Regular script

The regular script or standard script, or in kaishu and kaisho, also commonly known as standard regular , is the newest of the Chinese calligraphy styles , hence most common in modern writings and publications . It is also occasionally known as true script and standard script .

Standard script came into being between the and dynasties , and its first known master was Zhōng Yáo , who lived in the E. Hàn to Cáo Wèi period, ca 151-230 CE. He is known as the “father of standard script”, and his famous works include the Xuānshì Biǎo , Jiànjìzhí Biǎo , and Lìmìng Biǎo . Qiú Xīguī describes the script in Zhong’s Xuānshì Biǎo as:
:“…clearly emerging from the womb of early period semi-cursive script. If one were to write the tidily written variety of early period semi-cursive script in a more dignified fashion and were to use consistently the pause technique when ending horizontal strokes, a practice which already appears in early period semi-cursive script, and further were to make use of right-falling strokes with thick feet, the result would be a style of calligraphy like that in the “Xuān shì biǎo”.

However, other than a few literati, very few wrote in this script at the time; most continued writing in neo-clerical script, or a hybrid form of semi-cursive and neo-clerical. Standard script did not become dominant until the early Southern and Northern Dynasties, in the 5th century; this was a variety of standard script which emerged from neo-clerical as well as from Zhong Yao's standard script, and is called " regular" . Thus, standard script had parentage in early semi-cursive as well as neo-clerical scripts.


The script is considered to have matured stylistically during the Tang Dynasty, with the most famous and oft-imitated regular script calligraphers of that period being:
* The early Tang four great calligraphers :
** Ouyang Xun
** Yu Shinan
** Chu Suiliang
** Xue Ji
* "Yan-Liu"
** Yan Zhenqing
** Liu Gongquan

Those regular script characters with width larger than 5 cm is usually considered larger regular script, or dakai , and those smaller than 2 cm usually small regular script, or xiaokai . Those in between are usually called medium regular script, or zhongkai . Or are compared in relation to those around.

Beginners often are recommended to start with the Eight Principles of Yong, which are said to contain the fundamentals of most, if not all, of the regular script calligraphy.

Notable artifacts with the Regular Scripts include:
* ''The Records of Yao Boduo Sculpturing'' during the Southern and Northern Dynasties
* The Tablet of Guangwu General during the Southern and Northern Dynasties
* The Tablet of Longzang Temple of the Sui Dynasty
* ''Tombstone-Record of Sui Xiaoci'' of the Sui Dynasty
* ''Tombstone-Record of Beauty Tong'' of the Sui Dynasty

The Zhuyin used to annotate texts, although not true Chinese characters, are virtually always written in the regular script style as well.