Chinese Calligraphy

The literal meaning of calligraphy is beautiful handwriting. In olden days, the books were hand-written using a quill and ink on the materials such as vellum or parchment. A person with beautiful and readable handwriting worked as a scribe. There are mainly three main styles of calligraphy - Arabic, Chinese and Roman. Here we look at Chinese calligraphy.

Chinese Calligraphy

Chinese calligraphy is also known as Oriental calligraphy. The scholars opine that Chinese calligraphy is not only a way to write Chinese characters but also is a unique Chinese art, which was a part of ancient Chinese culture. The Chinese calligraphy style is divided into calligraphy that was developed in ancient China and imperial China.

Calligraphy in Ancient China

In ancient China, incidents were inscribed on the bones of animals or on the shells of tortoises. This form of Chinese calligraphy was popular during the Bronze Age and is popularly known as shell and bone script. It was also known as oracle bone script. The Chinese alphabets of the ancient Chinese language are known as Jiaguwen. Later these characters were replaced by Jin wen, the script written on bronze plates or any bronze ware and Dazhuan, known popularly as the large Seal script or Great Seal script.

Jiaguwen: Jiaguwen is also known as the oracle bone script was a popular form of calligraphy used during the 14th century BC. During this period, pictures were used to convey thoughts and the materials used for writing are ink, brush and bamboo books.

Jinwen: Jin wen is popularly known as Chinese bronze inscriptions. This script was developed during the Shang dynasty and became popular during the Zhou dynasty. During the Shang dynasty, inscriptions were cast on the bronze; while in the Zhou dynasty, inscriptions were engraved on the bronze vessels and pots.

Dazhuan: Dazhuan scripts was used in traditional Chinese writing long before the Qin dynasty. The Qin dynasty used Small Seal script. The scholars avoided using Dazhuan scripts because the scripts were not precise or specific.

Imperial China

Around 220 BC, Qin Shi Huang conquered the entire Chinese basin. He was the first emperor to standardize the Chinese alphabets. Li Si, the prime minister of Qin Huang was a famous calligrapher. He developed a set of characters called Xiǎozhuàn and these characters were standardised by the emperor. The writing tool used was brush and steeles. The calligraphy style that was popularised in imperial China are Lishu style and Kaishu style.

Lishu Style: Lishu style is also known as the clerical script. The modern chinese scripts are more or less similar to the clerical script. This script was developed during the Bronze age. Historians believe, this script was used by the government scribes during the Qin Huang dynasty.

Kaishu Style: Kaishu style is popularly known as the traditional script and is still used today. Minor changes have been made in the kaishu style of calligraphy during the 18th century. The scripts of kaishu style are regular and precise; hence was known as the standard script.

Semi-cursive script known as Xingshu and grass script known as Caoshu were the chinese scripts that were developed during the first century AD is also a part of Chinese calligraphy. These scripts were never used to write standard official documents. These scripts are used in modern times to create a visual effect to any personal document.