The development history of Chinese characters [edit this paragraph] Overview The Chinese nation is a great nation. Of all the countries in the world, only our China culture has been passed down without interruption, and only our "Chinese characters" is the only uninterrupted writing form in the world. Chinese civilization is also the most unique civilization. China has said that "calligraphy and painting are of the same origin" since ancient times. This is because the earliest source of words is pictures. Books and paintings are brothers, born from the same root, and have many internal relations. The origin of Chinese characters is the original picture, which primitive people used to express themselves in their lives. It gradually changed from the original picture to an ideographic symbol. It was about the 14th century BC. In the late Shang Dynasty, the ideographic symbol evolved into a relatively stereotyped "Oracle Bone Inscriptions", which is regarded as the first form of Chinese characters. The characters carved on the bones of animals and the tortoise's tortoise shell, and those found in the Yin ruins, are regarded as the direct ancestors of "modern Chinese characters", which can prove the continuity of Chinese civilization. People in the Middle East can't read the hieroglyphics of their ancestors. Only modern people in China can read some "Oracle Bone Inscriptions" in the Shang Dynasty. The words on these tortoise shells were first used to predict good or bad luck. Ancient people thought that some questions about diseases, dreams, hunting, weather and so on were engraved on the tortoise shells, and then the bones of these tortoise shells and animals were baked with fire, resulting in cracks. According to the shape and trend of these cracks, the diviner can judge the good or ill fortune of the event. This is the ancestor of the modern Chinese character "Oracle Bone Inscriptions". Up to now, there are more than 5, kinds of "Oracle Bone Inscriptions", and more than 1, can be interpreted. By the Western Zhou Dynasty, bronzes were widely used. The characters carved on bronze Zhong Ding and stone drums, namely "Great Seal", are also known as Zhong Dingwen and Shi Guwen. According to legend, it was written by Taishi in Zhou Xuanwang period. Now there are ten stone drums of Zhou Dynasty in the Palace Museum, with ten four-character poems engraved on them. Because of the feudal separatist regime, the characters are not the same. It was not until the Qin Dynasty that Qin Shihuang unified China. The Qin Dynasty unified the characters. Unified measurement. Its remarkable achievement was that the prime minister at that time, Lisi Lisi, collected and sorted the characters at that time, and then simplified and beautified them. This unified character was called "Xiao Zhuan", also known as "Qin Zhuan". At this time, the characters had almost no traces of hieroglyphics. The writing of "Xiao Zhuan" in the Qin Dynasty was too standardized and the writing speed was very slow. As a result, many simple fonts appeared among the people. The characteristic of this font is to change the original square of Xiao Zhuan, change the song of Xiao Zhuan to straight, and divide some radicals, which are called "Qin Li". By the Han Dynasty, Li Shu was very popular, and Qin Li did not completely get rid of the structural characteristics of Xiao Zhuan, but was basically square. It is easy to write. This kind of official script popular in the Western Han Dynasty is called "han li". While han li was popular in the Han Dynasty, "regular script" was in its infancy. It was very popular in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Wang Xizhi and Wang Xian in the Jin Dynasty were the real founders of regular script, and at the same time, they absorbed the circle-to-stroke seal script and kept the square and straight of official script. The structure of Chinese characters was basically fixed by removing the "swallow-tail of silkworm head". At that time, it was called "real calligraphy", and later generations renamed it "regular calligraphy" because it was used as a model for learning calligraphy. In the Tang Dynasty, "regular calligraphy" was particularly popular, and calligraphers such as Sheng Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan and Ou Yangxun were outstanding at that time, and their calligraphy works are still being studied by people today. In order to express one's thoughts and feelings, calligraphers and calligraphers have created a font with smooth flow, great rhythm and artistic appeal in one go-"cursive script". What lies between regular script and cursive script is "running script", which is not as standardized and serious as regular script, nor as unrestrained and difficult to identify as cursive script, but elegant and cheerful, with flexible font writing. It is also the most popular. I was asked to practice running script when I was a child. In Song Dynasty, one of the four great inventions of China, block printing and movable type printing, was invented, and "Song Style Characters" should also come into being. It first appeared in Northern Song Dynasty, and it was a change of regular script. There are fat bodies and thin bodies, but whether they are fat or thin, they are square and square, which looks simple and dignified. "Imitating Song Style" is also an imitation of "Song Style" However, it has developed very rapidly. It is a standard font that people like to use most, and it has been widely used in printed matter and various occasions. At the same time, the "black body" has also been born. This font is eye-catching, with the same handwriting thickness, eye-catching and tight structure, strong strokes, and sharp strokes, which makes people easy to read. Because of its eye-catching characteristics, it is often used in titles and introductions. Signs, etc., have enriched the forms of expression of Chinese characters. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, various fonts have been born, such as comprehensive arts, whole blocks, floating clouds, variants, etc. This is a concrete manifestation of the prosperity of the motherland's culture and an inevitable result of the development of Chinese characters. [Edit this paragraph] Development stage and development direction "Outline of the Development of Chinese Characters", a national social science fund project headed by Professor Liu Youxin from the Chinese Department of Southwest Normal University, The final result is the monograph "Outline of the Development History of Chinese Characters" published by China Encyclopedia Publishing House. This result puts forward some new viewpoints worthy of attention from the following aspects. 1. There are different development stages in the history of Chinese characters' development. The traditional staging is based on the change of Chinese characters' fonts, that is, it is divided into four stages according to the standards of Da Zhuan, Xiao Zhuan, Li Shu and Kai Shu. Font change is not an essential change in the development of Chinese characters, and it cannot explain the historical development law of Chinese characters, but should explain the essential change of Chinese characters from the change of their construction methods. On the basis of this understanding, this achievement further puts forward the theory of three stages in the development of Chinese characters, that is, the first stage is the picture writing stage. The characters before Shang Dynasty should belong to this stage. The second stage is the phonetic writing based on pictographs with phonography as the main body. 2. The history of fonts
Oracle Bone Inscriptions was discovered in 1899 (the 25th year of Guangxu reign). It is an ancient Chinese character carved on tortoise bones, animal bones and human bones in the Yin and Shang Dynasties to record divination, sacrifice and other activities. Strictly speaking, only in Oracle Bone Inscriptions can it be called calligraphy. Because Oracle Bone Inscriptions has possessed the three basic elements of China's calligraphy: writing with a pen, writing with words, and composing. However, not all the previous picture symbols have these three elements. The picture shows "Inscription of Sacrifice and Hunting with Zhu Niu Bone", a work of Wu Ding period in Shang Dynasty, with bold style, scattered font sizes, vivid, varied and natural. It is worthy of being a masterpiece in oracle calligraphy.
inscription of the western Zhou dynasty dayuding
dayuding was a famous bronze ware in the western Zhou Kangwang period, with an inscription on its inner wall, which was 291 words long, which was rare among the western Zhou bronzes. Its contents are as follows: Zhou Wang warned Yu (the name of a person) that Yin died of alcoholism, while Zhou Dynasty was thrived on abstinence from alcohol, so Yu must try his best to assist him, honoring the moral policies of King Wen and King Wu. His calligraphy is rigorous in style, simple in shape and layout, with both Fiona Fang and pen, which has a strict and dignified artistic effect. It is the masterpiece of bronze calligraphy in the early Western Zhou Dynasty.
The inscription of Mao Gongding in the Western Zhou Dynasty
is one of the most famous bronze wares in the Western Zhou Dynasty, which was made in the Xuanwang period in the late Western Zhou Dynasty. The inner wall is cast with a long inscription of up to 498 words. Its content is that the king of Zhou was the Zhou office of Zhongxing, and he got rid of the accumulated disadvantages, and ordered Mao Gong, an important official, to help him faithfully to avoid the disaster of losing his country, and gave him a lot of goods. Mao Gong thanked Zhou Wang and made a tripod to remember it. His calligraphy is a mature Western Zhou Dynasty bronze inscription style, with well-proportioned and accurate structure, vigorous and steady lines, appropriate layout and full of rational colors, which shows that the bronze inscription has developed to an extremely mature position.
The Western Zhou Sanshi Pan
is a bronze ware in the late Western Zhou Dynasty in the Li Dynasty. Its inscription structure is quaint, its lines are round and concise, and its center of gravity is low because of its horizontal posture, so it is more simple and thick. Its "casting" feeling is very strong, showing a strong "golden taste", so it occupies an important position in the system of stele study. Hu Xiaoshi, a well-known modern calligrapher, commented: "The seal script was well prepared in the Zhou Dynasty, and its magnifications were Yu Ding, Mao Gong Ding, ... and the words were combined with the vertical trend, but the only one who was still horizontal was San Shi Pan.
Shi Guwen in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty
carved stones for Qin in the Warring States Period. There are ten * * * stone drums, which are shaped like drums. Each stone drum is engraved with a four-character poem and ten * * * poems, the content of which is to describe the hunting of the king of Qin, so the stone drum is also called hunting. The handwriting is worn a lot, and it is now hidden in the Palace Museum in Beijing. Shi Guwen plays an important role in the history of calligraphy. Its font is typical of Qin calligraphy style, and it has a great influence on the appearance of Xiao Zhuan in the later Qin Dynasty. At the same time, its own artistic achievements are also very high. Its structure is even and square, with generous stretch, full and round lines and strong brushwork. There is no trace of pictographic pictures between the lines of Shi Guwen, which is a symbol structure composed of lines.
Xiao Zhuan
is based on Jin Wen and Shi Guwen. As a representative of the famous calligrapher Li Si, Qin Taishan carved stones, which were highly praised by all dynasties. Qin dynasty is a period of change of inheritance and innovation. The Preface of Shuowen Jiezi said: "Qin Shu has eight styles, namely, the big seal, the small seal, the engraving, the insect book, the copying, the official book, the official book." It basically summarizes the face of the font at this time.
The appearance of official script
is a great progress in Chinese writing and a revolution in the history of calligraphy, which not only makes Chinese characters tend to be a founder model, but also breaks through a single center stroke in brushwork, laying the foundation for various calligraphy schools in the future. In addition to the above masterpieces of calligraphy, there are scripts such as imperial edict, weight, tile, currency, etc. in the Qin Dynasty, with different styles. Calligraphy in the Qin Dynasty has left a brilliant page in the history of Chinese calligraphy. Like the majestic Great Wall of Wan Li and the spectacular Terracotta Warriors, it is a pioneer and the crystallization of the infinite wisdom of the Chinese nation.
True calligraphy
Running calligraphy
Cursive calligraphy
This great era in the history of calligraphy has created two great calligraphy innovators-Zhong You and Wang Xizhi. They opened a new page in the history of China's calligraphy development. It has set an example of the beauty of real books, running scripts and cursive scripts. Since then, in all dynasties, and even in Japan to the east, scholars have always been patriarchal. Sheng called himself "two kings" (Wang Xizhi and his son Wang Xianzhi), and even respected Wang Xizhi as a "book saint". There is also Wang Xun (nephew of Xi)' s book of kindness, and "Bo Yuan Tie" has been handed down from generation to generation.
Wei Bei was the best calligrapher in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Wei Bei, a general term for the calligraphy of inscriptions and stone carvings in the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, is a transitional period from official script in Han Dynasty to regular script in Tang Dynasty. Kang Youwei said, "Anyone who chooses a family in Wei Bei is an adult. It is beautiful to combine all the families. " In the early Tang Dynasty, several regular script writers, such as Yu Shinan, Ou Yangxun and Chu Suiliang, directly inherited Zhiyong's brushwork from the Six Dynasties.
The culture of the Tang Dynasty is profound and brilliant, reaching the peak of China feudal culture, which can be described as "the book flourished in the early Tang Dynasty." There are more ink in Tang Dynasty than in the previous generation, and a large number of tablets have left valuable calligraphy works. Calligraphy in the whole Tang Dynasty inherited and innovated from the previous generation. There were Yu Shinan, Ou Yangxun, Chu Suiliang, Xue Ji, Lu Jianzhi and other calligraphers in the early Tang Dynasty, and then there were Li Yong, Zhang Xu, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, shihuaisu, Zhong Shaojing and Sun Guoting who were creative. Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, and Li Bai, a poet, are also great calligraphers worth mentioning. Regular script, running script and cursive script all entered a new situation in the Tang Dynasty, with outstanding characteristics of the times and far more influence on future generations than any previous era. 3. How many kinds of fonts were there in ancient China
Seal script (1) When the pre-Qin and Fu Xishi periods in China were introduced, characters were produced.
Archaeologists argue that Oracle Bone Inscriptions was carved on tortoise shells and animal bones. Because it is used for divination and predicting good fortune and bad fortune, it is called "Oracle".
But it already has the basic elements of China's calligraphy art: pen, structure, composition and so on. During the Yin Zhou Dynasty, the inscription engraved on the Yi wares in Zhong Ding, namely the bronze inscription, also known as "Zhong Dingwen", was widely popular.
after Qin Shihuang's unification, it was collectively called "Xiao Zhuan", also known as "Qin Zhuan". The so-called seal script is actually an official script. It is a standardized common font for official documents.
according to the literature. Before Qin dynasty, there was no special name for Chinese characters.
Xiao Zhuan was gradually evolved from the characters of Qin in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Because it is an official book.
Xiao Zhuan is only suitable for grand occasions. Such as recording merit and carving stone.
shuliang imperial edict. Soldiers and tigers and things like that.
the style of the seal script is neatly arranged. The pen is round and round.
the lines are even and long. Presenting a solemn and beautiful style.
Compared with Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen, it has some basic characteristics: the shape is slender. And the tight drawing extends downward.
it constitutes a visual illusion that the upper part is dense and the lower part is sparse. This is also related to the top-down layout.
the lines are even regardless of the stippling length. The strokes are uniform in thickness.
this kind of strength. A pen with even speed.
these two characteristics give people a pure and simple aesthetic feeling. In addition, the font structure tends to be simple and fixed.
The layout of the script of Xiao Zhuan can form the order of vertical and horizontal lines. Qin Zhuan is different from Fang Bi with a round pen.
the round pen is represented by the carved stone of Qin dynasty. Fang Bi is represented by the copyright amount of Qin imperial edicts.
is a popular style in Qin Zhuan. The Han and Wei Dynasties were a spent force for Qin Zhuan.
it is not only used for inscriptions, seals and objects. It is rare to have an independent seal script.
seal script of Tang dynasty. Recovered from Li Yangbing.
Ren Qin Zhuan's magnificent spirit is gone. The study of epigraphy in Song Dynasty and the retro style of calligraphy in Yuan Dynasty.
the right to use seal script has started to rise slightly. There are many people who are famous for their seal scripts, but they lack the power to surpass them.
the inheritance of yuan dynasty. The pace is even.
seal script in Qing dynasty is full of flowers. It entered the stage of great prosperity in pushing the Tang Dynasty to surpass the Qin Dynasty.
A, there is a big seal before a small seal. As early as more than 6 years ago, symbols carved on pottery and pictures depicting objects had the prototype of characters, and then in the long development, pictographic (picture) characters were produced.
Three thousand years ago, in the Shang Dynasty, the characters carved on the bones of tortoise shells, that is, "Oracle Bone Inscriptions", were fine and straight, and the strokes were insignificant. In Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the inscriptions cast on bronze wares such as bells, ding, money and weapons were called "inscriptions on bronze" or "Zhong Dingwen".
Calligraphy is becoming more and more neat, the style is round and vigorous, and the font changes are rich and uneven. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the characters carved on stone gongs and drums were called Shi Guwen.
The strokes are strong and dignified, the structure is slightly square, and the style is elegant and magnificent. The above Oracle bones, inscriptions on bronze inscriptions and Shi Guwen were called Da Zhuan in Qin Dynasty.