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Lishu is a Chinese font, including Qin Lishu and Han Li. It is generally believed that it is developed from seal script, with wide and flat font, long horizontal painting and short vertical painting, and pays attention to "swallow tail of silkworm head" and "twists and turns". According to the unearthed bamboo slips, official script originated in Qin Dynasty, and Cheng Miao was also called official script. Han Li reached its peak in the Eastern Han Dynasty, inherited the tradition of seal script, and opened the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, which had a great influence on later calligraphy. The calligraphy circle is known as "Tang Kai of Han Li".
Structural characteristics of official script
1. Change the horizontal (left and right) direction instead of the vertical direction of seal script, resulting in flat shape, vertical contraction of strokes and strengthening the horizontal direction.
2. Swallowtail of silkworm head is a typical feature of official script pen, especially in official script, the main pen is horizontal, and painting is almost always used in this way. 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.
3. Turning a circle into a square and an arc into a straight are two basic ways to simplify seal 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.
4. Change the picture to a point and the connection to a break. We know that there is no point in seal script, that is, the point used is just a dot. However, the points in the official script are independent, no longer attached to the painting, and the point methods are increasingly rich, including flat points, vertical points, left and right points, three points (by water) and four points (by fire).
In addition, Lishu also broke many strokes written in seal script, which opened the door to writing. Later, regular script played like this, allowing traces of cohesion between pens, and even breaking the meaning of pens.
5. In seal script, there is no trace of vertical pen lifting according to the change of thickness, while official script deliberately emphasizes the pen lifting action, forming obvious changes in the thickness of stroke trajectory, which is clearly reflected in the three processes of starting, moving and collecting the pen. This is very similar to later regular script.