1. Running script first began in the late Han Dynasty and reached maturity in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
2. Running script is a general term for calligraphy, which is divided into two types: running regular script and running cursive script. It was developed on the basis of regular script and is a font between regular script and cursive script. It was created to make up for the slow writing speed of regular script and the difficulty of identifying cursive script.
3. "行" means "walking", so it is not as sloppy as cursive script, nor as straight as regular script. In essence, it is the cursiveization of regular script or the regularization of cursive script. Those with more regular script than cursive script are called "Xing Kai", and those with more cursive script than regular script are called "Xing Cao".
4. Running script has high practicality and artistry, while regular script is a text symbol, which is highly practical and shows skill. In comparison, cursive script has high artistic quality, but its practicality is relatively insufficient.
5. Running script is a calligraphy style between regular script and cursive script, which appeared around the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The name of running script first appeared in the article "Four Styles of Calligraphy" by Wei Heng of the Western Jin Dynasty: "In the early Wei Dynasty, there were two schools of running calligraphy, Zhong (Yao) and Hu (Zhao), and they both learned from Liu Desheng." "Shu Duan" by Zhang Huaiguan of the Tang Dynasty Records: "The running script was written by Liu Desheng. It is a small forgery of the official script, keeping it simple and popular, so it is called running script." Zhang Huaiguan also said in his "Shu Yi": "My running script is neither cursive nor genuine, Li Fang Escape from the circle is between Ji and Meng. Those who are both true are called Zhenxing, and those who carry grass are called Xingcao."
6. Fengfang of the Ming Dynasty gave a more vivid description in "Shu Jue": "The pen is written without stopping, the paper is pressed without engraving, and the hand is turned and pressed lightly, like water flowing in the clouds, without any interruption, and it will always exist in business." Running script is precisely because of its unique artistic expression of flowing water, fast writing, elegant and easy to read. And broad practicality, it has been popular and widely spread since its creation.
7. After experiencing the golden period of the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the development period of the Tang Dynasty, running script reached a new peak in the Song Dynasty and gradually occupied a mainstream position among various calligraphy styles. Throughout the long history of calligraphy, the development of seal script, official script, and regular script has experienced ups and downs, while running script has never declined and has always been a prominent school in the field of calligraphy. Calligraphers of all ages have jointly written a glorious history of the development of running script.