I. Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty
Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty is the oldest Chinese character in the word-making system we have seen so far. Named after being carved on tortoise shells or animal bones, it is also called Wen Qi; Because it is located in Xiaotun Village, a suburb of Anyang City, Henan Province, it is called "Yin Ruins" in history, so it is also called "Yin Ruins Characters". Most of its contents are Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and there are a few memorabilia, so Yin Ruins also have the names of Oracle Bone Inscriptions or Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Most of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's characters conform to the principles of pictographic characters and knowing characters, with pictophonetic characters accounting for only 20%. Its characters are engraved with knives, and some have the inscriptions of Jules and the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Second, the Western Zhou Dynasty inscriptions
More than 600 pieces of Oracle Bone Inscriptions were unearthed in the early Zhou Dynasty, all in fine print. Speaking of the characters of the Western Zhou Dynasty, both quantity and representativeness are not as valuable as bronze inscriptions. Bronze inscriptions are short for "auspicious words", which are mainly cast or engraved on bronzes. Because copper was called gold in ancient times, such words were called inscriptions on bronze. Because the bells of musical instruments in ancient bronzes are the largest and the number of ding in musical instruments is the largest, it is also called "". Sand, there are also direct calligraphy and ink books.
3. Stone carvings, bamboo slips and silk books in the Warring States Period.
During this period, due to the drastic changes in politics, economy and culture, the characters have also entered a period of great development and changes. The application of characters is unprecedented and diverse. In addition to the inscriptions on bronzes, there are inscriptions on bamboo slips, stone carvings on jade, Wen Tao on pottery, currency inscriptions on coins and quotations from seals.
Fourth, Xiao Zhuan and Qin Li in Qin Dynasty.
The regional differences among the six countries bring inconvenience to people's communication and are extremely unfavorable to the development of politics and economy. After Qin Shihuang unified China, he began to unify the written language. The standard font is Xiao Zhuan.
1. Dazhuan
In the history of China, Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties made the most important contribution to philology. Shicheng is a historian in Zhou Xuanwang, and should not innovate for simplicity. Biography is also called Wen Shu, Biography of Shu, Shushu and History Book. Because it was written by Uncle Shi, it is called Wen Shu. In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, Chinese characters developed into Da Zhuan. Dazhuan can be found in Shuowen Jiezi and various Zhong Ding artworks collected by later generations, among which Shi Guwen by Zhou Xuanwang is the most famous. The development of seal script has produced two characteristics: first, the lines with uneven thickness in the early days became even and soft, and the lines they drew with utensils were very concise and vivid; Second, standardization, the glyph structure tends to be neat, and gradually deviates from the original shape of the picture, laying the foundation for the square characters.
2. Xiao zhuan
Later, Li Si, the prime minister of Qin Dynasty, simplified Da Zhuan and changed it to Xiao Zhuan. Xiao Zhuan, also known as Qin Zhuan, is a standard font compiled by Li Si, the prime minister of Qin Dynasty. Because of its vigorous brushwork, it is also called Yujin Zhuan. Xiao Zhuan's body structure is regular and harmonious, the strokes are even and neat, and the radicals have also been changed and merged, which is not pictographic compared with Da Zhuan. The change of characters from "Dazhuan" to "Xiaozhuan" is of great significance in the history of China characters. Small seal script not only simplifies the shape of big seal script, but also achieves the perfection of lineation and standardization, almost completely divorced from pictures and characters, and has become a neat, harmonious and very beautiful square font which is basically rectangular.
Five, the official script of Han Dynasty and Cao Zhang.
Han Li was gradually developed on the basis of the official script of Qin Dynasty at the end of Han Dynasty, while Han Li was a mature official script font. Official script often mentions Han Li's "eight points". It is a kind of Korean vertical official seal with the seal script disappearing, the wave extending from vertical to horizontal, the font flat and the body shape divided from left to right. Because of its square shape and heavy characters, this book has a serious sense of wholeness.
1. Features of Han Li
Li Bian is the most important change in the development history of Chinese characters. The completion of Li Bian is a fundamental change in the form of Chinese characters, which is mainly manifested in: (1) changing the circle of seal script into a square-folded stroke, and the font becomes square and square, and the original appearance cannot be seen. (2) Save and simplify the strokes and parts of some complicated words. For example, the components of the word "Lei and Qu" are simplified, and the radicals of "Shu, Cheng and Sheng" are omitted. (3) Some radicals are deformed and differentiated into several different shapes due to their different positions. Next to the "water" of "ice, pulp and note", there are various official scripts. (4) The deformation, omission and merging of radicals make some radicals with different forms of seal script mixed into one. For example, in Feng, the official script is basically the same.
Lishu completely abandons the pictographic factors of ancient Chinese characters, making people an abstract symbol and implementing comprehensive symbolization, which is undoubtedly a great progress in the history of Chinese characters. It ended the stage of ancient Chinese characters for thousands of years and formed the pattern of modern Chinese characters for nearly two thousand years, which laid the foundation for the emergence of regular script and played an extremely important role in the evolution of Chinese characters.
2. Cao Zhang
It is a sketch of official script, which is actually developed from the cursive script factor in Qin official script. Its characteristics are: Li Shu, which is characterized by drawing and borrowing strokes, has a fast writing speed, exquisite Li Shu in the later period, and exquisite Zhang Cao with the waves. Cao Zhang also has a strong taste of official script. Cao Zhang is a shorthand for official script, so it is named because it is often used to commemorate.
Six, regular script, running script and cursive script after the Han Dynasty.
1. Regular script
It is a popular orthographic character, which contains typical and normative meanings. It developed from Han Li, probably appeared in Wei Chu at the end of Han Dynasty, and was written in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Regular script is also called real script, official script and modern official script, such as inscriptions by Ou Yangxun and Liu Gongquan. It includes the founder of ancient Li, the beauty of eight points and the simplicity of eight points. This font has been used to this day and is regarded as a standard font, which is deeply loved by the world. Regular script has a sense of stability and tranquility.
2. Running script
It is shorthand for regular script, and its name comes from "the most popular folk characters", which was produced at the same time as regular script. It is a writing style between regular script and cursive script. On the one hand, it overcomes the shortcomings that cursive script is too presumptuous and difficult to identify, and adopts regular script form. On the other hand, it also accepts the advantages of cursive script, makes up for the shortcomings of too stiff regular script, and is easy to identify, simple and fast. Therefore, from a practical point of view, there is no essential difference between them and regular script, which is fluent in writing and flexible in writing. It is said that it was invented by Liu Desheng in Han Dynasty, and it is still the font used in our daily writing today. Running script is a way of writing freely with a pen. Running script is different from official script and official script, and its fluidity can be freely used by writers. Running script presents a romantic and aesthetic atmosphere.
3. cursive script
It includes Cao Zhang and Cao Jin. "Cursive script", also known as "broken grass" and "modern grass", consists of seal script, eight points and chapter grass, and follows a variety of ancient characters. The cursive script originated in Cao Zhang, and Cao Zhang has further developed into "modern cursive script", that is, the cursive script of regular script. The emphasis here is on grass, which is commonly called "a book". This grass is developed from long grass. On the one hand, it inherits Cao Zhang's line drawing and develops independently word by word. On the other hand, all the waves in Cao Zhang have been removed, and the horizontal potential of Cao Zhang has been changed into vertical potential, and the cursive script has been changed from official script to regular script, so it is appropriate to become the cursive script of regular script.