The external formal characteristics of text. It is the style of writing, the coat of writing. The artistry of fonts is reflected in its perfect external form and rich connotation. Fonts are the carrier of culture and the epitome of society. Next, I will bring you what kinds of fonts are there for modern Chinese character printing? Hope you all like it!

Fonts refer to various styles of text. Modern Chinese character fonts can be divided into two major styles: handwritten and printed.

Handwriting includes regular script, running script, cursive script and other fonts. Kaishu is the modern traditional handwritten Chinese character, also called regular script. Running script is the main auxiliary font of regular script. Its shape and style are between cursive script and regular script. Cursive script is characterized by connected strokes and fast writing. It is generally used for calligraphy or quick writing.

There are four types of printing styles: Song font, Song font, Kai font, and Hei font. These four glyphs are introduced below.

Song style, also known as Old Song style, is a popular printing style for Chinese characters. The character shape is square, the strokes are rigorous, the horizontal strokes are thin, the vertical strokes are thick, and there are decorative dots and lines. This font is generally used for the main text of books and newspapers.

The imitation Song style is made up of the structure of Song style and the brushwork of regular script. Its strokes have the same thickness, even structure, and elegant fonts, including long, square and flat characters. It is mostly used for printing the text of documents or poems, quotations of articles, prefaces of books, illustrations of plates, etc.

Regular script is also called living script. The shape is similar to handwritten regular script, with dignified characters and round strokes. It is mostly used for printing popular books, primary and secondary school textbooks and children's books.

Helvetica is also called boldface and square-headed body. The strokes are thick and thick, the fonts are full, and the writing is eye-catching. It is mostly used in titles, slogans, advertisements or highlighted parts of articles.

Among the above four fonts, Song and Kai are commonly used printing fonts. However, before the fonts were sorted out, the glyph structure and strokes of the Song style were quite different from those of the Kai style. For example, the character "ji" in regular script is written as " " or " " in Song style, and the character "zhen" in regular script is written as " " in Song style. This difference between Song style and Kai style not only adds burden to the literacy teaching of Chinese characters, but also brings inconvenience to people's application. To this end, the relevant departments have organized the printing of Song fonts. Since the glyph structure and strokes of printed regular script are basically the same as those of handwritten regular script, in order to facilitate people's learning and application, an important principle for organizing glyphs is to make the glyph structure and strokes of Song style as close as possible to regular script. In January 1965, the Ministry of Culture and the Chinese Character Reform Commission jointly promulgated the "General Chinese Character Font Form Table for Printing", which stipulated the standard glyphs for a common font (i.e. "Song Style") for 6,196 general Chinese characters. The printing department follows this specification to carve typefaces, and the sizes are numbered according to a unified standard. Nowadays, most books, newspapers and periodicals are printed in this font.

: Font type

1. Songti

Songti originated from the Song Dynasty, but Songti was established in the Ming Dynasty, so it is still called Songti in Japan. As "Ming Dynasty style". Song font is the most widely used font in the printing industry. According to the different shapes of the characters, it is divided into writing for the Song Dynasty and reporting for the Song Dynasty. Songti is a printing font that originated from the woodblock printing in the Song Dynasty. Song font has a square shape, horizontal and vertical strokes, thin horizontal and thick vertical strokes, sharp edges and corners, rigorous structure, neat and even, and strong regularity of strokes, which makes people feel comfortable and eye-catching when reading. In modern printing, it is mainly used for the text part of books or newspapers.

In the Song Dynasty, culture and education were promoted and martial arts suppressed, and culture showed unprecedented prosperity. The printing and publishing industry entered a golden age in the Song Dynasty. Block printing flourished, book engraving centers developed rapidly, and movable type printing was invented. A large number of copies of the Song version were reproduced in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and the Song style characters were established in the Ming Dynasty. Song-style characters are easy to write and engrave, and the fonts are beautiful and dignified. They adapted to the operational requirements of the printing and publishing industry and became a witness to the cultural perfection of the Song Dynasty.

The combination of Chinese calligraphy and woodblock printing resulted in Song-style characters. Therefore, Song-style characters not only have the charm of Chinese calligraphy, but also have the charm of woodblock printing and woodblock engraving.

2. Yan Shu

Yan Shu is a new style of Chinese calligraphy. Yan Shu, Yan style, Yan style is a new style of Chinese calligraphy. Calligraphy Yan's calligraphy begins with the stroke showing the edge, then closes the stroke to reveal the edge, with the pen in the center and the momentum in the lower right. It not only inherits traditional calligraphy, but is also different from traditional calligraphy, presenting a distinctive new calligraphy style.

The style of Yan Shu calligraphy has profound historical and cultural origins and has inherited the traditional Chinese calligraphy art for thousands of years. The achievement of Yan Shu calligraphy lies in his major breakthrough in traditional calligraphy and has made a huge contribution to the development of Chinese calligraphy art. contribute.

Traditional calligraphy can be divided into five calligraphy styles: cursive, official, seal, and regular script. Strictly speaking, Yan calligraphy is not among the five calligraphy styles. Yanshu calligraphy draws lessons from the five calligraphy styles of knot painting and transfer pen, but its solid foundation and premise is still the original calligraphy. Yan Shu calligraphy is not the "sixth calligraphy style" after the five calligraphy styles, but in terms of its style and characteristics, it is indeed a once-in-a-millennium calligraphy and unprecedented. The structure of Yan Shu calligraphy is based on the main script. There was no such formulation in the side script before. The main script and side script are used interchangeably, which is vivid and lively. In traditional calligraphy, regular script is regular script and cursive script is cursive script, with clear front and side. It is the innovation, inheritance and development of Chinese calligraphy.

3. Regular script

Regular script is also called Zhengkai, Zhenshu, and Zhengshu. It gradually evolved from the official script founded by Cheng Miao, becoming more simplified, horizontal and vertical. "Cihai" explains that it "has a square shape and straight strokes, which can be used as a model." Hence the name regular script. It began in the late Han Dynasty and has been popular ever since. The emergence of regular script closely followed the rules and regulations of the Han Dynasty, and pursued the further development of physical beauty. At the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, the writing of Chinese characters gradually changed into waves, stilts, and strokes, and added "side" (dot), " Strokes such as "plunder" (long strokes), "peck" (short strokes), and "lift" (straight hooks) make the structure more rigorous. Such as "Wuwei Medical Slips", "Juyan Han Slips", etc. Regular script is characterized by neat rules and is a model among fonts, so it is called regular script and has been used to this day.

Regular script has the meaning of model, which has been mentioned in Zhang Huaiguan's "Shu Duan". People in the Six Dynasties still used it habitually, for example, Yang Xin's "Cai" article, Wang Sengqian's "Lun Shu Wei Dan Biography" said: "Dan Zi Zhongjiang, a native of Jingzhao, good at regular script." That is "eight points." The abbreviation of "Kaifa". It was only in the Northern Song Dynasty that it replaced the name of the official book. Its content is obviously different from the ancient name. Examples of different names but the same name but the same name but the same reality are probably the above.

Regular script was the most popular calligraphy style in my country’s feudal society from the Northern and Southern Wei to the Jin and Tang Dynasties. Before the emergence of regular script, my country's calligraphy had produced three calligraphy styles: large seal script, small seal script and official script. Dazhuan is relative to Xiaozhuan. Generally, all ancient characters before Xiaozhuan are collectively called Dazhuan, including oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions and the characters of the Six Kingdoms except Qin during the Warring States Period. Xiaozhuan was the script that became popular after the Qin Dynasty unified China. It was based on the characters of the Qin State, with reference to the characters of other vassal states, and was simplified and standardized for the convenience of writing. This was the first standardized calligraphy style in the history of Chinese calligraphy. Official script is another representative calligraphy style that emerged after Xiaozhuan. It was produced on the basis of Xiaozhuan. The emergence of official script is a great revolution in Chinese characters. Its significance is not only that Chinese characters have become symbolic, but more importantly, it has changed the writing style and aesthetic trend of Chinese characters, thus laying the foundation for the emergence of regular script calligraphy art, and then for China The development and prosperity of calligraphy art has opened up a vast world.

4. Cursive script

Zhangcao: Zi Jincao: A font produced for the convenience of writing. It began in the early Han Dynasty. What was commonly used at that time was "Cao Li", that is, scrawled official script. Later, it gradually developed into a kind of "Zhang Cao" with artistic value. In the late Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhi changed "Zhangcao" to "Jincao", forming the style of the characters in one stroke. In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Xu and Huai Su developed "Kang Cao" with continuous and convoluted strokes and numerous changes in glyphs. In modern times, Lin Sanzhi, Li Zhimin and Yu Youren have the reputation of "Cao Sage". Lin San's representative works include "Poems on Sino-Japanese Friendship", "Xu Yao's Poems on Huaisu Cursive Script", etc. Among them, "Poems on Sino-Japanese Friendship" is called "Lin San's No. 1 Cursive Script".

Part of Lin Sanzhi's first cursive script "Poetry on Sino-Japanese Friendship"

5. Official script

Official script is also called "official script" and "ancient script" . It is a font based on seal script to meet the needs of convenient writing. Simplified the small seal script, and transformed the evenly rounded lines of the small seal script into straight and square strokes, making it easier to write. It was a font that was created in prison. It is divided into "Qin Li" (also called "Ancient Li") and "Han Li" (also called "Modern Li"). The emergence of official script is a major change in ancient writing and calligraphy.

Official script is a common solemn font in Chinese characters. The writing effect is slightly wide and flat, with long horizontal strokes and short straight strokes. It pays attention to "silkworm head and swallow tail" and "twists and turns".

It originated in the Qin Dynasty and reached its peak in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is known as "Han Li Tang Kai" in the calligraphy circle. It is also said that official script originated during the Warring States Period.

Official script is relative to seal script, and the name of official script originated from the Eastern Han Dynasty. The emergence of official script was another major reform of Chinese characters, which brought Chinese calligraphy art into a new realm. It was a turning point in the history of the evolution of Chinese characters and laid the foundation for regular script. The structure of official script is flat, neat and delicate. By the Eastern Han Dynasty, the strokes, strokes, dots and other paintings were beautified into upward provocations, with changes in light and heavy pauses and the beauty of calligraphy art. The styles are also becoming more diverse, which is of great value for artistic appreciation.

It is said that the official script was compiled by Cheng Miao in prison at the end of the Qin Dynasty. He eliminated complexity and simplified it. The shape of the characters changed from round to square, and the strokes changed from curved to straight. Change "continuous strokes" to "broken strokes" and move from lines to strokes, making it easier to write. "Liren" is not a prisoner, but refers to a "subordinate official", that is, a small official in charge of documents, so in ancient times the official script was called "zuoshu". Calligraphy, at the same time, derived cursive script, regular script, running script, and Yan script, laying the foundation for art.

Official script basically evolved from seal script. It mainly changed the round strokes of seal script into square folds. Because it is difficult to draw round strokes when writing on wooden slips with lacquer, the writing speed of official script is faster. quick.

6. Running script

Running script is a calligraphy style between regular script and cursive script. It appeared around the late Western Han Dynasty and the early Eastern Han Dynasty. It was created to make up for the slow writing speed of regular script and the difficulty of legibility of cursive script. The writing style is not as sloppy as cursive script, nor does it require regular script to be as straight. Those with more regular script than cursive script are called "Xingkai". Those with more cursive than regular script are called "Xingcao". Running script began in the late Han Dynasty.

The name of running calligraphy first appeared in the article "Four Styles of Calligraphy" by Wei Heng of the Western Jin Dynasty: "In the early Wei Dynasty, there were two schools of running calligraphy, Zhong (Yao) and Hu (Zhao), and they both learned from Liu Desheng." Zhang Huaiguan of the Tang Dynasty recorded in "Shujuan": "Liu Desheng was the one who wrote the running script. It is a small forgery of the original script, which is simple and popular, so it is called running script." Zhang Huaiguan also said in his "Shu Yi": "The running script is written by Liu Desheng. It is neither grass nor true. It is between Ji and Meng to escape from the square. Those who are both true are called Zhen Xing, and those who carry grass are called Xing Cao." Fengfang of the Ming Dynasty had a more vivid description in "Shu Jue": "Xing." The pen does not stop, the paper does not engrave, the light turns and the heavy press are like water flowing in the clouds, without any interruption, and it is always in business. "Ring calligraphy has its unique artistic expression and broadness due to its flowing flow, fast writing, elegant and easy to read. Its practicality has been favored and widely spread since its creation. After experiencing the golden period of the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the development period of the Tang Dynasty, running script reached a new peak in the Song Dynasty and gradually occupied a mainstream position among various calligraphy styles. Throughout the long history of calligraphy, the development of seal script, official script, and regular script has experienced ups and downs, while running script has never declined and has always been a prominent school in the field of calligraphy. Calligraphers of all ages have jointly written a glorious history of the development of running script.

7. Helvetica

Helvetica is a historical product of machine printing. For at least a hundred years, blackface Chinese characters have erased all the artificial imprints of Chinese handwriting and the origin of the characters. There is no beginning and end of handwriting; it establishes the basic structure of Chinese characters in a geometric way (it is constructive (not writing), its uniform stroke width and smooth stroke arc show a stable, timeless and timeless character full of machine meaning.

8. Imitation Song Dynasty

Imitation Song Dynasty, as the name suggests, is a variant of Song Dynasty, and it is also a printed style. A type of printing font, imitating the fonts engraved on Song Dynasty books. The strokes are of uniform thickness and come in three styles: long, square and flat. Also called imitation Song style and imitation Song characters.