As a kind of writing, the social significance of Chinese characters is practical at first. Therefore, with the increasing complexity of social life, the requirement of "convenience" naturally arises in Chinese calligraphy, which is the most basic reason for the change of calligraphy style. The so-called "official script is the best of seal script" means that official script is more convenient to write than seal script and more convenient to write than official script. Of course, cursive and running scripts are more convenient. In order to achieve "convenience", it is necessary to make the configuration of strokes simpler and easier, strengthen the penetration of point brushes, that is, strengthen the consistency of strokes between point paintings. These two aspects work together. The first is the disintegration of hieroglyphics-seal script. The early pictographic meaning of Chinese characters gradually weakened or even disappeared with the change of calligraphy style. Mr. Lu Zongda said in "A General Theory of Shuowen Jiezi": "Xu Shen thought that the font structure of the oldest Chinese characters preserved the stroke meaning of the characters, and called it" stroke meaning ". ..... The shape of Chinese characters is constantly changing, and the strokes are getting easier and easier, so the original brushwork is not clear. It is impossible to analyze the meaning of its stippling structure, which is called' strokes'. " "Stroke and stroke are the laws of the development and change of Chinese characters. Since the seal script, Li, Cao and even Zhengkai have become pen gestures. " "The change of strokes is a common phenomenon in Chinese characters." Undoubtedly, the so-called "gesture" font is caused by the above two factors. This law affects the changes of calligraphy, from quantitative change to qualitative change, from gradual change to sudden change, and finally forms a new kind of calligraphy.
Second, the new body-normal body-ancient body
A new calligraphy style, in the process of its germination, growth and maturity, its social status has also changed. What was considered new in the previous generation has become normal in the next generation. It is a law that what was considered normal in the previous generation became ancient in the later generations. As Qigong's On Ancient Fonts said: "There are at least three major parts of fonts in each era: the regular characters prevailing at that time and various ancient characters of the previous generation. Emerging new words or spoken words. " "The positive body of the previous era often becomes an ancient body in the latter era, and the new body of the previous era often becomes a positive body or spoken language in the latter era." For example, in the Han Dynasty, the official script prevailed and was widely used in the writing of ancient books, official documents and inscriptions, which was the proper form at that time. However, in some uses, such as the inscriptions in the Han Dynasty, the seal script was often used to show special solemnity, which was the emergency documents from middle and lower officials and foot soldiers in the war, and the writing from some common purposes, that is, the ancient characters' cursive script, running script and true book' from the hasty official script. But it is often these new styles that are the most active and energetic. They are constantly changing. Although it has not "grown up", it has shown the development trend of calligraphy in the future. From this law, we can understand why, since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, real books have gradually replaced the position of official books and been used to write classics and inscriptions. This is a process from a new body to a normal body. The new body germinates and changes from the normal body of the previous generation. At first, it was a hasty form of the normal body shape of the previous generation, and with the development and change, it gradually formed a new body shape. This new body that has grown up has no rules. In the process of its gradual maturity and formation of a set of rules, it is gradually recognized by the society, and finally completely replaces the position of the former normal body with a new normal body. The law of each style is a combination of "convenient" practical factors and aesthetic and artistic factors, which reveals the law of "grass first, then work" in the process of book formation.
Three, two systems: handwriting and lettering
The remains of ancient calligraphy seen today can be roughly divided into two categories: one is all kinds of carved inscriptions, such as Oracle Bone Inscriptions's and Ding Yi's inscriptions, stone carvings and brick carvings; One is handwritten ink, such as Oracle Bone Inscriptions, jade and pottery, bamboo slips, silk books, bamboo books on paper books and ink books.
In the past, due to the lack of unearthed ink materials, the changes of calligraphy were generally discussed from the aspects of seal cutting and casting. However, due to the great limitations of engraving inscriptions, some problems are difficult to solve. For example, between Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Rockett, the Oracle Bone Inscriptions figure carved by a single knife and the bronze figure carved by a die are two different things. And how did the carved stone seal of Qin Dynasty become the official script of Han tablet? There is no necessary connection between them. Mr. Tang Lan said in "China Philology": "Gold plates and bowls are all made for something, and the real ancient culture should be recorded with bamboo and silk." By the same token, all kinds of engraved inscriptions are processed with specific materials and tools for specific purposes. The true face of calligraphy depends on the calligraphy pen and ink at that time.