The character Yuan Cen was born in Xiagui (guī in Weinan County, Shaanxi Province, China); he was also a native of Xiadu (see Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi Xu") and Xiapi (see Yu Jianwu's "Shupin"). According to legend, he was the first to reform seal script into official script.
Yang Xin of the Southern Dynasty recorded in his "Cai Gu Lai Ability to Write Names of People" that he was "good at big seal script. He offended the First Emperor and was imprisoned in Yunyang Prison. He increased or decreased the big seal script and got rid of its complexity. The first emperor was good at it and became the censor. His famous calligraphy is called official script." The works are untested.
Zhang Huaiguan's "Shujuan" of the Tang Dynasty stated: "The official script of the case was created by Cheng Miao, a native of Qin Dynasty. Miao's courtesy name was Yuan Cen, who was originally the jailer of Yaxian County. He offended the First Emperor and was buried in Yunyang Prison for ten years. , the size of the seal script was large and round, and three thousand characters were written in the official script. The first emperor was good at it and used it as the censor. Since there were many things to do, it was difficult to complete the seal characters, so the official script was used to assist the officials in writing, so it was called "official script". "
Yu Jianwu's "Shupin" said: "Looking for the origin of the official script, it was written by Xiapi Chengmiao, an official in Qin Dynasty. The first emperor saw it and attached great importance to it, because there were many memorials and seal characters were difficult to make, so he made this method, so it is called 'official script' ', this is the official book now."
To sum up, it seems that Cheng Miao was originally a minor official in the county and was imprisoned for a crime. In prison, he compiled a 3,000-word memorial in official script, which was appreciated by Qin Shihuang, who pardoned his crime and was named a censor. Because Cheng Miao was a disciple, and it was originally used exclusively by officials, this style of calligraphy was called official script. This story may have a lot of attachments. In fact, just like the emergence of calligraphy, official script was created by many people over time. Cheng Miao probably did the work of sorting it out.
In calligraphy, Qin Li is called "Ancient Li" and Han Li is called "Jin Li". In December 1975, more than a thousand bamboo slips were unearthed from the Qin Tomb in Suihudi, Yunmeng, Hubei Province, with Qin Li written in ink on them. Judging from the materials excavated by archaeologists, the characters on some wooden tablets and bamboo slips during the Warring States and Qin Dynasties have been simplified in seal script, with fewer strokes, the characters have become square and flat, and the pen has a tendency to wave. This is the germ of official script. During the Western Han Dynasty, the element of official style in calligraphy further increased. The Western Han Dynasty silk painting "Laozi Jiaben" unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha has obvious official meaning.
