The 5 Styles of Chinese Calligraphy Explained

In this video, we're going to introduce you to the art of Chinese calligraphy. We will explore the five core styles and look at their evolution and differences to give you an insight into this ancient art form. First, the word 书 refers to character or the art of writing. 法 is method, so 书法 literally means the method or art of writing. In Chinese calligraphy, the five basic styles are known as five scripts or 五体. The five core styles are 传书, 隶书, 楷书, 行书, and 草书. All other styles you might encounter are just branches that evolved from these five pillars. Let's start off with one of the earliest forms of Chinese characters known as 传书. You can think of it as the style closest to nature, a simple pictogram to draw what it describes. It's named seal script because these would be carved into official seals or stamps as a form of signature or authentication by nobility and government in ancient China. Among the five scripts, it has the simplest strokes, emphasize left to right symmetry, and it's mainly made up of curves and dots, no sharp corners. But because it looks like a drawing, it's hard to recognize for even native speakers. Still, that's exactly why even non-native speakers can appreciate the artistic qualities. It's like a child learning to draw. Whatever they see, they draw. One famous form of 传书 is 甲骨文, oracle bone script, the earliest known Chinese writing system carved onto the back of the turtle shells. Well, that belongs to the 传书 family. In fact, our very first video on this channel actually talks about 甲骨文 in greater detail. Let's look at a few examples. Don't they look like little drawings? Next, let's look at the style that developed after 传书, which is 隶书. There is a saying, 传书 is like a painting, and 隶书 is a wave. Imagine a child who has been drawing for a while. They've begun to form structure, order, and even create their own style. 隶书 is typically more flattened. Its most recognizable feature is its horizontal strokes, which are written with a wave-like motion that flows with rhythm, like water. From a linguistic point of view, 隶书 marks the transition from pictographs to more abstract symbols. There are more straight lines now. Horizontals are horizontals, and verticals are vertical. Take the character home, 家, for example. In 传书, you can still see the image of a pig under a roof. But in 隶书, that imagery has faded. Let's look again at the same examples. Don't they feel more like characters rather than pictures now? Why is it called 隶书? Its evolution is tied to historical changes. After the Qin Dynasty, the volume of government documents increased rapidly. To improve efficiency, strokes were simplified and standardized. The people responsible for copying these documents were often servants or scribes, called 隶, hence the name 隶书. After 隶书 came parallel creation of 楷书, 行书, and 草书, like three siblings, each with their own personality. So how do you tell them apart? Let's start with 楷书, because it's the most commonly seen today. Most print Chinese fonts are based on 楷书. For example, our app Scritter used a typeface called 雕楷体, standard 楷 typeface. Its main feature is its square and upright strokes. If you are a learner, this is probably the script you are mostly familiar with since it's used in textbooks. Let's look again at 日月穿心. Can you feel the difference? Isn't it much more structured and angular? 楷书 has a strong sense of order. Every stroke and the entire composition follows the neat and regulated structure. Its golden age was during the Tang dynasty, 唐朝. Let me show you a map of the most famous Tang city, Chang'an, designed like a chessboard. You can see how the dynasty's values of structure and order are reflected in 楷书. That's why it was the preferred script for imperial decrees, official documents, and even modern print text. 楷书 is also known as 真书, true script. The famous Song dynasty statesman, writer, and calligrapher Su Shi once said, This reflects both the posture and the speed of writing. If you want to learn about the four masters of this style, Fiona made an excellent video that you should check out after this one. Now, let's look at 行书. 行书 is like taking a walk while writing. It's slightly more relaxed than standard script 楷书, but still recognizable. This is actually a script most commonly used in daily life when taking notes or signing names. Native speakers often simplify strokes or connect them, and that's what gives 行书 its character. Everyone writes it a little differently. But because of its flexibility, there are many styles of 行书, and thus, many famous calligraphers use this form. And you can imagine, this makes it the most technically demanding of all styles to master. Let's look again at Let's go back to the quote. In ancient times, 走 meant running. 草书 is written the fastest, and it's the hardest to read even for native speakers. But that doesn't mean it's sloppy. There's a system called 草法. The 草法 is a conventional symbol system used in 草书. Learners must memorize these forms just like vocabularies. Many simplified Chinese characters actually originated from 草书. Now, imagine yourself holding a brush and writing these characters. Calligraphy is a dynamic art. It can be edited, and it's full of emotion and personality. A character can be bold, it can be thin, and all that. But it's just because of the unique engineering of the Chinese brush that the emotions of it comes out. And it's expressing your emotions in the calligraphy. It's not something easy to be done. It's not easy. Among all five styles, 草书 is the most expressive. It's explosive with rhythm and emotion. Many lovers of 草书 write while drinking wine, because alcohol helps free the spirit and hand. It's a form of improvisation. You can feel the raw emotion and strong tempo in it. 草书 is a form of emotional release. Okay, that's it for our quick introduction to the five basic styles of Chinese calligraphy. Stay tuned for our next video, where I will teach you how to practice calligraphy and appreciate calligraphy on a deeper level. If you'd like to have a go learning to write Chinese characters, consider using our app, Skritter. The main writing canvas uses a version of 楷书, since it's the best for learners of Chinese. But we actually have a mode to help you write 行书 by turning off the automatic grading and switch to self-grading. Finally, I put together the content of this video based on an amazing book called Understanding Chinese Calligraphy 认识书法 by Fang Jianxun. If you're interested, definitely check it out. See you in the next video, where I will teach you how to write Chinese calligraphy. 我们下次见,拜拜!