Regular script

Regular script
Heart Sutra by Ouyang Xun in regular script, 635
Script type	Logographic
Period	c. 2nd century CE – present
Direction
Related scripts
Parent systems	Oracle bone script Small seal script Clerical script Regular script
Child systems	Ming typefaces Fangsong Nüshu
Unicode
Unicode range	Template:Ubli

Regular script

The regular script is the newest of the major Chinese script styles, emerging during the Three Kingdoms period c. 230 CE, and stylistically mature by the 7th century. It is the most common style used in modern text. In its traditional form it is the third-most common in publishing after the Ming and Gothic types used exclusively in print.

History

The Xuanhe Calligraphy Manual (Template:Zhi) credits Wang Cizhong with creating the regular script, based on the clerical script of the early Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE). It became popular during the Eastern Han and Three Kingdoms periods, with Zhong Yao (c. 151 – 230), a calligrapher in the state of Cao Wei (220–266), being credited as its first master, known as the father of regular script. His famous works include the Template:Zhp, Template:Zhp, and Template:Zhp. Palaeographer Qiu Xigui describes the script in Xuanshi biao as:

...clearly emerging from the womb of early period semi-cursive script. If one were to write the tidily written variety of early period semi-cursive script in a more dignified fashion and were to use consistently the pause technique [(Template:Zhi)], used to reinforce the beginning or ending of a stroke when ending horizontal strokes, a practice which already appears in early period semi-cursive script, and further were to make use of right-falling strokes with thick feet, the result would be a style of calligraphy like that in the "Xuān shì biǎo".

However, very few wrote in this script at the time other than a few literati; most continued writing in the neo-clerical script, or a hybrid form of semi-cursive and neo-clerical. The regular script did not become dominant until the 5th century during the early Northern and Southern period (420–589); there was a variety of the regular script which emerged from neo-clerical as well as regular scripts known as Template:Zhl or Template:Zhl. Thus, the regular script is descended both from the early semi-cursive style as well as from the neo-clerical script.

The script is considered to have become stylistically mature during the Tang dynasty (618–907), with the most famous and oft-imitated calligraphers of that period being the early Tang's Four Great Calligraphers (): Ouyang Xun, Yu Shinan, Chu Suiliang, and Xue Ji, as well as the tandem of Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan.

During the Northern Song (960–1127), Emperor Huizong created an iconic style known as Template:Zhl. During the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322) also became known for his own calligraphic style for the regular script, called Template:Zhp.

92 rules governing the fundamental structure of regular script were established during the Qing dynasty (1644–1912); the calligrapher Huang Ziyuan wrote a guidebook illustrating these rules, with four characters provided as an example for each.

Characteristics

The Eight Principles of Yong encapsulate varieties of most strokes that appear in the regular script. Regular script characters with dimensions larger than Template:Cvt are usually classified as 'large' (Template:Zhi); those smaller than Template:Cvt are usually classified as 'small' (Template:Zhi), and those in between are 'medium' (Template:Zhi).

Notable works written in regular script include the Northern and Southern-era Records of Yao Boduo Sculpturing () and Tablet of General Guangwu (), the Sui-era Tablet of Longzang Temple (), Tombstone Record of Sui Xiaoci (), and Tombstone Record of Beauty Tong (), and the Tang-era Sweet Spring at Jiucheng Palace ().

Derivative styles

• Fangsong typefaces are based on a printed style which developed during the Song dynasty (970–1279)
• The most common printed typeface styles, Ming and sans-serif, are based on Fangsong
• Japanese textbook typefaces are based on regular script, but modified so that they appear to be written with a pencil or pen. They also follow the jōyō kanji character forms.
• The bopomofo semi-syllabograms are nearly always written using regular script strokes.

Gallery

• 
  Xuanshi Biao by Zhong Yao, written during the early transition from clerical script to regular script
• 
  Sheng Jiao Xu by Chu Suiliang, an example of regular script

References

Sources

• Gao, James Zheng (2009), Historical Dictionary of Modern China (1800–1949), Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, ISBN 978-0-810-84930-3
• Li, Wendan (2009), Chinese Writing and Calligraphy, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, ISBN 978-0-8248-3364-0
• Qiu Xigui (裘锡圭) (2000) [1988], Chinese Writing, translated by Mattos, Gilbert L.; Norman, Jerry, Berkeley: Society for the Study of Early China and The Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, ISBN 978-1-55729-071-7