Small seal script: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:01, 9 February 2023

Revision as of 20:31, 28 September 2023

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{{Table Hanzi}}

The '''small seal script''' ({{zh|s={{linktext|小篆}}|p=xiǎozhuàn}}), or '''Qin script''' ({{lang|zh|秦篆}}, ''Qínzhuàn''), is an archaic form of [[Chinese calligraphy]]. It was standardized and promulgated as a national standard by the government of [[Qin Shi Huang]], the founder of the Chinese [[Qin dynasty]].

== Name ==

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== History ==

Before the [[Qin's wars of unification|Qin conquest of the six other major]] [[Warring States period|warring states]] of [[Zhou dynasty|Zhou China]], local styles of [[Chinese character|characters]] had evolved independently of one another for centuries, producing what are called the "Scripts of the Six States" ({{lang|zh|六國文字}}), all of which arewere included under the general term "[[great seal script]]."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Categories of Calligraphy - Seal Script |url=https://www.cityu.edu.hk/lib/about/event/ch_calligraphy/seal_eng.htm |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=www.cityu.edu.hk}}</ref>

However, under one unified government, the diversity was deemed undesirable as it hindered timely communication, trade, taxation, and transportation, and as independent scripts might be used to represent dissenting political ideas.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Galambos |first=Imre |date=2004 |title=The Myth of the Qin Unification of Writing in Han Sources |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23658631 |journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=181–203 |issn=0001-6446}}</ref>

Hence, Emperor [[Qin Shi Huang]] mandated the systematic unification of weights, measures, currencies, etc., and the use of a standard writing script. Characters which were different from those found in Qin were discarded, and the Qin's small seal characters became the standard for all regions within the empire. This policy camebecame effective in aboutaround 220 BC, the year after Qin's unification of the Chinese states.<ref name="Diringer">[[Diringer, David]]. [1982] (1982). ''The Book Before Printing: Ancient, Medieval, and Oriental.'' Courier Dover Publications. {{ISBN|0-486-24243-9}}.</ref>

== Standardization ==

The standardized use of small seal characters was promulgated via the ''[[Cangjiepian]]'', a primer compiled by Qin Shi Huang's ministers. This compilation, stated to contain 3,300 characters, is no longer extant, and is known only through Chinese commentaries throughover the centuries. Several hundred characters from fragmented commentaries were collected during the Qing period, and recent archeological excavations in [[Anhui]], China, have uncovered several hundred more on bamboo strips, showing the order of the characters.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} However, the script found iswas not the small seal script, as the discovery dates fromback to the Han timesperiod.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

==Unicode==