Chinese Calligraphy Characters / Japanese Kanji Styles & History
I just threw this page together on 6/3/06, and I hope to improve the quality of these descriptions with an update soon.
Here are some samples of character types/styles/fonts:
All of the Chinese characters below are of the same word meaning simply "Dragon"
(which is pronounced "long" but the "o" should sound like the "o" in the word "own").
Zhuanshu or "Seal Script" Chinese CharactersOver 2200 years old | ||
 Original Ancient Seal Script |
 Typical Seal Script |
 Square Seal Script |
| Examples of the earliest pictographs or hieroglyphics in China date back almost 5000 years. The most famous are the "oracle inscriptions" on tortoise shells from Shang Dynasty (17th to 11th century B.C.).
Here's the quick history lesson: The area now known as China was for many centuries, a fragmented region with various kingdoms rising and falling. Each kingdom or nationality in this rugged land had it's own writing system, and could not effectively communicate with people of other kingdoms. Finally, in about 221 B.C. the Qin Dynasty Emperor unified all of China. One of the Qin Emperor's goals was to standardize the writing system across all of his empire which he did during the first 20 years of his reign. Seal Script Characters were the first standardized writing system to be adopted across much of Asia. | ||
Lishu or "Official Script" Chinese CharactersAlmost as old as Seal Script | ||
 Transitional Official Script |
 Stylized Official Script |
 Fine-Line Official Script |
| The Official Script was the second-generation of writing approved during the Qin Dynasty. Official Script is easier to write and a little more flexible compared to Seal Script, but is still very complex. The printing press would not be invented for thousands of years, so official scribes literally had their hands full as they penned various documents. | ||
Kaishu and Xingshu - Traditional/Regular Chinese CharactersUp to 1700 years old | |||
 Hand-Print Kaishus Style |
 Calligraphy Kaishu Style |
 Xingshu or Xing-Kaishu ...like Kaishu but with more flowing strokes |
 Stone Carved Kaishu Style |
| These characters are understood in China, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao, as well as many people in Malaysia, and communities of Chinese and Japanese people around the world. Historians will argue this point, but the Traditional Chinese Characters that you see today entered a somewhat final lexicon during the Wei kingdom (220-265 A.D.) and the Jin Dynasties (265-420 A.D.). | |||
Simplified Chinese CharactersOnly in existence for 50 yearsExcept by special request, we do not offer calligraphy using simplified characters. It's even hard to find calligraphers in China that are willing to write simplified characters, as they often believe that is takes the art out of the character. | ||
 Simplified Computer Font |
 Bold Simplified | |
 These characters were implemented in 1956 after Chairman Mao took over China in 1949. They are based loosely on traditional characters, but lack many of the strokes of the originals. Chairman Mao's idea was to make Chinese characters easier to write for the under-educated masses in China at that time. These characters are only used in mainland China (and somewhat in Singapore and Chinese communities around Malaysia).
I do not recommend these characters for your calligraphy because they are not universally understood throughout many Oriental cultures in the same way that Traditional Characters are. Note that most people in the mainland with a anything slightly beyond a high school education can read Traditional Characters (and many Traditional Characters were left untouched during the changeover to the Simplified Character system). | ||
Special Traditional Chinese Character FontsSlightly older than yesterday | |||
 Japanese Tea Cup |
 Special Traditional |
 Saw Tooth |
 Hello Kitty |
| On everything from billboards, logos, TV commercials, and items on store shelves in China, you will see characters like these.
We don't offer calligraphy in these styles, but you might as well know that they exist. | |||
