Script Types

 

 

 

While writing is thought by the Chinese to communicate, perhaps better than any other art form, the cultural values and circumstances of its maker, calligraphy seems to be one of the more remote and inaccessible arts to the outsider who does not read Chinese.  Here are a few simple characters and their meanings. As you look at the various examples throughout this unit, try to find them and compare how they are written.

 Da4, meaning "big" or "great"

  Zi3, meaning "son," "child," or used as the pronoun "you"

 Zhong1, meaning "middle"

 Zhi1, used as a possessive or as the verb "to go"

 

Written records hold a significant place in China's history. The earliest surviving examples, from the Shang capital of Anyang, date to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries BC. These oracle bone records were divination results inscribed on turtle shells and shoulder blades of oxen.

MORE:  This type of writing functioned as a record of  the spiritual communication between the temporal ruler (the Shang king and /or his priests) and the heavenly one (Shangdi, literally "god above").  The audience was, as a result, a highly restricted elite.  Hundreds of these inscribed  shoulder blades and plastrons were found in storage pits near the temples where they were used.

What was the purpose of this kind of written record? What factors do you think influenced the form writing took at this time?

Oracle bone scripts were first written with a brush, then inscribed with a stylus or animal bone tool. 

Do you think this type of writing would have been considered easy to read?

 

Engraved ox scapula, Anyang  (Shang dynasty) 

SOURCE:  Bi Gong, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji, Shufa juanke bian 1: Shang Zhou zhi Qin Han shufa (Beijing: Renmin meishu chubanshe, 1987), pl. 1, p. 1. Collection of the National Museum of History.

Since Shang times Chinese has been written not with an alphabet-based script of the sort we are used to, but one with a symbol ("character") for  each word.  Many characters are made up of components, some of which can also stand on their own.  Often characters can be broken down into two major parts, one which indicates the general meaning of the word, and one which indicates the sound.

The character ren2, or person

The character gong4, meaning to offer or provide, has  the "person" character in red functioning as a semantic classifier (indicating meaning).

Each character is formed by a set number of marks, or strokes, made by the brush in a certain order. Simple and complicated characters alike follow the same rules of execution: the order of strokes is completed from left to right and from top to bottom; components that enclose other elements are "closed" after the inner ones are completed.

Can you guess the order in which the strokes of the above words were written?

ANSWER:

Stroke Order

 

 

Before the invention of paper, documents were written in vertical columns on strips of bamboo. The strips were then bound together with string.

 

What do you think the challenges were in writing on this type of surface?

Juting Hanjian written on bamboo strips (period of Han Wudi, 97 BC - 111 AD).    

SOURCE:  Qi Gong, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji, Shufa jianke bian, 1: Shang Zhou zhi Qin Han shufa (Beijing: Renmin meishu chubanshe, 1987), pl. 54, p. 79. Collection of the Gansusheng wenwu kaogu yanjiu suo).

Many different types of regional scripts developed during the Warring States Period as the need for written records increased in state offices that were not centrally controlled. The Qin and Han periods were important for the standardization of script types. Following are four of the major script types used throughout this unit.

The seal script, also called smaller seal, is one of the last descendants of the ancient script types used in oracle bone and bronze inscriptions. 

How do simple and complex characters compare in the example at right?

What do you notice about the overall shape of the characters? If you placed an imaginary box around each of them, what shape would it be? Is there a lot of variation in the way the lines (strokes) of the characters look?

 

Yi shan memorial stele inscription Qin dynasty              

SOURCE:  Qi Gong, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji, Shufa jianke bian 1: Shang Zhou zhi Qin Han shufa (Beijing: Renmin meishu chubanshe, 1987), p. 22. 

What kind of writing tool do you think was used to make these characters? Did the tool have a sharp point or a soft one? What makes you think so?

Compare this example with the oracle bone inscription earlier on this page. What are the differences in how the characters are formed and arranged on the writing surface?

ANSWER:  The small seal script example shows characters that are of uniform size and shape, and which move away from the earlier pictographic forms of oracle bone script.  The text itself conforms to a regular grid, arranged in vertical columns of characters which also fall into a fairly regular horizontal alignment.  The lack of variation in line quality points to either painstaking execution with a fairly rigid brush or the use of a different type of writing tool altogether, such as a stylus.

Clerical script developed from the small seal script in the first century BC, but its peak period of usage was during the Eastern Han (25-220 AD). This script is also referred to by the term "breaking wave," which refers to the outward flaring shape of the right and left downward slanting strokes.  (Look for the word that means "big" in the example at left).

For what type of documents do you think this script type was used?

Compare this example of clerical script with the small seal script, above. What do you think the benefits of this new writing style might have been, especially to someone who wrote in great quantity?

In Chinese writings about calligraphy, much attention is paid to the beginnings and ends of strokes and whether the tip of the brush is visible or not. The expression "hiding the head" refers to the way the calligrapher makes the brush double back on the initial stroke to conceal the entry point where brush first meets paper, while "exposing the tail" refers to the way the calligrapher allows the tip of the brush to show, giving the stroke a pointed end.

Can you identify some strokes in the example at left where the tip of the brush is visible?  

Shi Weize, Memorial text (736 AD), detail

SOURCE:  Yang Renkai, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji, Shufa juanke bian 3: Sui Tang Wudai shufa (Beijing: Renming meishu chubanshe, 1986), pl. 55, p. 124. Collection of the Beijing Library.
HINT:  It will help to first decide where the beginning and the end of a stroke is.  Rounded or squared-off ends indicate that the brush has doubled back over the entry or exit point; exposed brush tips typically result in strokes with pointed ends.

Script types generally evolved toward forms that were simpler and more expedient. Cursive script, or draft cursive, was widely practiced in the Eastern Han (25-220 AD). 

What changes in China at this time do you think may have precipitated the development of this script type? 

HINT:  Changes in governmental structure and size during the Han dynasty likely had the greatest impact on the writing system at that time.  A huge increase in the volume of documents produced and managed by officials placed a great burden on those clerks responsible for keeping official records.  Think about how official copyists might have adapted to these new demands in modifying their methods of writing.

In later periods, cursive script was exploited for its expressive, aesthetic potential. From the fourth century onward, cursive was the vehicle in which a master calligrapher could express his or her individuality. It was also used for personal correspondence and non-official writings. Not everyone was in favor of the abbreviated forms of cursive script; one of the earliest texts about calligraphy still extant from the Han period is a fervent diatribe against the widespread use of draft cursive.

Can you recognize any of the characters you've learned?

HINT:  Look for the possessive pronoun zhi.

What do you think were the principle advantages and disadvantages of the cursive style?

ANSWER:  Advantages of the cursive style included increased speed of execution, simplification, and the ability to write with a more relaxed hand.  Disadvantages included a lack of universal legibility and an informality that could be conceived of as inappropriate for official usage.

Why was cursive script considered a primary means of individual expression in calligraphy?

Sun Guoting, Preface to the Shupu (cursive script)                                          

SOURCE:  Yang Renkai, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji, Shufa juanke bian 3: Sui Tang Wudai shufa (Beijing: Renming meishu chubanshe, 1986), plate 45, pg. 94. (detail) 27.2 x 878.24 cm. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Regular or standard script was the last of the four major types to develop at the end of the Han dynasty. Execution of regular script involves techniques of brush manipulation that were adapted from the other script types. These include an increase in brush movement, hesitations and changes of brush direction as well as variations in the pressure exerted on the brush tip and the speed with which individual strokes were written. Regular script was considered the most legible and convenient form of handwriting.

 

Why do you think the regular script was the last to develop? Is it simpler than the clerical script in execution? 

MORE:  Regular script looked back to clerical script for clarity, but allowed for far greater nuance in the speed and overall movement of the brush to add expressive potential to an easily legible script type. 

 

Northern Wei inscription (regular script)

SOURCE:  Wang Jingxian, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji, Shufa juanke bian 2: Wei Jin Nanbeichao shufa (Beijing: Renming meishu chubanshe, 1986), pl. 103, p. 192, detail. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Beijing.

In the examples below of clerical (left) and standard/regular (right) scripts, what are the main similarities and differences? Look especially closely at corners and ends of strokes. Does one look as though it were more casually executed?

 

 

 

SOURCE:  Yang Renkai, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji, Shufa juanke bian 3: Sui Tang Wudai shufa (Beijing: Renming meishu chubanshe, 1986), pl. 55, p. 124. (detail) Collection of the Beijing Library.  Shi Weize, Da zhi zhan shi memorial (736 AD).

 

SOURCE:  Wang Jingxian, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji, Shufa juanke pian 2: Wei Jin Nanbeichao shufa (Beijing: Renming meishu chubanshe, 1986), plate 103, p. 192, detail. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Beijing.  Northern Wei inscription (regular script).

Move on to Transmission Methods and Learning