Cursive script, a calligraphy style of Chinese characters, is characterized by a simple structure and continuous strokes. It was formed in the Han Dynasty and evolved on the basis of official script for the convenience of writing. There are Zhangcao, Jincao and Kuangcao. It is a calligraphy style produced for the convenience of writing. "Shuowen Jiezi [1]" says: "The Han Dynasty had cursive script." Cursive script began in the early Han Dynasty. Its characteristics are: keeping the outline of characters, destroying the rules of officialdom, letting people run around, and rushing to work. Because of the meaning of cursive creation, it is called cursive script.
Official script, also known as Han Li, is a common solemn font in Chinese characters. The writing effect is slightly wide and flat, with long horizontal strokes and short straight strokes. It is in a rectangular shape and pays attention to "silkworm head and wild goose tail", "Twists and turns." Official script originated in the Qin Dynasty and was developed from Cheng Miao's form and theory. It reached its peak in the Eastern Han Dynasty and is known as "Han Li Tang Kai" in the calligraphy circle.
Oracle bone inscriptions are the oldest and most complete text among the ancient texts discovered in China. Oracle bone inscriptions mainly refer to Yin Ruins oracle bone inscriptions, also known as "Yin Ruins characters" and "Yin Qi". They are characters carved on tortoise shells and animal bones during the Yin and Shang Dynasties. At the end of the 19th century, it was discovered at the ruins of the capital of the Yin Dynasty (now Xiaotun, Anyang, Henan). Oracle bone inscriptions inherited the character-making method of pottery inscriptions. They were characters carved (or written) on tortoise shells and animal bones by the royal family in the late Shang Dynasty (14th to 11th centuries BC) in China for divination and recording events. After the demise of the Yin Shang Dynasty and the rise of the Zhou Dynasty, oracle bone inscriptions continued to be used for a period of time.
Bronze inscriptions refer to the inscriptions engraved on the bronzes of the Yin and Zhou dynasties, also called bell and tripod inscriptions. The Shang and Zhou dynasties were the age of bronzes. The ritual vessels of bronzes were represented by tripods, and the musical instruments were represented by bells. "Zhongding" is synonymous with bronzes. The so-called bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. China had already entered the Bronze Age in the Xia Dynasty, and the technology of copper smelting and copperware manufacturing was very developed. Because copper was also called gold before the Zhou Dynasty, the inscriptions on the bronzes were called "jinwen" or "jinjinwen"; and because this type of bronzes had the largest number of characters on bells and tripods, they were also called "zhongdingwen" in the past. ". The application of bronze inscriptions dates from the early Shang Dynasty to the end of the Qin Dynasty when the Six Kingdoms were destroyed, about 1,200 years ago. The number of characters in bronze inscriptions, according to Rong Geng's "Inscriptions on Bronze Inscriptions", totals 3,722, of which 2,420 are identifiable.