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Chinese Calligraphy,
Abstract Art, Mind Painting
by Ngan Siu-Mui
Chapter 2
Chinese Calligraphy Scripts
Unification of Chinese writing
Contemporaneous with the political scene of the long period of annexation by feudal lords in the Warring States Kingdom (403-221 BC), a provincial diversity emerged in Chinese writings. Under the reign of the Ch’in dynasty, for administrative convenience, all calligraphy scripts incompatible with that of the former Ch’in State were abolished and fell into desuetude.
Chinese writings were then unified. Prior to the Ch’in Empire, calligraphy script as a term was non-existent, and it was not until Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) that it was adopted for differentiation, since, at the time, the developments of all its variant styles had basically reached fruition.
Classification of Chinese calligraphy styles
In chronological order of evolutionary changes, chinese calligraphy is divided into seal, clerical, cursive, running and regular scripts (some say in the order of seal, clerical, cursive, regular and running).
I. Seal Script
In a broad sense, all kinds of writings previous to the Chin dynasty were named “great seal” and the unified writing of the dynasty was “small seal”; they are both seal script. Among the former, the writings on oracle bones and bell tripods of the Shang dynasty (1766 –1123 BC) were the earliest and the most important specimens of this script discovered so far.
However, they were not written with brush and ink. Though not the earliest Chinese writings, “oracle bone script” served as a fairly advanced recording tool, and its characters numbered about five thousand. Some of the characters on turtle shells or animal bones seemed to have been written first with a Chinese brush, and then carved with a knife. Other characters were engraved directly with a knife. Wine tripod vessels used in ceremonial rites and bells serving as musical instruments were amongst the most significant brass vessels in which “bell tripod script” were inscribed, either by casting or by engraving.
II. Clerical Script
To facilitate daily writing, the small seal script was gradually modified, firstly into the “ancient clerical script”, and secondly, into the clerical script during the Han dynasty (B.C.206-A.D.220). Its distinctive characteristics were:
- The end of a long horizontal stroke stretched rightward in a wavy form, known as “the wild goose tail”
- The beginning of long horizontal strokes which resemble a “silkworm head”.
- The shape of a character was developed from the vertically rectangular shape of seal script into the horizontally rectangular or square one.
- Angular strokes were used extensively. Hence, horizontal and vertical connecting strokes of the seal script were changed from round turns into angular and broken ones.
III. Cursive Script (Grass Script)
Although the flow of the brush was smooth, writings in this style were not easily identifiable, due to the undue simplification in brush stroke. This script fell into three styles:
- Compositional Cursive Script (Zhang Cao)
Again, to facilitate everyday writing the ancient clerical script of the early Han dynasty was gradually simplified into the compositional cursive script with the retention of the wavy form. All characters were separate from one another. - Modern Cursive Script
Compared to the clerical script, the compositional cursive script was more convenient; but to further speed up brush flow, the wavy form was curtailed and brush strokes were suitably linked together, inspite of occasional breaks. Thus, not every character was isolated. - Crazy Cursive Script
With the modern cursive script as its basis, the crazy cursive script was developed. Many brush strokes were generally linked together. A strong contrast was apparent, not only in the construction of each character, but also in the spacing of the whole piece in composition. The variation in the brush flow was so great that at times it reached a wild, frantic and liberal manner, without however departing from the accepted norm, thereby encroaching upon the stratum of pure art, quite detached from the level of practical value.
IV. Running Script
The simplification of the clerical script, and the adoption of the linking strokes and the speedy brush flow of the cursive script resulted in the formation of the running script. It was further modified into a style intermediate between the cursive and regular scripts, under the influence of the latter.
V. Regular Script
Changing the rightward projection of the “wild goose tail” from the clerical script into what the Chinese called a “Na”, and synthesizing the distinctive characteristics of the brush manipulation used in the cursive and running scripts with the production of a great number of dots, beaks, hooks and ticks resulted in the creation of the regular script. Faster and easier to write than the clerical script, it was more readily identifiable than the cursive and running scripts. Nowadays, both running and regular scripts are used everyday.
Evolution of Chinese calligraphy
As Chinese writings have undergone complex evolutionary stages, it is difficult to specify the date when each calligraphy script emerged. Moreover, it is equally difficult to clearly demarcate and define all the transitional styles of calligraphy script.
Thus, the “ancient clerical script” was intermediate between the seal and clerical scripts; the "clerical-cursive script", between the ancient clerical and compositional cursive scripts; the “clerical-regular script”, between the clerical and regular scripts.
On the other hand, a style of calligraphy script, generated from artistic creation, at times emerged between two scripts. Thus, the “running-regular script” was essentially running but regular in appearance, while the “running-cursive script”, was running in substance but cursive in appearance. The illustrated diagrams show only the standardized forms of seal, clerical, cursive, running and regular scripts.
Table of contents
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 — Creative Energy in Calligraphy
- Chapter 2 — Chinese Calligraphy Scripts
- Chapter 3 — The Calligrapher's Tools :: Chinese brush, paper, ink and ink stone
- Chapter 4 — Watching Lady Gong-Sun's Sword Dance :: The dance of Chinese brush
- Chapter 5 — Chinese Brush Techniques for Calligraphy
- Chapter 6 — Approach to Chinese Calligraphy through the Seal Script
- Chapter 7 — Approach to Chinese Calligraphy Techniques through the Regular Script
- Chapter 8 — Studying the Writings of Ancient Chinese Calligraphers
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