Ancient prose is an ancient writing, and it is also the general name of the writing created by ancient people.
The evolution of China characters has gone through several stages: Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Dazhuan, Xiaozhuan, Lishu, cursive script, regular script and running script.
Preface to Hanshu, Yiwenzhi, Shangshu: "The ancient prose Shangshu originated from the wall of Confucius. At the end of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, King Lu Gong destroyed Confucius' mansion and wanted to expand his palace, but he got dozens of ancient texts such as Shangshu, Book of Rites, Analects of Confucius and Filial Piety, all of which were ancient texts. "Because it comes from the wall of Confucius, it is called" the book in the wall ". Because the paint strokes are thick and thin, they look like tadpoles, so they are also called "tadpoles".
These ancient Chinese characters include Dragon Book written by Dong Xihe, Eight Ears Book written by Shennong, Shu Yun written by Huangdi, Couple Book written by Shao, Fairy-shaped Book written by Di Ku, stone carvings in Cang Xie era (28 characters), and glyphs in Tang Yu era and Xia dynasty (6 characters). In addition, there is a so-called "strange figure". Variant characters are strange words in ancient Chinese, or variants of ancient Chinese in the wall.
Oracle Bone Inscriptions is the earliest, most systematic and most mature writing we have ever seen. It was formed in the Yin and Shang Dynasties. The early Tao Wen was named after being carved on Oracle bones. Because it was first discovered in the Yin Ruins in Xiaotun, Anyang, Henan Province, it is also called "Yin Ruins". It was first discovered by the late Qing Dynasty stele engraver Wang. As the "keel" of Chinese medicine, it was identified as Chinese characters. It is also called Oracle Bone Inscriptions, because most of the contents inscribed on it are divination and sacrificial ceremonies. Oracle Bone Inscriptions is carved on hard tortoise shells and animal bones with better tools, so its characteristics are outstanding. His strokes are mainly straight and oblique, with curved lines in the middle. The strokes are thin and straight and the blade is exposed. Symmetry is the characteristic of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, such as China people and sheep. At the same time, its shape is not fixed enough, there are many strokes, and there are positive and negative writing methods, such as: toe writing or, although the characters are square and neat, their writing procedures are different, sometimes depending on the scribe lines, and the strokes are straight and hard, which is more common in Fang Bi.
Wen Shu, also known as Shi Guwen, was named after Zhou Xuanwang's history books. On the basis of the original text, he transformed it and got his name because it was engraved on the stone drum. It is the earliest stone carving text that has been circulated so far, and it is the ancestor of stone carving. After vicissitudes of life, the stone drum moved from south to north. After many twists and turns, most of the characters peeled off, leaving only a few clear words, which are now hidden in the Palace Museum in Beijing. Its calligraphy is characterized by vigorous and natural calligraphy, vigorous brushwork, square structure, strict specification and relatively complete form. It inherited the inscription on the bronze and opened the seal script below it. It is the style of the transition from bronze inscription to seal script. Shi Guwen and Curse Zhu Wen are the representatives of this kind of prose.
Bronze inscriptions refer to inscriptions cast or carved on bronzes, also known as Zhong Dingwen. Characters can be divided into concave and convex. The concave ones are carved with a knife, showing negative characters, and the convex ones are carved with a knife first, and then cast with positive characters. Originated in Shang Dynasty and prevailed in Zhou Dynasty. Most inscriptions on inscriptions on inscriptions are records of ceremonies, conquests, contracts, etc. This is a kind of writing which inherits the style of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and has new development. Its characteristics are simple and natural strokes, magnificent and colorful words, and gradually neat, majestic and simple fonts. However, because the strokes of fonts are not completely fixed, there are often different characters, strokes and writing styles. At present, there are many bronzes engraved with inscriptions, such as Pan, Mao and Pan.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the warlord scuffled, which also resulted in abnormal language and writing. It was not until Qin Shihuang unified the six countries that the characters were unified into biographies. In the past, Oracle Bone Inscriptions and bronze inscriptions were called Da Zhuan, and the Langxietai stone carvings and Taishan stone carvings handed down from generation to generation were all masterpieces of Da Zhuan.
On the basis of Xiao Zhuan, a new font-official script was produced. According to legend, the founder of official script is Cheng Miao. Because he offended Qin Shihuang, he went to prison and spent ten years in prison, sorting out a set of new fonts with simple application, which was called official script by later generations.
Cursive script came into being after regular script appeared. "Grass" means preliminary and hasty. No matter which font is scrawled, it is cursive.
Running script is a font between regular script and cursive script, which was produced in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The real period of prosperity was the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Wang Xizhi's masterpiece Preface to the Lanting Pavilion, known as the sage of books, was a running script.