Chapter 5 Section 4 The Art of Calligraphy in the Qin Dynasty

In 221 BC, Qin Wang Yingzheng annexed six countries and established a centralized power.The top priority of the unified dynasty was to change the fragmented situation during the Warring States Period, so some systems were established to facilitate unification, and "books with text" was one of them.According to historical records, Zhao Gao wrote "Yuan [Yuan] Li Pian", Hu Wujing wrote "Bo Xue Pian", and Li Si wrote "Cangjie Pian". They used the achievements accumulated by the previous Qin State and took the seal as the basis to choose the appropriate one. According to the principle of being easy to recognize, good for writing, and especially easy to carry out, three calligraphy books that basically do not violate the relationship between form and meaning and are standardized and unified have been compiled, and the chaotic characters since the Spring and Autumn and Warring States have been standardized. In the history of the development of calligraphy art , is of great significance.This kind of writing was called "Qin Zhuan" in history.To distinguish it from Dazhuan, it is also called "Xiaozhuan".Because Li Si is the main implementer and the most important writer, it is also called "Si Zhuan".

Qin Shihuang once toured various places, and he often engraved his ambitions on stones wherever he went. It is generally believed that most of the writings were written by Li Si.His characters are thin, hard and smooth, and his title is "Yuzhuan", which is the authentic version of Xiaozhuan.There are six famous carved stones in Mount Tai, Yi [yi] Mountain, Langya, Zhifu [fufu], Jieshi, and Kuaiji. Among them, the original stones in Langya and Taishan still exist, but the remaining characters are no longer there. There are many; the original stones of Yishan and Kuaiji have long since disappeared, and although there are rubbings, they are all re-engraved; Zhifu and Jieshi have long since disappeared.Although the Taishan carved stone has been damaged, its shape and structure are indeed credible and original. It should be said that this is a typical Qin seal script.

Although the Qin Dynasty formulated and promoted "Xiaozhuan", it did not destroy all the previous fonts, but left them to fend for themselves.Predecessors recorded the so-called "Eight Types of Qin Shu", that is, big seal script, small seal script, engraved talisman, insect script, imitation seal, official script, shu [shu script] script, and clerical script.In fact, although some have different fonts, some are named only because of the different places where they are written.Worthy of special attention is the official script. Regarding the official script, there have long been theories of "Qin Zhuan" and "Han Li", which refer to the representative fonts of the times, not the creation of Chinese fonts.In fact, official script began to germinate in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and it should have taken shape in the Qin Dynasty.According to records, there was an official in the Qin Dynasty, Cheng Miao [miao second], who was imprisoned in Yunyang Prison for being convicted. He felt that it was difficult to write Xiaozhuan, so he devoted himself to reform and made a font that was convenient for writing and was not officially used at that time. .Because the informal script is also popular among lower-level officials, it is called "Lishu" or "Zuoshu".Apparently, Cheng Miao was able to organize the official script.It is a pity that Cheng Miao's handwriting at that time has not been preserved, but we can see the clue from the earlier bamboo slips and silk scripts.

In the Qin Dynasty, the large seal script was changed to the small seal script, and the supplementary script was produced from the bamboo slips. In a simple view, it is only the development of fonts caused by the practical reform of writing, but in a deeper view, it is also an artistic progress: from random to rigorous, in line with the requirements of art, From loose to symmetrical and balanced, it also meets the requirements of art; and from standard to sparse, from round to square, is it not an artistic development, and there is no artistic requirement at work!This kind of progress further demonstrates the excellent artistic quality of Chinese characters itself, and also further demonstrates the outstanding wisdom and conscious aesthetic creativity of our ancestors.

In the Qin Dynasty, which ended in just two generations, there were so many creations and developments. It should be said that this is the era when Chinese calligraphy began to flourish.