View source for Social:Semi-cursive script

{{short description|Cursive style of Chinese writing that is not as cursive as grass script}}
{{Infobox writing system
|name=Semi-cursive script
|type=Logographic
|languages=[[Social:Old Chinese|Old Chinese]], Middle Chinese, Modern Chinese, [[Social:Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], [[Social:Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Social:Korean language|Korean]] 
|time=Han dynasty to present
| fam1 = [[Social:Oracle bone script|Oracle bone script]]
| fam2 = [[Social:Seal script|Seal script]]
| fam3 = [[Social:Clerical script|Clerical script]]
| fam4 = [[Social:Cursive script (East Asia)|Cursive script]]
|children=[[Social:Regular script|Regular script]]<br>Zhuyin<br>Simplified Chinese<br>Chu Nom<br>[[Social:Khitan small script|Khitan script]]<br>[[Social:Jurchen script|Jurchen script]]<br>[[Social:Tangut script|Tangut script]]
|sample=Lanting_P3rd.jpg
|imagesize=200px
|unicode=4E00–9FFF, 3400–4DBF, 20000–2A6DF, 2A700–2B734, 2F00–2FDF, F900–FAFF
|iso15924=
}}

{{Chinese
|float=left
|pic=Semi-Cur Eg.svg
|picsize=100px
|piccap=Traditional characters for "semi-cursive script" written in [[Social:Regular script|regular script]] (left) and semi-cursive script (right).
|p=xíng shū
|bpmf=ㄒㄧㄥˊ ㄕㄨ
|j=hang<sup>4</sup> syu<sup>1</sup>|h=hang<sup>11</sup> su<sup>24</sup>
|poj=hâng-su|wuu=ghaon<sup>平</sup> sy<sup>平</sup>
|kana=ぎょうしょ
|romaji=gyōsho
|rr=haengseo
|mc={{IPA|/ɦˠæŋ  ɕɨʌ/}}
|qn={{linktext|lang=vi|hành thư}}<br />{{linktext|lang=vi|chữ hành}}
|hn={{linktext|lang=vi|行書}}<br />{{linktext|lang=vi|𡨸行}} 
}}

'''Semi-cursive script''' ({{zh|s=行书|t=行書|first=t|p=xíngshū}}), also known as '''running hand script''', is a style of [[Social:Chinese calligraphy|calligraphy]] which emerged in {{wipe|China}} during the Han dynasty (3rd century BC – 3rd century AD). The style is used to write [[Social:Chinese characters|Chinese characters]] and is abbreviated slightly where a character’s strokes are permitted to be visibly connected as the writer writes, but not to the extent of the [[Social:Cursive script (East Asia)|cursive style]].<ref name=":0">{{cite web|access-date=2021-08-14|title=5 script styles in Chinese Calligraphy|url=http://www.columbia.edu/~xc2282/calligraphy/calligraphy.html|website=www.columbia.edu}}</ref> This makes the style easily readable by readers who can read [[Social:Regular script|regular script]] and quickly writable by calligraphers who require ideas to be written down quickly.<ref name=":0" /> In order to produce legible work using the semi-cursive style, a series of writing conventions is followed, including the linking of the strokes, simplification and merging strokes, adjustments to stroke order and the distribution of text of the work.<ref name=":1" />

One of the most notable calligraphers who used this style was Wang Xizhi, known for his work ''Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection'' (''Lantingji Xu''), produced in AD 353. This work remains highly influential in China, as well as outside of China where calligraphy using Chinese characters are still in practice, such as {{wipe|Japan}} and [[Place:Korea|Korea]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Li|first=Wendan|title=Chinese Writing and Calligraphy|date=2010-05-31|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|doi=10.1515/9780824860691|isbn=978-0-8248-6069-1}}</ref> In modern times, semi-cursive script is the most prominent in Chinese daily life despite a lack of official education offered for it, having gained this status with the introduction of fountain pens, and there have been proposals to allow for customizable fonts on computers.

== History ==
The Chinese writing system has been borrowed and used in East Asian countries, including Japan, Korea and Vietnam for thousands of years due to China’s extensive influence, technology and large territory. As a result, the culture of calligraphy and its various styles spread across the region, including semi-cursive script.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=Li|first=Yu|title=The Chinese writing system in Asia: An interdisciplinary perspective|date=2020|isbn=978-1-000-69906-7|location=London|oclc=1114273437}}</ref>

=== China ===
The semi-cursive style was developed in the Han Dynasty.<ref name=":0" /> Script in this style is written in a more curvaceous style than the regular script, however not as illegible as the cursive script.<ref name=":4" />

One of the most notable calligraphers to produce work using the semi-cursive style is Wang Xizhi, where his work ''Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection'' was written in 353 AD.<ref name=":1" /> The work included the character 之, a possessive particle, twenty-one times all in different forms. The difference in form was generated by Wang under the influence of having alcohol with his acquaintances. He had wanted to reproduce the work again since it was in his liking, but to no avail. ''Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection'' is still included in some of the world’s most notable calligraphy works and remains highly influential in the calligraphy world.<ref name=":1" />

The semi-cursive style was also the basis of the techniques used to write with the [[Engineering:Fountain pen|fountain pen]] when Western influence was heavy in China, in the early 20th century. Although it is not officially taught to students, the style has proceeded to become the most popular Chinese script in modern times.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last1=Wu|first1=Yao|last2=Jiang|first2=Jie|last3=Li|first3=Yi|title=2018 International Joint Conference on Information, Media and Engineering (ICIME)|chapter=A Method of Chinese Characters Changing from Regular Script to Semi-Cursive Scrip Described by Track and Point Set|date=December 2018|pages=162–167|publisher=IEEE|doi=10.1109/icime.2018.00041|isbn=978-1-5386-7616-5|s2cid=58012641}}</ref> In the digital age, it has been proposed to encode Chinese characters using the "track and point set" method, which allows users to make their own personalized semi-cursive fonts.<ref name=":2"/>

=== Japan ===
[[File:Calligraphy of Nobuyuki Abe.jpg|thumb|Japanese calligraphy written in the semi-cursive style.]]
Calligraphy culture from China was introduced to Japan in around AD 600 and has been practiced up to the modern day. Although Japan originally used Chinese characters (called ''kanji'' in [[Social:Japanese language|Japanese]]) to represent words of the spoken language, there were still parts of the spoken language that could not be written using Chinese characters.<ref name=":4" /> The phonetic writing systems, hiragana and katakana, were developed as a result of the semi-cursive and cursive styles.<ref name=":4" /> During the Heian Period, a large number of calligraphy works were written in the semi-cursive style because the roundedness of the style allowed for a natural flow between kanji and hiragana.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bernard|first1=Kyoko|last2=Nakata|first2=Yujiro|last3=Woodhill|first3=Alan|last4=Nikovskis|first4=Armis|date=1973|title=The Art of Japanese Calligraphy|journal=Monumenta Nipponica|volume=28|issue=4|pages=514|doi=10.2307/2383576|jstor=2383576|issn=0027-0741}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Boudonnat|first=Louise|title=Traces of the brush: The art of Japanese calligraphy|date=2003|publisher=Chronicle|others=Harumi Kushizaki|isbn=2-02-059342-4|location=San Francisco|oclc=51553636}}</ref> In the Edo period, general trends have been noticed where semi-cursive was used with hiragana in mixed script for "native" literature and books translated for commoners, while [[Social:Regular script|regular script]] kanji was used alongside katakana for Classical Chinese works meant to be read by scholars.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hisada |first=Yukio |title=グローバル日本研究クラスター報告書 |date=2018-03-31 |volume=1 |pages=170–180 |chapter= The Usage of Sentences Mixing Regular-Script Kanji and Hiragana in the Latter Part of the Edo Period |chapter-url=https://ir.library.osaka-u.ac.jp/repo/ouka/all/68062/|publisher=Osaka University}}</ref>

=== Korea ===
Chinese calligraphy appeared in Korea at around 2nd or 3rd century AD. Korea also used Chinese characters (called ''[[Social:Hanja|hanja]]'' in [[Social:Korean language|Korean]]) until the invention of the Korean alphabet, ''hangul'', in 1443.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Choi|first=Yearn-hong|date=2016|title=Choe Chi-won, great Tang and Silla poet|work=The Korean Times|url=http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/culture/2016/07/142_208963.html|access-date=13 August 2021}}</ref> Even then, many calligraphers did not choose to use the newly created ''hangul'' writing system and continued to write calligraphy and its various styles using Chinese characters.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brown|first=Ju|title=China, Japan, Korea: Culture and customs|date=2006|publisher=BookSurge|others=John Brown|isbn=1-4196-4893-4|location=North Charleston, South Carolina|oclc=162136010}}</ref> In this environment, semi cursive script started seeing use in Korea during the Joseon Dynasty.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2021-07-30|title=Categories of calligraphy|url=https://swmuseum.suwon.go.kr/eng/html/02exhibit_02_04.jsp|website=swmuseum.suwon.go.kr}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2021-07-30|title=Collection of Calligraphic Works by Successive Kings from Seonjo to Sukjong – Kings of Joseon (Seonjo~Sukjong)|url=https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/collection-of-calligraphic-works-by-successive-kings-from-seonjo-to-sukjong/5QE0w581sbMB3A|work=Jangseogak|publisher=[[Organization:Academy of Korean Studies|Academy of Korean Studies]]|via=Google Arts & Culture}}</ref>

== Characteristics ==
[[File:LantingXu Shenglongben.jpg|thumb|314x314px|Traced copy of the "Preface to the Orchard Pavilion Collection" by Wang Xizhi, written in semi-cursive script|left]]
Semi-cursive script aims for an informal, natural movement from one stroke to the next.<ref name=":0" /> Another distinct feature of this style is being able to pinpoint where each stroke originates and which stroke is it followed by. In order to be able to write in the semi-cursive style, the calligrapher should be able to write in the [[Social:Regular script|regular script]] and know the order the strokes should be written in.<ref name=":4" />

Many calligraphers choose to use this style when they need to write things down quickly, but still require the characters to be readable. In Japan, most calligraphy works are done in this style due to its ability to create a style unique to the calligrapher in a small timeframe.<ref name=":4" />

== Uses ==
[[File:Guangdong (Chinese characters).svg|thumb|153x153px|Chinese characters for Guangdong written in simplified Chinese on top, traditional Chinese on the bottom.]]
The semi-cursive style is practiced for aesthetic purposes, and a calligrapher may choose to specialize in any script of their preference. The smooth transition and omission of some strokes of the semi-cursive style had also contributed to the simplification of Chinese characters by the {{wipe|China}}.<ref name=":5" />

== Writing conventions ==

=== Stroke linking ===
One of the characteristics of semi-cursive script is the joining of consecutive strokes. To execute this, one must write a character in an uninterrupted manner and only stop the brush movement when required. In some scenarios, the strokes may not be visibly linked, but it is possible to grasp the direction which each stroke is drawn.<ref name=":1" />

=== Stroke merging and character simplification ===
The fast brush movement needed for the semi-cursive style allows a decrease in the number of strokes needed to produce a character. However, this is done in a way to preserve readability by considering the stroke order of each Chinese character in most cases. There are no solid rules to the way in which characters are simplified, and it is up to the calligrapher to display their personal style and preferences.<ref name=":1" />[[File:Wang Xizhi.jpg|thumb|231x231px|Artwork of the calligrapher Wang Xizhi|left]]

=== Stroke order modification ===
With the intention to prioritise speed, calligraphers may choose to make subtle changes to the stroke order of the written character. They may choose to reverse the direction of the stroke or write the strokes out of order compared to how they are written in the regular script.<ref name=":1" />

=== Text direction ===
In works written using semi-cursive script, the size of each character can vary greatly with each other. Where works of the regular script are usually written in the same size, semi-cursive characters can be arranged to achieve “rhythm and balance” artistically. To preserve this rhythm and balance, most semi-cursive and cursive works are written in vertical columns from right to left, despite the adoption of the Western standard in Chinese texts, writing in rows from left to right.<ref name=":1" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [http://en.chinaculture.org/library/2008-01/24/content_41949.htm Running Hand] at chinaculture.org, Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China

== External links ==
* {{Commons inline}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Semi-Cursive Script}}
[[Category:Chinese characters]]
[[Category:Writing systems]]

{{Sourceattribution|Semi-cursive script|1}}