Over the thousands of years, the style of Chinese Calligraphy (Shu Fa)has evolved continually. About 213 B.C., under the famous Emperor Qin Shi Huang, who perpetrated the 'burning of the books', the Prime Minister Li Szu drew up an official index of characters and unified the written form for the use of scholars. This is chuan-shu and contained more than 3,000 characters. From that time to the present, there are five major styles of calligraphy: the seal character ( Zhuan), the official or clerical script (Lishu), the regular script (Kaishu), the running hand (Xingshu) and the Cursive Hand (Caoshu).

 

Let us take a look one by one:

 

The seal character (zhuan): Li Si is the Representative Master,these characters featured balanced left and right parts and a bit complicated structures.

 

The official or clerical script (li): Cai Yong is the Representative Master. It is a kind of calligraphy with round shape and many strokes.

 

The regular script (kai): Ouyang Xiu is the Representative Master.Kaishu is regular with a tight structure and fluent strokes.

 

The cursive hand (cao): Zhang Xu is the Representative Master.Caoshu is characterized by sketchy, simplified forms of characters, often distorted or exaggerated to achieve an internal rhythmic appearance within the compositions of characters.

 

The running hand (xing): Wang Xizhi is the Representative Master.Something between the regular script and the cursive scripts in the initial period and now is between the official script and cursive hand. Chinese masters have always compared with vivid aptness the three styles of writing. Kaishu, Xingshu, Caoshulike people standing, walking and running.

 

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