Semi-cursive script

Semi-cursive script, also known as running script, is a style of <a href="/facts/Chinese_calligraphy/NlTLf2jB">Chinese calligraphy</a> that emerged during the <a href="/facts/Han_dynasty/hanfxS9D">Han dynasty</a> (202 BC – 220 AD). The style is used to write <a href="/facts/Chinese_characters/5pn1PFvj">Chinese characters</a> and is abbreviated slightly where a character's strokes are permitted to be visibly connected as the writer writes, but not to the extent of the <a href="/facts/Cursive_script_(East_Asia)/acEfshtw">cursive style</a>. This makes the style easily readable by readers who can read <a href="/facts/Regular_script/bBmwjJmQ">regular script</a> and quickly writable by calligraphers who require ideas to be written down quickly. In order to produce legible work using the semi-cursive style, a series of writing conventions is followed, including the linking of the strokes, simplification and merging strokes, adjustments to stroke order and the distribution of text of the work.
One of the most notable calligraphers who used this style was <a href="/facts/Wang_Xizhi/vFfpGTz8">Wang Xizhi</a> (303–361). Wang is known for the <a href="/facts/Lantingji_Xu/Fb4rqjuc">Lantingji Xu</a> ('Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection'), a work published in 353 which remains highly influential to calligraphers throughout the <a href="/facts/Sinosphere/WY2269Xy">Sinosphere</a>. Semi-cursive script is prominent in modern Chinese society despite the lack of official education for it, a status aided by the introduction of <a href="/facts/Fountain_pen/p2cmesjV">fountain pens</a>.

Semi-cursive script open-in-new

Semi-cursive script