1. Regarding the origin of Chinese characters, there are various theories in ancient Chinese documents, such as "knot ropes", "gossip", "pictures", "book deeds", etc. Ancient books also generally record that Huangdi's historian The legend of Cangjie’s creation of Chinese characters.
In terms of development: Oracle (late Shang Dynasty) - Jinwen (Western Zhou Dynasty) - Xiaozhuan (Qin) - Official script (Han)/cursive script (Han) - Regular script (Six Dynasties) - Running script (Mature in Jin Dynasty, popular in Tang and Song Dynasties)
That’s all what we call seal script, official script, regular script, cursive script and running script. 2. Oracle and Bronze Inscriptions (Pre-Qin Dynasty)
What are Oracle and Bronze Inscriptions?
Oracle bone inscriptions are the earliest mature calligraphy that can be seen today. Because in 1899, Wang Yirong accidentally discovered some carved symbols on a Chinese medicinal material called "dragon bone". The "dragon bone" is a turtle shell, and the symbols engraved on it were later proved by archaeologists and paleographers to be "oracle bone inscriptions".
The most important thing here is the Yin Ruins unearthed in Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan, which are relics of the Shang Dynasty about 3,400 years ago. Later, after continuous excavation, as many as 100,000 oracle bone fragments were unearthed; the symbols on them totaled 4,500, of which 1,700 were deciphered and explained one by one. Most of the contents of oracle bone inscriptions are "divination", which records events of good or bad fortune.
Bronze inscriptions?
Bronze inscriptions are also called bell and tripod inscriptions. To put it simply, it is the words engraved on the bronze vessel.
The Shang and Zhou dynasties were the age of bronzes. The ritual vessels of bronzes were represented by tripods, and the musical instruments were represented by bells. Bells and tripods are synonymous with bronzes. Therefore, bronze inscriptions are inscriptions engraved on bronze vessels. Compared with the slenderness of oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions are slightly thicker and simple, with three elements of gold and stone. Xiaozhuan (Qin)
The Xiaozhuan was used by Qin Shihuang to unify China. Later, the policy of "writing with the same text and carriages with the same rails" and unifying weights and measures was implemented. Prime Minister Li Si was responsible for this. On the basis of the large seal script originally used by the Qin State, he simplified it, canceled the other Six Kingdoms scripts, and created a unified script. Chinese character writing form. The characters written after the unification of the Qin Dynasty are called Qin seal scripts, also called small seal scripts. They are based on the bronze inscriptions and stone drum inscriptions, deleting the complex ones and simplifying them. The representative of the famous calligrapher Li Si has been highly praised in the past dynasties as a Qin Taishan stone carving artist. The Qin Dynasty was a period of change of inheritance and innovation. "Shuowen Jie Zi Preface" says: "Qin Shu has eight styles, one is called large seal script, the second is called small seal script, the third is called engraved symbols, the fourth is called insect script, the fifth is called copy seal, the sixth is called signed script, the seventh is called script, and the eighth is called "official script." basically summarizes the appearance of fonts at this time. ?
The formulation of Xiaozhuan was the first systematic process of standardizing the writing style in China. ?4. Official script
While official script matured, there was also a change of official script that broke the official script and developed into Zhangcao, running script and real script. During the Three Kingdoms period, official and regular script coexisted.
Official script, also known as Han Li, is a common solemn font in Chinese characters. The writing effect is slightly wide and flat, with long horizontal strokes and short straight strokes. It is in a rectangular shape and pays attention to "silkworm head and wild goose tail", "Twists and turns."
As for cursive script, regular script, and running script, I believe I am more familiar with them.