Calligraphy has gone through three stages of development from its emergence in the Yin and Shang Dynasties to today: development, maturity and prosperity.
(1) The period from the Yin Shang Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty was the development stage of calligraphy. The writings at this stage mainly include oracle bone inscriptions, golden scripts and seal scripts. The calligraphy of this period has the following characteristics:
1. The structure is complex and the lines of words have a heavy pictographic meaning;
2. The lines are single and there is no obvious change in thickness. Equal thickness;
3. The art of calligraphy is mainly reflected in the shape and changes of the structure.
There are two main figures to remember during this period: First, Li Si, who unified Chinese characters after Qin Shihuang unified China. The second person is Cai Lun, whose invention of papermaking made it possible to write on paper.
(2) The Eastern Han Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties was the mature period of calligraphy art.
The iconic calligraphy style during this period was the emergence of official script and the finalization of regular script, running script and cursive script.
Clerical script simplifies the strokes of seal script, adding changes in thickness and length to the original equal thickness. Different forms of horizontal, vertical, skidding and pressing have been produced. The simplification of structure and the complexity of pointillism began to focus on expressing the artistry of calligraphy with free and diverse line changes. The main representatives of this period include Zhang Zhi, Zhong Yao, Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi and their sons.
(3) After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there was a period of prosperity.
The development of fonts has ended, and the art of calligraphy is mainly developing in the direction of diversification of calligraphy styles. In the same font, various calligraphy styles are created through changes in dots, strokes and structure, sparse, dense, smooth, regular... There are Ou (Yangxun) style, Yu (Shinan) style, Chu (Suiliang) style, Yan (Zhenqing) style, Liu (Gongquan) style...
We know that there are five bells in calligraphy. Form: oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, seal script, Fenshu, regular script. Corresponding to them are the five major cursive scripts. The cursive scripts of oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions have now been annihilated and lost. The cursive scripts of seal scripts that exist today are official scripts and unearthed bamboo slips (bamboo slips). The divided cursive scripts are official script and Zhangcao script. There are many kinds of cursive scripts in regular script: running script, running script, cursive script and wild cursive script.
Hope it helps.