Clerical script
The clerical script (traditional Chinese: 隸書; simplified Chinese: 隶书; pinyin: lìshū; Japanese: 隷書体, reishotai; Korean: 예서 (old spelling 례셔); Vietnamese: lệ thư), sometimes also chancery script, is a style of Chinese writing which evolved from the late Warring States period to the Qin dynasty, matured and became dominant in the Han dynasty, and largely remained in active use through the Wei-Jin periods. In its development, it departed significantly from the earlier scripts in terms of graphic structures (a process named libian, or "clerical change"), and was characterized by its rectilinearity, a trait shared with the later regular script.
| Clerical script | |
|---|---|
Stele of Huashan Temple, written in the clerical script from the late Eastern Han dynasty | |
| Script type | |
Time period | Bronze Age China, Iron Age China |
| Direction | Top-to-bottom |
| Languages | Old Chinese, Eastern Han Chinese |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | Oracle bone script
|
Child systems | Kaishu Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese Bopomofo Kanji Kana Hanja Zhuyin Sawndip Chữ Hán Chữ Nôm Khitan script Jurchen script Tangut script |
| Clerical script | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chinese characters for "Clerical Script", in regular script (left) and clerical script (right). | |||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 隸書 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 隶书 | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | clerical script | ||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | lệ thư chữ lệ | ||||||||||
| Hán-Nôm | 隸書 𡨸隸 | ||||||||||
Although it was succeeded by the later scripts, including the regular script, the clerical script is preserved as a calligraphic practice. In Chinese calligraphy, the term clerical often refers to a specific calligraphic style that is typical of a subtype of the clerical script, the Han clerical (simplified Chinese: 汉隶; traditional Chinese: 漢隸) or bafen (八分) script. This style is characterized by the squat character shapes, and its "wavy" appearance due to the thick, pronounced and slightly downward tails that are uptilted at the end.