On the Revival of Seal Script in Qing Dynasty

Abstract

Seal script was formed in the Shang and Zhou dynasties. After the Qin Dynasty unified the six states, it was collectively known as "Xiaozhuan", which was a standardized common character at that time. Because of the complexity of writing and the need for deep ancient writing skills, the writing of later generations is time-consuming and laborious, so it is constantly limited in the development of later generations. With the rise of official script, regular script and running script, they gradually disappeared in the field of vision of the masses and had little influence. It was not until the late Ming and early Qing dynasties that the rise of Stele Study and Archaeology and the flourishing trend of restoring the ancients that the ancient style of seal script came into our view again. This paper will start from the background of the times and related calligraphers to explore the revival of seal script in Qing Dynasty.