Chinese clerical script (lishu)
Escritura de chancillería china (lishu)
- Date
- c. 200 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
- Credited to
- Qin and Han administrative scribes
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A style that replaces the curves of seal script with straight, broken strokes that are faster to write with a brush. It marks the transition from ancient writing to the modern shape of characters.
Tradition credits lishu to Cheng Miao, a jailed Qin Shi Huang official, but this is a legend: styles evolved gradually from the Warring States.
What it led to
- faster copying for Qin and Han administration
- the source of regular and cursive scripts
- standardization of modern characters