Chang, Cheng-Mei. “Chinese Writing.” Expedition 31, no. 1 (1989): 40-51.
Summary
In 221BCE with the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, emperor Shih-huang unified the script. He wanted to simplify the script for less time-consuming stone carving proclamations. This script is known as the ‘lesser seal script.’ Although this script had fewer curves it was still nowhere near simplified enough. A new script was slowly created to further simplify, in it many of the remaining curves were transformed into straight or flaring lines, and many of the remaining curves were transformed into straight or flaring lines, and many strokes were abbreviated as one or two swift lines. As this script was widely used by clerks it became known as the ‘clerical script.’ Even before the end of the Qin Dynasty (221-207BCE) this script was already in wide use. The Han Dynasty (206BCE-220CE) continued the simplification process that started in the Qin with the development of three new scripts—cursive (ts’ao-shu，草書), standard (k’ai-shu，楷書), and running (hsing-shu，行書).
The cursive script further abbreviated the clerical script and became the script of short-hand.
The standard script was also a simplified version of the clerical script dropping many flaring strokes. A new type of stoke was introduced, this stroke would pause and then turn quickly as in乚.
The running script, also based off of the clerical script did not attempt to simplify but just to link the characters together. The script was mostly used by calligraphers. The Han Dynasty also added to the amount of characters to about 10,000, this number steady increased throughout the dynasties. During the Qing dynasty the total amount was around 47,000, but with only 3000-5000 to read and write well. The standard script caught on and solidified during Sui and Tang Dynasties and has remained mostly unchanged until the introduction of the simplified script.
Summary
In 221BCE with the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, emperor Shih-huang unified the script. He wanted to simplify the script for less time-consuming stone carving proclamations. This script is known as the ‘lesser seal script.’ Although this script had fewer curves it was still nowhere near simplified enough. A new script was slowly created to further simplify, in it many of the remaining curves were transformed into straight or flaring lines, and many of the remaining curves were transformed into straight or flaring lines, and many strokes were abbreviated as one or two swift lines. As this script was widely used by clerks it became known as the ‘clerical script.’ Even before the end of the Qin Dynasty (221-207BCE) this script was already in wide use. The Han Dynasty (206BCE-220CE) continued the simplification process that started in the Qin with the development of three new scripts—cursive (ts’ao-shu，草書), standard (k’ai-shu，楷書), and running (hsing-shu，行書).
The standard script was also a simplified version of the clerical script dropping many flaring strokes. A new type of stoke was introduced, this stroke would pause and then turn quickly as in乚.
The running script, also based off of the clerical script did not attempt to simplify but just to link the characters together. The script was mostly used by calligraphers. The Han Dynasty also added to the amount of characters to about 10,000, this number steady increased throughout the dynasties. During the Qing dynasty the total amount was around 47,000, but with only 3000-5000 to read and write well. The standard script caught on and solidified during Sui and Tang Dynasties and has remained mostly unchanged until the introduction of the simplified script.
During Shang Dynasty the script was used for spiritual communications and was usually accompanied by a sacrifice. The Zhou Dynasty continued on with the same traditions with the addition that the script was also used for secular interactions. In the Sui and Han Dynasties the script was mostly employed with monitoring and governing the vast empire. All government officials were required to have an understanding of the current scripts of the time and could be replaced if they consistently had illegible hand writing. This rule persisted until the end of the Qing Dynasty. With rules like these in place the end of the Han Dynasty was the ideal situation for the art of calligraphy to arise. During the Six Dynasties period (220-589CE) the calligraphic art flourished as the political unrest brought forward new Daoist ideas. The time period trumpeted individualism and fought against the Confucian ideals which encouraged calligraphy to take firm hold. During the period calligraphy had merged itself with the culture created some of the greatest calligraphers in Chinese history.Calligraphy continued to develop for the remainder of Chinese history, employing different combinations of brushes and ink. The three scripts created during the Han Dynasty, however, continued to be the only scripts employed.
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