The art of calligraphy, or writing of characters, has been an art form in China and has developed over many centuries from ancient inscriptions to modern styles. In fact, calligraphy is considered by the Chinese-and East Asians for that matter-as a more important art form than painting. Here are some of the more notable styles of Chinese calligraphy over the centuries. (Note that the images feature the Chinese character for "horse.")

Oracle bone script

The earliest evidences of Chinese writing were found on inscriptions on animal bones and tortoise shells, which were said to be dated from 13th century B.C. during the Shang Dynasty. These inscriptions were recorded out of divinations made from the cracks created from heated bones and shells. The lines composed of fairly straight lines with sharp endings.

Bronze inscriptions

The period between Shang Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty (1600 B.C. to 256 B.C.) yielded a variety of Chinese scripts developed by the Seven Warring States of China. Most of the writing was found in unearthed bronze items, hence the broad term "bronze script." This covered the evolution of character writing in Chinese from the highly pictorial emblems of the Shang period to the script-like symbols evident during the Zhou period. Note that the local styles of characters evolved independently from one state to another, which is why a character for "horse," for instance, could have six or more different interpretations.

Great seal style

The great seal style, or large seal script, is a style of Chinese writing developed during the Western and Early Eastern Zhou Dynasty (between 1122 B.C. and 221 B.C.). The characters of this style are more rounded at the corners, and show a combination of thick and thin strokes. The term "great seal style" was created by the proceeding Qin Dynasty to differentiate from its "small seal style" form of writing.

Small seal style

When Qin Shi Huang conquered and unified all kingdoms in China in 221 B.C., a new dynasty was born: the Qin. China's first emperor ordered his prime minister, Li Si, to standardize the kingdom's writing system. Li then compiled 3,300 characters that were called "xiaozhuan" (small seal), which were then used both as a standard written language for trade and communications, as well as a deterrent in spreading dissenting political views that were written in previous styles. The small seal style has round contours, while the lines are all of even thickness and the characters are elongated.

Clerical style

The clerical script was the dominant style of writing in the Han Dynasty and remained an official writing style until the Three Kingdoms Period. It surpassed the popularity of the small seal script because it can be written more quickly and easily using a brush. It is called "clerical style" because it is the writing style used in official documents at the time, and is still being used in a variety of modern-day uses such as newspaper headlines, advertisements, and signboards. The script is most noted for its upward tilt at the end of horizontal strokes, giving each character a fluid quality.

Regular style

Called "kaishu" in China, the regular style or standard script is the newest and the most modern of all Chinese calligraphy styles. It first appeared in the Cao Wei Dynasty at around year 200 and developed into its modern form at around 7th Century. The regular script is the most common form of modern writing and publications. This style preserves the precision of the clerical script and modulation of line width. However, it is less formal and lighter in appearance. The horizontal lines, for instance, generally slope upwards but do not have that final tilt at the end of the stroke.

The regular style can be classified into two forms: the traditional, which was based on the original clerical characters; and the simplified, which used graphic or phonetic simplifications of the clerical script.

Running style

Also called "xingshu" or semi-cursive script, the running style of Chinese calligraphy is derived from the clerical script but all the strokes are joined together in a single sweep of the brush. This produces a feeling of speed and fluency. It was, for a long time, the usual style of handwriting.

Grass script

This style of writing is also call "caoshu" or cursive script. Grass script is faster to write than other calligraphy styles, and also hard to read. Cursive script developed during period between the Han Dynasty and Jin Dynasty. Creating a grass script character is done by four mechanisms: omitting part of a graph, merging strokes together, replacing portions with abbreviated forms, or modifying stroke styles.