Shirley's Chinese Calligraphy 55: Xiao Zhuan -- Small Seal Script 05

This is my 50th Calligraphy since I started the study as a graduated student for the degree of Master of Fine Arts of Chinese National Academy of Arts, August, 2016, but the first Xiao Zhuan -- Small Seal Script which is one of the Zhuangshu (Seal Characters). It is a style of offical calligraphy which was adopted in the Qin Dynasty( 221 B.C.£­206 B.C.) for the purpose of standardizing the script.   

Li Si (284 B.C.¡ª208 B.C.) is the founder of Xiaozhuan (Qin Zhuan). Li Si £¨284 B.C.¡ª208 B.C.£© was the prime minister of Qi Dynasty when Qin Yingzheng was the First Emperor of Qin £¨259 B.C.-210 B.C.)¡£

Before Qin unified China, there are many different languages in the other 6 countries. Along with the unification, the First Emperor of the Qin wanted to have a standard character instead of different characters. So, he appointed Li Si to work on it.

Based on the Big Zhuan and many different characters. Li ordered and created a new character and calligraphy which was named "Qin Zhuan" and it is just today's Xiao Zhuan.

The First Emperor of Qin quite satisfied the new Chinese Characters and the new calligraphy, therefore, he decided to use it as the official character and official calligraphy. Xiaozhuan or Qi Zhuan had been used until the last years of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.- 8 A. D.).

What I have written in this calligraphy is from the Yi Shan Bei which was created by Li Si in 219 B.C.

I started to write it as soon as I finished my jobs on record my music and Chinese poem songs on Oct 23, and I do hope to bring you a big smile.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, you are welcome to write to shirley@ebridge.cn or leave your message on Message Board.

Sincerely,

Shirley Yiping Zhang
Oct 29, 2016