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| Scripts Development / Seal Script (小篆 "Xiao Zhuan") (300 - 200 B.C.) | ||||||
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(click image for closer view) or (click here to view a slideshow on the entire scripts development - requires monitor size 1024 x 768 pixels) |
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Inscription on a bronze leopard before 221 B.C. |
Inscription on a bronze weight cir. 220-230 B.C. |
Birds Script on a bronze vessel Western Han cir. 112 B.C. |
Y Mountain Monument by Li Si (嶧 山 碑) c. 220-225 B.C. |
Tian Fa Shen Qian Monument Wu of 3 Kingdoms (天 發 神 籤 碑) 276 A.D. |
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| After Zhou relocated its capital to the East, Qin tribe quickly took possession of Zhou's land and, by doing so, inherited the culture of the Zhou Dynasty. In the following several hundred years, Qin did more than taking over the writings, the tribe incorporated improvement with balanced structure and strokes.
When the first Emperor of Qin (秦 始 皇) finally completed his absolute reign of the China in 221 B.C., he ordered his Prime Minister Li Si (李 斯) to unify the written forms of all languages under one system. The newly unified characters were actually a modified version of the "Zhou" script (which was also called "Zhuan") from Zhou. Thus, the names of "New Zhuan" or "Xiao Zhuan" were adopted, merely for distinguishing the new from the "Old Zhuan". Having confirmed his sovereignty, Emperor Qin made a few inspection tours on his unification. He also instructed Li Si to write stone inscriptions to honor his achievements, the local governments, and the Heaven and Earth. All of these pieces were first created in master calligraphy by Li Si and then inscribed by skilled craftsmen. Six of these stone pieces were recorded. However, most of them were destroyed while the remaining bits only offered few traces of characters. One of these six pieces of stone slabs is the "Yi Mountain Monument" as shown. It is a rubbing of the Sung Dynasty based on a rubbing of the original inscription in the Five Dynasty. The original was totally destroyed in a wild fire. Notwithstanding the fact that it is a copy of a copy, the piece is still regarded as the best available blueprint for learning Seal Script. The Seal Script developed in Southern China adopted some very artistic patterns. Some of the influential ones were "Birds Script" and "Long-Leg Script" which were written with many cursive patterns. Shown here is an example of this period. |
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