Chinese Characters – official scripts

The official scripts include Qin and Han scripts. They are generally considered to be developed from seal scripts. The characters are mostly wide and flat, with long horizontal paintings and short vertical paintings, with emphasis on “silkworm head and swallowtail” and “three twists and turns”.

According to unearthed bamboo slips, the official script was founded in the Qin Dynasty, the legendary Cheng Miao made scribe, Han Li in the Eastern Han Dynasty reached its peak, deck Seal Traditionally, the open- Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties, calligraphy have on future generations should not be overlooked influence of calligraphy Known as “Han Li Tang Kai”.

In the process of “writing the same text”, Qin Shihuang ordered Li Si to establish Xiaozhuan, and then adopted the official script compiled by Cheng Miao. Han’s Xu Shen in the “Dictionary” the record of this Ying Zheng unified text, the revival of the Han Dynasty and explore the traditional character of history: “Qin burned by the book, wash away the old Code, Daihatsu Lizu, Xing served Shu, the official and prison duties are complicated, the official script was originally written, and it was easy to make, and the ancient prose was superb from this.” “And Li Zhimin, a professor at Peking University and a master of calligraphy, believes that Qin Shihuang’s unification of the six languages ​​was positive for social progress at the time, but it may not be conducive to the development of calligraphy art. [1] When  Emperor Xiaoxuan, called “Cangjie ” readers, Zhang Changcong accepts it. Liangzhou governor Du Ye, Peiren Yanli, lecturer Qin Jin, can also talk about it. When Emperor Xiaoping, more than a hundred people such as lili, ordered the text to be in the young court and used ritual as the elementary school element. Shi. Yang Xiong the servant of the Huangmen Gate used it as “Xun Zian”. Where “Cangjie” The following fourteen chapters, where the five thousand three hundred and four crosses, are contained in the books, are slightly preserved…

The prefectures are often found in mountains and rivers, and their inscriptions are ancient texts of the previous dynasties, and they are all self-similar. Although I can see Yuanliu again, its details can be said a little… the writers… the predecessors have fallen behind, and the descendants have learned the ancients. Therefore, it is said: the foundation is based and the Tao is born. Knowing the world is the best but not chaos.” However, some people think that the official script of Xiaozhuan is slower, and the official script is turned into a square fold, which improves the writing efficiency. For example, Guo Moruo used “Qin Shihuang reformed the writing to be bigger Achievement is to use the official script to evaluate its importance (“The Dialectical Development of Ancient Writing in the Age of Slavery”).

The official script is also called ” Li Zi ” and ” Gushu “. It is a font based on the seal script to meet the needs of convenient writing. The small seal is simplified, and the even and round lines of the small seal are turned into straight and square strokes, which is convenient for writing. It is a font created in prison. It is divided into ” Qin Li ” (also called ” Gu Li “) and ” Han Li ” (also called ” Jin Li “). The appearance of Li’s script is a major change in ancient writing and calligraphy.

The official script is a kind of solemn font commonly seen in Chinese characters. The writing effect is slightly wide and flat. The horizontal drawing is long and the vertical drawing is short. It emphasizes ” silkworm head and swallowtail ” and “three twists and turns”. It originated in the Qin Dynasty and reached its peak in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The calligraphy circle is known as “Han Li Tang Kai “. It is also said that the official script originated in the Warring States period.

The official script is relative to the seal script. The name of the official script originated from the Eastern Han Dynasty. The appearance of official script was another major reform of Chinese characters, which brought the art of Chinese calligraphy into a new realm. It was a turning point in the evolution of Chinese characters and laid the foundation for regular script. The official script is flat, neat and exquisite. By the time of the Eastern Han Dynasty, paintings such as skimming, nap, and dots were beautified as being uplifted, with varying degrees of change, with the artistic beauty of calligraphy. The style is also becoming diversified, which is of great value for artistic appreciation.

According to legend, the official script was compiled by Cheng Miao in prison at the end of Qin Dynasty. After removing the complex, it was simplified, the shape of the characters changed to square, and the strokes changed to straight. Change “continuous stroke” to “break stroke”, from line to stroke, making it easier to write. “Liren” is not a prisoner, but refers to “subordinate officials”, that is, a small official in charge of clerical documents, so in ancient times the official script was called “zuoshu”. Book body while the derived cursive script, regular script, running script each book body, laid the foundation for the arts.

Official script is basically a Seal evolution come, mainly Seal round to stroke changed party fold, on wooden slips because it is difficult to draw a stroke with a round to paint and write, so the official script writing speed faster.

The official script is developed from the seal script. The official script is the simple form of the seal script, the circle is changed to square, and the arc is changed to straight.

The glyphs are divided into the left and right sides, and the official characters are reversed to the normal state of the seal characters in the vertical direction. Instead, the horizontal (left and right) positions are used to take the position, resulting in flat and square strokes, and the strokes contract the vertical strokes to strengthen the horizontal division.

This is a typical feature of the pens used in the official script, especially in the main pen of the official script, the horizontal and na paintings are almost all used in this method. The so-called “drawing silkworm head” means that the outline of the stroke formed by the drawing process is written into a shape similar to the silkworm head during the process of using the brush to hide the (inverse) front. “Swallowtail with the pen” means that after pressing the pen at the end of the pen, pick up the pen diagonally to the upper right and strike the front.

Turning a circle into a square and turning an arc into a straight are the two basic ways to simplify the seal script in the official script. However, if you don’t understand the circle of seal script, it is not easy to master the square of official script. Because the straight paintings or square folds in the official brushes all contain the arc of the seal characters, the straightness of the official brushes tends to have obvious volatility and full of vitality. In fact, the brushwork of the official script is based on the movement of the strokes.

The mural-off point becomes even as we do not know of seal point, namely the point of use is only a rounded point. However, the midpoint in the official script has become independent, no longer attached to the painting, and the point method is becoming more and more abundant, including flat points, vertical points, left and right points, three connected points (besides the water), four connected points (besides the fire), and so on. In addition, the official script also breaks up many of the strokes in the seal script, which are written in a continuous circle, which opens the door to the convenience of writing. Later, the regular script even further uses this method to allow the traces of convergence between the pen and the pen, and even the pen. Disconnected.

Strengthening mentioned by change of the thickness longitudinal current trace is not required to provide a pen when writing Seal, is intended to emphasize the official script mentioned press operation to form trajectory strokes significant thickness, vicarious changes from row to close the three processes are pen Have a clear manifestation. This is very similar to the later regular script.

The writing method of point painting in official script is obviously different from that in seal script. The point painting in seal script can be summarized as three kinds of point, straight and arc and the development of official script has 8 kinds of strokes in the eight methods of Yangzi. In the use of pens, the seal scripts are mostly round pens, while the official scripts have used both square and round pens, and the thickness of the strokes has changed.

The points in the official script are different from the middle point, the upper point, the left point, the right point and the horizontal point. The writing method of the midpoint is that after the pen is placed, lift the pen against the front, turn the pen back to the right, pause the pen down, and then close the front within the point. The difference between the official script and the seal script is that there have been changes in the sidelines. The writing method of the upper point is similar to the midpoint, except that the last stroke does not draw back into the point, but wants to gradually move downward. The left point, right point and horizontal point are written in the same way as the upper point, but the starting position and the direction of the strike are different.

The writing styles of the lower-left pick and the lower right pick in the official script are similar to those of the left and right dots, except that the last stroke is longer.

The official script is written in the same way as the seal script.

There are two types of horizontal in official script: short horizontal and long horizontal. The short and horizontal strokes are inverted in and flat out, and the end of the horizontal is protected by the tail, which is a bit like a seal script. The long horizontal pen hides the front and moves in backward, then folds down with a square pen and turns to the right to make it a silkworm head start pen, and then moves the pen to the right. The pen is slightly astringent and cannot be floated. Press the pen to two-thirds of the horizontal. Bring out a downward wave, and then lift the pen slightly upward to make a front, forming a dovetail. This movement pen is also called Bo Yan.

The writing style of Na is similar to that of Long Heng, except that the gesture is downward to the right, which is more stretched than Heng.

Skimming the wording, and write the lower left to pick the same, used the pen after pen downward strokes to the left, a slight increase in the song potential line, two-thirds or less of the whole painting to force Dayton pen, twist the outer end of the pen to draw spin, little mention To the upper left, drawback to the line. There are several ways to write the hook. Here we only introduce the commonly used long hook writing method. I didn’t mention it after coming out but used the pen to move downwards. When the line reaches the vertical end, the pen is squatted down, the pen is down, and the pen is drawn to the left to approximate the level. The arc of the arc, to the end of the arc, picks up the front.

In addition, the following points should be noted in the writing of official script. For example, when there are several horizontally overlapping characters in a word, the last horizontally is usually written as a silkworm head and a dovetail, and the rest are short horizontally. For example, there is both a long horizontal and long bar in a word. Generally, silkworm head and dovetail are used for long bar, and long bar is not used, such as “big”. If the horizontal is surrounded by other strokes, the horizontal writing does not use a silkworm head and dovetail. In other words, silkworm heads and swallowtails can only appear once in a character, otherwise, it will affect the appearance of the character. Therefore, the predecessors said that “the silkworm has no two colors, and the swallow does not fly.

Take the French and Han monuments and Qin and Han bamboo and wood slips. The so-called method is to read and experience earnestly and assiduously, rather than glimpses. Look less at the works of contemporary people, and look at the works of contemporary people to see their shortcomings and deficiencies.

Appropriately grasp the subject’s creative state. “Writability” is actually the paper-based writing process and creative emotions. Repeated strokes will form inertia. From raw to mature, we should avoid becoming mature.

Treat the issue of style correctly. Style is naturally generated and cannot be generalized. If you don’t have a strong style, you don’t have to worry about it; if you have a style, you don’t need to be complacent or avoid deliberately.

According to legend, the official script was sorted out by Qin Weicheng Miao in prison. After removing the complex, it was simplified, the shape of the characters was changed to square, and the strokes were changed to straight. The shape of the characters was beautiful, flat and wider. Officials, so in ancient times, the official script was called ” zuoshu “.

Note: Han Li is a symbol of the calligraphy art of the two Han Dynasties in our country. The general styles are:

Steady work dignified class, such as ” Mount Hua Temple Monument “, ” ritual monument “, ” History of morning monument “, ” B Ying monument “, ” Hansen Ming “, ” Shijing residual stone “;

Fang Jin’s primitive simplicity, such as ” Zhang Qian Monument “, “Xian Yu Sulfur Monument”, ” Xi Xia Song “, ” School Official Monument “;

Beautiful and elegant categories, such as ” Cao Quan Monument “, ” Kong Zhou Monument “, ” Liu Xiong Monument “, “Zhao Kuan Monument”;

Broad and heavy categories, such as ” Hengfang Stele “, ” Lu Jun Stele “, ” Ode to Fenglong Mountain “;

Male and female, such as ” Ode to the Stone Gate “, ” Yang Huai Table Record “, ” Xia Cheng Stele “;

Ancient clumsy and majestic categories, such as “Yu Jun opened up the commendation road carved stone”, “Pei Cen Ji Gong stele”, “Ode to the Pavilion”.