Characteristics of the five main scripts of Chinese calligraphy.

The five main fonts of calligraphy are Seal Script, Clerical Script, Cursive Script, Running Script and Regular Script. The characteristics of each are:

Seal Script: Seal Script is the collective name for the Big Seal and the Small Seal. The strokes are thin, strong and upright, with more straight lines. There are square strokes, round strokes and pointed strokes, and there are more "hanging needles" in the handwriting. The Big Seal Script refers to the Golden Script, Pre-Han Script, and the Six Kingdoms Script, which have preserved the distinctive features of the ancient hieroglyphic scripts. The Small Seal Script, also known as the Qin Seal Script, is the common script of the Qin Dynasty and a simplified version of the Big Seal Script, which is characterized by a broad and flat shape, stretching from side to side, balanced and symmetrical, and neat and even.

Clerical Script: Clerical Script was developed from Seal Script, and it is a simplified version of Seal Script, with rounded characters turned into square ones, and arcs turned into straight ones. Its structure is characterized by the flat and square shape of the characters, the beginning of the stroke, the end of the stroke, the transformation of the round into the square, the transformation of the arc into the straight, the transformation of the drawing into the dot, the transformation of the link into the break, and the reinforcement of the change of the thickness of the lifting and pressing

3. Cursive Script: Cursive Script was formed in the Han Dynasty, and it was evolved on the basis of the Clerical Script for the sake of simplicity in writing. It is characterized by simple structure and continuous strokes.

4. Running Script: Running Script is a typeface between Regular Script and Cursive Script, which was created to make up for the slow writing speed of Regular Script and the difficulty of recognizing Cursive Script. Characterized by both neatness and clarity, but also sprightly and lively.

5. Regular Script: Regular Script is also known as Regular Script, Zhenshu and Zhengshu. By the Clerical Script gradually evolved, more simplified, horizontal and vertical. The font is square and the rules are strict.

Expanded Information

China's history and civilization is an ephemeral and linear process, and the art of Chinese calligraphy shows its own development in such a broad context. In the budding period of calligraphy (Yin and Shang to the late Han and the Three Kingdoms), the script went through the stages of oracle bone script, ancient script (jinwen), the Great Seal Script (seal script), the Small Seal Script, the Official Script (eight-pointed), the Cursive Script, the Running Script, and the Zhen Script, and so forth, in a sequential evolution. During the bright period of calligraphy (Jin, North and South Dynasties to Sui and Tang dynasties), the art of calligraphy entered a new realm. From seal script and clerical script tended to be subordinated to simple cursive running script and true script, and they became the dominant styles of the period. The emergence of Wang Xizhi, a great calligrapher, made the art of calligraphy shine, and his artistic achievements were highly esteemed in the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, a group of calligraphers emerged in the Tang Dynasty, such as Yu Shinan, Ouyang Xun, Broussonetz Suiliang, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan and other great masters. Each of them had his own style of calligraphic attainments.

The oracle bone script is the earliest systematic text seen, which already contains the basic elements of the art of calligraphy, brushwork, stylization, chapter and verse. Penmanship has thick and thin, light and light, Xu Deng changes, the structure of the body with the shape, let it be, the chapter of the wrong colorful and harmonious. All of this is full of the atmosphere of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, with the beauty of heaven and earth, the spirit of Chinese culture has been revealed in the first micro-sun. Western Zhou Jinwen calligraphy heavy strokes, strict and square, chapter staggered natural, calligraphy style thick and robust, full of simple and heavy atmosphere, showing the Zhou Dynasty strong and vigorous style of the times.

Small Seal Script is the standard script established after the unification of the six states by the Qin Dynasty, which was simplified by Li Si and others. Its strokes are even and rounded, its form is smooth, dense at the top and sparse at the bottom, and its composure and stretching reflect not only the overall appearance of the Qin Dynasty, which was united with the whole world in a neat and dignified manner, but also the aesthetic mindset of restraint, rationality, benevolence and the way of the middle way, which the former Confucianists had preached.

The emergence of the official script was a turning point in the history of calligraphy, which completely changed the neatness of the lines of the seal script. The meaning of the wave limbs of the official script is obviously strengthened, so that people's heart of the long-accumulated emotional rhythm of movement to be able to painfully show out, permeated with the writer's intention, there is a more rich and distinctive connotation of the life of the beauty of the state. As a result, the dots and lines as modeling materials gradually evolved into abstract lyrical symbols, and became a form of life meaning containing national aesthetic ideals and aesthetic habits. From the cultural background of the Han Dynasty, the calligraphy of the Han Dynasty was radiated by the spirit of the times, reflecting the Han people's admiration for the strong and bold momentum, which is the embodiment of the objectification of human power. It is in this kind of cultural and psychological space and time, we see the spread of Caiwen, magnificent Han Fu, Huo Zaodi's tomb in front of the momentum of the ancient, simple and rustic beast carving group.

North and South Dynasty period, the South Dynasty society is relatively stable, the calligraphy world for the "two kings" book style shrouded in order to inherit the "two kings" for the ability to do, the achievement is not high. North Dynasty calligraphy is mainly reflected in the inscription, calligraphy at this time is the Han Dynasty Clerical Script to the Tang Dynasty Regular Script development of the transition period, Zhong Zhishuai called "on the old Han and Qin can be seen on the old model, the next can be observed in the Sui and Tang Xi style", which is a major feature of the North Dynasty calligraphy, so the total style is very different from the South. "Apricot blossom spring rain Jiangnan" on behalf of the calligraphy of ruled documents show is beautiful - feminine beauty; "Iron Horse Autumn Wind Ji Bei" on behalf of the calligraphy of the monument shows is magnificent beauty! --The calligraphy of "Iron Horse Autumn Wind Jibei" shows a strong beauty - masculine beauty. This difference is related to the use of calligraphy and the natural and social environments of the north and south. Liu Xizai said in the "Art Introduction" that "there is no book of a generation that is not as good as the people and writers of a generation." In the process of cultural integration of ethnic minorities and the Han Chinese people in the process of the emergence of the "Northern Tablet", its spiritual temperament and the northern nomadic people of martial arts and humility implicitly.

"The Tang people were still lawful". In the Tang Dynasty, there were many famous writers of regular script, and the stars shone brightly. In particular, Yan Zhenqing's regular script was dignified and majestic, thick and simple, and austere, so it became a typical representative of masculine beauty in the history of Chinese calligraphy. The formation of Yan's bold, magnificent and rigorous style was not accidental, but a reflection of the rationality and vigor of the Tang Dynasty politics. The Tang Dynasty reached its peak since the rule of Zhenguan and Kaiyuan, and its fame spread far and wide, full of vigor and upward energy, Tang culture presented a kind of eclectic and magnanimous scene, and entered an epic and magnificent era of prosperity, with a kind of bright, high-pitched, exuberant, passionate temperament of the times. At this time, all fields of art have changed the fashion of the early Tang's implicit yinmei, and their respective aesthetic pursuits are concentrated in the focus of the aesthetic spirit, the elegance of Tang poetry, the fullness of Tang sculpture, the richness of Tang paintings, the richness of Tang books, the richness of Tang music, the richness of Tang dances, are all in the same lineage with the aesthetic thought of the era, full of the spirit of realism, but also filled with the breath of romanticism, which expressed the kind of healthy and plump cultural mentality and the richness of the Tang people. The Tang dance is full of the spirit of realism and romanticism, showing the Tang people's healthy and rich cultural mentality and bold and rich artistic interests.

"Ming and Qing Dynasty". Ming Dynasty, due to the sprouting of capitalist factors, the awakening of civic consciousness, resulting in the Ming Dynasty culture and art to reflect the public life as the mainstream of the creative aesthetic tendency, and therefore in the form of aesthetics seems to tend to be more free and commonplace, close to reality, the expression of the human condition, and really open up the aesthetics of culture and art of the social capacity, and thus more show the positive effect of the art of reflecting life. The culture and art of the Qing Dynasty inherited the tradition of the Ming Dynasty to a large extent. Li Zehou, "the course of beauty," said: "If the Han Dynasty literature and art reflects the work, action, Wei Jin style, the Northern Dynasties sculpture shows the spirit of discernment, the Tang poetry and Song lyrics, Song and Yuan landscapes to show the mood, the end of the novels, operas as the representative of the Ming and Qing Dynasty literature and art depicted is the world of human feelings. This is another vast world of objects, but not the Han Dynasty art of natural conquest, not the triumph of the ancient force of brute force, but completely modern city life prose, is a picture of a bland but varied and colorful picture of social customs."

References:

Chinese Calligraphy Culture - Baidu Encyclopedia