From the development of cursive script, the development of cursive script can be divided into three stages: early cursive script, Cao Zhang cursive script and modern cursive script.
Early cursive script and official script were parallel, generally called official script, but in fact some forms of seal script were mixed.
The early cursive script broke the strict rules of official script and was a hasty writing. It's called Cao Zhang. Cao Zhang is an elegant cursive style, which combines early cursive and Han Li. Its waves are distinct, the strokes are connected in waves, the characters are independent, the glyphs are all over the square, and the strokes are horizontal. Cao Zhang was the most popular in the Han and Wei Dynasties, but it was revived in the Yuan Dynasty and transformed into the Ming Dynasty.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, Cao Zhang was further "grassed" and the strokes of Lishu were removed. The upper and lower characters and strokes are connected, and the radicals are simplified and borrowed, which is called "modern grass". Jincao evolved from Cao Zhang, and its calligraphy style has been popular since Wei and Jin Dynasties. In the Tang Dynasty, this kind of grass was described as "wild grass", also known as "big grass", with continuous strokes and changeable glyphs.
Today, the aesthetic value of cursive script far exceeds its practical value. Cursive script is to connect words with dots according to certain rules. It has a simple structure and is used while borrowing, not scribbling at will. One of the main features of cursive symbols is the linking of strokes, including up-and-down linking and left-and-right linking. The lateral tendency of Li Hua's brushwork provides a foundation for the grass planting of the left and right hooks. Cao Zhang's brushwork is "I", while modern Cao Cao's brushwork is "S". This is the fundamental difference between the two. Indulge with a pen, draw messy, also called big grass or crazy grass.
Conceptual division
Universal cursive script
Refers to the cursive writing style. Including two situations: first, in ancient times when the characters were not unified, there would naturally be no unified and standardized cursive script, and the cursive script that appeared at that time belonged to the generalized cursive script; Second, after the unification of words, in case of emergency, or when drafting documents and recording other people's conversations, the strokes are quick, the strokes of Lian Bi are omitted, and the scribbled words written by letters are not standardized. This scribble is difficult to communicate with, and even after a long time, it is difficult for the writer to recognize it. This scrawled word belongs to the generalized cursive script.
cursive script
In order to facilitate writing, after a long process of convention, especially in the period of the transformation from seal script to official script, the popular cursive script has gradually increased and the writing method has gradually unified. After the process of quantitative change to qualitative change, a cursive script with statutes was finally produced, that is, Cao Zhang, which further developed into today's cursive script. In a narrow sense, cursive script refers to Cao Zhang and today's grass.
The drafting method of self-cursive script has basically taken shape, and the established cursive script is both standardized and flexible. Its basic content includes the following three aspects: First, cursive script is a kind of character with omitted strokes and simple structure. Second, cursive script takes stippling as the basic symbol, replacing radicals and a certain part of characters, which is the most symbolic style. Thirdly, the strokes of cursive script are interrelated and echo each other, which is convenient for writing quickly and expressing the writer's feelings.