Chinese characters are the only ideographic writing system in the world that has not been discontinued and continues to be used today. But which dynasty did the evolution of Chinese characters take? Here I have compiled information about the evolution of Chinese characters oracle bone inscriptions for everyone. I hope you will like it.
In which dynasty did the evolution of Chinese characters occur:
Writing appeared very early in China, and like other writing in the world, it was initially represented by pictograms. The early Chinese characters were inscribed on animal bone fragments and cast on bronze vessels. These were oracle bone inscriptions and bell and tripod inscriptions. Before this, there were only records of inscribed symbols and legends, without any physical evidence.
Oracle bone inscriptions are inscriptions written on tortoise shells and animal bones during the Yin and Shang Dynasties. Because it is written on oracle bone tablets of different shapes, it is difficult to change it after it is written, so the ancestors followed the instructions and completed them in one go. The overall effect can be neat and well-proportioned, or varied and random, reflecting the human nature of pursuing balance, symmetry, harmony and stability. From the perspective of the evolution of Chinese characters, it is roughly the following development process: oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, large seal scripts, small seal scripts, official script, cursive script, regular script, and imitation of Song style and Song style characters. This process reflects the human pursuit of simplicity, clarity, balance, symmetry, and neatness. The overall trend of unified stylization.
In 221 BC, Qin Shihuang established the first unified centralized feudal state in Chinese history. He immediately adopted the advice of Prime Minister Li Si and issued a decree with the same text in the book to unite the former princes. The country's different and complicated fonts were all abolished, and the large seal script was changed to the provincial seal script. A new calligraphy style was designed and promoted throughout the country. This is the "small seal script". Now it seems that this was the most far-sighted and wisest move by Qin Shihuang, because the use of force only unified China geographically, and the unification of "books and texts" actually unified the Chinese nation psychologically and culturally, making the central empire After the Qin Dynasty, no matter whether there were constant wars, foreign rule, or divisions and mergers, it was just a change of dynasties. In the end, they were all integrated under the great banner of Chinese characters, flourishing, developing, and growing.
In the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system, and the centralized system was further developed and strengthened. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, with his great talent and broad strategy, conquered the east and west, constantly expanded the territory of the central empire, and established a military garrison system to protect the eternal peace of the border areas. This garrison system allowed Chinese culture to spread and take root rapidly in the border areas. At the same time, there were higher requirements for the quality, speed, and quantity of information dissemination. At this time, Xiaozhuan was gradually simplified and evolved into official script, which is known as "official script" in history. This change is not only because Xiaozhuan is complicated and difficult to write, but also requires reform. The most important essential reason is closely related to the invention and popularization of the Chinese writing tool, the brush. It is the writing form of the brush that transformed the pictorial nature of seal script into a square and straight one, turning the pictorial Chinese characters into abstractions, and preliminarily formed the dot, horizontal, left, N, vertical, lift and hook that constitute the basic elements of Chinese characters. , folding stroke characteristics and square shape characteristics.
In addition, officials at that time sometimes needed to quickly draft official documents. When writing official script, some strokes were connected to each other, which gave rise to the so-called Cao Li. On the other hand, Chinese characters are also changing in a stylized direction that is neat, square, simple and clear, and this is where regular script comes into being. The Han Dynasty already had four main calligraphy styles in Chinese calligraphy: Zhen, Cao, Li, and Seal.
The invention of woodblock printing is the result of a long historical development. It was first reflected in ancient seals, mud seals, inscription seals and imprints. With the development of the economy, the demand for the production and dissemination of books accelerated the development and popularization of woodblock printing. Block printing is to engrave the inverse characters of "article" on a special woodblock, and then rub it with ink and paper. This is one of the four great inventions in my country, and its history can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty or earlier. At that time, the craftsmen used the regular scripts of the three major calligraphers of the Tang Dynasty as the original engravings. Initially, they were engravings. Later, they gradually added the craftsmen's own wisdom and combined with the characteristics of the carving knife and woodblock material to make the calligraphy fonts more standardized and more precise. Easy to write on.
In the early days of engraving and printing, calligraphers often wrote the regular script and then the engravers directly rubbed it and then carved it. The engravers respected the calligraphers very much and preserved the calligraphy as much as possible in the engraved fonts. Home features. Therefore, it also has a strong flavor of regular script calligraphy. This kind of character is the predecessor of what we call "Fake Song Style" today, and it is also the predecessor of "Song Style".
Therefore, the evolution process of Song-style characters is from calligraphy block letters to Song-style imitation and then to Song-style through woodblock printing technology. But why is the imitation Song style, which was produced in the Tang and Song Dynasties before the Song style, called imitation Song?
It turns out that this happened when our country entered the lead movable type printing. In 1916, two brothers, Ding Fuzhi and Ding Shanzhi, two famous calligraphers and seal carvers in my country, made imitations of rare ancient engravings from the Northern Song Dynasty. They were named "Juzhen imitation of the Song Dynasty" at the time. Later, Shanghai Huafeng Mold and Type Foundry and Baisong Type Casting and Printing Factory had various imitation Song Dynasty scripts. Today, the imitation Song style has become the standard Chinese calligraphy style. Block printing came to the Second Song Dynasty. Due to the social stability and peace at that time, the rapid economic development, and the political enlightenment, ordinary people could also enter official careers through the imperial examination. Therefore, the social reading atmosphere became increasingly popular, and both officials and people had the habit of collecting books. Even some well-off people in the countryside A well-to-do family also has a collection of thousands of books. The book-engraving institutions of woodblock printing are all over urban and rural areas. The Song Dynasty was the golden age of woodblock printing in my country for more than 300 years. Its technology also influenced the Japanese countries and inspired the European continent. As society's demand for books increases, engravers must complete tasks faster, more, and better.
Therefore, I summarized a set of fast carving methods. On the basis of copying regular script, making full use of the characteristics of the carving knife, modifying and processing the regular script, and carving out the regular script with the least knife skill. The development of regular script resulted in what we call Song script today. Song-style characters appeared in the Tang and Song Dynasties, but matured in the Ming Dynasty, so they are called "Ming Dynasty" in Japan, which is adjacent to the east. In the process of copying the regular script of the Tang Dynasty, the engravers unknowingly completed the great task of stylizing Chinese characters and paved a smooth path for the standardized development of modern Chinese character printing fonts. It can be said that Song-style characters inherited the essence of Chinese calligraphy, and initiated the standardization and stylization of Chinese characters, and suddenly increased the spread of Chinese characters to a brand new platform.
Song-style characters originated from the Tang and Song Dynasties and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. They have a history of more than a thousand years. In tangible culture, Yingshou has been used for thousands of years without much change. I recommend Song font.