imported>Ciic at 03:11, 19 March 2010

2010-03-19T03:11:17Z

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'''''Caoshu''''' (cursive hand) is characterized by sketchy, simplified forms of characters, often distorted or exaggerated to achieve an internal rhythmic appearance within the compositions of characters. In theory, any character can be written in the style of ''caoshu'', for instance many course characters appeared in inscriptions on bronze wares. However, ''caoshu'' in literature refers to a specific style developed from [[Qin]] ''lishu'' (official script), formed around the [[Western Han Dynasty]] (206BC-25AD) and prevalent in the [[Eastern Han Dynasty]] (25-220).

''Caoshu'' in the early period retained much feature of ''lishu'' and was called ''zhangcao'' (a coarse style formed by breaking up the forms of ''lishu''). From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the [[Wei]] (220-265) and [[Jin]] (265-420) dynasties, ''caoshu'' got rid of the trace of ''lishu'' strokes, and employed a large number of running strokes, and was called ''jincao'' (modern cursive hand). By the [[Tang Dynasty]] (618-907), caoshu was written in a lively and vigorous way and was called ''kuangcao'' (crazy cursive hand).

Because ''caoshu'' uses lots of running strokes and only has the outline of the characters, it is illegible to most readers and affects its function of communication. Famous ''caoshu'' calligraphers include [[Zhang Zhi]], [[Zhang Xu]], [[Huai Su]] and so on.
[[File:Caoshu work by Liu Gongquan, a Tang-dynasty calligrapher.jpg|thumb|Caoshu work by Liu Gongquan, a Tang-dynasty calligrapher]]
[[category:culture]]

Caoshu - Revision history

imported>Ciic at 03:11, 19 March 2010