Bronze inscriptions

Bronze inscriptions refer to the characters engraved on the bronzes of the Yin and Zhou dynasties, also called bell and tripod inscriptions. The Shang and Zhou dynasties were the age of bronzes. The ritual vessels of bronzes were represented by tripods, and the musical instruments were represented by bells. "Zhongding" is synonymous with bronzes. Therefore, bell and tripod inscriptions or bronze inscriptions refer to the inscriptions cast or engraved on bronze vessels.

The so-called bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. China had already entered the Bronze Age in the Xia Dynasty, and the smelting of copper and the manufacturing of bronze wares were very developed. Because copper was also called gold before the Zhou Dynasty, the inscriptions on bronze vessels were called "Jin Wen" or "Ji Jin Wen"; and because this type of bronze had the largest number of characters on bells and tripods, they were also called "Zhong Ding Wen" in the past. ?.

The period when bronze inscriptions were used ranged from the early Shang Dynasty to the Qin Dynasty when it destroyed the Six Kingdoms, about 1,200 years ago. The number of characters in bronze inscriptions, according to Rong Geng's "Inscriptions on Bronze Inscriptions", totals 3,722, of which 2,420 are identifiable.

The number of words in the inscriptions on the bronze vessels varies. The content recorded is also very different. Most of its main content is to praise the achievements of ancestors and princes, while also recording major historical events. For example, the famous Mao Gongding has 497 characters, covering a wide range of events and reflecting the social life at that time.

Cursive script

A style of writing for Chinese characters. It was formed in the Han Dynasty and evolved on the basis of official script for the convenience of writing. There are Zhangcao, Jincao and Kuangcao. There are rules and regulations to follow when making changes in Zhangcao's strokes. Representative works include the Songjiang version of Wu Huangxiang's "Jijiuzhang" of the Three Kingdoms. Jincao's writing style is informal and smooth, and his representative works include "Chu Yue" and "De Shi" written by Wang Xizhi of the Jin Dynasty. Cursive calligraphy appeared in the Tang Dynasty, represented by Zhang Xu and Huai Su, with wild and uninhibited writing styles. It became an artistic creation that was completely divorced from practicality. From then on, cursive calligraphy was only a calligraphy work copied by calligraphers. Representative works include Zhang Xu's "Belly Pain" and Huai Su's "Autobiography". Cursive script is a font created 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 "Cao Li" with artistic value. At the end of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhi changed "Zhangcao" into "Jincao", and the style of the characters was formed in one stroke. In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Xu and Huai Su developed "Kuaicao" with continuous and convoluted strokes and numerous changes in glyphs.

Running script

A font between regular script and cursive script. It can be said to be the cursive version of regular script or the regular script version of cursive script. 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 is it required to be as straight as regular script. Those with more regular script than cursive script are called "Xing Kai". Those with more cursive than regular script are called "Xingcao". Running script was produced around the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Representative figures: "Two Kings": Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi.