ldquo;niu” on the stamps below are all written in Li Shu style.

3. Cursive Script

Dating back to the beginning of the Han Dynsasty, Cao Shu has a long history of over 2,000 years. It consists of Zhang Cao, which developed from the cursive writing style of Li Shu and Jin Cao, created by Zhang Zhi in the end of the Han. In stamps, the Cao Shu works by Mao Zedong were mostly common used. Thirteen out of 14 stamps issued on Oct 1, 1968 about Mao’s poetry are written in Cao Shu. The following stamps feature Chinese the characters of “hu”, “tu” and “long” in Cao Shu style.

4. Regular Script

Kai Shu, also evolving from Han Li, is distinguished by its foursquare form and straight strokes. Invented by Wang Ci in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), it has a history of 1,800 years with added development in the Wei (220-265) and Jing (265-420) Dynasties, prevailing in the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-581) and culminating in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The commemorative stamps from the 90th anniversary of the birth of Sun Yat-sen and the 70th anniversary of the Revolution of 1911 have Sun’s inscription in Kai Shu. Guo Muruo’s writing of “Long friendship of the Chinese and Japanese peoples” on a stamp issued in 1987 was also in Kai Shu style. Stamps issued in 2001, 2002 and 2003 carry the Chinese characters of “she”, “ma” and “yang” in Kai Shu.

5. Running Script

Xing Shu, a semi-cursive writing style, was created by Liu Chuansheng in the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), bloomed in the Three Kingdoms Dynasty (25-280) and flourished in the Jin Dynasty. It has a history of over 1,700 years. Zhong You and Wang Xizhi were two exponents of the writing style. The following stamps features inscriptions by Zhou Enlai and the Traditional Chinese character “yi” written by Mi Fu in Xing Shu style.

Translated by Wangzhen

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