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| Scripts Development / Ancient Clerical Script (古 隸 "Gu Li") (300 B.C. - 100A.D.) | |||||
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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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| Brush Writing on Silk Western Han Dynasty (帛 書) Cir. 200 B.C. |
Brush Writing on Bamboo / Wood Slabs Han Dynasty (竹 木 簡) cir. 100-25 B.C. |
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| "Li" was believed to be invented by a scholar called Cheng Miao (程 邈)in the Qin Dynasty. He was put to jail for ten years for offending the Emperor. While he was in jail, he modified the Seal Script into a more casual writing combining straight and angular lines. This form became very popular with both the general public and the civil servants.
"Li" in Chinese means slave. Some said that the name came from the creator Cheng Miao because he himself was a slave in the prison. Others reckoned it was due to the fact that the "Li" Script was generally adopted by the government to keep criminal records. This script was mostly found on silk or on inscriptions of wood and bamboo slabs. Silk, wood and bamboo slabs were used as materials to write on well before the Qin Dynasty. It is interesting to note that before the invention of paper, people wrote with brushes then carved on wood and bamboo slabs that were then tied together into "books". The great scholar Confucius was said to own five carts of books at the time. The silk and wood / bamboo slabs (as shown) unearthed from the tombs of early Han Dynasty demonstrate how the free, floating quick strokes of brushes compare with the previous stiff and rigid style of the Seal Script. |
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