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For the Chinese, calligraphy, the ancient art of the written word is not just a method of communication but also, a means of expressing the dynamic forces of the natural world. The calligrapher uses the brush as an extension of his body and its physical movement. Taking the form of the written character, he transcends its literal meaning by re-creating the forces of nature through his own personal expression. Concerned with both the present and a long past, calligraphy is at once the most rigorously convention-bound and the most fiercely individualistic of the graphic arts. In the writing process, the artist is at once profoundly influenced by earlier styles and endeavors to develop his own style and so express his own reality.

Calligraphy developed slowly in China over more than 2,000 years before the modem, regular script evolved in the third century. Beginning as the curvilinear, picture like form of archaic seal script of the Shang (ca. 16th- 11th century B.C.), Zhou (ca. 11th century- 256 B.C.) and Qin (221-206 B.C.) periods, the written character evolved toward the standardized, squared-off clerical script of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220). When the brush replaced the stylus as the standard writing implement in the second and third centuries, script style rapidly evolved into its final forms--cursive or grass, standard, and running scripts--and in the process, handwriting with a brush became a revered art form.

CALLIGRAPHIC SCRIPTS

	clerical script -this script evolved from seal script and was used for official purposes, especially for inscriptions on bronze vessels, stone monuments, and official documents during the Han dynasty. Characters written in this script, in keeping with their function, are uniform in shape and horizontal and vertical strokes cross at right angles.
	cursive script -cursive script, or grass style, is an abbreviated, quickly written script in which the structure of characters is altered from regular script to reduce the number of times the brush is lifted. Successive cursive characters are also frequently joined by connecting brush strokes. Because calligraphers are less restricted when writing cursive script, it is the most expressive form of writing.
	regular script -regular or standard script was used for official documents and texts and later for the printed forms of characters, as it stressed legibility, balance, and restraint
	running script - some strokes in this script are run together to speed the writing process. Because of the slightly abbreviated form, hastened style, and expressive quality, running script is especially suitable for personal compositions, such as letters.
	seal script - this is an ancient script, seen in inscriptions on archaic bronze vessels. The characters, usually written originally with a stylus or cutting instrument are curvilinear, balanced, and picture like with strokes of even thickness. In later periods, this script was also commonly used for inscriptions on seals.

Calligraphy from Rawson, Jessica (ed). The British Museum Book of Art (London: Thames & Hudson, 1992)