Chinese characters are one of the oldest characters in the world. It originated from hieroglyphics, which not only has the image beauty in painting, but also has a unique artistic conception. China's calligraphy art is based on writing Chinese characters, with diverse styles and great changes. In terms of style, it can be divided into the following five types.
Seal script? Including big seals and small seals. Big seal script, also known as seal script, evolved from Oracle Bone Inscriptions and has many overlapping forms. Xiao Zhuan, also known as Qin Zhuan, was developed on the basis of Wen Shu, which was popular in Qin Dynasty, and its shape was even and neat.
Official script? It evolved from bamboo slips, which began in Qin dynasty and were widely used in Han and Wei dynasties. It changes the circular strokes of seal script into square folds, and changes pictographs into strokes in structure. However, in the early official script, there are still many traces of seal script in the glyph structure. Later, after processing and development in use, it became a completely different font from seal script, thus laying the foundation for the formation of regular script.
Regular script? Also known as official book and real book, it developed from official book. It started at the end of Han Dynasty and prevailed in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and has been popular ever since. Regular script can be divided into square, straight and soft.
Cursive script? Fonts produced for writing convenience. It began in the early Han Dynasty and developed into various cursive scripts through Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties. There are many names of cursive script, but generally speaking, it can be divided into Cao Zhang, Today Grass and Crazy Grass. Cao Zhang is an early cursive script, a cursive script of official script, which retains the traces of official script strokes. Each word is written independently, without linking, paying attention to the use of points, breaking the meaning of the pen, with simple structure and neat layout. It was widely popular in the Han Dynasty. This kind of grass was developed on the basis of Cao Zhang combined with regular script writing. It got rid of the traces of strokes in official script left by Cao Zhang. The strokes between upper and lower characters are often linked together, and the radicals are borrowed from each other. Weeds originated from this grass, which originated in Zhang Xu in the Tang Dynasty. It is the most indulgent cursive script, with continuous brushwork, flowing, consistent upper and lower characters and changeable fonts.
Running script? Between regular script and cursive script, it is more flexible, without a set of prescribed writing methods, and more free. It is neither a scribbled cursive script nor a straight regular script. Well written, close to regular script, called regular script; Writing indulgence, close to cursive script is called cursive script. Because it is simpler than regular script and easier to identify than cursive script, it is more practical. Running script has been handed down from the end of Han dynasty and has been popular until now.