Seven stages of font evolution

The seven stages of font evolution are Oracle Bone Inscriptions, bronze inscription, seal script, official script, regular script, cursive script and running script.

1, Oracle Bone Inscriptions

Oracle Bone Inscriptions mainly refers to Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins, which is a writing in the late Shang Dynasty. At present, there are about 6.5438+0.5 million pieces of Oracle bones with more than 4,500 words. It involves many aspects of social life in Shang Dynasty. Also known as Wen Qi, Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Yin Ruins, it is the earliest mature writing system in East Asia, which was carved on tortoise shells or animal bones by the royal family for divination in the late Shang Dynasty.

2. Jinwen

Bronze inscription, also known as Zhong Dingwen, is a kind of calligraphy name in ancient China, which refers to the inscriptions cast on bronzes during the Yin, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Shang and Zhou Dynasties were the bronze age, with the tripod as the representative ritual vessel and the bell as the representative musical instrument. "Zhong Ding" was synonymous with bronze ware.

It took about 1200 years from the early Shang Dynasty to the Qin Dynasty's destruction of the Six Kingdoms. It has been used for a long time, and the number of words in bronze inscriptions is 3722, of which 2420 can be recognized.

3. seal script

Seal script is divided into big seal script and small seal script. The big seal script began in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, and the small seal script is also called "Qin Zhuan". The unified script of Qin Dynasty is Xiao Zhuan. It was not until the end of the Western Han Dynasty that it was gradually replaced by official script. But because of its beautiful font, it has always been favored by calligraphers.

4. Official script

Official script basically evolved from seal script, and the strokes of seal script turning were changed to square folding. The appearance of official script is a great change in ancient writing and calligraphy. It originated in the Qin Dynasty and reached its peak in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Calligraphy is known as "Han Li Tang Kai".

5. Regular script

Regular script, also known as official script, or original script, began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It gradually evolved from official script, becoming more simplified and more horizontal and vertical. This Chinese character font is correct, which is the popular handwritten orthographic Chinese character.

6, cursive script

The cursive script was formed in the Han Dynasty, and it evolved from the official script for simplicity. There are Cao Zhang, Cao Jin and Crazy Grass. When it gradually developed, it formed a kind of "Cao Zhang" with artistic value.

7. Running script

Running script was produced in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and it is a font between regular script and cursive script. There are more methods of mold opening than cursive writing, which is called "mold opening". Cursive calligraphy is more than modular method, which is called "cursive calligraphy".