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Chinese characters may be written using several major historical styles, which developed organically over the history of Chinese script. There are also various major regional styles associated with various modern and historical polities.
The traditional model of scripts appearing suddenly in a well-defined order has been discredited by modern comparative study, which clearly indicates the gradual evolution and coexistence of styles.
| Name | First appearance |
|---|---|
| Oracle bone script | c. 1200 BC |
| Large seal script | c. 1000 BC |
| Small seal script | c. 500 BC |
| Clerical script | c. 200 BC |
| Semi-cursive | c. 200 BC |
| Cursive | c. 50 BC |
| Regular script | c. 150 AD |
When used in decorative ornamentation, such as book covers, movie posters, and wall hangings, characters are often written in ancient variations or simplifications that deviate from the modern standards used in Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese or Korean. Modern variations or simplifications of characters, akin to Chinese simplified characters or Japanese shinjitai are occasionally used, especially since many simplified forms derive from cursive forms.
The Japanese syllabaries of katakana and hiragana are used in calligraphy; katakana were derived from the shapes of regular script characters, and hiragana were derived from cursive forms. Following the Korean War hangul saw increased use in calligraphy. In Vietnam, recent calligraphy tends to use the Vietnamese alphabet in parallel with both chữ Hán and chữ Nôm characters.
The seal script is the formal system of character forms that evolved in the state of Qin during the Eastern Zhou dynasty (c. 771 –256 BC), and later imposed as the standard across the country following Qin's wars of unification. Although some modern calligraphers practice the most ancient oracle bone script as well as various other scripts older than seal script found on Zhou dynasty bronze inscriptions, seal script is the oldest style that continues to be widely practised.
Today, seal script is predominantly used for the seals that give it its English name. Though East Asian seals—or name chops—are carved in materials like wood and jade, the forms themselves were originally written with brush and ink on bamboo slips and other media. Most modern readers cannot easily decipher seal script, and it is generally not used outside calligraphy and the production of seals. However, because seals act like legal signatures in the cultures of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, and because vermilion seal impressions are fundamental to aesthetic presentations of art like calligraphy and paintings, seal script remains ubiquitous.
The clerical script (隶书; 隸書lìshū)—sometimes called official, draft, or scribal script—is popularly thought to have developed in the Han dynasty and to have come directly from seal script, but recent archaeological discoveries and scholarship indicate that it instead developed from a roughly executed and rectilinear popular or "vulgar" variant of the seal script as well as seal script itself, resulting first in what are called "proto-clerical" forms during the Warring States period and Qin dynasty—which then developed into clerical script during the early Han, and matured stylistically thereafter. [1]
Clerical script characters are often "flat" in appearance, being wider than the preceding seal script and the modern standard script, both of which tend to be taller than they are wide; some versions of clerical are square, and others are wider. Compared with the preceding seal script, forms are strikingly rectilinear; however, some curvature and some seal script influence often remains. Seal script tended towards uniformity of stroke width, but clerical script gave the brush freer rein, returning to the variations in width seen in early Zhōu brushwork. Most noticeable is the dramatically flared tail of one dominant horizontal or downward-diagonal stroke, especially that to the lower right. This characteristic stroke has famously been called 'silkworm head and wild goose tail' (蠶頭雁尾cántóu yànwěi) due to its distinctive shape.
The proto-clerical script that was used from the Warring States period to the early Han dynasty can often be difficult to read for a modern East Asian person, but the mature clerical script of the middle to late Han dynasty is generally legible. Modern calligraphy and practical applications like advertisements that use the clerical script tend to use the mature Han style, and may also use modernized character structures, resulting in a form as transparent and legible as regular (or standard) script. The clerical script remains common as a typeface used for decorative purposes (for example, in displays), but other than in artistic calligraphy, adverts and signage, it is not commonly written.
The semi-cursive script (行書xíngshū) approximates normal handwriting in which strokes and, more rarely, characters are allowed to run into one another. In writing in the semi-cursive script, the brush leaves the paper less often than in the regular script. Characters appear less angular and instead rounder.
In general, an educated person in China or Japan can read characters written in the semi-cursive script with relative ease, but may have occasional difficulties with certain idiosyncratic shapes.
The cursive script (草書cǎoshū), sometimes called sloppy script, is a fully cursive script, with drastic simplifications requiring specialized knowledge; hence it is difficult to read for those unfamiliar with it.
Entire characters may be written without lifting the brush from the paper at all, and characters frequently flow into one another. Strokes are modified or eliminated to facilitate smooth writing and to create a beautiful, abstract appearance. Characters are highly rounded and soft in appearance, with a noticeable lack of angular lines. Due to the drastic simplification and ligature involved, this script is not considered particularly legible to the average person, and thus has never achieved widespread use beyond the realm of literati calligraphers.
The cursive script is the source of Japanese hiragana , as well as many modern simplified forms in Simplified Chinese characters and Japanese shinjitai.
The regular script (楷書kǎishū) is the last major calligraphic style to develop, emerging during the Han and Three Kingdoms periods, gaining dominance during the Northern and Southern period (420–589), and ultimately maturing during the Tang dynasty (619–908). It emerged from a neatly written, semi-cursive form of clerical script. As the name suggests, the regular script has been highly regularized, with the strokes made distinct from one another, in deliberate brush stroked lifting off the paper.
Regular script is the most widely recognized style, and is the form taught to children in East Asian countries and others first learning to write characters. For students of calligraphy, regular script is usually studied first in order to provide students a base of knowledge from which to learn other, more flowing styles, including a sense of correct placement and balance.
Edomoji comprises a large family of calligraphic styles native to Japan, named for the Edo period in Japanese history when they were created. Examples include 'sumo letters' (sumōmoji) used to write sumo wrestling posters, kanteiryū used for kabuki, and higemoji. These styles are typically not taught in Japanese calligraphy schools.
A Vietnamese calligraphic script known as Lệnh thư (令書), as its name suggests, is mainly found in imperial edicts starting from the Revival Lê dynasty. The writing script is defined by its distinct sharp upward hooks.
Munjado is a Korean decorative style of rendering Chinese characters in which brush strokes are replaced with representational paintings that provide commentary on the meaning. [2] The characters thus rendered are traditionally those for the eight Confucian virtues of humility, honor, duty, propriety, trust, loyalty, brotherly love, and filial piety.
A huaya is a stylized calligraphic signature traditionally used by emperors, politicians, artists, and craftsmen across East Asia.
Calligraphy is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner".
Penmanship is the technique of writing with the hand using a writing instrument. Today, this is most commonly done with a pen, or pencil, but throughout history has included many different implements. The various generic and formal historical styles of writing are called "hands" while an individual's style of penmanship is referred to as "handwriting".
Written Chinese is a writing system that uses Chinese characters and other symbols to represent the Chinese languages. Chinese characters do not directly represent pronunciation, unlike letters in an alphabet or syllabograms in a syllabary. Rather, the writing system is morphosyllabic: characters are one spoken syllable in length, but generally correspond to morphemes in the language, which may either be independent words, or part of a polysyllabic word. Most characters are constructed from smaller components that may reflect the character's meaning or pronunciation. Literacy requires the memorization of thousands of characters; college-educated Chinese speakers know approximately 4,000. This has led in part to the adoption of complementary transliteration systems as a means of representing the pronunciation of Chinese.
Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Chinese characters have a documented history spanning over three millennia, representing one of the four independent inventions of writing accepted by scholars; of these, they comprise the only writing system continuously used since its invention. Over time, the function, style, and means of writing characters have evolved greatly. Unlike letters in alphabets that reflect the sounds of speech, Chinese characters generally represent morphemes, the units of meaning in a language. Writing a language's entire vocabulary requires thousands of different characters. Characters are created according to several different principles, where aspects of both shape and pronunciation may be used to indicate the character's meaning.
The regular script is the newest of the major Chinese script styles, emerging during the Three Kingdoms period c. 230 CE, and stylistically mature by the 7th century. It is the most common style used in modern text. In its traditional form it is the third-most common in publishing after the Ming and Gothic types used exclusively in print.
Stroke order is the order in which the strokes of a Chinese character are written. A stroke is a movement of a writing instrument on a writing surface.
A writing brush is a paintbrush used as a writing tool in Chinese calligraphy as well as in Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese which all have roots in Chinese calligraphy. They are also used in Chinese painting and other brush painting styles. The ink brush was invented in China around 300 B.C. Together with the inkstone, inkstick and Xuan paper, these four writing implements form the Four Treasures of the Study.
Ming or Song is a category of typefaces used to display Chinese characters, which are used in the Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages. They are currently the most common style of type in print for Chinese and Japanese. For Japanese and Korean text, they are commonly called Mincho and Myeongjo typefaces respectively.
Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters as an art form, combining purely visual art and interpretation of the literary meaning. This type of expression has been widely practiced in China and has been generally held in high esteem across East Asia. Calligraphy is considered one of the four most-sought skills and hobbies of ancient Chinese literati, along with playing stringed musical instruments, the board game "Go", and painting. There are some general standardizations of the various styles of calligraphy in this tradition. Chinese calligraphy and ink and wash painting are closely related: they are accomplished using similar tools and techniques, and have a long history of shared artistry. Distinguishing features of Chinese painting and calligraphy include an emphasis on motion charged with dynamic life. According to Stanley-Baker, "Calligraphy is sheer life experienced through energy in motion that is registered as traces on silk or paper, with time and rhythm in shifting space its main ingredients." Calligraphy has also led to the development of many forms of art in China, including seal carving, ornate paperweights, and inkstones.
Japanese calligraphy, also called shūji (習字), is a form of calligraphy, or artistic writing, of the Japanese language. Written Japanese was originally based on Chinese characters only, but the advent of the hiragana and katakana Japanese syllabaries resulted in intrinsically Japanese calligraphy styles.
Korean calligraphy, also known as Seoye (Korean: 서예), is the Korean tradition of artistic writing. Calligraphy in Korean culture involves both Hanja and Hangul.
Semi-cursive script, also known as running script, is a style of Chinese calligraphy that emerged during the Han dynasty. The style is used to write Chinese characters and is abbreviated slightly where a character's strokes are permitted to be visibly connected as the writer writes, but not to the extent of the cursive style. This makes the style easily readable by readers who can read regular script and quickly writable by calligraphers who require ideas to be written down quickly. In order to produce legible work using the semi-cursive style, a series of writing conventions is followed, including the linking of the strokes, simplification and merging strokes, adjustments to stroke order and the distribution of text of the work.
The clerical script, sometimes also chancery script, is a style of Chinese writing that evolved from the late Warring States period to the Qin dynasty. It matured and became dominant in the Han dynasty, and remained in active use through the Six Dynasties period. In its development, it departed significantly from the earlier scripts in terms of graphic structures, and was characterized by its rectilinearity, a trait shared with the later regular script.
Cursive script, often referred to as grass script, is a script style used in Chinese and East Asian calligraphy. It is an umbrella term for the cursive variants of the clerical script and the regular script.
Shinjitai are the simplified forms of kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. Some of the new forms found in shinjitai are also found in simplified Chinese characters, but shinjitai is generally not as extensive in the scope of its modification.
In Japanese language, Ryakuji are colloquial simplifications of kanji.
Chinese characters may have several variant forms—visually distinct glyphs that represent the same underlying meaning and pronunciation. Variants of a given character are allographs of one another, and many are directly analogous to allographs present in the English alphabet, such as the double-storey ⟨a⟩ and single-storey ⟨ɑ⟩ variants of the letter A, with the latter more commonly appearing in handwriting. Some contexts require usage of specific variants.
The Chinese family of scripts includes writing systems used to write various East Asian languages, that ultimately descend from the oracle bone script invented in the Yellow River valley during the Shang dynasty. These include written Chinese itself, as well as adaptations of it for other languages, such as Japanese kanji, Korean hanja, Vietnamese chữ Hán and chữ Nôm, Zhuang sawndip, and Bai bowen. More divergent are the Tangut script, Khitan large script, Khitan small script and its offspring, the Jurchen script, as well as the Yi script, Sui script, and Geba syllabary, which were inspired by written Chinese but not descended directly from it. While written Chinese and many of its descendant scripts are logographic, others are phonetic, including the kana, Nüshu, and Lisu syllabaries, as well as the bopomofo semi-syllabary.
Radical 120 or radical silk (糸部) meaning "silk" is one of the 29 Kangxi radicals composed of 6 strokes.
The Flat Brush script is a writing style in Chinese calligraphy that was created by Jin Nong during the Qing dynasty. The writing style is a mix of the clerical script of the Han dynasty and the regular script of the Wei dynasty; these two writing styles make the Flat Brush script a unique writing style in Chinese calligraphy. The technique used to write in the flat brush script is very different from the other writing styles. It has to be written using a flat brush and not the regular East Asian writing brush.
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