“Bird Script” is not Bird Script

Abstract

Ever since the 1930s, scholars have adopted the Eastern Han terms niaoshu 鳥書 (bird script) and niaochongshu 鳥蟲書 (bird and insect script) to refer to the beautiful gold inlaid writing, with added bird elements, inscribed on bronzes associated with Wu and Yue. However, before the 1930s, no experts agreed on how to define these terms. This paper argues that “bird script,” as used by Eastern Han writers, described writing on seals, banners, and a popular calligraphic style, none of which had added bird elements. Also, the florid style of writing inscribed on the Mancheng vessels was neither “bird script” nor related to the earlier Wu and Yue inscriptions. After discussing the florescence of Wu and Yue scripts, and then Eastern Han uses of the term “bird script,” this paper examines known examples of attempts by Songperiod antiquarians at reading characters with bird elements, including a fifth-century bronze bell from Yue. Although familiar with Eastern Han writings on scripts, Song scholars neither described these inscriptions as “bird script,” nor placed these bronzes in their correct historical contexts. Apparently, added bird elements was not yet a criterion for “bird script.” Subsequently, this paper explores the initial breakthroughs in the process of deciphering Wu and Yue scripts in the late Qing and early twentieth century. Although this was the first time some inscriptions with added bird elements were called “bird script,” this paper shows that the term was still not universally adopted by philologists until 1934, when Rong Geng 容庚 (1894–1983) produced the first systematic study of Eastern Zhou writing with added bird elements. Thanks to Rong Geng, scholars today can read pre-unification inscriptions from the southeast coast; unfortunately, Rong’s anachronistic use of “bird script” and “bird and insect script” has continued to this day.