China is the hometown of calligraphy. China's calligraphy has a long history. It is not only a unique art, but also a comprehensive art. It is no exaggeration to say that it is the art with the longest history, the widest space (Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Singapore in the east and parts of the west in the south), the richest connotation and the most far-reaching influence. It is a treasure of oriental culture and a profound knowledge. The first section is the gestation of characters and the evolution of fonts. Chinese characters are the modeling basis of China's calligraphy, and they are symbols with pictographic origin. There are many records about the origin of Chinese characters in China ancient books. According to ancient legends, Shennong wrote it when he saw Jiahe, Huangdi wrote it when he saw Jing Yun, and wrote Shu, and Emperor Yao wrote it. Ear, cloud, phoenix and catfish are the basis of pictographic "taking the distance from everything". The ancients outlined and described these "things" with lines, all of which meant seeking beauty. Chinese characters have the characteristics of "natural beauty" and "beautiful nature" (1). Mr. Lu Xun put it well: "Writing is painting". (2) The writing of Chinese characters has aesthetic factors from the beginning, which also reveals the truth that calligraphy and painting are of the same origin. What is calligraphy? In short, the art of beautifying characters is calligraphy, or more accurately, the method of writing-law. In China, the word "calligraphy" has been used for over 1000 years. Japanese, Koreans and Vietnamese also have calligraphy, which was handed down from the Tang Dynasty in China. In Japan, it is called "Shu Dao". It goes hand in hand with "Tea Ceremony" and "Flower Road". If calligraphy was originally a wonderful flower rooted in China, it was introduced to Japan, and it has been cultivated by people from other countries for generations. Now it has blossomed and borne fruit, and it is as amazing as China's calligraphy. The history of China's calligraphy can be traced back to six thousand years ago. The earliest remains are the original symbols of Dawenkou and Xi 'an banpo village in Yangshao culture period. (3) Since ancient times, the development stages of Chinese characters have been arranged according to Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Jinwen (Zhong Dingwen), seal script, official script, regular script, running script and cursive script. The important means of font evolution are beautification, simplification and cursive, and the ultimate goal is the standardization of characters. Unlike the phonetic symbols of ancient Greece, China's original characters are mainly hieroglyphics. The Zhou Dynasty lasted more than 800 years, which was a historical stage when the art of inscriptions on bronze reached its peak. Famous inscriptions, such as "Dayu Ding" and "Mao", are typical of bronze inscription art and are known as the crown of oriental calligraphy. Ancient Egyptian characters are also hieroglyphics. Its characters came into being earlier than China's, but the creation of hieroglyphics in China lagged behind. However, for thousands of years, Egyptians stuck to the rules and lacked the catalyst to beautify hieroglyphs into calligraphy art, especially in sculpture. The Egyptian religious thought is to pursue eternal strict conservatism, such as "religious writing" for practical purposes, and simpler "folk writing" fonts appeared around the seventh century BC. Egypt has gone further than China in phonetic notation, but its hieroglyphics have not evolved with the development of the times, and still maintain the original complex description. On the basis of daily life, it is almost impossible to find out its practical value. It became a game played by the privileged class of the Maya dynasty and the Roman Empire of Bottler, and finally completely became a waste word around 200 BC. Indian, Babylonian and other ancient civilizations have not formed calligraphy art, but China's hieroglyphics are lucky! Although China characters are called hieroglyphics, they are by no means simple morphological descriptions. The formation of China characters is closely related to the fine arts in Yin, Zhou and Qin Dynasties. Egyptian hieroglyphics died halfway. On the contrary, after the Han Dynasty, China's calligraphy flourished and prospered, with regular script, running script and cursive script appearing one after another. As we all know, the generation of calligraphy art can not be separated from the generation of words. Without words, calligraphy art will become a rootless wood and passive water, and of course it will not produce calligraphy art. But having words does not mean having calligraphy art. Greece, Egypt, Babylon, India and other countries are all like this. The emergence of China's calligraphy art has its unique historical conditions, unique tools and unique soil. From the appearance of writing to the independent existence of calligraphy as an art, I don't know how many generations of hard exploration and efforts have been made. In ancient China, there was a theory of the so-called "Six Books" (that is, pictographic, ideographic, comprehending, borrowing, transliteration, pictophonetic characters and phonology). This theory was summed up after the formation and wide application of Oracle characters. The pictographic characters in Six Books are picturesque, which come from the simulated realism with great generality to objects. At the same time, because hieroglyphics are strokes and physical structures close to reality, they also contain the basic elements of formal beauty. The discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty provided a historical witness for the emergence of calligraphy. Oracle Bone Inscriptions has three basic elements of China's calligraphy: writing with a pen, writing with a knot, and composition. Its physical structure and word-making method laid the principle and foundation for the development of China's calligraphy in later generations. Although the changes in Oracle Bone Inscriptions are complicated and vary in size, every word has a balanced, symmetrical and stable pattern. Its glyph structure itself breeds the factors of beauty, that is, the so-called "natural beauty" or "graceful beauty", which lays the foundation for the artistic modeling of China's calligraphy. At the same time, it should be pointed out that the creation of ancient Chinese characters in China conforms to the law of formal beauty, so the writing of such characters can develop into calligraphy art and become an independent great art with distinctive national characteristics and representing the essence of national art. China's calligraphy art enlightens people's hearts with its purified line beauty, cultivates people's aesthetic taste, and leads people to an ethereal, elegant, open and profound realm by "focusing on octupole and roaming in Wan Ren". Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Zhong Dingwen of Shang Dynasty pioneered China's calligraphy. The production of Zhong Dingwen in Zhou Dynasty has made great progress, and the inscriptions are longer. Besides Zhong Dingwen, there are stone carvings. The most precious stone carving is Shi Guwen, which is a transitional text from Dazhuan to Xiaozhuan. People have to ask: Who created Chinese characters? The Five Beads of Han Feizi, JUNSHOU in the Spring and Autumn Annals of Lu, and Zi Ben in Huainan are all called "Cang Xie wrote a book", but many scholars disagree with this statement. In fact, any style of writing is created by the masses in practical use, not by one person. Lu Xun put it well in Talking about Foreign Languages: "But in society, there is more than one Cang Xie. Someone carved a circle on the hilt, and someone drew some pictures on the portal. As a result, there are more and more words, and historians can perfunctory notes as soon as they collect them. I'm afraid the origin of China characters can't escape this example. Cang Xie didn't invent the word "milk breeds but sleeps more". Guo Moruo and others also hold this view. Cang Xie specializes in philology, and has the power of collation, which can not be ignored. Since then, Shi Hu made the seal script, Li Si made the seal script, Cheng Miao made the official script, You Shi made the urgent seal (Cao Zhang), and Wang Cizhong made the regular script. It's usually like this. Qin unified regular script, the so-called "book with the same language", not only refers to the unified seal script as Xiao seal script, but also refers to the unified official script. " "Language with the same book" has a great influence on later generations, ending the state of "abnormal words" and "abnormal writing". There were many Chinese characters and strokes in the Warring States period, which were called Da Zhuan or Zhuan. Qin simplified the big seal script, created the small seal script, and sorted out the official script. The simplification and improvement of characters are conducive to the development and improvement of calligraphy art, and Qin Xiao Zhuan and Li Shu basically belong to the primary stage of China's calligraphy history. Shu Qin has eight styles, namely, big seal, small seal, seal cutting, worm, copying, official script, official script and official script. It can be said that all styles are prepared and the characters are gradually improving. Judging from the evolution of Chinese characters, the Qin Dynasty is an extremely important generation. Han inherited and developed it. With official script as the main body and cursive script as the supplement, the development of calligraphy art in Han Dynasty began. With the increasing use of Chinese characters and the flourishing spirit of carving stones, more and more people are famous for writing plaques and books. In the Han Dynasty, calligraphy began to exist as an independent art. In the Han Dynasty, appreciating calligraphy became a common practice. Premier Xiao He's "Meditation on March" was deliberately refined, and once wrote "The audience is like running water", which is unprecedented. From practicality to aesthetics, this is a great leap in the history of calligraphy art. The Han Dynasty was the beginning of China's calligraphy art. From calligraphy to Han Dynasty, there appeared seven books: Tadpole Book, Wen Zhuan, Xiao Zhuan, Li Qin, Bafen, Han Li and Kuanzhi. In addition to the official seal handwriting, handwriting (original) has sprouted. It is worth mentioning that Lishu originated in ancient times, was applied to the Qin Dynasty, and was shaped in the Han Dynasty. Literati call the shaping process of official script "official change". Li Bian is a great epoch-making change in the history of calligraphy in China. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the official script, which was stereotyped in the Huan and Ling Dynasties, became a strict official script. From Qin Li to Han Li is a very important period of change in the history of calligraphy development. In the history of the origin of calligraphy, it inherited the seal script rules of the previous generation and inspired the authentic calligraphy style in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties. At the same time, it also created the integration of cursive script (first, the history was passed on to Cao Zhang, and then Zhang Zhi became the present cursive script). In the process of writing, people often keep Lian Bi simple to save trouble. Bamboo slips and Lian Bi are the origins of Cao Zhang, which also provide reference for this kind of grass. In addition, there are tile-dangzi and seal script. The Indian administrators of later generations are all Chinese and Indian; Most people who study books start from Han Li. From Qin Li to Han Li, we can see the dialectical relationship between the inheritance and development of calligraphy art. Han Li's flourishing age, in the history of China calligraphy, has the potential to win, and Qin Xiao Zhuan has been comparable! Calligraphy entered an unprecedented era of prosperity in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Judging from the development of China's calligraphy, Wei and Jin Dynasties are an important stage to complete the evolution of China's calligraphy. Regular script and cursive script reached maturity in Wei and Jin Dynasties. During the Jin Dynasty, truth, action and grass all existed, which was another great change in China's calligraphy history after the "official change" in the Han Dynasty. Zhong Qin and Wang Xizhi are outstanding representatives, and they are called "Zhong Wang" by the world, which is told by later generations. Zhong initiated a new era in the history of calligraphy in China. Wang Xizhi, in particular, is a master of calligraphy and a well-deserved "book saint" since Qin and Han Dynasties. The regular script of Sui Dynasty has been finalized. Following the Six Dynasties, the Tang Dynasty opened below. Calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty was not only well prepared, but also strict in statutes. For example, regular script in Wei and Jin Dynasties had been largely stereotyped and reached a high level, and it was very mature in Tang Dynasty. The four schools in the early Tang Dynasty, namely "Yu, Chu and Xue", are the representatives. Yan Zhenqing is another master in the history of calligraphy in China after Wang Xizhi, and he created a calligraphy style as vigorous as the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Yan Zhi's regular script has its own characteristics, personality and prosperous Tang Dynasty. However, Li Yong (Beihai), Zhang Xu and Huai Su made important breakthroughs in running grass or big grass (that is, weeds), which made China's calligraphy show unprecedented prosperity. Calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty attracted the attention of calligraphy theorists, who thought it was an important watershed in the history of calligraphy in China (4). But people have different opinions, and "humble" (5) has different opinions. It should be said that China's calligraphy reached an unprecedented peak in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. From the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, fonts became increasingly standardized. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, due to the excavation of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and the brilliance of seal script, China's calligraphy was endowed with infinite vitality. The "Pu" of seals and official seals was carved into jade by the hands of Qing people. For a time, the "four styles" of the real seal script were suddenly prepared, with Europe, Yan, Liu and Zhao leading the way, and the calligraphy art was improving day by day. To sum up, China's Chinese characters have gone through a long and tortuous historical process from ancient hieroglyphics, Oracle Bone Inscriptions, inscriptions on bronze and Shi Guwen in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, to Zhou Dynasty's Da Zhuan, Qin's Xiao Zhuan (also known as Han Fen), Li Shu, Han Li (also known as Han Fen), Cao Zhang and Cao Jin, and then to Jin and Tang Dynasties' regular script, that is, from simplicity to complexity and from complexity to simplicity. From modern times, the continuous simplification of the font structure of Chinese characters is its leading trend. From the general trend, from complex to simple, from difficult to easy, official script is easier to write than seal script, regular script is easier to write than official script, and running script is easier to write than regular script. This is because of the needs of real life, the progress of the times, the development of calligraphy art, and calligraphy art has an abstract beauty. Abstract beauty is inspired by the movement and rhythm of nature and the changing laws of fiction and fact. In the long process from hieroglyphics to abstract characters, no matter which period of calligraphy, no matter what kind of body calligraphy, it fully shows the special artistic appeal of abstract expression. With the evolution of the times, the progress of society and the development of production, the calligraphy style of Chinese characters is increasingly simplified, but the means of expression of calligraphy art are increasingly complex, with richer connotations, higher requirements for beauty and greater charm. This is the dialectical development of history. In the long process of China's font evolution and calligraphy art development, it is concluded that what predecessors have done and what people are doing now are nothing more than two things, namely, pursuing "two changes"-simplification and beautification. These two pursuits are endless. "Excellence" is an excellent tradition of the Chinese nation. Until today, people are still pursuing and exploring, hoping that the font is simple and simple, and the calligraphy is beautiful and beautiful. People have both practical and aesthetic requirements in the use of calligraphy. They are interrelated, mutually restricted and mutually promoted. Practicality requires writing convenience-simplification, and aesthetics requires calligraphy improvement-beautification. These two requirements act alternately, which is the fundamental reason to promote the development of calligraphy art. The combination of the practical and aesthetic requirements of the masses and the hard exploration of calligraphers has effectively promoted the continuous development of calligraphy art, and the great changes from big seal to small seal, from seal script to official script, from official script to regular script, cursive script and so on are all due to people's demand for simple writing, convenient use and beautiful appearance. The opportunity for the development of calligraphy art begins here.