There are five typical styles of Chinese calligraphy but each has many variations and individual calligraphers will personalize a style, adding distinctive brush movements and flourishes. All of these styles, even those dating from very early in Chinese history, are still in use by calligraphers today. See Selected Bibliography for more information.

For a quick view of how some characters developed over time in the various styles, see Characters in Various Styles (PDF file, Adobe Acrobat Reader required). For an extensive treatment of the Chinese language see the China Knowledge site.


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• Current theory suggests that Chinese writing developed from markings such as those found on Neolithic pots, which are typically symbols and not true writing.
• Chinese Neolithic cultures such as the Dawenkou, Yanshao, Banpo, and Longshan flourished ca. 5000 BCE-3000 BCE.
• For more information on this phase of Chinese history, see China Knowledge site.

Oracle inscription carved on turtle shell
(Shang dynasty, 1600-1100 BCE)

Contemporary example (2002 CE) of calligraphy
done in jia gu wen style

• This script originated ca. 1600-1100 BCE during the Shang dynasty and is also called shell and bone script since it was carved on turtle shells or ox bones.
• It is generally considered to be the first type of true Chinese writing.
• The inscriptions record divinations performed for the royal court and communication with spirits.
• For more information on the uses of Shang oracle bones, see the China Knowledge site.

Bronze ding (Zhou dynasty)

Inscription on bronze pot
(Shang dynasty, 1600-1100 BCE)

Contemporary example of calligraphy done in jin wen style

Bronze engraving script (jin wen, 金文)

• This script style originated ca. 1600 BCE during the Shang dynasty and continued in use into the Zhou dynasty (1066-256 BCE).
• It developed from oracle-bone writing and most examples are found as inscriptions on bronze pots and bells--hence also called metal script or bell and pot script.
• The script exhibits fluid, soft lines.
• For more information on bronze pots, see the China Knowledge site.

Example of a bamboo strip book (4th century BCE)

Contemporary example of small seal script
carved on bamboo strips

• Before the invention of paper ca. 100 CE, texts were often written or carved on strips of wood or bamboo--Shang dynasty (c. 16th-11th centuries BCE) until the Eastern Han (25-220 CE).
• For more information on recent archaeological finds of bamboo strip texts, see Bamboo Book.

Contemporary example of dazhuan style characters.

Large seal script (dazhuan, 大篆)

• This style developed during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (770-221 BCE).
• Generally it is considered to be a synthesis of the earlier jin wen and jia gu wen styles displaying a wide range of non-standardized character forms.

Below are several pieces of contemporary calligraphy that illustrate later styles. All are versions of Zhang Ji's seven character quatrain "A Night Mooring near Maple Bridge":

  While I watch the moon go down,
a crow caws through the frost;
  Under the shadows of maple-trees
a fisherman moves with his torch;
  And I hear, from beyond Suzhou,
from the temple on Cold Mountain,
  Ringing for me, here in my boat,
the midnight bell.

夜 姑 江 月
半 苏 枫 落
钟 城 渔 乌
声 外 火 啼
到 寒 对 霜
客 山 愁 满
船 寺 眠 天

Small seal script (xiao zhuan, 小 篆)

• Developed as a modification of “large seal” script during the Qin dynasty (221-206 BCE).
• The characters were standardized and written in thin lines with little variation in line quality and regular spacing in horizontal and vertical grids.

Clerical script (li shu, 隸 書)

• Developed as a draft form of small seal script in the Qin-Han dynasties (221 BCE-220 CE).
• It is characterized by a somewhat squat appearance while each character occupies an equally square space in a very orderly line.
• One sub-style, ba fen shu (八 分 書, tends to exhibit a more rectangular shape with lines drawn out to either side on the horizontal axis.

Regular script (kai shu,楷 書)

• Developed as a refinement of clerical script, 2nd century BCE.
• It became the dominant formal script of later periods.
• Basis for most modern printing type.
• It is characterized by a precise, neat, upright and dignified appearance that coveys a retrained, orderly design.
• Wei bei is a variant of kai shu that incorporates elements of the Wei stone tablets style of stone inscriptions (lower image, left).

Running script (xing shu, 行 書)

• Developed from clerical script as a condensed form.
• Shorthand style suited to private communication.
• It is characterized by a free-hand writing style.

Grass script (cao shu, 草 書)

• Developed as an abbreviated form of clerical scrip.
• Often eliminates many strokes and juxtaposes characters of different sizes
• It is characterized by sketchy, simplified forms of characters, often distorted or exaggerated to achieve an internal rhythmic appearance within the compositions of characters.
• It also displays frequent ligatures of characters in a very free and fluent style.

Selected Bibliography

Barrass, Gordon S. The Art of Calligraphy in Modern China. Berkeley: University of California Press, c2002.
Calligraphy - Inscriptions and Handwriting at the China Knowledge site (viewed 10/29/2003)
Da-Wei, Kwo. Chinese Brushwork in Calligraphy and Painting. New York: Dover, 1990.
Fu, Shen C.Y. with Marilyn W. Fu, Mary G. Neill, and Mary Jane Clark. Traces of the Brush: Studies in Chinese Caligraphy. [New York?]: Yale University Art Gallery, 1977.
Harrist, Robert E. and Fung, Wen C. The Embodied Image. New York: The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1999.
Moore, Oliver. Reading the Past: Chinese. Berkeley: University of California Press/British Museum, c2000.
Timeline of Central and North Asian Calligraphy from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (viewed 3/7/2004)
Yang, Yingshi. New Trends in Chinese Calligraphy (1898-1998). Click on "English version" or adjust your browser's encoding to read the Chinese (GB). (viewed 10/7/2004)
Yee, Chiang. Chinese Calligraphy: An Introduction to its Aesthetics and Technique. 3rd ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, c1973.
Wang, Hongyuan 王宏源. The Origins of Chinese Characters = 漢字源入門. Beijing: Sinolingua, 1993.
Zhang, Yiguo. Brushed Voices: Calligraphy in Contemporary China. New York: Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, 1998.