Question 1: When did the big seal script originate? In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, Chinese characters developed from oracle bone inscriptions to the big seal script.
Large seal script, also known as zhòu (zhòu). It is an early stage of Xiaozhuan and is the basis of Xiaozhuan. Dazhuan is generally considered to be a Chinese character popular in the Western Qin region during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It is said that this font was written by Taishi Zhou during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou Dynasty, so it is also called "Zhenwen". The physical structure of the large seal script is generally more regular and complex than that of the ancient Chinese writings of the Six Kingdoms. It inherits from the Spring and Autumn Bronze Inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty and descends from the small seal script. The development context is clearly discernible. The representative font of the seal script is the "Shiguwen" unearthed in the Tang Dynasty.
Question 2: In what period did bronze inscriptions and seal script come from? Bronze inscriptions: characters cast and engraved on ancient bronze vessels. Usually refers specifically to the characters on the bronzes of the Yin, Zhou, Qin and Han dynasties. Also known as "Zhong Dingwen". Guo Moruo's "Collection of Jin and Past: On Ancient Society": "The characters on the bronzes are the so-called bells and tripods, also known as bronze inscriptions. They are also excellent materials for studying ancient times."
Large Seal Script: According to legend, the history of King Xuan of Zhou Dynasty was It was written, so it is also called Zhouwen or Zhoushu. In the Qin Dynasty, it was called Dazhuan, which is different from Xiaozhuan. "Hanshu Yiwenzhi" "Fifteen Chapters of "Shi Zhen"" Annotated by Yan Shigu of Tang Dynasty: "Tai Shi, King Xuan of Zhou Dynasty, wrote fifteen chapters of big seal script."
Question 3: When did big seal script come into being in the late Western Zhou Dynasty? Chinese characters developed into large seal scripts. The development of large seal script resulted in two characteristics: first, linearization. The uneven thickness of the lines in the early days became even and soft, and the lines they drew with the actual objects were very concise and vivid; second, standardization, the glyph structure tended to be neat, and gradually left the The original form of the picture laid the foundation for the square characters. The big seal script is for the later small seal script. The broad seal script includes the previous oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions and Six Kingdoms inscriptions. The big seal here refers to the Qin characters that were popular during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Because King Ping of Zhou moved east to Luoyang, Qin occupied the old place of the Western Zhou Dynasty and also inherited the writing of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which was developed from the inheritance of bronze inscriptions. Regional, some are difficult to identify.
Question 4: When did the historical Oracle, Big Seal, Small Seal and Official Script come into being? Almost every font has a legendary creator, but their lives are unknown. Historical commentators believe: Oracle bone inscriptions appeared in existing relics in the Xia and Shang Dynasties. Bronze inscriptions, also known as Zhouwen, Dazhuan and Zhongdingwen, emerged in the late Shang Dynasty and became popular in the Zhou Dynasty. Small seal scripts took shape in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. After the unification of the Qin Dynasty, they were organized and formed by Li Si. The official script, which is the universal script throughout the country, already existed in the Warring States period, such as the Qin bamboo slips in Sleeping Tiger Land. However, it was unified and standardized during the Han Dynasty, and the simplified characters were specially compiled after the founding of the People's Republic of China to facilitate communication. In February 1956, the first batch of 260 simplified characters was implemented, including 230 simplified characters and 30 radical analogies outside the plan; in June 1956, the second batch of simplified characters was implemented, with 95 characters. In 1958, the third batch of 70 simplified characters was implemented; in 1959, the fourth batch of simplified characters was implemented, with 92 characters, and 54 simplified radicals were appended. There are a total of 517 simplified characters in the four batches, and the ones currently used are.
Question 5: The history of seal script. When did people start writing seal script? Seal script is the collective name for large seal script and small seal script. Large seal script, nail bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, Zhou inscriptions, and Six Kingdoms inscriptions all preserve the obvious characteristics of ancient hieroglyphics. Small seal script, also known as "Qin seal script", is the common script of the Qin Dynasty. It is a simplified font of large seal script. It is characterized by an even and neat shape and a font that is easier to write than Zhenwen. In the history of the development of Chinese characters, it is the transition between the large seal script and the regular script.
Chinese characters have undergone changes for more than 6,000 years. The evolution process is:
Oracle → Bronze Inscription → Small Seal → Official Script → Regular Script → Running Script
(Shang) ( Zhou) (Qin) (Han) (Wei and Jin) Cursive Script
The above seven fonts of "Jiajin Seal, Li, Cao Kaixing" are called "Seven Chinese Characters"
Chinese characters ——The emergence of Chinese characters is well-documented in the late Yin and Shang Dynasties around the 14th century BC. At this time, the initial stereotyped writing, namely oracle bone inscriptions, was formed. Oracle bone inscriptions are both pictograms and phonetic characters. There are still some pictographs in Chinese characters that are the same as pictures, which are very vivid.
In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, Chinese characters developed into large seal scripts.
The development of large seal script resulted in two characteristics: first, linearization. The uneven thickness of the lines in the early days became even and soft, and the lines they drew with the actual objects were very concise and vivid; second, standardization, the glyph structure tended to be neat, and gradually left the The original form of the picture laid the foundation for the square characters.
Later, Li Si, the prime minister of the Qin Dynasty, simplified the large seal script and changed it to small seal script. In addition to simplifying the shape of the large seal script, the small seal script also perfected the lines and standardization. It was almost completely separated from the pictorial characters and became a neat, harmonious and very beautiful basically rectangular block font. However, Xiaozhuan also has its own fundamental shortcomings, that is, its lines are very inconvenient to write with a pen, so almost at the same time, the shape of the official script was stretched to both sides to become a flat square.
By the Han Dynasty, official script had developed to a mature stage, and the legibility and writing speed of Chinese characters had greatly improved. Later, official script evolved into Zhangcao, and then Jincao. In the Tang Dynasty, there was Kuangcao, which expresses the writer's thoughts and expresses his feelings on the pen. Subsequently, regular script (also known as real script), which was a blend of official script and cursive script, became popular in the Tang Dynasty. The printing style we use today evolved from regular script. Between regular script and cursive script is running script, which is smooth in writing and flexible in use. It is said to have been made by Liu Desheng in the Han Dynasty. It has been passed down to this day and is still the font we are accustomed to using in daily writing.
In the Song Dynasty, with the development of printing technology, block printing was widely used, and Chinese characters were further improved and developed, resulting in a new type of calligraphy - Song Dynasty printing font. After the invention of printing, the engraving knives used for lettering had a profound impact on the shape of Chinese characters, resulting in a printing font that was thin horizontally and thick vertically, eye-catching and easy to read, which was later called Song Dynasty. There were two types of fonts carved at that time: fat and thin, the fat ones imitating Yan style and Liu style, and the thin ones imitating European style and Yu style. Among them, Yan style and Liu style have tall and tall strokes, which already have some characteristics of thin horizontally and thick vertically. During the Longqing and Wanli years of the Ming Dynasty, it evolved from the Song style to the Ming style with thin horizontal strokes and thick vertical strokes and square fonts. It turns out that at that time, a kind of Hongwu style with very thin horizontal strokes and particularly thick vertical strokes and flat fonts was popular among the people. This style was used for title plaques of official positions, lanterns, notices, private boundary stones, and god plaques in ancestral halls. font. Later, some engravers imitated the Hongwu calligraphy process and created a skin outline that was neither beautiful nor European. Especially because the strokes of this font are horizontal and vertical, it is indeed easy to carve. It is different from the four styles of seal script, Li, Zhen and Cao. It is unique and fresh and pleasing to the eye, so it is increasingly used. It has become the main printing font that has been very popular since the 16th century and is still called Song font, also called lead font.
In Chinese characters, various fonts formed in various historical periods have their own distinctive artistic characteristics. For example, seal script is simple and elegant, official script is dynamic and decorative in its quietness, cursive script is fast-moving and compact in structure, regular script is neat and beautiful, running script is easy to read and write, has strong practicality, diverse styles and different personalities.
Question 6: When did the bronze inscriptions and seal scripts begin to appear? When did it end? Dazhuan refers to the Qin characters that were popular during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. According to legend, it was created by Boyi. In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, Chinese characters developed into large seal scripts. After the unification of the Qin Dynasty, "scripts were written in the same script" and Xiaozhuan was used uniformly, which was later changed to official script.
Question 7: In what era was Dazhuan written? By the late Western Zhou Dynasty, Chinese characters developed into Dazhuan. The development of large seal script resulted in two characteristics: first, linearization. The uneven thickness of the lines in the early days became even and soft, and the lines they drew with the actual objects were very concise and vivid; second, standardization, the glyph structure tended to be neat, and gradually left the The original form of the picture laid the foundation for the square characters. The big seal script is for the later small seal script. The broad seal script includes small seal script, the former oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions and Six Kingdoms scripts. The big seal here refers to the Qin characters that were popular during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Because King Ping of Zhou moved east to Luoyang, Qin occupied the old place of the Western Zhou Dynasty and also inherited the writing of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which was developed from the inheritance of bronze inscriptions. Regional, some are difficult to identify.
Large seal script, also known as zhòu (zhòu). It was named after it was recorded in the calligraphy book "Shi Zhou Pian". "Hanshu Yiwenzhi": "Fifteen chapters of "Shi Zhou" were written by Zhou Dynasty Wang Taishi Zhou." "Shuowen" retains 225 Zhou texts, which are nine of Xu Shen's "Shi Zhou" based on what he saw. This chapter collects the main materials for our study of seal script today.
The authentic seal script is generally considered to be the "Shiguwen".
In the early Tang Dynasty, ten drum-like stone dunzi were unearthed in Nanzhichouyuan, Chencang County, Tianxing County (today's Baoming, Shaanxi Province), about three feet in diameter, small at the top and large at the bottom, with round tops and flat bottoms like steamed buns. Engraved on it are ten four-character poems written by Qin Xiangong in the eleventh year. They are the earliest inscribed stone characters in our country. They have been lost and found again, and lost again. There were more than 700 words in the original engraving, and more than 300 words are now available. These ten stones are now in the Forbidden City. Because the content records hunting events, it was named "Liejie or Yongyi Carved Stone". Tang poet Wei Yingwu thought that the shape of the stone resembled a drum, so he renamed it "Shigu Wen" and it is now the representative of large seal script.
Shiguwen has a powerful and solemn style. The font structure is neat, the strokes are evenly rounded, there are horizontal and vertical strokes, and the shape tends to be square. The large seal script retains the writing style of the late Western Zhou Dynasty to a considerable extent, with only slight changes, and the strokes are more neat and symmetrical. The strokes are rounded. The lines are more even than the inscriptions on the inscriptions, and the lines are completely finished, with no obvious uneven thickness. The physical structure is neater than that of bronze inscriptions, and it begins to get rid of the constraints of pictograms, laying the foundation for square Chinese characters. There are almost no different characters on the same object. The font is complicated and the radicals often overlap, making it difficult to write.
Question 8: The emergence and prevalence of oracle bone inscriptions, large seal script, small seal script, official script, regular script and cursive script. Oracle records and reflects the political and economic situation of the Shang Dynasty, mainly referring to the late Shang Dynasty in China (14 BC to 11 BC century), the royal family used it for divination and recording events and inscribed words on tortoise shells or animal bones.
The period when bronze inscriptions were used ranged from the early Shang Dynasty to the Qin Dynasty when it destroyed the Six Kingdoms, about 1,200 years ago.
After Qin Shihuang unified China (in 221 BC), he implemented the policy of "writing with the same text and carriages with the same rails" and unifying weights and measures. Prime Minister Li Si was responsible for it. It was the development of the large seal script originally used by the Qin State. On the basis of this, we simplified it, eliminated the variant characters of other six countries, and created a unified writing form of Chinese characters. It was popular in China until the end of the Western Han Dynasty (about 8 AD), and was gradually replaced by official script.
Official script 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 pays attention to "silkworm head and swallow tail" and "twists and turns". It originated in the Qin Dynasty and reached its peak in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is known as "Han Li Tang Kai" in the calligraphy circle. It is also said that official script originated during the Warring States Period.
Regular script was the most popular calligraphy style in my country’s feudal society from the Northern and Southern Wei to the Jin and Tang Dynasties.
Cursive script is a calligraphy style developed for the convenience of writing. "Shuowen Jiezi" says: "The Han Dynasty had cursive script." Cursive script began in the early Han Dynasty. Its characteristics are: keeping the outline of characters, destroying the rules of officialdom, letting people run around, and rushing to work. Because of the meaning of cursive creation, it is called cursive script.
Running script is a calligraphy style between regular script and cursive script. It appeared around the late Western Han Dynasty and the early Eastern Han Dynasty.
Question 9: When did the Great Seal Script originate? In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, Chinese characters evolved from oracle bone inscriptions to the Great Seal Script.
Large seal script, also known as zhòu (zhòu). It is an early stage of Xiaozhuan and is the basis of Xiaozhuan. Dazhuan is generally considered to be a Chinese character popular in the Western Qin region during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It is said that this font was written by Taishi Zhou during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou Dynasty, so it is also called "Zhenwen". The physical structure of the large seal script is generally more regular and complex than that of the ancient Chinese writings of the Six Kingdoms. It inherits from the Spring and Autumn Bronze Inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty and descends from the small seal script. The development context is clearly discernible. The representative font of the seal script is the "Shiguwen" unearthed in the Tang Dynasty.
Question 10: When did the big seal script come into being? In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, Chinese characters developed into the big seal script. The development of large seal script resulted in two characteristics: first, linearization. The uneven thickness of the early lines became even and soft, and the lines they drew with the actual objects were very concise and vivid; second, standardization, the glyph structure tended to be neat, and gradually left the The original form of the picture laid the foundation for the square characters. The big seal script is for the later small seal script. The broad seal script includes the previous oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions and Six Kingdoms inscriptions. The big seal here refers to the Qin characters that were popular during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Because King Ping of Zhou moved east to Luoyang, Qin occupied the old place of the Western Zhou Dynasty and also inherited the writing of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which was developed from the inheritance of bronze inscriptions. Regional, some are difficult to identify.