The official change from Xiao Zhuan to Li Shu is an important calligraphy cultural event in the history of China calligraphy. The internal motivation of the official change is to adapt to the requirements of the social development at that time for the application of characters.
The change of official script is mainly manifested in two aspects: first, the change of font structure is not only the change of font structure of regular script, but also the main direction of this change is simplification; The second is the change of writing style, which is not only to change the writing style of the original regular script, but also to be concise and convenient.
The simplification of the glyph structure and the simplicity of the writing method are not only for improving the writing speed, but also for better conforming to the inherent writing movement trend of the human physiological movement track, so that the official script at the turn of Qin and Han Dynasties completely replaced the seal script.
Structural features of official script;
The horizontal (left-right) potential of Li character is changed to vertical potential to form a square, and the strokes contract the vertical potential to strengthen the horizontal potential.
This is a typical feature of the pen used in official script, especially in official script, the main pen is horizontal and vertical. The so-called "silkworm head" refers to hiding the (reverse) front in the process of using the pen, and at the same time writing the stroke shape formed in the process of starting the pen into a shape similar to that of the silkworm head. "Dovetail", that is, press the pen at the pen-receiving place, and then pick the pen obliquely to the upper right.
Turning a circle into a square and an arc into a straight are two basic methods to simplify seal script in official script. But if you don't know the circle of seal script, it is not easy to master the side of official script. Because the straight painting or square folding in official script contains the arc potential of seal script, the straight of official script often has obvious ups and downs and is full of vitality. In fact, the brushwork of official script is based on the way of stroke movement.