🛠️ Invention or technique

Chinese regular script (kaishu)

Escritura regular china (kaishu)

Date
c. century III · confidence low
Place
Xuchang, Henan, China
Credited to
Zhong Yao and Wei-Jin calligraphers
Field
Knowledge & symbols

⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.

What it is

A style of clearly separated strokes and square proportion that became the standard form of characters. It remains the model for calligraphy and for current Chinese typography.

Traditionally credited to Zhong Yao (151-230), but the style emerged gradually from lishu from the 2nd century and was perfected in the 4th-5th centuries.

What it led to

  • the model for Chinese printing and fonts
  • the calligraphy of Wang Xizhi and Yan Zhenqing
  • school teaching of characters
🕸️ View in the graph

Built on

Made possible

Links

Sources✓ verified 2026-11-06