seal script because it has the meaning of strong and vigorous writing. The shape and structure of Xiaozhuan are regular and coordinated, the strokes are round and neat, and the radicals are also changed and merged. Compared with large seal script, it has no pictographic character. The transformation of writing from large seal script to small seal script is of great significance in the history of Chinese writing (Figure 5).
(Figure 5)
4 Official Script
The first step in the evolution from Xiaozhuan to Official Script, the most significant change is from the graceful money strip to the official script Straight strokes, changing from angular to angular. Most people think that official script refers to official script that has waves, with each stroke dragging a long tail like a carving knife. This is just one of them. There are mainly Qin Li and Han Li in official script. Qin Li is the early form of official script; Han Li is the mature font of official script. The official script usually refers to the "eight points" in Han official script (Figure 6). "Eight points" gradually developed after the Qin Dynasty. When the official script has developed to eight points, it is already mature. Because the characters in official script are relatively square and thick, they have a sense of uprightness and seriousness (Figure 7). Although Figure 8 shows English letters, it has rhombus and angular fonts and has the "flavor" of official script.
(Picture 6) (Picture 7) (Picture 8)
5 Regular Script
"Regular Script" is also known as Zhenshu, Zhengshu, and Jinli. Such as Ouyang Xun, Liu Gongquan and other inscriptions on the inscriptions belong to this type. It includes the squareness of the ancient official script, the elegance of the eight points, and the simplicity of the chapters. This font is still in use today and is considered a standard font and is loved by the world. Regular script has a sense of stability and tranquility; characters have the same font in different styles depending on individual writing methods and personalities (Figures 9 and 10). Figure 11 also uses thin lines to outline the text like Song Huizong's Thin Gold Style, but because the turning points are expressed in a smooth way, it presents a completely different visual sense from the Thin Gold Style.
(Picture 9) (Picture 10) (Picture 11)
6 Running Script
"Ring Script" is between regular script and cursive script. A free calligraphy (font) style. Running script is different from official script and regular script in that its degree of flow can be freely used by the writer. The running script shows a romantic and aesthetic atmosphere (Figure 12).
(Picture 12)
7 Cursive Script
"Cursive script", also known as Pocao and Jincao, is composed of seal script, Bafen script and Zhangcao script. It is formed from changes in ancient characters. Cursive script is based on Zhangcao, and Zhangcao has a strong flavor of official script, so it is named after it is mostly used for memorials. Zhangcao further developed into "jincao", which is commonly known as "one stroke of writing". Most of today's cursive scripts tend to be simpler than Zhang cursive scripts and running scripts. Cursive script gives viewers a sense of boldness and smoothness (Figures 13, 14, and 15).
(Figure 13)
(Figure 14) (Figure 15)
8 printing fonts
After the invention of printing, in order to adapt to Due to the needs of printing, especially the printing of books and periodicals, characters gradually developed in a direction suitable for printing, and the horizontal, vertical, and square printing fonts - Song Dynasty - appeared. It originated in the Song Dynasty, the golden age of woodblock printing, and was finalized in the Ming Dynasty, so the Japanese call it "Ming Dynasty style". Because Song font is suitable for printing and engraving, and also suits people's visual requirements when reading, it is the main font used in publishing and printing.
9 Computer fonts
With the development of cultural undertakings and science and technology, under the influence of Western fonts, various new fonts such as boldface and art fonts have appeared. Such as poster (POP) style, variety show style, Kanting style, girl font, etc., and more deformations of Song style, such as imitation Song style, flat Song style, etc. And various types of Chinese characters have been computerized to make their application more extensive.
As shown in the picture below (from left to right, they are: overlapping round style, variety show style, ancient seal style, Kanting style and poster style)
1. Oracle bone inscriptions
Oracle bone inscriptions are written in the Yin and Shang Dynasties and are used by only a few divination historians. It is mainly written on turtle shell animal bones with a knife. Due to the hardness of tortoise shell animal bones, the strokes are mostly straight and rarely round. Because the oracle bone inscriptions are carved with a sharp knife, the lines are thin and even. Oracle bone inscriptions are the earliest Chinese characters and have the characteristics of early Chinese characters: they are highly pictorial, have no fixed writing style, vary in size, and are highly random.
2. Bronze Inscriptions
Bronze Inscriptions, also called Zhongding Wen, were popular in the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is a text engraved on bronze. The shape and structure of bronze inscriptions are similar to oracle bone inscriptions. Because bronze inscriptions are made by carving characters on molds and then casting them, it is easier to write. Therefore, its strokes are characterized by rounded characters and uniform sizes. The pictographic quality is lower than that of oracle bone inscriptions, and the stereotyping of characters has been improved, but there are still more variant characters.
3. Seal script
Seal script can be divided into large seal script and small seal script. Dazhuan is a kind of writing written by King Zhou Xuan in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, also known as Zhouwen. It has the same type as the stone drum script of Qin during the Warring States Period and the literacy textbook "Shi Zhoupian" used by King Zhou Xuan. The physical characteristics are generally consistent with the bronze inscriptions, with the characteristics of numerous strokes. Xiaozhuan is a unified font promulgated by the Qin Dynasty when the policy of writing with the same text was implemented. It was modified by Li Si and others after sorting out the text. Because it is an officially issued unified font, it has been organized and simplified, so the number of variant characters has been greatly reduced, and the font shape is rectangular, laying the foundation for the "square shape" of Chinese characters. The small seal strokes are more symmetrical and neat, the lines are consistent in thickness, more rounded, the symbolism is enhanced, and the pictorial meaning is greatly disappeared. Because Xiaozhuan is simplified on the basis of Dazhuan, it is generally said that Xiaozhuan is the simplified form of Dazhuan.
Small seal calligraphy: The pines beside the wild crane's nest are the oldest, the rain has begun to clear on the cactus, the river flows with sound, and the bank is broken by thousands of feet
4. Official script
Official script originated in the Qin Dynasty and became popular in the Han Dynasty. In the Qin Dynasty, official script and Xiaozhuan were used in parallel, and they were a convenient script for scribes to copy official documents on a daily basis. Small seal script is difficult to write and cannot meet the needs of official documents in the Qin Dynasty. It is mostly used in more formal occasions. In order to facilitate and quickly write, the official script changed the round and even lines of the small seal script into square, folded, straight and thick strokes; the vertical and cohesive structure style of the small seal script was changed to a horizontal, flat and stretched style; at this time, the official script became no longer pictographic Chinese character symbols. The official script changed the fonts of Chinese characters tremendously. Therefore, the "official script" became the dividing line between ancient and modern Chinese characters. The Chinese characters before Xiaozhuan are ancient Chinese characters.
Their most common characteristics are that they are strong in iconography and poor in stereotypes. The characters are composed of lines and there are no strokes, the elements that form characters. The Chinese characters after the official script are the modern Chinese characters. The characteristics of modern Chinese characters are that they are highly symbolic and stereotyped, and the characters are composed of a limited variety of strokes. In the Han Dynasty, official script replaced Xiaozhuan and became the official writing style, also known as "Han Li" (also known as modern official script). Han Li writing styles are diverse, one is mainly square pen, such as "Zhang Qian Stele"; the other is mainly round pen, such as "Cao Quan Stele".