The Official Script , also called “Zuo” Script or “Shi” Script , originated in the Warring States Period and flourished in the Han Dynasty . To make writing easier, the structure of this script broke away from the round, bending “stroke of the small seal script and used straight strokes, and changed from the vertical tendency of the strokes of the small seal script to the horizontal tendency”. Its shape was very decorative , wide and flat and extending to the two sides . Its strokes were undulating . Its horizontal strokes had the shapes of the silkworm head and the swallow tail . The calligraphy of the official script achieved the highest artistic level in the Han Dynasty . The Han official script calligraphies preserved now are inscriptions on stone tables and bamboo slips . Some of these calligraphies pieces are neat and elegant . Some are open and free . Yet some are compact in the middle and extended on the two sides . They have different styles . Some are square and dignified Some are refined and elegant .
Some are forceful and rigorous . Yet some are plain and natural . There are now preserved more than one hundred Han stone tablets with inscriptions . The official script in the Tang Dynasty stressed more the outward form , with thick and smooth strokes and a more magnificent style , but lacking vigor and appeal . Famous official script calligraphists in the Tang Dynasty included Shi Weize, Han Zemu, Li Longji and Xu Hao. The Qing Dynasty saw another climax of the official script calligraphy . Most of the calligraphists broke away from the style of the Tang official script and learned directly from the inscriptions on the stone tablets of the Han Dynasty. Famous official script calligraphists in the Qing Dynasty included Jin Nong, Huang Yi, GUI Fu, Deng Shiru, Yi Binshou, and Chen Hongshou，He Shaoji, Wu Rangzhi, Zhao Zhiqian and Yu Yue.
The Regular Script, also called “zheng” script or “Zhen” script, derived itself from the Official Script. It developed in the Wei-Jin-Southern-and Northern Dynasties , and culminated in the Tang Dynasty . Its forms were square but varied . Its strokes followed strict rules . Its dots , straight and bending strokes were coordinative . Its forms were more varied . The tablet inscriptions of the Southern-Northern Dynasties, particularly of the Northern Wei Dynasty, had a vigorous and magnificent style, and were a treasure of regular script calligraphy. Kang Youwei commended that they possessed “ten beauties” , The Wei tablet inscriptions could be divided roughly into three categories :stele inscription , statue sculpture inscriptions and tombstone inscriptions . The famous tablet inscriptions in that period included “Songgao Temple Tablet” , “Twenty Inscriptions in Longmeng Grottos” , “Zhang Menglong’s tablet” , “Zheng Xi’s tablet” , “Stone Gate way inscription”, etc ., On the basis of the achievements in the early Tang Dynasty , Yan Zhenqin in the middle Tang Dynasty founded a new style of the regular script . His new style was elegant and simple , poised and refined , forceful and magnificent , and was known as the “Yan style”. In the later Tang Dynasty , Liu Gongquan learned from the “Yan style” and founded his own style and Yan’s style have been widely known as “Yan’s muscles and Liu’s bones , and have been very influential on calligraphies in the later generations”.
