Lishu is a font of Chinese characters, including Qin Li and Han Li. It is generally believed that it is developed from seal script, with wide and flat font, long horizontal painting and short vertical painting, and pays attention to the swallowtail of silkworm head, which is tortuous and changeable.
According to the unearthed bamboo slips, Li Shu was founded in Qin Dynasty, and it is said that Cheng Miao was an official. Han Li reached its peak in the Eastern Han Dynasty, inherited the tradition of seal script, and started the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, which had a great influence on later calligraphy. Calligraphy is called Han Li Tang Kai.
Structural characteristics of official script
The horizontal (left-right) potential of Li character is changed to vertical potential to form a square, and the strokes contract the vertical potential to strengthen the horizontal potential.
This is a typical feature of the pen used in official script, especially in official script, the main pen is horizontal and vertical. The so-called "silkworm head" refers to hiding the (reverse) front in the process of using the pen, and at the same time writing the stroke shape formed in the process of starting the pen into a shape similar to that of the silkworm head. Dovetail, that is, press the pen at the pen-receiving place, and then pick the pen obliquely to the upper right.
Turning a circle into a square and an arc into a straight are two basic methods to simplify seal script in official script. But if you don't know the circle of seal script, it is not easy to master the side of official script. Because the straight painting or square folding in official script contains the arc potential of seal script, the straight of official script often has obvious ups and downs and is full of vitality. In fact, the brushwork of official script is based on the way of stroke movement.
We know that there is no point in seal script, that is, the point used is just a dot. However, the points in the official script are independent, no longer attached to the painting, and the point methods are increasingly rich, including flat points, vertical points, left and right points, three points (by water) and four points (by fire).
In addition, Lishu also broke many strokes written in seal script, which opened the door to writing. Later, regular script played like this, allowing traces of cohesion between pens, and even breaking the meaning of pens.