A Study On The Formal And Structural Evolvement Of The Zhang Cao Script

The Cursive Script which rose in the Han Dynasty and lasted up to now (holds an important position in the Chinese writing system. The Cursive Script can be divided into the zhang cao Script and the jin cao Script, in which the former is rather important for it has laid the ground for the formation of the Cursive Script. Our predecessors have made a great achievement in sorting, investigating zhang cao calligraphy documents and studying the forms and structures, which should be treasured and used as a reference. However, there is very few specialized study on the formal and structural evolvement of the zhang cao Script. This thesis will make efforts in deep and elaborate study on the zhang cao Script. It adopts the means of combining the unearthed materials, the handed-down calligraphy and documents. By beginning the research from the writing forms, calligraphy, calligraphers as well as the mentality, the thesis will sort out the development contexts and processes of the forms, will summarize the evolutional law, and will approach the internal and external causes. The thesis generally includes four parts:Firstly, the historical development of the zhang cao Script. In view of the occurrence and the development of the zhang cao Script, the evolvement of the zhang cao Script begins in the Warring States period and ends in the Western Jin Dynasty. Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty the zhang cao Script has came into the stylization phrase which is beyond the range of this thesis. For this reason, this article will only study the zhang cao Script from the Warring States Period to the Western Jin Dynasty. Established in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the zhang cao Script is the result of efforts on the assorting and beautification of the li cao Scripts in application by the authoritative calligraphers. In this sense, the li cao Script should be regarded as the precedent of the zhang cao Script. There is a historical sequence between them. For this reason, zhang cao in this article includes the li cao Script and the zhang cao Script. There are four phases in the evolvement of zhang cao:first, the formative phase of the li cao Script from the Warring States period to the end of the Western Han Dynasty; second, the development phase of the li cao Script from the late-Western Han Dynasty to the mid-Eastern Han Dynasty; third, the formative phase for the zhang cao Script in the mid-and-late Eastern Han Dynasty; forth, the differentiation phase for the zhang cao Script in the period of the Three Kingdoms and the West Jin Dynsty. In general, the spontaneous development of zhang cao lasts from the period of the Warring States to the mid-Eastern Han Dynasty, which is the natural result of the need for widespread script writings, while the automatic development of zhang cao lasts from the mid-and-late Eastern Han Dynasty to the West Jin Dynasty, in which the authoritative calligraphers established the standard forms for the zhang cao Script, taking the lead in the development of the zhang cao Script instead of the polemarchs.Secondly, the investigation of the variation of the zhang cao Script. The form evolvement of zhang cao is also the process of its form development to its final establishment. The process can be investigated from the following three perspectives: the links between strokes, the applications of bending and the structures.The links between strokes is the major driving force for the development of the zhang cao Script. On the occasion of the Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, out of the need for quick writing and the impact of the cursive trend in the Six States, some stroke shapes changed, the links occurred between the strokes, and a small amount of cursive symbols came into form. The appearance of the links between the strokes marks the beginning of the li cao Script. In the Western Han Dynasty, driven by the arduous task of official paperwork writing, the links between strokes with sequential orders and the links between strokes with non-sequential orders saw a rapid rise and came into being at last, whereupon the cursive symbols and the transformation of characters emerged before long. The stylization of the links between strokes indicates the formation of the li cao Script. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, thanks to the organization and beautification of the li cao Script by the authoritative calligraphers, the links between strokes got to be revised and supplemented, and the cursive scripts were fully symbolized. The adjustment and addition of the links between stokes marks the establishment of the zhang cao Script The basic building blocks of the zhang cao Script include dots, strokes and the applications of bending. The dots and strokes in the zhang cao Script derives from their counterparts in the Official Script; through innovation and transformation for the regard of writing conveniently, it became the harbinger for the dots and strokes in the Regular Script. The device of bending is the most significant mark for the zhang cao Script, and the large use of the devices of bending is the most essential feature of the zhang cao Script. The devices of bending are divided into two categories - crossing bending and non-crossing bending. On the occasion of the Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, the devices of bending between non-crossing strokes came into being in gu li scripts, but the quantity is limited, moreover their forms and structures lacked sketching power, and had no tangible exhibitive strength. The gu li Script is the Official Script in and before the early Western Han Dynasty. In the Western Han Dynasty, the crossing bending occurred, with their continuity enhancing; the application and the combinations of the devices of bending constituted the symbol for the li cao Script, reflecting the enhancement of their exhibitive strength. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the devices of bending in the zhang cao Script were gradually stabilized. With the adjustment and supplement for the applications of bending, the continuity of the applications of bending was further enhanced, which is the mark for the final establishment of the zhang cao style.The zhang cao style is affected by the Regular Script, using square structure as its basis; meanwhile, the free and flexible applications of bending enable it to break from the constraints of the Regular Script, wishing to complete the characters with the smoothest strokes like a flowing streamline. In combining the devices of bending, the Cursive Script forms its unique font structure - the linear structure, breaking the structural model of the Regular Script. The zhang cao style can be regarded as the combination of the square structure and the linear structure, in which each structure exists in harmony and has its own variety while the proportion varied in different characters. On the occasion of the Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, the cursive sign for the gu li Script was not dramatic, and formal variation was not common either. But the linear structure began to take shape, signified by the cursive variations, among which are the merge of components, the separation of the upper and lower parts, the highlight of the middle line, and the simplification of the outer strokes. In the Western Han Dynasty, due to the growth of the links between strokes and the application of the bending devices, many adjustments were made to suit the cursive orientation and through the reformation of the li cao Script, the linear structure came into form. The reformation of the li cao Script was realized by the outline signification, feature abstract, component mergence, and formation pattern. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, in order to make up the flaws of the cursive orientation in the zhang cao Script, namely the unevenness and the redundancy in the cursive devices, also for the consideration of the correspondence of the Regular Script, component intensity, distinction trait and form beautification, the calligraphy authorities transformed the linear structures in the li cao Script and eventually the square structure and the linear structure coexisted in the zhang cao Script.Thirdly, the evolvement of the zhang cao Script. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, calligraphers increasingly involved in the formal and structural development of the zhang cao Script, transforming the once virtually functional font into an artistic one. The transformation was a historical process since the end of the Western Han Dynasty, when the literal cursive calligraphers emerged. Chen Zun who lived in the end of the Western Han Dynasty was good at handwriting, and his contemporaries "were all proud of keeping his handwritings". That marks the beginning of the artisticization of the zhang cao Script. In the early Eastern Han Dynasty, the handwritings of Lu Mu were collected by Emperor Ming, reflecting that the zhang cao Script had become an art for the court and the upper class. The enhancement of the artistic function of the zhang cao Script transformed the writing of the zhang cao Script from a functional and public activity into an artistic and private activity and finally leads to the emergence of "the art of the ink-and-brush writing". It can be safely said that the aesthetic value and evaluation of the ancient Chinese handwriting started from the enlightenment of the zhang cao Script taking the form of the exchange of chi du, bamboo slips to write on. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, calligraphers occupied the dominant position in the development of the zhang cao Script, and their most important contribution was to organize and beautify the standard of the zhang cao Script. Celebrities, represented by Du Cao and Cui Yuan, had made outstanding achievements in the standardization of the li cao Script. Zhang Zhi was the master of the zhang cao Script in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the zhang cao Script achieved an extreme artistic height through his hand. In the period of the Three Kingdoms and the West Jin Dynasty, the zhang cao Script began to verify, which was also led by the calligraphers. Calligraphers, like Huang Xiang and Suo Jing, inherited the standard form of the zhang cao Script, signifying the continuation of the zhang cao Script tradition in the Eastern Han Dynasty, while the "draft" handwriting of Wei Guan take in the transformations made in the daily writing, indicating the historical trend of the evolvement of the zhang cao Script.Finally, a summary of the underling law and causes for the evolvement of the zhang cao Script. Through the investigation of the occurrence and development of the zhang cao Script, this paper will illustrate the evolvement law for the zhang cao Script through the following five aspects:pluralism of the origins for the evolvement of the zhang cao Script, the successive development of the zhang cao Script, the correspondence between the evolvement of the mainstream script and the transformed script, the imbalance between the script and its name, the artistic script is the sublimation of the functional script. Basically, the formal and structural evolvement of the zhang cao Script is the natural result of the inner contradictions within. The zhang cao Script is a complex of both the variation fonts and the standard scripts, having both functional traits and aesthetic features. The evolvement of the zhang cao Script is a philology topic; meanwhile it has deep connection with the calligraphy art. So the illustration of the zhang cao Script should not be limited to the general rules for the evolvement of the zhang cao Script, which may not suit the reality of the zhang cao Script. In the evolving process of the zhang cao Script, pragmatic function and aesthetic need often intertwined and remained a dynamic imbalance in a complex and unstable state. In the course of the evolution of the Chinese characters, contradictions within the Chinese writing system are mainly embodied in two parts:first is the interaction between the structure change and the font evolvement; second is the contradiction between the simple writing and the font standard. Ever since the automatic evolvement of the zhang cao Script, the functions of the zhang cao Script had been stabilized, the simple functional part evolved into the contradiction between the pragmatic function and the aesthetic feature. These two parts contradict with each other yet united in the zhang cao Script itself. In the automatic evolvement of the zhang cao Script, the interaction between the pragmatic function and the aesthetic feature becomes the main contradiction of the formal evolvement.Since the mid-Eastern Han Dynasty, the use of the zhang cao Script shifted from the lower class to the upper class, and the transformation from functional writing to calligraphy art came to an end, which is the natural result of the inner contradiction between the pragmatic function and the aesthetic feature. In this phase, although it seems like an accidental phenomenon, the aesthetic function of the zhang cao Script emerges for a reason. The aesthetic function is established on the condition of the stability of its pragmatic function. The li cao Script took shape in the end of the Western Han Dynasty, and developed stably in the occasion between the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty. Since the pragmatic function of the li cao Script had been stabilized, the lowering demand of its pragmatic function led to the pursuit of the aesthetic feature, giving the aesthetic feature an opportunity for a complete development. Back to the time when the pragmatic function of the li cao Script was not stable, the aesthetic feature could be hardly attached any importance. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, although the li cao Script had came into being, yet it was still immature. The better realization of its pragmatic function was the basic concern, while the aesthetic feature occupied little importance. In the mid-and-end Eastern Han Dynasty, the zhang cao Script established and in the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Cursive Script popularized.The evolvement of the zhang cao Script is very complicated. It is the result of both the inner and external forces. On one hand, the development of the zhang cao Script was effected by the writing tools and materials of the time, especially the maturation of the writing tools and the material transition from the bamboo slip to paper. On the other hand, the socio-political factors and the ideological and cultural change in the Qin, Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties provide us a broad historical vision to interpret the evolvement of the zhang cao Script.Synthetically considering the two factors-different forms in different historical backgrounds and the nature of calligraphy texts, "the Evolvement Table for the font style of the zhang cao Script" in the appendix divides the zhang cao Script into five phases, including the jian du in the Han Dynasties, chuan ben in the Eastern Han Dynasty, jian zhi in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, chuan ben in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, ming jia in the Yuan Dynasty, each has its own representatives for the zhang cao Script. The table overcomes the shortcomings of the previous collections of the zhang cao configurations, such as the disorder and the excessiveness of the zhang cao configurations. It is a reference for the investigation of the evolvement of the zhang cao Script and the summary of the style features of the zhang cao Script in each phase.