The earliest ink marks left by China's calligraphy art are tuishu, silk calligraphy and bamboo slips. Before that, although there were inscriptions on imperial edicts in Yin Ruins, Zhong Dingwen in the Zhou Dynasty and Oracle Bone Inscriptions in the Qin Dynasty, they all belonged to words carved on bones and cast on bronzes or pottery, and the ink was hard to see. Even since the Jin and Tang Dynasties, there are few handwriting. The real discovery of ink in the Han Dynasty was the wooden slips of the Han Dynasty "Falling Slips of Quicksand" found in Dunhuang in the early 20th century (1907). Since then, 1930, 1 10,000 pieces of Han Dynasty wooden slips have been unearthed in Ejina River valley of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and collected as a series of Juyan Han bamboo slips. 1959, 469 bamboo slips were unearthed from the Han Tomb in Wuwei, Gansu Province, and the collection was published as Wuwei Han Bamboo Slips. 1972, 92 pieces of medical bamboo slips were unearthed from Han Tomb in Hantanpo, Wuwei, Gansu, and published as Medical Bamboo Slips of Han Dynasty in Wuwei. From 1972 to 1976, a large number of Han Dynasty wooden slips, totaling 20,000, were found in Ejina Valley in northern Gansu, which is the largest number of Han bamboo slips found in China so far. Because these Han bamboo slips are mostly found in Gansu and Xinjiang in the northwest, they are called Northwest Han bamboo slips.
A considerable part of calligraphy art in past dynasties was left by craftsmen and unknown calligraphers. Wuwei Medical Bamboo Slips was written by doctors in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Wuwei Han bamboo slips were written by professional scribes from the lower classes of society. The Han bamboo slips in Juyan were written by middle and lower officials and foot soldiers who guarded the Yanbian defense area in Han Dynasty. The brushwork of these Han bamboo slips is free and unrestrained, and the structure is full of changes, which really has high artistry and vitality.
Most of the characters in Juyan Han bamboo slips have changed a lot, and they are impatient, free and unrestrained, and have no affectation. Some are like grass, one integrated mass; Some Bochigu have both form and meaning; Some are simple and elegant. In the style of calligraphy, seal script, official script and cursive script are all gestated and shaped, and all flowers blossom and have their own characteristics, forming a colorful scene of calligraphy art in Han Dynasty. In particular, the calligraphy style in bamboo slips is generally practical and popular among the people, which is different from the word "temple" written by literati. As an application tool, because of the increasingly rich social life, we have to pursue simplicity, quickness and haste. This is particularly evident in the calligraphy style of Juyan Han bamboo slips. He is naturally interesting, naturally elegant, rough and simple, with a pen to fold the front and change the flow rate freely.
Structurally, bamboo slips changed from Qin Li's vertical position to horizontal position and positive position. In the single-row bamboo slips, we can also see that they took the left position to make way for Apollo's painting. In terms of chapter layout, although each simplified book has a line limit, it is not limited by the grid and can change the layout. It is especially obvious in the bamboo slips of the Western Han Dynasty, with vertical lines but no horizontal lines. The simplified books in the Eastern Han Dynasty were arranged in rows and columns. The brushwork pays attention to the simple and unconstrained momentum, the layout of the rules is lively and the rules are irregular, which is also a great innovation in bamboo slips. This brushwork has been used in later cursive and running scripts.
The font of Han bamboo slips in Juyan belongs to Cao Zhang's category, and the brush inherited Li Shu's brushwork, which is Li Shu's sketch. There is cursive script, the strokes are more casual and natural, and the fonts can be large or small. The brushwork of official script is removed, which is more refined than that of Cao Zhang, and the fonts are novel.
Judging from the unearthed Han bamboo slips, cursive script appeared as early as the Western Han Dynasty. At this time, there are not only Cao Zhang, but also the brushstrokes and glyphs of modern grass. Although immature, it can be said to be the first, and bamboo slips are circumstantial evidence. There is always a transitional stage from the former style to the latter style, and new fonts will always be born in the old fonts. There is no doubt that in such a period of great changes in calligraphy in the Han Dynasty, there will be various forms of characters. Now it seems that the evolution of calligraphy is not in a straight line. This is the relationship between the "source" and "flow" of calligraphy evolution.
Han bamboo slips have a more direct influence on the division of books in the Eastern Han Dynasty. There are many simple books unearthed in Dunhuang and Juyan, which are similar to the "ritual monuments" in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Simply using millitips has formed a genre of fibers and thicknesses. It shows that vigorous calligraphy style has been widely used and spread among the people in the Western Han Dynasty, and the ritual tablet in the Eastern Han Dynasty has been further improved and perfected, forming one of the important schools in the Eastern Han Dynasty. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wuwei Han bamboo slips were thin and broad, with strong and colorful strokes, similar to the ritual monuments of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Han bamboo slips of Gangu written in the first year of Huan in the Eastern Han Dynasty are elegant and beautiful, and the brushwork is vigorous, which is quite similar to the wind. In a word, we can see from the bamboo slips that the strokes are flying freely, the structure is natural and muddy, and all kinds of calligraphy have developed into various inscriptions in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which are neat and fine, thick and simple, and bizarre and arbitrary, laying the foundation for the formation of regular script and cursive script later.