Clerical script
The clerical script (simplified Chinese: 隶书; traditional Chinese: 隸書; pinyin: lìshū; Japanese: 隸書体, Reishotai;), formerly also chancery script, is an archaic style of Chinese calligraphy which, due to its high legibility to modern readers, is still used for artistic flavor in a variety of functional applications such as headlines, signboards and advertisements. This legibility stems from the highly rectilinear structure, a feature shared with modern kaishu script, as well as from the fact that clerical is its nearest predecessor in time. In structure and rectilinearity it is generally similar to the modern script; however, in contrast with the tall to square modern script, it tends to be square to wide, and often has a pronounced, wavelike flaring of isolated major strokes, especially a dominant rightward or downward diagonal stroke. Some structures are also archaic.
Clerical script is popularly but mistakenly thought to have developed or been invented in the early Hàn dynasty from the small seal script. There are also historical traditions dating to the Hàn dynasty which mistakenly attributed the creation of clerical script to the Qín dynasty and in particular to Chéng Miǎo, who was said to have invented it at the behest of Qín Shĭhuáng.[1] Another traditional account is that it was invented by government scribes, in particular those involved in the justice and penal systems[2]. However, from written materials unearthed by archaeologists, it is now known that all stages of Chinese writing underwent periods of natural evolution, and none of them were inventions by one person; this is true of clerical script as well[3]. Furthermore, rather than being established by government scribes, it has been argued that clerical script was already in popular use, and the Qín dynasty use by scribes merely reflects this trend[4]. Archaeological discoveries now conclusively demonstrate that an immature form of clerical script ('early clerical' or 'proto-clerical') was already developing in the state of Qín during the late Warring States period[5], and into the early Western Hàn[6]. Furthermore, the writing immediately preceding clerical script was not merely seal script; rather, there was a coexistence of seal script (the at-first dominant and formal style) alongside an increasingly popular but secondary form of 'vulgar', 'popular' or 'common' writing which was very roughly executed and which was generally rectilinear[7]. The popularity of this vulgar writing grew as the use of writing itself became more widespread[8]. The structures and style of many of the characters executed in this vulgar writing were similar or even identical to their later clerical script counterparts[9], leading some to conclude that proto-clerical (and therefore clerical) script evolved not from seal script but from the vulgar writing of Qín which coexisted with seal script in the late Warring States to Qín dynasty[10]. The Qín bamboo script is a good example of this transition, having evolved from vulgar Qín writing and considered by some to constitute Qín clerical script[11].
The Chinese name for the script, lìshū simplified Chinese: 隶书; traditional Chinese: 隸書, is as problematic as the origin of the script itself. Lì meant a slave or prisoner serving the state, and thus some infer that the script was used in recording the affairs related to such slaves, while others infer that it was used by prisoners conscripted as scribes[12]. Regardless, the term may be indicative of the low social status of the script at first; certainly, seal script continued to be used in formal settings in the Qín dynasty, and in the Hàn remained in use in some of the most formal settings (such as the titles of documents and stelae, as well as signet seals (name chops). However, while seal script was the formal basis for unification of the writing in China, in practice, the emerging clerical script of Qin and its predecessor (modern kaishu script) are what continued to unify writing throughout China[13].
Notes
- ^ Qiú Xīguī (2000). Chinese Writing. Translation of 文字學概論 by Mattos and Norman. Early China Special Monograph Series No. 4. Berkeley: The Society for the Study of Early China and the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley. ISBN 1-55729-071-7, p.103, esp. footnote 28. Qiu cites Caì Yōng as saying: "Cheng Miao got rid of ancient (script) and established the clerical script forms".
- ^ This is the version given in the Hanshu, acc. to Táng Lán (唐蘭) 1979.《中國文字學》（上海：上海古籍出版社）。Zhōnggúo Wénzìxué (Chinese Linguistics). Shànghǎi Gǔjí Publishing, p.165, and Qiu 2000, p.107
- ^ Qiu 2000 p.107
- ^ Táng Lán 1979, p.165, cited in Qiu 2000, p.107; this does not, however, preclude influence by those scribes and even Cheng Miao in the process; as Qiu notes, Cheng Miao may have played a role in systematizing the script, thus leading to the mistaken tradition of his inventing it (Qiu p.107), much as Li Si's standardization of the already extant small seal script led to misperceptions that he had invented it.
- ^ Qiu 2000; p.59 & p.104
- ^ Qiu 2000, p.108
- ^ Qiu 2000, p.104
- ^ Qiu 2000, p.104
- ^ Qiu 2000, p.104-5; others were similar or identical to the forms of cursive script and were instrumental in its formation -- Qiu p.108-9
- ^ Qiu 2000, p.107
- ^ Qiu 2000, p.104-6
- ^ Qiu 2000, p.111
- ^ Qiu 2000, p.112
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