The State Post Bureau of China issued a set of special stamps named Calligraphic Arts in Ancient China-Seal Character in February 2003. As the first series of thematic artistic stamps, they featured the masterpieces from large seal script and small seal script respectively with inscriptions on Mao-kung Ding of the late Western Chou period (1046-771BC) and Inscribed Stones on Mount Tai by Li Si of the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC).
The calligraphic art of Chinese characters is a treasure of Chinese cultural heritage. After the unification of Qin, the small seal style became the standard character across China and experienced a developing process in China-seal Character, Li Shu (script in square style), Cao Shu (script in cursive style), Kai Shu (script in regular style) and Xing Shu (running script, semi-cursive script). The five writing styles are commonly seen on stamps.
1. China-seal Character
China-seal Character, serving as a catch-all of large seal script and small seal script, consists of carapace-bone-script, inscriptions on bronze and Zhou Wen (a style of calligraphy from the Chou Dynasty (c. 11th century-256 BC)).
1）Carapace-bone-script of the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046BC) is the earliest pictographic and phonetic character style in Chinese history. It possesses three elements of calligraphy, including stroke, structure and composition. It has a history of over 3,000 years.
2）Inscription on bronze has been termed as Jin Wen since it usually appeared on bronze. Evolving from Carapace-bone-script, it has a history of about 3,000 years. The stamps below feature Jin Wen on “Jimo zhi fahua” Knife Coin and Chime-bells from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of the Zeng State.
3）Zhou Wen, also known as “inscriptions on drum-shaped stone blocks”, is the earliest known inscription style on stones. It appeared over 2,600 years ago.
Stamp T98(8-1) features Zhou Wen, written by Wu Changshi
4）Small seal character, including Qin seal script and script of bold and thin lines, appeared after the unification of Qin. Together with large seal script, including carapace-bone-script, Jin Wen and Zhou Wen, they form the calligraphic art of the China-seal-character. Special stamps featuring the Chinese character “hou” in 1992, “ji” in 1993 and “gou” in 1994, by Huang Binhong, as well as stamp T33(2-1), provide vivid examples of small seal character.
2. Square Script
Derived from the Warring State period (403-221 BC) and developed by Cheng Miao in the Qin Dynasty, Li Shu took the place of small seal character in the late Qin Dynasty. In the Han Dynasty (202BC-220AD), it was perfected into Han Li which is still used today. The main features of Li Shu include a square style in stroke and weakening pictographic style in structure. The stamp issued in 1994 about the 4th congress of All-China Philatelic Federation has over 200 characters of Li Shu. The Chinese characters of “zhu”, “shu” and “niu” on the stamps below are all written in Li Shu style.
3. Cursive Script
Dating back to the beginning of the Han Dynsasty, Cao Shu has a long history of over 2,000 years. It consists of Zhang Cao, which developed from the cursive writing style of Li Shu and Jin Cao, created by Zhang Zhi in the end of the Han. In stamps, the Cao Shu works by Mao Zedong were mostly common used. Thirteen out of 14 stamps issued on Oct 1, 1968 about Mao’s poetry are written in Cao Shu. The following stamps feature Chinese the characters of “hu”, “tu” and “long” in Cao Shu style.
4. Regular Script
Kai Shu, also evolving from Han Li, is distinguished by its foursquare form and straight strokes. Invented by Wang Ci in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), it has a history of 1,800 years with added development in the Wei (220-265) and Jing (265-420) Dynasties, prevailing in the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-581) and culminating in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The commemorative stamps from the 90th anniversary of the birth of Sun Yat-sen and the 70th anniversary of the Revolution of 1911 have Sun’s inscription in Kai Shu. Guo Muruo’s writing of “Long friendship of the Chinese and Japanese peoples” on a stamp issued in 1987 was also in Kai Shu style. Stamps issued in 2001, 2002 and 2003 carry the Chinese characters of “she”, “ma” and “yang” in Kai Shu.
5. Running Script
Xing Shu, a semi-cursive writing style, was created by Liu Chuansheng in the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), bloomed in the Three Kingdoms Dynasty (25-280) and flourished in the Jin Dynasty. It has a history of over 1,700 years.
Zhong You and Wang Xizhi were two exponents of the writing style. The following stamps features inscriptions by Zhou Enlai and the Traditional Chinese character “yi” written by Mi Fu in Xing Shu style.
Translated by Wangzhen