Although I've been good with posting book-related content on the blog, I have been neglecting the other half this blog is dedicated to: typography. So, I thought I'd compensate for that by creating a new series of posts on the history of typography. Each post will be devoted to specific region/county in which typography was a significant part of the culture over the course of its known history. Of course. It would be tiresome for both you and I to cover absolutely everything, and I wouldn't able to do so anyway with doing some extensive research, the product of which will be a book the history of typography rather than a post on a blog. So, this will be more of a brief overview. Today, we'll be discussing typography within Chinese culture and how it has evolved over time. *Disclaimer: I'm by no means an expert in typography, let alone Chinese typography. In fact, I'm learning about this as I'm drafting this post. I'm simply indulging a hobby. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did in creating it!
No unlike other countries/regions around the world whose culture heavily relied/based on typography, the features of Chinese characters have changed over thousands of years as a result of the rapidly changing environment: different peoples coming into the region and bringing along with them new ideas and aspects of their own cultures, the inclusion of various conquests within dynasties, etc. These will have no doubt accounted for changes that we will see in Chinese typography.
Written Chinese is one of the earliest known forms of written language in the world, it dates back thousands of years. The main forms of written Chinese are as follows: Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Bronze Inscriptions, Seal Characters, Clerkly Script, Regular Script, Cursive/Grass Stroke Characters, and Freehand Script. The order in which I listed the types are not necessarily the order of their emergence. In fact, there is some debate among experts today of their order. But this the order that generally agreed upon. Bear in mind though, that it is very possible that they were not all introduced in consequence, some may have appeared simultaneously.
The Oracle Bone Script is the earliest known form of Chinese Script. These seemingly crude drawings are understood to have been used in the during the Shang Dynasty (estimated to be around 1500 BCE to 1000 BCE). Oracle Bone Script was named as such because the characters were etched onto animal bones and turtle shells that were used in court for the practice of clairvoyance or fortune-telling. At first glance, the script seems to be a pictorial image and further investigation reveals that many of the "words" correspond with their namesakes. While that is true, the majority of the characters do not look like what they mean. The Oracle Bones Script was widely utilized in the Middle to Late period of the Shang Dynasty, so much so that it developed into a formal writing system and it became convention at some point to convey ideas using this form of writing.
From what I have found, there isn't much to Bronze Script, which- from the Chinese phrase it's used to refer to- can literally be translated to "Gold writing". It is the formal script engraved onto bronze vessels that have been dated back to the Shang and Zhou dynasties. It's important to note that there is no such official script such as "Bronze script". It's merely used when speaking of this particular form of writing and what its inscribed on.
There are different variations of the Seal script, some of these include, Greater seal script and lesser seal script, the difference between which include the practical size of the script- the former being the larger of the two. Another feature that differentiates the two is that the Greater seal script is almost an umbrella term that covers a rather broad variety of scripts, even our earliest mention, the oracle bone writing. The development of Lesser seal script was accredited to Li Si, the infamous chancellor of the Qin Dynasty. It was used as recently as the Han dynasty and is even said to be used today, to a certain extent. "Seal" is specifically used because that its letters were cast or engraved onto the seals of wood, ceramic, or bronze, onto which the officials would place their signatures.
The Clerky Script was the formal of all of the previously mentioned types: it was mostly used by government officials during the Qin and Han dynasties (approximately, 221-206 BCE) It was first developed as faster and more efficient way of conveying messages and other works or written word to handle important state affairs. The Clerky Script features a flowy and less broad stroke, which made it more adaptable to both brushes and the pen. This style of writing is still in use today and is nearly identical to modern Chinese characters.
The Regular or Standard Script is a child of the Clerky Script of sorts: from the neat and semi-cursive form of the Clerky Script, it morphed into this broader-stroked, slowly and carefully printed set of characters. It was one of the last calligraphy-style types to develop. It was established as one of the dominant types in its time in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Because it is such a deliberate and emphasized form of writing, the Regular/Standard Script was likely the most known and used style of writing, especially in the population of new learners of written Chinese, it was the easiest to transcribe.
As its moniker implies, the Running Script is that style in which all of the characters of a word are printed in a single stroke. Even more than others, this type requires that the writer have a good sense of what is called "Stroke Order", or the order in which it is best to print the strokes of characters in. Interestingly, though it may not look it (on account of it seeming composed and neat) this script was used for consolidation and simplification in quick writing. That is, the writer may either press later or what in other circumstances may be an "incomplete lift". However, because it is the type that allows for "incomplete lifts" if the reader is familiar with the Running Script, they will know what is implied. Isn't this all so fascinating?! All of the nuances in each script are intriguing!
Lastly, but certainly not least is the Grass Stroke Script.
Honestly, I don't even know what to make of this one. It's strangely beautiful, but so unlike any of the other kinds of Chinese script we've learned about thus far. You could be asking, is that even legible to people? Who could possibly understand what that says? (admittedly, I was asking myself those very same questions) And yet, people can read it. This particular form of script emerged during the Han and through the Jin dynasties. In using Grass Script, the writer is not bound by any rules of even spacing and/or sizing, unlike the other types. The Grass Stroke can take on quite a few forms of compression. The calligrapher can do either or all of the following: merge strokes that would otherwise be separate, together; abbreviating characters, and/or omit a graph entirely. The result of which you can see in the illustration above. How cool is that?
That's all for the now folks! I'll be back with another History of Typography post in a few weeks, keep your eyes peeled for the next one! In the meantime, stay tuned for a book review or two, maybe even a Soundtrack Sunday in the upcoming days!
References
Chinese Typography viewed on 18 November 2018
https://issuu.com/cheehanshen/docs/chinese_typography
Five Original Writing Systems: The Evolution of Chinese Writing 18 November 2018
http://chemsites.chem.rutgers.edu/~kyc/ChineseLearn.html
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