What are the styles of ancient fonts in China?

Font, a general term in technical drawing, refers to the writing form of characters, letters and numbers in drawings.

The structure of (1) text. For example, the fonts of Chinese characters are seal script, official script, cursive script, regular script and running script.

② The genre or style characteristics of calligraphy. Such as Yan Ti and Liu Ti.

Font, a graphic design applied to all numbers, symbols and alphabetic characters. Also called "style" or "words". Arial and Courier New are examples of fonts. Fonts usually come in different sizes (such as 10 dots) and styles (such as bold).

Brief introduction of various fonts

The origin of Song Dynasty

There are five kinds of characters in China: orthography, cursive script, official script, seal script and running script. Each font is named after the calligrapher's surname according to various styles. Such as regular script, European style, strict style, Liu Ti and so on. This is really a corpse in a corpse, which is dizzying!

There is a font, but it is not the founder's surname, named after the dynasty name. This is the Song Dynasty.

The founder of Songzi is Qin Gui. This Qin Gui has a great knowledge and profound calligraphy attainments. He integrated the strengths of his predecessors, established his own family and created printing fonts. According to the general custom, it should be called Qin Tizi. However, because of his bad character, he was the representative of the capitulators in the struggle against gold. He once killed the national hero Yue Fei and his son on trumped-up charges and became a sinner through the ages. People hated him. Although he used his own font, he named it Songti.

It originated in the Song Dynasty, but the Song Style was established in the Ming Dynasty.

Songti is the most widely used font in the printing industry. According to the different shapes of characters, it can be divided into book songs and newspaper songs. Songti is a printing font, which originated from the Song Dynasty when block printing was popular. The font is square, the strokes are horizontal and vertical, the thickness is clear, the edges and corners are sharp, rigorous, neat and even, and the strokes are regular, which makes people feel comfortable and eye-catching when reading. In modern printing, it is mainly used for the text of books and periodicals or newspapers.

In the Song Dynasty, "culture and education were promoted while military affairs were suppressed", and culture showed unprecedented prosperity. The printing and publishing industry in the Song Dynasty entered a golden age, with the flourishing of block printing, the rapid development of lettering centers, the invention of movable type printing, the engraving of a large number of Song editions in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and the establishment of Song fonts in the Ming Dynasty. Song fonts are easy to write and engrave, beautiful and dignified, which adapted to the requirements of printing and publishing industry and became the ultimate witness of Song culture.

The combination of China's calligraphy and block printing produced Song characters. Therefore, Song Zi not only has the charm of China's calligraphy, but also has the charm of block printing and woodcut.

1, Song Zi inherited the aesthetic charm of China's calligraphy.

In addition to the unique pictographic and pattern features of Chinese characters, China's calligraphy art also has a unique writing tool-the writing brush, which is the most important reason for the formation of China's calligraphy. The brush is soft and elastic, can be bent and twisted intentionally, has moderate Zhang Chi, and can freely express various line changes of thickness, size, straightness and rigidity. This kind of "soft pen" can be used horizontally, vertically, horizontally, vertically, horizontally, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, vertically, and vertically, and vertically, and vertically, and vertically, and vertically, and vertically, and vertically, and vertically, When the calligrapher's skill reaches a high level, the writing brush is in hand, the words are no longer words, and the lines are written at will, so that the words in the book seem to have the realm of life.

Song Ti still maintains the essential characteristics of China's calligraphy in strokes. Compared with Tang Kai's style, we can see more clearly, such as the treatment of point, point, left and turning point, which is a high summary of calligraphy art.

Judging from the development of China characters, the regular script of the three masters in the Tang Dynasty was the peak of China's calligraphy style. Model, model also. Therefore, it is logical to become a model of engraving printing in China. When tasting and designing Song Dynasty, it is very important to pursue the charm of China's calligraphy and woodcut cutting, and the charm of woodcut printing marks. If there is no such feeling, it is just a beautiful artistic word. For example, the current round body and comprehensive art body have no taste of traditional calligraphy at all.

In addition, from the perspective of Song style, the regular script of the three masters in the Tang Dynasty lost the passion and agility of free will needed by calligraphy art because of their pursuit of founder and stylization. Tang Kai is so stylized that it is easy to be associated with Song Dynasty figures. As a matter of fact, Tang Kai is a model of today's Song Dynasty figures. They are like a mature and serious old man, inflexible and lacking the courage to change, thus losing the chance of freedom.

Although the regular script of the three masters in the Tang Dynasty brought great convenience to later calligraphers, it can be said that they studied figure painting, both Gong Liu and Gong Yan, but they had no personality at all, so it was difficult for them to learn this method and become calligraphers. It can be an example for beginners to learn to write well, but it cannot be an example for calligraphers. Learners should catch up with the calligraphy of Qin, Han, Wei and Jin dynasties, especially the calligraphy of Han dynasty, and write freely and heroically, such as Han bamboo slips, Mount Tai, Stone Valley Diamond Sutra and so on.

Tang Kai is the pinnacle of formal calligraphy in China. What is the peak facing? This is a decline, this is a new beginning, and Tang Kai is the starting point of Song Dynasty.

2. The trace charm of traditional prints and woodcuts.

Today, the printer's definition of Song Style is: "Horizontal and vertical, horizontal and thin and vertical, angular beginning and end, square font, blunt strokes." The angularity of starting and putting pen to paper should be the biggest feature of Songti. It is a unique decorative feature formed by sculptors in the long-term carving process, and it is the charm left by carving knives. It not only retains the essential features of Tang Kai, but also is more square and angular than Tang Kai. In the process of traditional printing, because of the characteristics of ink and China paper, as well as the pressure, when the finally printed components appear in front of us, the edges and corners of the Song Dynasty are slightly round and full, which is very attractive. Inadvertently, the calligraphy taste of regular script and the knife taste of seal cutting are mixed together, forming the typical characteristics of Song Dynasty. Therefore, the study of calligraphy can be traced back to Qin and Han Dynasties, and the design of Songti characters should catch up with the carving taste of Tang Kai and Song and Ming Dynasties, because that is the source of Songti characters, and only the source comes from flowing water.

The elegance, strength and just right change of Song style attracted the love of future generations.

Regular script: also known as "official script" and "real script". Its characteristics are: square shape, straight strokes, can be used as a model, hence the name.

Cursive script: a font produced for the convenience of writing. It began in the early Han Dynasty. At that time, it was "Cao Li", that is, scribbled official script, which gradually developed into a kind of "Cao Zhang" with artistic value. Before the Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhi changed "Cao Zhang" to "modern grass", and the character style was formed in one stroke. In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Xu and Huai Su developed into "weeds", with continuous strokes and changeable glyphs.

Official script: also known as "official characters" and "ancient books". It is a font produced on the basis of seal script to meet the needs of convenient writing. The seal script is simplified, and the uniform circle lines of the seal script are changed into straight strokes, which is convenient for writing. Official script can be divided into "Qin Li" (also called "Guli") and "Han Li" (also called "Golden Calendar"). The appearance of official script is a great change in ancient writing and calligraphy.

Seal script: it is a general term for big seal script and small seal script. Dazhuan refers to Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Jinwen, Zhangwen and Six Kingdoms, which preserve the obvious features of ancient hieroglyphics. Dazhuan, also known as "Qin Zhuan", is the common language of Qin. The simplified font of Dazhuan is characterized by uniform and neat shape, which is easier to write than Zhuan. In the development history of Chinese characters, it is the transition between seal script and official script.

Running script: a font between regular script and cursive script. It is to make up for the shortcomings of slow writing in regular script and illegible cursive script. The brushwork is not as sloppy as cursive script, and it is not required to be as correct as regular script. There are more methods of mold opening than cursive writing, which is called "mold opening". Cursive calligraphy is more than modular method, which is called "cursive calligraphy". Running script began in Han dynasty.

The historical product of machine printing. For at least 100 years, black-faced Chinese characters have erased all the artificial marks and word-making origins of China's calligraphy, and calligraphy has no beginning and end; It establishes the basic structure of Chinese characters geometrically (it is constructive, not written), and its uniform stroke width and smooth stroke radian show a stable, mechanical and eternal feature.

Imitation of Song Dynasty: As the name implies, it is a convenient style of Song Dynasty and also a printed style.