Zhang Huaiguan's Broken Book in the Western Tang Dynasty said: "According to the official script, the people of Xia Yi in Qin Dynasty did what Cheng Miao did."
Cheng Miao was born in the capital of Qin Xia (now south of Anxian County, Shaanxi Province). Originally a small official in the county, he was imprisoned for a crime. Cheng Miao saw that it was very troublesome for prison officials at that time to write Yao cards with seal script, so he carried out reforms, simplified the complex, rounded the square and created new fonts. He compiled a 3,000-word official script, which Qin Shihuang thought was very good, pardoned him and made him an imperial history. Moreover, this font is stipulated to be used in official prisons. Because Cheng Miao is a slave, and at first it was specially for slaves, so it was called official script.
During the Qin dynasty, the political power was centralized and there were many documents, so it was inconvenient to write in small letters. Therefore, small officials use simple writing when copying. Cheng Miao collected and sorted out this writing method and became an official script. Cai Yong called it "deleting ancient official script". In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Huaiguan's Shuduan said: "The Great Biography of Mount Tai was originally a prison officer in the county, which offended the first emperor. This was written by Fiona Fang after ten years in Yunyang prison, and it was written into a 3,000-word script. The first emperor called it good, exonerated him, and regarded it as a suggestion, so he called it' Li' because it was convenient for officials and prisoners to write books.
In calligraphy, Qin Li is called "Guli" and Han Li is called "Jinli". 1975 12000 bamboo slips with ink on them were unearthed from the Qin tomb in Yunmeng Crouching Tiger Land, Hubei Province. According to the archaeological materials, the characters on some wooden signs and bamboo slips in the Warring States and Qin Dynasties tend to simplify seal script, reduce strokes, change the font into square flat and use wave pen. This is the bud of official script. In the Western Han Dynasty, the elements of Li style in calligraphy were further increased. The silk painting "Lao Zi Jia Ben" unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha has obvious official meaning.